Also, concerns are now being raised about the accuracy of outbound vessel manifests. Customs, with Census' participation, has compared a sample of outbound vessel manifests and SEDs with actual cargo loaded.
Preliminary results indicate that vessel manifests also are inaccurate.
In many instances, cargo is not being manifested on the vessel actually carrying the merchandise, but rather included on the manifest of a vessel departing later when the SEDs are available. This practice hinders Customs in its efforts to detect violations of export laws. Also, this practice results in inaccurate trade statistics. Since these statistics are utilized in sensitive trade negotiations and important economic policy decisions, accuracy is critical. The principal cause of this problem is the failure of exporters and forwarders to provide complete and accurate SEDs to exporting carriers at the time of exportation.