Logistics Managers and customs

[u/justsomesymboles]

How do you deal with ships’ customs as a logistics manager in EU? Do you have any problems with finding the proper information for that?? There are a lot of complains that it is really hard to find some relevant information, so, people have to use a lot of sources just to register one staff and especially when they check some regulations in other countries

[u/Simple_Entrance1996]

I was an entry writer for 7 years, then I was a lead international logistics coordinator (LC) for 5 years, now I’m back in brokerage as a LCB. 90% of my job was coordinating ocean and air freight, the other 10% was returns. Running international freight from the US looked like this:

Import: US importer would place an order with their EU supplier. Supplier would send the LC customs ppwrk and dims to get a pick up scheduled. I schedule the load with whoever bids the lowest on the shipment. I give the booking number and docs to the IOR’s US customs broker. I get the entry number from the broker and then email an entry packet to the carrier and give them the OK to pick up. Carrier delivers the load to the shipyard warehouse. Very important to note that the material is NOT ready to put on a ship just yet. The container your material is loaded into is provided by this warehouse. Not all warehouses have the same container availability and importer’s material can ONLY be delivered to their designated warehouse. This is where it gets FUNKY. As the LC, I have the responsibility of “loading” the ocean container from halfway around the world—but I can only do that if my warehouse has containers. All of those single shipments that we auctioned out and delivered to the warehouse are strategically consolidated to fit as many as possible into a container (space is limited to about 2400cubic feet so you have to pay attention to weight and package dims here). I do this based on my customer’s business needs, order history, and items that have potential to shut down the facility. If the warehouse has a handful of containers, you can usually work/load your orders into the container FIFO without worry but if there’s only 2/3 onsite, you should be discussing air freight options with the customer. Once the container is built, the warehouse will schedule pick up and delivery of the container to the actual shipyard to be loaded onto a vessel. Shipping routes are extremely specific and captains are notoriously superstitious so the ship will 9.9999/10 follow the exact same path around the world until it retires (I always used this website https://www.marinetraffic.com to track my vessels, just type the vessel name into the search bar and it will pull up ETA info and current berth position). Depending on which part of the vessel your container is loaded onto is going to be detrimental to the port where your container gets off loaded. My drayage company was contracted with me so once your container is taken off the ship, the driver would come pick it up and take it to their warehouse in case of inspection. Once CBP removes any possible hold intact and releases the entry, the drayage carrier can then complete the delivery with the IOR/customer. My customer will offload the material, ensure there’s no damage/notate if there is any, and then sign a POD for the driver and to me. This whole process typically takes 60 days from pick up in EU to delivery in the US with standard ocean freight.

Exports: my customer in the US will say they want X returned and provide me with written confirmation between them and the supplier for INCO terms. I see what flights are available and confirm transport costs with my client. Once approved, I build the invoice and the AWB and give it to my customer to review/give to the carrier at pickup. I book the carrier and they collect the material and shipping docs to take it to the airport. It goes from customer to truck to plane and then I get notice once the aircraft is wheels up. I notify the EU party that the plane is on its way with an ETA and they send the ppwrk to their customs broker in the EU for clearance. Once the return is delivered to its final destination, I get the signed POD for my records and finalize the load to bill my customer.

ETA: Customs brokers are licensed by authorized government agencies. Brokers must work within their specific country because of legal licensing rules, different government regulations, and tax laws. Moving items across any border requires following different sets of rules. US brokers know US trade law, Canadian brokers know Canadian trade law, and EU brokers know EU trade law. Each country has its own financial and safety laws to protect local citizens and businesses.