Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS): A year on

In June of 2018, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a ruling that freight arriving into the United States must be reported before it is loaded onto aircraft bound for the US.  At that time, CBP stated that it would take a “common sense approach” of enforcement meaning that no damages claims would be issued for the first 12 months.  June 2019 is the 12-month mark and it is anticipated that violations will become subject to liquidated damages claims.  

ACAS requires that several key data elements of a shipment are submitted prior to loading.  CBP uses this information to determine if goods need examination.  If CBP determines a shipment is a risk, ACAS returns a “Do Not Load” (DNL) status for the shipment and allows for physical screening to take place before it is consolidated or loaded on aircraft. 

CBP has been very flexible in the standards of data that can be transmitted and include new ‘pre’ type message types based on the Air AMS CAMIR format. While similar to previous formats, the new formats have slight differences in edits, timing or new coded values.  The information is sourced from the commonly used IATA FWB and FHL CargoIMP (or CargoXML) messages but must be transformed into "pre" PWB and PHL formats.

CHAMP’s Traxon Global Security (TGS) service has been in operation for more than a year offering carriers and forwarders the ability to send their consignment data as CargoIMP FWB and single HWB FHL messages to TGS in advance of loading. This simplifies the complexity of message exchange with partners, increases operational efficiency and saves time, and reduces the risk of security “holds”. It will also be compliant with future PLACI legislation in other regions, including European Union Pre-Loading Consignment Information for Secure Entry (PRECISE), and Canada Pre-Load Air Cargo Targeting (PACT).