Domestic Shrimpers Hail Air, Land Cargo Manifest Bill

The Southern Shrimp Alliance hailed a recently introduced bipartisan bill that would require cargo imported by air or land to be covered by publicly accessible manifests, just as is cargo that comes over the oceans (see 2311030022).

The alliance said that by reviewing bills of lading, the group "was able to conclusively establish that massive volumes of Chinese-origin shrimp was being transshipped to the United States in order to evade the payment of antidumping duties as well as regulatory controls imposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."

The group noted that ocean-going freight is less than half of U.S. imports.

"In addition, the Manifest Modernization Act would require the public release of information regarding both where the cargo was produced as well as the last country through which it was transported. Under current law, only the country-of-origin of the shipment is required to be publicly released," the group said Nov. 13.

"Finally, the Manifest Modernization Act also requires the public release of the subheading of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under which the cargo is classified. For the shrimp industry, this additional information will make it much easier to ascertain whether wild-caught shrimp from countries that are not certified by the U.S. Department of State under the Section 609 program is being shipped to the United States in violation of law."