Dear Valued Clients & Partners,

IFCBAA has overnight been involved in communications with the NCBFAA (National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America) on this issue.

Both organisations have reciprocal organisation membership with each other, on behalf of their respective members.

Given the now high likelihood of a US Government shutdown this Sunday night (US ET), NCBFAA has issued a joint industry statement, which advocates for all US government agencies involved in international trade to remain open.

At this stage, it appears that an essential services policy may see a number of main border clearance processes in the US remain open, however the full scope of that situation applying across all relevant government agencies involved in international trade remains unclear, with high risks of stoppages and ongoing delays, being likely

Unless a surprise solution is agreed upon and rushed through today (Friday) US ET, then the NCBFAA is of the view that this impasse could possibly take several weeks for a resolution to be achieved.

This raises high prospects of significant disruption and delays being experienced in the servicing of cargo at major ports, airports and related precinct areas throughout the US from Sunday night.

IFCBAA members would be well advised to inform their customers, agents and offices that have shipments in progress to and from the US at this time, of prospective delays and potential knock-on effects in areas such as demurrage.

The last time this occurred, the USITC HTS website went down, the NCBFAA have downloaded a current version at this time of this and firewalled it, which can be accessed through this link https://hts.usitc.gov/ .

More detailed information on the current situation is available on a industry podcast that was recorded yesterday in the US, that included commentary from Megan Montgomery, Executive Vice President of NCBFAA. https://gtc.trade/simply-trade-podcast/

This warning for members is based on what is known at this stage, on a worst case scenario heading into this coming weekend.

The statement from NCBFAA is contained in the below link: Joint Trade Industry Statement Regarding a Potential Government Shut Down on October 1st.pdf (informz.net)

Best Regards

The DDWL Team

Source: IFCBAA News https://www.ifcbaa.com/IFCBAA/News