Integrating Transportation Management with Customs Compliance

Solution providers roll out joint offering to let companies meet Automated Commerce Environment rules for U.S. Customs

Solution providers roll out joint offering to let companies meet Automated Commerce Environment rules for U.S. Customs

Markham, Ontario — January 26, 2006 — Headwater Technology Solutions and MSR eCustoms have reached a partnership agreement under which MSR eCustoms will integrate its Web-based ACE e-Manifest solution with Headwater's Freight Logix Transportation Management System (TMS), which is utilized by major North American highway carriers.

According to Headwater Vice President Mel Mills, by leveraging MSR's 25 years of experience as a trade compliance solutions provider, the partnership will allow Headwater to meet the customs compliance needs of its current and future TMS carrier clients. Headwater's Freight Logix TMS customers move thousands of shipments a day to the U.S. market by highway.

Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) rules make it mandatory for highway carriers to submit shipment information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ahead of their arrival at the border. Failure to comply can result in a fine of up to $10,000 per violation and in the truck being turned back at the U.S. border.

Click to Comply

"Currently, our applications support our clients' entire operations and finance requirements" said Mills, "Utilizing MSR eCustoms technology will now allow them to comply with ACE requirements with a simple click of a button, with no further manual input of data required by the dispatcher."

MSR eCustoms President and CEO Rajiv Manucha noted that the partnership leverages the strengths of both companies.

"We share the common goal of enabling clients to automate processes through the deployment of technology," Manucha said. "Our ACE e-Manifest solution will be utilized by Headwater's Freight Logix clients through a full integration with their TMS solution, giving them the real-time electronic environment they need to maintain a high level of compliance."

The Automated Commercial Environment, which began deployment in 2005, gives both CBP and the carrier community the tools and technology to ensure a secure supply-chain for cross-border shipments. ACE will give cross border highway carriers the ability to file and manage an advance electronic manifest, which will support the legislative requirements of the Trade Act of 2002.


Additional Articles of Interest

— Imminent terrorist attacks or no, your competitive advantage demands that you secure your company's supply chain. Read more in "Supply Chain Security: Is Your Company Complacent or Engaged?," in the February/March 2005 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

— For a look at how Tyco Fire & Security is tackling trade compliance issues in its global supply chain, see "Turning Global Trade Compliance Into a Competitive Advantage," in the August/September 2004 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

— For more information on the challenges and opportunities presented by increasingly global supply chains, see the special in-depth report in the August/September 2004 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive, which includes the following articles:

— For more information on the global supply chain, with a focus on security issues, see "Building the Secure Supply Chain," the Net Best Thing article in the June/July 2003 issue of iSource Business (now Supply & Demand Chain Executive) magazine.

— For more information on the latest trends in the logistics space, see the article "The Analyst Corner: Fulfillment & Logistics" in the October/November 2004 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.


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