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Bureau's AESDirect service for electronic filing of export information. Descartes has acquired FCS to offer our GLN customers a cost-effective solution for customs compliance for today's regulatory environment and, with continued development of its GLN services, for when countries roll out new electronic filing standards. The largest import/export customs filer in Canada, ViaSafe offers regulatory and compliance services including ViaTrade™, which helps carriers and logistics services providers, across all modes of transportation, negotiate increasingly complex document exchange requirements brought about by new international security initiatives and tightened borders. Through ViaTrade's electronic filings, ViaSafe can help our GLN customers move goods across borders more quickly and less expensively, thereby turning these new requirements into a competitive advantage. We are excited about the additional capabilities now available through the GLN to help our customers meet regulatory initiatives and remain compliant and competitive. If you have questions about either of these acquisitions or would like to learn more, drop me a note at eryan@descartes.com. Ed Ryan, GM, Descartes' Global Logistics Network |
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The Nishi (Western) Nippon (Japan) Railroad (NNR) began in Japan as a railroad company in 1908 and grew rapidly by diversifying into areas including transportation (buses, taxi and rail), real estate, travel and leisure, and air cargo. The airfreight division, NNR-Nishitetsu, was established in 1948 and became Japan's first International Air Transport Association (IATA)-licensed freight forwarder. Today, NNR is a top 20 global freight forwarder with a network of over 100 locations and agents stretched around the globe. The company is also a founding member of the World Air Cargo Organization (WACO), which further supplements NNR’s network with long-established WACO member agents with specialties in key areas of the world. A recognized pioneer in air cargo, NNR continues to grow and provide some of the highest quality freight and logistics services throughout the industry. A Descartes customer since 1998, NNR’s air freight host system connects directly to the Descartes Global Logistics Network™ (GLN) via an Internet connection. Information is exchanged electronically to various air carrier transportation partners to send freight way bills (FWB) and receive freight status updates (FSU) in an unsolicited manner. The FSUs are integrated into the NNR shipment |
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tracking/tracing system to provide shipment updates to NNR’s internal staff as well as global customers. To provide additional services for its customers, NNR is now implementing connections to its various trucking partners in North America so the company can now receive electronic status updates on pick-up and delivery of shipments at a local level. “We need this information to ensure that the customers’ freight is being properly handled,” said John Berry, NNR, Director, IT Services. “Descartes helps support our overall corporate goal of providing end-to-end visibility to our NNR staff and to our global customers,” Berry added. “Without the electronic connectivity from the GLN, we are not as productive as we want to be with our staff and for our customers. Descartes’ global and multi-modal capabilities are allowing us to leverage the GLN to take our customer support to the next level.” Do you need to expand your GLN services to better support your customers? Please contact your GLN Services rep today for more information. |
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Find Business Documents Easily with New Descartes Service |
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Does this scenario sound familiar? Someone from customer service calls and asks you to research delivery of a specific shipment, but they only give you a purchase order (PO) number and customer name. The customer “sent the PO through his value-added network (VAN)” approximately two weeks ago. You spent an hour diligently reviewing all the individual POs received during that period only to ultimately discover that the PO was received late last week and is just now ready to be shipped. Nip this productivity buster in the bud! Descartes’ new myGLN-based BizKey Search Tracking Service provides an easy but effective way to track documents from receipt to delivery to your trading partners—even if you don’t know the specific date, IDs, or control/batch numbers. With the BizKey Search Tracking Service, simply go to the myGLN Message Management Center, pull down the BizKey Search Menu, choose from one of many identifying numbers (purchase order, bill of lading, freight invoice, commercial invoice, pro-bill, shipment, etc.) available for tracking all of your |
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documents and select “Retrieve.” The new service tool locates the originating document and subsequently-related transactions (such as advanced shipment notices (ASNs), status information, invoices, functional acknowledgements, etc.) that contain the submitted search number. Now when you receive a document tracking request from your customer service, finance or traffic department, you have access to information to provide answers quickly and easily. Or, you can choose to give access to the BizKey Search Tracking Service to other internal departments, making your job and their jobs much easier to perform and boosting overall responsiveness to your customers. Contact your GLN Services representative for more info, or e-mail activations@descartes.com today if you are interested in discussing the details of setting up Descartes’ BizKey Search myGLN- based Tracking Service for use in your organization. |
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New On-line Customs Compliance Filing Tool Helps Airlines Improve Messaging Quality and Freight Forwarders Save Money
Newly introduced mandatory customs filing requirements for all shipments to Canada and India, together with the already existing procedures for US and the Netherlands, is strengthening demand for customs compliance message quality (FHLs) to the airlines. |
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Most airlines now impose surcharges for electronic filings. For example, if a forwarder correctly files a shipment electronically, there is still a US$2.00 fee. If the forwarder does not file electronically, or files electronically but there is an error or information is missing, an US$8.00 fee applies. The Descartes GLN can help forwarder offices that do not have a way to electronically send registrations to the airlines before tendering the cargo. Descartes offers a new Web-based tool that lets a user create electronic messages to destinations valid for the customs procedures. The messages are distributed to the airlines in question after submission via the Web. The new tool can also create and send electronic (airway bills) messages to airlines. According to the airlines, the extra fee of US$ 6.00 for missed, incomplete or erroneous filings covers only a fraction of the extra costs the airlines incur from manual handling. As a result, the airlines are extremely interested in supporting new ways to help freight forwarders maximize the number of high quality Customs Compliance messages. For airlines, these actions help facilitate a smooth cargo |
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acceptance process at the cargo terminals and reduce clearance time for flights to the US, Canada and India. Freight forwarder World Courier is already using the new GLN Web filing tool for some of its stations that do not have the ability to send electronic customs messages. Besides improving the quality of information, the new tool is helping the company save money by reducing the number of surcharges it incurs. According to Business Support and Systems Manager John Dowds at bmi Cargo, “The advantage of the Descartes GLN Customs Compliance Web Filing Tool for bmi is the ability to allow our customers to register the bmi Cargo shipment to Customs Compliance countries before delivering the cargo to their terminals, which helps keep shipments on time and customers happy.” If you would like to know more about this new on-line tool, please contact your GLN Services rep today for more information. |
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Descartes to Exhibit at the ACE Exchange Conference in Chicago on August 16 and 17 |
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On August 16 and 17, 2006, US Customs and Border Protection (US CBP) will hold a free conference on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Initiative at the Westin, 909 Michigan Avenue, in Chicago. Compliance experts from Descartes’ Flagship Customs Services and Viasafe divisions will be on hand to demonstrate our latest compliance services, including ACE-4-Trucks. ACE-4-Trucks is now available for GLN subscribers that move goods across the Canadian or Mexican border. ACE-4-Trucks successfully completed US Customs and Border Protection’s intensive software testing process and can help companies:
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The US CBP already accepts e-Manifests electronically from trucking companies prior to a truck’s arrival at most United States land border crossings. As of June 15, 2006, if a carrier does not use ACE at a border that is live and the customs broker has not fulfilled the Pre-arrival Processing System (PAPS) obligations correctly, the carrier may be denied entry at the border. Descartes anticipates that ACE participation will be mandatory at most, if not all, US border crossings by fall 2006. Contact your GLN Services rep now for more information on this service before it becomes a mandated US Customs service requirement, or e-mail ACE-4-Trucks Register for the free conference in Chicago here: https://apps.cbp.gov/ |
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World Courier Relies on the Descartes GLN for Worldwide Connectivity
World Courier, a Descartes customer since 2003, was founded in 1969 when James R. Berger identified a critical need for faster and more controlled international document deliveries than the services provided by the post office. As a ship broker for the grain industry, Berger was intimately acquainted with the workings of the shipping industry and clearly understood the ramifications of delayed letters of credit and bills of lading on a company's bottom line. In response, he founded World Courier and, as chairman, pioneered the concept of a truly premium courier service. |
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Soon World Courier was asked to transport parts and machinery, film footage, medicines and blood specimens, food samples, and even cryogenic shipments and human organs for transplant worldwide on an priority basis. While the nature of these goods seemed far removed from document shipments, they all had one thing in common—the need for speed and customized handling. For the past 35 years, World Courier has used a variety of transportation modes including on-board couriers, chartered aircraft and premium airfreight arrangements, to deliver fast, secure and reliable shipments to its clients. Today the company has over 140 worldwide offices and is still dedicated to providing customized one-on-one transportation solutions for clients with special handling needs, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. World Courier continues to expand its global network to be closer to clients for better and more responsive service. Headquartered in Stamford, Conn., World Courier employs over 2,500 employees worldwide. World Courier subscribes to several services available through the Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN) and initially selected the GLN to connect its worldwide offices and air carrier trading partners. World Courier implemented Descartes PC Pro which resides on a desktop in each office and provides full electronic accessibility via the Internet to create air bill documents and retrieve related status information. |
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FHL messaging also helps World Courier automate the filing of automated manifest system (AMS) information for various countries and air carriers that can support this level of service. To enhance the AMS filings, World Courier relies on the Descartes AMS server (another GLN service) to accept and route all AMS messages to the correct air carriers, customs agents or agencies based on pre-defined routing profiles. This process greatly simplifies the submission requirements for each office—employees just send messages to Descartes and we automatically route them to the correct AMS site. The Descartes AMS Server also provides World Courier with status messages for each FHL message submission made to an AMS site. Finally, as noted earlier World Courier recently started using the new GLN Web filing tool for some of its stations that do not have the ability to send electronic customs messages. Besides improving the quality of information, the new tool is helping the company save money by avoiding surcharges. Do you know how many services are offered via the Descartes GLN? If you haven’t seen the list lately, we invite you to take a look by visiting http://www.descartes.com/solutions/gln |
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Copyright ©2006. The Descartes Systems Group Inc. All rights reserved. |
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