Question for a Friday Afternoon??

[PackRat]

Question for all:

If a driver leaves a shipper without getting customs paperwork and doesn't realize it until after the shipper has closed and puts the shipment into bond....should the carrier seek out the bond charges from the customer? Opinions would be greatly appreciated!! Have a great weekend everyone!!

 

[Activet]

If the bond was taken out for the convenience of the carrier, then the carrier eats it. Ordinary due diligence of a reasonably informed and experienced carrier requires that the carrier ensure himself of having possession of all of the documentation required to complete the border crossing, prior to leaving the shipper's facility.

Have a great week-end!

 

[bubba-one]

Lets add to this scenario, if the shipper gives the driver paperwork late afternoon but won't fax it for the driver to the broker, and nearest truckstop is miles away, should the carrier bond it due to the shippers negligence, and pass the cost on?

 

[ralphthetrucker]

If a truck driver leaves a shipper with out the "Customs Docs" and doesn't notify the carrier how can the broker be held liable? It's the same thing isn't it?

If a shipper won't fax paperwork and the load won't/doesn't clear it really becomes a problem that the customer may have to eat. Scanners in trucks are the coming technology for the industry I believe.

 

[alx]

Customs paperwork

I fully agree with Activet.

We do strictly LTL inbound to Canada and on Friday's we have about twenty shipments on three trucks. We often have the drivers leave the shipper without the customs paperwork if it is not ready, as long as the driver has a bill of lading onto which he must affix his PARS. We get on aquiring the paperwork immediately.

Clearly, our drivers are used to going through the paperwork to see if it is complete prior to sending it to us. They often catch errors and advise us.

We will not accept the excuse that they cannot use the fax machine to send a fax when time is of the essence. If this case even hints at arising we immediately call the client and advise them of the extra charges they will incur. We charge a minimum $200.00 for the in bond shipment.

Seeing we are not post audit, a trailer in bond compromises our whole operation. Upon delivery we cannot combine the shipments as originally planned and have to back track.
We figure a cost closer to $400.00 for simply going in bond.

We also have a list of lousy customs brokers; i.e. those that are simply useless and especially those that close at 4:00pm on Friday and do not answer the phone until Monday @ 9:00am. When we have one of those we follow the file very closely.

In the case of the driver leaving without the customs paperwork or the wrong load, we as the carrier are fully responsible.

 

[Activet]

bubba-one, I'm sure there are as many opinions regarding this issue as there are various scenarios. As a broker, my responsibility is to know and pass on to the carrier the customer's account number, working hours, and contact numbers, including after hours or emergency numbers for the customs broker. I wouldn't trust a carrier that didn't ask for all this info if it wasn't on the confirmation. If the shipper will not send the fax to the broker or let the driver do it, and it results in a bond charge, I bill my customer for it. Of course I try to mitigate their extra cost by informing them as soon as I know about it. They have more influence with the shipper to change this unreasonable practice, perhaps by deducting from the shipper's invoice for the goods these extra charges. This requires the ability and willingness to communicate with each other as urgently as the situation reasonably demands.

The main point is that logically, the extra costs should be born by the party that's acting unreasonably, or ineptly.