CBP Issues Additional Instructions on the New Sea AMS NVOCC and Master VOCC Bill Types
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued additional instructions on the Special Bill programming (new non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) and Master vessel operating common carrier (VOCC) bill types) for Sea Automated Manifest System (AMS) which was moved into the production environment (i.e., implemented) during the normally scheduled system outage of 11:00 p.m. EST Saturday, January 10, 2004 to 3:00 a.m. Sunday, January 11, 2004.
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(See ITT's 01/09/04 news, 04010905, for BP summary of CBP's previously issued instructions on these bill types.)
What follows is a summary of CBP's additional instructions, as modified by information obtained from various government and trade sources:
Transmission "hiatus" to allow processing of "old" jobs. In its instructions, CBP suggested that Master VOCCs and NVOCCs stop Sea AMS transmissions to CBP by 10:00 p.m. EST on January 10, 2004 so that processing could be completed on all jobs sent under the old format. CBP stated that when system processing resumed at 3:00 a.m. on January 11, 2004, all transmissions have to reflect the new format changes.
Bills transmitted to AMS on or after Special Bill implementation should generally follow new format. In general1, for bill manifests transmitted to AMS2on or after 11:00 p.m. EST on January 10, 2004 which cover ocean cargo, the Master Vessel Bill of Lading should be reported as the "Master" bill in ABI entries and filers should discontinue the practice of filing directly against the House (NVOCC) Bill of Lading. If desired, the filer may report the NVOCC Bill of Lading in the "House" bill field of their ABI entry reporting software.
1 Sources note that the above procedures would not be applicable in all scenarios, and that filers may have to contact their Automated Commercial System (ACS) client representative during the initial implementation period if they have questions.
2 Sources also note that the actual text of CBP's initial instructions (See 04010905) and these additional instructions are misleading because they use the phrase for entries transmitted via ABI rather than the above phrase for bill manifests transmitted to AMS.
CBP's additional instructions (dated 01/08/04) available at
CBP frequently asked questions on Sea AMS processing related to the Special Bill (dated 12/08/03) availablefromBP via email or fax by emailing staff@brokerpower.com.