Hong Kong exporters risk seeing their U.S. shipments left on the docks if they fail to comply with U.S. Customs' new cargo manifest rule, a shippers' group warned.

The rule, which requires shippers and carriers to electronically file information on U.S.-bound shipments to U.S. Customs 24 hours prior to loading, goes into effect Feb. 2.

Lines will "adhere strictly to the rule starting toward the end of January" to meet the deadline, which follows a 60-day grace period considered too short by many in the industry, said Willy Lin, chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers Council. "They will not load any container that is not accompanied by the advance submission of the manifest before the document cut-off time. Shippers must know their carriers' cut-off dates."

U.S. Customs denied a request by the group to further extend the deadline for complaince. The Feb. 2 date coincides with the Chinese New Year, and there is often a surge in shipments leading up to the holidays.

Shippers not compliant with the 24-hour rule risk having their containers delayed or not being shipped before the long holiday shutdown. "When a shipper misses the intended shipping date, there can be serious complications," Lin said. "There are likely to be extra charges, such as a 'change of vessel' charge and overtime storage charges for rejected shipments." He urged textile exporters in particular to pay attention to the expiry date of export licenses in case shipments are rejected and have to be re-booked on a later sailing.

The Council said it is working with several local companies preparing services to enable Hong Kong exporters to file trade declaration data electronically to carriers and non-vessel operating common carriers. The carriers and NVOCCs would then submit their data to U.S. Customs via its Automated Manifest System.

By P.T. Bangsberg