Products and Services

”You are the Freight Forwarder….I thought you Insured It!!!!!!”

Okay, let’s say you’ve called an international freight forwarder to pick up your 400 cases of consumer goods being manufactured in China. It will travel intermodal — ocean to Vancouver, rail to Toronto, road to your dealer network, and 10 cases by air to Montreal for your three dealers there. You’ve got $75,000 worth of your product tied up in this shipment and you assume your freight forwarder has got you covered if something goes awry.

Wrong!

Unless you purchase insurance for your shipment, you won’t get much if it’s damaged in transit. ALL freight forwarders and carriers limit their liability and the carriers will only give you a few dollars per pound or kilo regardless of its true value to you.

The amounts vary by carrier type and, in the case of ocean transport, it also varies by the port of entry (CDN/US). Unfortunately, without insurance, you could be at a loss for the rest of the value of your shipment if some or all of it is damaged or stolen somewhere along the line.

What’s more, as the shipper, you have to determine which carrier was responsible for the damage, where it occurred and prove they were negligent! No one is going to do that for you.

But nothing will go wrong, will it?

Why tempt fate? In the $75,000, 100 kilo example above, if it was damaged by the air carrier, you would receive only $20 per kilo or $2,000 – if the air carrier is found to be liable.

For an additional $262.50 in insurance for that shipment, if an insured peril caused the damage, you would receive the full value of the damaged product, including any and all costs involved in surveying, repacking, etc. By insuring with DB Schenker you get all risk coverage for both your cargo and transportation cost, not to mention peace of mind.

Leslie Wells, RIBO Licensed Insurance Broker, The CG&B Group Inc., is Exclusive Servicing Brokerage for Schenker of Canada Limited, Reach Leslie at LeslieW@cgbgroup.com, or call 905-405-5367.

Canadian Clients – For more information or to obtain a cargo insurance quote email insurance.canada@dbschenker.com

U.S.A. Clients – For more information or to obtain a cargo insurance quote cal 1 800 225 5229 or email usainsurance@dbschenker.com

When DIY Just Doesn’t Make Sense

by Scott Cairncross

In an effort to keep more control and possibly save some money, many companies insist on handling their own transportation and logistics requirements. They have a do it yourself (DIY) mentality. If they don’t have their own transportation infrastructure, they find a ground carrier to move their products, another to handle cross-border paperwork, yet another for warehousing, and still another to facilitate returns. It’s a frustrating and time-consuming process and what happens when something goes wrong? They dial up a customer service call centre and speak with someone who knows nothing about their business or their products.

Sound familiar?

If this is your experience, you’re probably thinking: “There has to be a better way.”

What if there was a great service that will save your company time and money? It would offer you easy-to-use tools like: customized web-portals, easily accessible web based track and trace, end-to-end shipment status visibility including Customs Clearance, and estimated time of arrival and final delivery information – all from one company. It would improve your speed to market with consistent, reliable, on-time delivery — performance worth boasting about.

Another key benefit would be that instead of dealing with several different contacts at several different companies, you have one dedicated individual. Once you sign up for the program, your company would be assigned a direct line of contact to one individual for day-to-day operations.

Whenever you needed to reach out to one of these distribution customer service specialists, you would be greeted by the same team member every time; someone who is experienced in your industry and knows your distribution needs instantly. Call it a more personal, “no call-center” approach.

What if that company’s dedicated service is not something new and untried, but has been up and running, serving satisfied, brand name customers, for over 18 years? Would you be interested?

Well there’s no reason to wait any longer. The Canada Made Easy (CME) service from DB Schenker gives you an opportunity to reach the Canadian marketplace without bricks and mortar; without dollars tied up in infrastructure, equipment, resources and inventory; and without the usual redundant, slow and challenging internal processes. When CME takes care of a shipment, you’ll know your freight is in excellent hands; that it will make it to Canada securely, damage-free and on-time, every time. With Canada Made Easy, there’s no good reason to go it alone.

Scott Cairncross is Vice President and National Product Manager, Ground Freight, DB Schenker.

DB Schenker Customs Consulting Helps Elfe Get in the Swing of Things

by Victor Q. Truong

Anyone who imports products into Canada knows that getting them across the border through Customs can be a challenge fraught with complexity. In fact, the ever-changing rules and regulations of Canada Customs add complexity and risk to the Canadian importer. Without the right advice and counsel, you could be paying excessive or even unnecessary duties on the products you bring into the country. In other cases, with the right representation, importers have won back past duties paid because their goods were inaccurately classified by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and they were able to prove it.

How do you know? What should you look for in a Customs Broker or Consultant?

Unaware and unfamiliar with the complex customs laws and procedures, many importers simply let their logistics partner take care of the cross-border brokerage and they pay the duties assigned to their products without question. Likely, their logistics partner has a person in operations that knows a little about the Customs rules and so they put through the paperwork.

Instead, you should look for a Customs Broker or Consulting team with a depth of knowledge and experience in all types of imported goods. Do they have the wherewithal and expertise to work with the Customs Agency or take your case to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) and fight to maintain a tariff classification or preferential treatment that your products should be entitled to benefit from and therefore lower the duties you pay? Can they possibly recoup past duties once the new classification is established? Only a specialized team can advise you on the best course of action.

Take the example of Elfe Juvenile Products (CITT Case: AP-2011-029). They import the Graco Lovin’ Hug^™ infant swing set that CBSA classified as furniture because small children sit on it. In its appeal at the CITT, Elfe argued that the swing set was designed for the amusement of infants and should therefore be categorized as Other Toys and not furniture. They brought in Dr. Jennifer Rosinia as a professional witness and expert in pediatric occupational therapy and neuroscience in the sensory processing of the developing child.

The doctor testified that “the purpose of this product is for the baby to experience movement. If the baby is moving, then . . . it’s a way of playing. Moving through space is a way of playing for babies.” According to Dr. Rosinia, the infant swing was created specifically to amuse babies and to allow them to interact with their sensory systems. Elfe won its appeal and the swing set was properly classified.

This is just one example of many where the deep knowledge and expertise of the Customs Consulting team working on Elfe’s behalf was instrumental in finding the precise tariff category and affecting the change of a product’s classification for the benefit of the importer. It’s strong evidence that importers should only work with qualified, experienced and knowledgeable Customs experts.

Victor Q. Truong, B.A., LL.B. is International Trade Consultant, CCS Customs Compliance & Trade Consulting,
DB Schenker of Canada Limited.

ACE to Streamline International Trade with USA

by Heather Burke

On February 19, 2014, the White House issued an Executive Order that directs the U.S. federal agencies with a role in trade to complete the development of an electronic “Single Window” by December 2016. The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will become the Single Window – the primary system through which the trade community will report imports and exports and the government will determine admissibility of trade goods.

Through ACE as the Single Window, manual processes will be streamlined and automated, paper will be eliminated; and the international trade community will be able to more easily and efficiently comply with U.S. laws and regulations.

The centralization of the Automated Export System (AES) on the ACE system will have a significant impact on both the government’s oversight capabilities and importers’ and exporters’ compliance responsibilities.

In early April of this year, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), successfully completed the third of seven deployments of new ACE features. This deployment marks continued progress in CBP’s plan to deliver all core trade processing capabilities in ACE by the end of 2016.  Features in this recent deployment include the:

• Expansion of the ACE Cargo Release pilot to include in-bond movements and partial quantities for ocean and rail shipments, and basic processing for truck shipments;
• Ability for filers to certify for ACE Cargo Release from their ACE Entry Summary record for air, ocean and rail shipments (Certified from Summary);
• New ACE entry summary validations for Merchandise Processing Fee and Complex Duty Calculations (i.e., those entry summary lines with two Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classifications); and the
• Migration of the Automated Export System (AES) to the ACE platform, and support for new Census Bureau and Bureau of Industry and Security regulations.

CBP and trade filers are currently testing the new Cargo Release transactions for ocean shipments. In addition, CBP is preparing to test the Partner Government Agency (PGA) Message Set transactions for the pilot with the Environmental Protection Agency, targeted to begin later this month.

Importers interested in taking advantage of the new ACE Cargo Release capabilities or who have questions regarding other features of ACE should contact me or their local DB Schenker office.

Heather Burke (heather.burke@dbschenker.com) is Director, Trade Services, DB Schenker. DB Schenker has been an early ACE participant, including having been selected as a pilot provider in the ACE Cargo Release implementation.

Test run for the World Cup 2014

The international soccer association FIFA had selected GoalControl, located in Würselen, Germany to be the official supplier of goal line technology at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. DB Schenker Logistics ensured the smooth transportation, customs clearance and on-time delivery of the goal line systems to the stadiums. Experts at Schenker Deutschland AG were responsible for transporting the system‘s 14 high-speed cameras, computers, cables, assembly equipment and even the soccer balls including ball pumps by air freight from Germany to the six stadiums in Belo Horizonte, Recife, Brasilia, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza. After delivery, the systems, which took up roughly 25 cubic meters of space, were assembled and installed. The new goal line technology system continuously captures the position of the ball in three dimensions. If the ball crosses the goal line completely, the central processing unit sends an encrypted radio signal to the referee‘s watch in less than one second.

The short time frame posed a special challenge for the logistics experts at DB Schenker: “In some cases, we had only nine business days to collect the freight in Würselen, take care of the flight and customs formalities and deliver it to the stadium. After all, the systems should be installed and tested in the stadiums by the time the test matches are held“, stated Christian Schultze, head of DB SCHENKERsportsevents, Schenker Deutschland AG.

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