Pirate Busters - American Shipper

It’s in the import data
The Consumer Product Safety Commission lacks
direct access to customs information that it could use
to target unsafe imports, according to a congressional
watchdog agency’s report released in August.
With the passage of the 2008 Consumer Product
Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), Congress sought
to update and strengthen the commission’s authority
over import product safety standards, recalls, reporting
and administrative penalties. The legislation required
the Government Accountability Office to evaluate the
progress of the commission’s implementation of CPSIA.
The GAO found that the commission requires more
access to Customs and Border Protection’s import
manifest records to identify potentially unsafe imports
before they enter the commercial stream.
The commission has traditionally relied on CBP to point
up potentially harmful product imports. However CPSC
is under increased pressure to prevent unsafe products
from entering the United States. In 2007, the discovery
of lead paint in a number of popular children’s toys made
in China thrust the commission into the public and congressional
spotlight.
“CPSC does not have access to key CBP import data
it could use to target incoming shipments for inspection,
and it has not updated its agreements with CBP to clarify
each agency’s roles and responsibilities,” the GAO said.
“CPSC’s activities at U.S. ports could be strengthened
by better targeting incoming shipments for inspection
and by improving CPSC’s coordination with CBP,” the
agency added. “Otherwise, CPSC may not be able to
carry out key inspection activities efficiently or to effectively
leverage its enforcement priorities with CBP.”
The GAO also said CPSC could learn from other
federal agencies, such as the Agriculture Department
and Food and Drug Administration, and other overseas
governments on how to improve its border surveillance
and information sharing with other countries.
Furthermore, the GAO said CPSC “lacks a long-term
plan with key goals” to prevent the entry of unsafe products.
“This may inhibit CPSC’s ability to appropriately
allocate any potential increases in agency resources
or to address the safety of imported products through
international means,” the agency said. — Chris Gillis
BDP’s selective acquisition
The recent acquisition of British firm Rostrum Forwarding
Ltd. by BDP International was not your typical
takeover of a small regional player by a larger one.
In fact, since BDP’s founding in the 1960s by the late
Richard J. Bolte Sr., the Philadelphia-based company has
avoided a growth-by- acquisition model, which is quite
prevalent among many mega-forwarding firms. Instead
BDP has built its global presence by partnering with
other firms that think, look and do business like itself.
BDP has engaged periodically in strategic joint
ventures in which the company has equity interests in
selective markets. On some occasions, BDP has even
gone on to buy the outstanding shares of the joint venture
to take full ownership, such as the case of entities
in Indonesia, Thailand, Germany and Italy.
In general, BDP’s global expansion has included
multiple alliances with small and mid-sized logistics
firms. “Together, with our own extensive global coverage,
we form a web of logistics services that spans the
world to out-hustle our large competitors by delivering
20 AMERICAN SHIPPER: OCTOBER 2009
a more intimate brand of customer service,” said Arnie
Bornstein, a company spokesman, in an interview.
However, the U.K. forwarding market differs from others,
he said. “While BDP doesn’t subscribe to the growth
model of buying up other companies for the sake of seeing
how many BDP logo signs we can hang outside offices
around the globe, the breadth and importance of the U.K.
market to our customers was a priority in our decision
to establish an ownership presence there at this time.”
“Beyond the competitive necessity of having a more
substantive presence in the U.K., it further enhances our
flexibility and service capacity for customers between
the vital market and the world,” said John M. Bolte,
BDP’s chief operating officer, in a July 31 statement.
“The Rostrum-BDP combination culminated nearly
a year of research and due diligence, and it positions us
to be more competitive for our customers as economies
begin to recover,” Bornstein added.
Rostrum’s name will change to BDP International,
but will continue to operate under Rostrum’s Managing
Director Bruce W. Pope. BDP did not disclose terms
of the transaction. In addition to Rostrum’s Dartford,
Kent headquarters, the company has receiving depots
in Birmingham, Bristol, Heathrow, Leeds, London and
Manchester. BDP invested immediately to expand the
operation’s services by opening an office at the London-
Heathrow Airport earlier in July.
BDP said in the United Kingdom it will offer a range
of transportation and logistics services, as well as valueadded
services such as insurance, packing, warehousing
and distribution, and online shipment management and
visibility tools. — Chris Gillis
Nobody’s business
You wouldn’t give your social security number to a
complete stranger on the telephone or write it out on
a survey. Then why would you want to use it on your
commercial export documentation?
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division
understands this and has issued an interim final rule to
end the use of social security numbers as identification
when registering and filing electronic export information
in the Automated Export System, or AESDirect.
The current regulations allow the authorized AES
filer to either enter a social security number, employer
identification number (EIN), or Dun and Bradstreet
number (DUNS). Census said social security numbers
are often used by individual filers, whereas businesses
use either the EIN or DUNS. However, the EIN is available
to both businesses and individuals, the agency said.
Census said the rule is being implemented to ensure
that the AES filer is protected in accordance with the 1974
Privacy Act. The problem with using a social security
number as an AES filer identification is that the information
could end up on commercial shipping documents, if
an AES or AESDirect downtime citation is ever required.
Under the interim rule, the AES filer, also called the
“U.S. principal party in interest,” must obtain an EIN
through the Internal Revenue Service. Those filers who
want to use a DUNS rather than the EIN must first obtain
an EIN for identification purposes, the agency said.
The interim rule, which was published in the Aug.
5 Federal Register, takes effect Sept. 4, but the agency
will accept comments about the change through Oct. 5.
Census plans to implement the provisions of the rule on
Dec. 3. — Chris Gillis