by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
A new automated export system will save area exporters time, money and manpower in shipping goods abroad, U.S. Department of Commerce representatives said Tuesday.
A two–day workshop on the system packed a third–floor conference room in the Adam’s Mark Hotel Tuesday. U.S. Census Bureau regulation chief Jerome Greenwell told about 125 regional shippers and manufacturers how the new system would streamline trade when it becomes mandatory next January.
At that time, the Commerce Department will require shippers to file paperwork electronically through a system already online. Greenwell said the paperless system, known as Automated Export System Pc Link, would allow exporters to keep pace with documentation standards that have been strengthened since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“A lot of the regulations have changed as a result of Sept. 11. What we will require next year is a result of Sept. 11,” said Greenwell. “In a paper environment, it would be impossible for the people in that room to put all the required information into the system and meet new filing timeframes.”
AES PcLink would allow cargo to be shipped “more quickly, efficiently and safely,” said Greenwell. Under the current system, countries shipping to the U.S. sometimes provide incomplete information on the contents of incoming cargo. Such spotty reporting is no longer acceptable post-Sept.11, said Greenwell, and the new system will not permit it.
Census Bureau statistician Crystal Kynard–Mackall said the workshops have toured the country for several years. She said the Commerce Department has given plenty of notice that the changes are coming. Nevertheless, she said the workshops have attracted a lot more interest as the January deadline approached.
“Let’s put it this way: They’re coming to us now instead of us going to them,” she said. “As we’ve continued across the country, I’ve been overwhelmed with phone calls. We’ve let people know we’re going paperless, but interest is definitely picking up as we approach the time when these changes become mandatory.”
Kynard–Mackall said the 125 people in attendance Tuesday was about average for the workshops, which traverse the country. From California to Florida to New York to Minnesota, Kynard–Mackall said every stop draws at least 100 people. Some more than 200.
Many in the audience had already gone paperless. Dennis James, chief financial officer of Jacksonville’s Lighthouse Forwarding, Inc., said he expected the system to provide a productivity increase. Lighthouse acts as a middle man between shippers and exporters, and James said reduced paperwork would free up his employees.
Bob Bullock said his company, Southeastern Freight Lines, had used AES PcLink for two years. Anything to safely increase the flow of trade would benefit exporters he said.