CBP Moving Toward Pre-Inspection Pilot in New Mexico, Says Winkowski

LAS VEGAS -- CBP is moving toward testing the preinspection of cargo that would eliminate the need for going through a port of entry, said CBP Chief Operating Officer Tom Winkowski. That testing, which will go on in New Mexico, is one part of working toward a major reduction in transaction costs at the U.S. border that will be an important step in keeping the country competitive with other rapidly growing nations, Winkowski said Jan. 8 at the CES Government conference. Winkowski didn’t say when the testing might begin.

Winkowski likened the cargo movement without a port of entry to the move to E-ZPass, which allows cars on the highway to pay tolls without having to stop and deal with an attendant. “I think that’s where we’re headed,” he said. “If I’ve got this trusted trader, and they have all the right systems in place -- they’ve secured the supply chain, they’ve met our audits, they’re part of the mutual recognition arrangements with our supply chain security partners -- is there a better way of getting that cargo into the country,” he asked. “I think there is.”

The technology is there and it will next require a change to the thought process that “you don’t have to necessarily go and be anointed at the point of entry,” Winkowski said. “There’s a different way of doing it with the right controls and things of that nature,” he said.

There are some tough questions ahead as agencies expect to see budget cuts, said Winkowksi. “Like all federal agencies, we are going to be facing some challenges,” he said. “But I can tell you that CBP will certainly rise to the occasion. We have an important mission.” Budget challenges provide an “opportunity for us to dig down hard and look at opportunity,” he said. Some 70 percent of CBP’s $11 billion budget is devoted to salary and benefits, meaning there’s little discretionary spending to deal with, he said.

CBP is a key piece to keeping competitive to rapidly growing countries, Winkowski said. It’s important that the progress on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) continues to move forward, he said. “We need to continue to move forward on exports and we need to continue to move forward on cargo release, which is a big big piece,” he said. The new more agile approach CBP is now using will allow it to offer better systems than M1, which is “clunky and costs a lot of money to run,” he said. “The operation of the maintenance on M1 or other piece of ACE are problematic,” he said.

The agency will also need to continue to change the way goods are entered, Winkowski said. The vast majority of cargo arriving at seaports is released before the vessel arrives, he said. The focus must now be on the small percentage of goods that aren’t released and which add costs and delays to the overall process, said Winkowski. Improvement will also require work with other government agencies to align on trade strategy and how to handle commodities that require involvement by other agencies, he said. That’s an area the brokerage community says CBP needs to do a much better job, he said.