Shipping bill

This query is : Resolved

Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

26 August 2012 after shipment,sailing report made by vessel agent without registration and LEO copy also not received.
How to solve this issue?
if Any related rule is there?

RAMESH KUMAR VERMA

RAMESH KUMAR VERMA (Expert)
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27 August 2012 Noted That:

Present modus operandi of filing of EGM with customs by Vessel (Steamer) agent :-

1) After departure of a vessel, the respective container shipping lines / shipping agents submit the mate receipts for the containers loaded on board the vessel with the steamer agent within 24 hours. The steamer agent consolidates all the mate receipts and submits the same with the section customs within the next 24 hrs. The customs updates the status of individual shipping bill from “stuffing” to load status.

2) After departure of the vessel, within 24 hrs steamer agents inform Custom House EDI section regarding sailing date of the vessel with a copy of Port Clearance and then Custom House EDI section updates the system at custom house by giving the sailing date and time.

3) After 48 hrs of submission of the mate receipt with the customs , manual shipping bill ( duplicate copy) are collected by the steamer agent for preparing the EGM in the prescribed format and submit with the Export department .

4) For EDI challan, respective container operator forwards the soft copy of the EGM to the steamer agent in the prescribed format. The steamer agent consolidates all the soft copy received from the respective container agents and uploads it in the ICEGATE.

5) All manual shipping bills (duplicate copy) collected from the section customs are filed manually at the custom house Export department.
6) The above procedure is done within seven days (holidays included) of the vessel‟s departure.
The flow chart for above steps provided by them is enclosed as Annexure-I.

Since the advent of containerization of international trade, the pattern of sea carriage has adopted a major change from single carrier concept to common carrier concept and thereby it essentially involves multiple numbers of shipping lines loading cargo / container in a common carrier. Each of the individual carrier will have separate carriage of contract with their customer and shall issue Mate Receipt for each consignment as and when goods received at Port after Customs‟ appraisement. Each Mate receipt that is issued by a shipping Line is basis of Dock Challan and Dock Challan

is prepared from Shipping Bills. So in a single vessel / common carrier there will be multiple numbers of shipping lines with hundreds of Mate Receipts and Shipping Bills. Again all the Shipping Bills may not be backed up EDI Challan so there will be Manual Challan as well.

From the attached flow chart it can be noted that once “ LEO “ is granted in Customs EDI system and Shipping Bill is generated, cargo / container is supposed to be Customs ready and further loading onto the target vessel becomes part of operational flow of work under supervision of Preventive dept. and with the shore support of Port, so this activity of getting a cargo / container Customs ready till it‟s loading / on board to a shipping is a seamless journey and Shipping bills continues to be generated in the process. Once Ship operations is complete, it is the vessel agents office who collects Shipping bills copy from Dock Customs , receives mate receipts from individual shipping lines of the common carrier ( vessel ) including manual Shipping bill which becomes the main content of preparing an EGM and further online dispatch in ICEGATE.
The completed shipping bill with „let export‟ order of Custom officer is used for containerizing the cargo and getting same ready by sealing it at CFS.
- In case of house-stuffed container, if the cargo is containerized under Central Excise supervision and sealed on the basis of documents such as Invoice, Packing List, and AR4 Form etc. The containers thereafter are brought to the Port area (CY). The Central Excise endorsed documents are submitted to the Customs for processing their respective Shipping Bills.

- In case of house stuffed self sealed container cargo is getting examined at Dock upon offloading, Export Checklist copy original / Annexure filled in submitted to D.N.Clerk for entry in Customs EDI , Appraising officer verify & confirm – OK EO now physically check the parcel & update in Customs system again , Appraising officer gives LEO. CMC printer now prints S/b viz. Exchange control copy / Export Copy & DEPB copy / Customs Copy / Examination copy.

- The containers – either CFS or house-stuffed upon entering the Port Gate, the Custom Officer makes further endorsement on the shipping bill for “gate-in” / “let ship”.
- All Shipping Bills pertaining to the container, upon loading on board the vessel, are again taken to the Custom Officer (boarding section) for endorsement on each of the Shipping Bills for endorsing “on-board”.

The Shipping Bills are then taken together by the respective Shipping Lines and their respective EGM is prepared which get consolidated by the vessel agent in the form of vessels EGM and submitted to the Custom‟s Manifest Dept
5
From the above, the Shipping Bill is accompanying the container all through while until latter gets loaded. There is endorsement at each level such as “Let Export”, “Gate-In” and “On-Board”. Hundreds of Shipping Bills getting endorsed at these levels physically by the Custom Officers and then getting aggregated in the form of manifest will take a minimum of 5- 7 days at the present procedural method.

Further, in above steps, ICD containers are not incorporated by them.
From the flow chart as attached and the steps as enumerated, it is clear that unless sailing report is updated in system and all such shipping bills copy & mate receipt running into hundreds of such documents from multiple number of shipping lines are collected, the very start of preparing EGM data is impossible and therefore vessel agents will have to await for the MR copies being received from multiple shipping lines and all shipping bills are retrieved / collected for both EDI & NON EDI Shipping bills from Dock Customs office. As stated during the meeting any incomplete data compilation for want of incomplete data at vessel agent side shall leave fatal error in EDI and there will be further spurt of EGM Error which is by & large could be contained with active support from your department and due understanding of all stakeholders besides the fact the software stipulation in ICES 1.5 is as such that once checklist is generated subsequent to EGM filing, any shipping bill that is either left or any MR which not feeded in Dock Customs computer due to rush will have to be resolved through supplementary EGM which shall precipitate EP Copy generation errors for sure.

Kolkata being a riverine Port, sailing & berthing of Ships is basis Tidal chart unlike seaports in India where sailing & berthing of ships is not restricted to scheduled hours, and therefore a ship planned to sail a day after, Port clearance is taken a day before and since loading of cargo will be in progress it is simply not feasible to file EGM prior departure of vessel. As an established procedure and competent documentation, vessel agents are now giving an indemnity bond (copy of which is attached herewith) as a security prior obtaining Port Clearance, it is pertinent to mention here that each of this vessel agent is registered with Customs.

regards,

Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

27 August 2012 Thank You for timely response

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