Working With Your Customs Broker: Questions for Arrival Day

On arrival day your customs broker holds several answers that your inspector needs and cannot find anywhere else: whether the container was opened, which seal is on it now, when it will be released, which papers the driver carries. A short list of questions sent the day before saves an hour of telephone calls beside a waiting truck. This article is about the practical questions only. Everything concerning customs procedure, inspection and release follows customs requirements and belongs to the broker, and CargoChek does not handle customs.

The broker sees the shipment through the customs system and the terminal. Your inspector sees it through the container doors. The two views complete each other. If the broker knows the container was selected for physical inspection and you do not, you may blame a supplier for what was a repacking. If you know a seal was replaced and the broker does not, the question reaches the right person late.

Questions about the seals and any inspection

1. What is the seal number on the container now, and what was it at the origin?
2. Was the shipment opened or inspected on the way? Where, and by whom?
3. If it was opened, what was done afterwards, and which new seal was applied?
4. Were any packages taken out for sampling, or left at the terminal?
5. Is there a record of the inspection, and may you have a copy of it?

Some of these the broker may not know, and some may not be shared. An answer of "unknown" is still a useful line in the log.

Questions about release, timing and papers

• Has the shipment been released, or is a decision still awaited? Where will you see that confirmed?
• Who may remove the seal, and who has to be present?
• When will the container or truck reach the unloading site, within what window, and who will tell you of a delay?
• Is there a time limit at the terminal or in the carrier's conditions that makes the unloading urgent?
• Where must the empty container be returned, and by when? The carrier or the forwarder will know.
• Which documents will the driver hand over, and which will be sent separately?
• Do you receive copies of the papers the broker holds, and when?
• Whom do you call if the number on the seal or the container does not match the papers?

The two questions about the time limit and the return matter because they set the working time for your check. Ask also, in general terms, who bears any waiting charges, and take the detail to the broker or the carrier.

How to ask, and how to keep the answers

Send the questions in one message, the day before if possible, and keep the reply in the shipment file. If the answer comes by telephone, write down the time, the name and the answer, and send it back as a short confirmation ("As agreed by telephone at 10:15..."). A broker is busy, so make it easy: number the questions, leave space for the answers and keep to what you need.

A conditional example

A message to the broker on the evening before: "Container ABCD 123456-7 (a made-up number). 1) Present seal number? 2) Opened for inspection? 3) Release expected when? 4) Who is the contact at the terminal? 5) Which papers does the driver bring?" The reply next morning: "Seal changed after inspection, new number 99871. Released. Driver brings invoice and a copy of the packing list." Your inspector now knows to look for signs of repacking, to compare the seal with 99871 and to count against the packing list.

In short

The broker knows the shipment's path through customs, your inspector knows the cargo, and the two need to speak before the doors open. CargoChek works from the moment of arrival at the unloading site, and uses what your broker tells you to look for the right signs when the container is opened.