Cargo news
New security procedure for shipments to USA starting on 12 June 2019
04.06 2019
US authorities will start a new mandatory security procedure called ACAS (Air Cargo Advance Screening) on the 12th of June 2019.
It is based on US legislation and more details can be found from Federal Register/Vol. 83, No. 113/Tuesday, June 12, 2018/Rules and Regulations:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2018-06-12/pdf/2018-12315.pdf
This means that airlines have to get approval from US authorities to load a plane which is going to a US destination. In practice, this means Finnair and other airlines must send basic air waybill and house air waybill data to US Customs before the buildup process for a flight has even started.
If there are any imperfect shipments on board, a flight is not allowed to land on US soil. Penalties are so high that Finnair is not able to transport shipment without totally correct AWB and HAWB information. This means that shipments will be stopped until the correct data is available.
According to our statistics the highest risk is related to the description of the cargo. Make sure that the description is detailed enough. For example, “garments” is not enough; it should be more precise such as “yellow t-shirts”.
The ACAS data elements:
- Shipper Name and Address – individual name or name of business and a valid street address with city/province, country and postal code.
- Consignee Name and Address – individual name or name of business and a valid street address with city/province, country and postal code.
- Cargo Description – generic cargo descriptions should be avoided (see example above).
- Total Quantity – based on the smallest external packing unit.
- Total Weight – total weight of cargo expressed in pounds or kilograms.
- Air Waybill Number.
