News / Formalised entry – the ecommerce conundrum facing the US

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Formalising ecommerce shipments into the US is “not if, but when”, as current cross-border traffic “is creating safety, security and economical risks” – but the sheer volume of parcels would make this a daunting task.  

Emir Pineda, director of marketing & air service development at Miami International Airport (MIA), told The Loadstar that ecommerce shipments were more complicated than general cargo, as they often include 200-400 air waybills per pallet. 

“You have to check it differently, you have to process it differently, you have to break down that palette of product into individual pieces,” he said. 

And he added that this “sets the stage” for the clearing process to be much longer, as there is currently no formal entry process for shipments valued at less than $800 – the de minimis threshold.  

“Customs authorities are looking at the shipments and, if they suspect something, they’re going to hold it. And here’s where the problem comes… How do you get through all of this?” asked Mr Pineda.  

“Low-value [traffic] is huge, and e-commerce can be anything,” he explained, noting that as long as a product bought online cost less $800, there are no mandated data requirements.  

He said: “If you formalise it, you can track it, you can manage it better, you know exactly what it is… whether it’s pharmaceuticals, commercial goods or something else.” 

And added: “Right now, there’s no formal entry, and this is why I can’t give exact e-commerce numbers, because I don’t have the data.” 

The CEO and founder of e-smart logistics, Denis Ilin, explained that data requirements would “vary country to country”, but would likely cover what specific goods were inside a shipment, its value and whether it is B2C or B2B traffic. 

“All so the authorities are able to prevent unwelcome goods from import, as well as calculate and apply appropriate import taxes and duties. Again, nothing new, but the current situation with ecommerce is not that transparent,” he told The Loadstar.  

And according to Mr Ilin, per-shipment visibility “is not about if, but when”, as current cross-border e-commerce traffic “is creating safety, security and economical risks to the US”.  

He added: “The growing dominance of ecommerce will shortly come to a point when the authorities cannot afford to let these volumes enter the country unidentified – probably, it has already reached that point.” 

And Mr Pineda highlighted the growing fentanyl drug crisis in the US – much of which is produced in China and smuggled in through low-value ecommerce shipments.  

But he was skeptical that formalised entry for ecommerce would be possible, due to the sheer amount of volume, creating time and money concerns.  

“That would mean a huge amount of volume with a huge amount of data entry… it just might not be possible. It’s a balance. I don’t know which way we’re going to go.”