FPA Customs Brokers, Inc., was founded in August 1993 and licensed by the Department of Treasury. A Certified and Validated C-TPAT Broker, FPA held Power of Attorney and were the Customs Brokers for small, medium and large importers, many of which were household names and Fortune 500 companies. FPA’s main operations involved the clearance of non-quota merchandise in any U.S. port. Their clients imported a wide range of commodities into the United States, including; clothing apparel, fabrics and textiles, eyewear, handbags and accessories, jewelry, bedding, footwear, toys, paintings, sculptures and works of art, bicycles and parts, cutlery, household appliances and tools, leather goods, chemicals, food products, cosmetics, computers, electronics, giftware, and more.
The Company was completely computerized and online with U.S. Customs (FDA; FWS); they offered a computerized track and trace system to monitor the progress of their clients’ shipments.
SERVICES
FPA was completely computerized and online with U.S. Customs as well as Other Governmental Agencies (OGA). They offered our clients Internet Shipment Tracking to allow online status of shipments from:
- Pre-alerts
- Documents received
- Classification and Preparation of entry
- Presentation to CBP and other Government Agencies, (FDA, FWS, USDA)
- Releases by CBP and OGA
- Payment of Duty to CBP
- CBP Exams and Status
- OGA holds
- Arranging or notification of local trucking
- CBP Entry Liquidations
Their internal processing systems were monitored and tracked to ensure that documents for air shipments received each day were processed and submitted to U.S. Customs on the same day. Besides their regular staff, FDA employed an evening staff, who continued to process entries, taking full advantage of U.S. Customs extended hours at JFK, Monday through Friday. If clients required special handling, documents could be faxed or scanned to FPA, and they utilized U.S. Customs “Wheels-Up” program to speed clearance of non-quota shipments. They also arranged special appointments for expedited clearance of “time-sensitive” merchandise. Documents for Ocean shipments were processed upon receipt and pre-filed with U.S. Customs five days prior to vessel arrival; thus allowing clearance upon arrival.
Computer Capabilities with U.S. Customs Service:
FPA was linked with CBP via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).
FPA was:
- ABI Cargo Certified
- Able to receive statement Payment Via Automated Clearing House (ACH)
- Authorized for pre-quota filing
- Authorized for “wheels-up” processing
- Authorized to receive paperless releases
- Electronically connected with Fish & Wildlife to transmit entry data
- Approved by FDA for “Paperless mode” via electronic entry processing
- Approved for electronic invoice presentation (EIP)
- Approved for national remote location filing (RLF)
- Approved to participate in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)
Tracking and tracing
eVents Management System – EMS
FPA’s eVents Management Systems (EMS) tracked specified shipment dates within their tracing database and automatically sent fax or email alert messages to clients and or their trading partners.
With EMS, the entire process of identifying critical shipment dates and creating appropriate alert messages was easily managed. Criteria used to trigger an *eVents alert were virtually unlimited, and could consist of various factors:
- A change of any shipment date
- A change in a list of user-specified dates
- The existence of a specific shipment date
- The non-existence of a specific shipment date
*eVents was fully customizeable to accommodate the client’s needs and requirements.
Compliance and Training Standards and Policies
All FPA associates participated in an ongoing, in-house education curriculum. They had formalized the learning process and were dedicated to developing people skills and knowledge through training and education to attain their number one goal: delivery of superior service to their clients.
Their curriculum consisted of the following:
- FPA Philosophy: history, values, traditions, strategies, policies, procedures and quality standards.
- Customer Service: FPA service offerings, communication, teamwork, customer expectations, service delivery and follow-up through communication.
- Information Systems: application training – Import, ABI, Tracking, Accounting, PC-based software, drawbacks, reconciliation and remote location filing.
- Customs Brokerage: Training was conducted in-house by FPA Managers. They also sent employees to outside seminars for additional education such as World Trade Institute; National Education Institute (NEI); Hazardous Materials/Dangerous Goods Training; USA-ITA Seminars; Customs Brokerage license preparation courses; CBP Quarterly Meetings & Trade Seminars; Customs Broker Association Conferences and Customs Law Attorney Seminars.
- The following were the classes taught: Documentation, Classification, Traffic, Billing and tracing. Also with in-house video training on: Telephone skills, Customer service, Windows, Microsoft Word, Excel spreadsheets and Outlook.
- All employees were kept informed of the competition, industry developments, international trade issues, and CBP practices and procedures. In addition, managers went through extensive management, communication and leadership training.
Locations
152-31 134th Avenue
Jamaica , NY 11434-3505
222 North Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 1200
El Segundo, CA 90245-5670
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Founded: 1993
Headquarters: Jamaica, NY (USA) & El Segnundo, CA (USA)
Area service: North America
Services:
- Customs brokerage
- Local trucking and delivery
- Warehousing and distribution
- Cargo insurance
- Surety bonds
- CBP facility tours at JFK
- Intra-state trucking
- Foreign Trade Zone entries
- Remote Location Filing
- Certificates of Registrations for Export and Return
- Carnets
Memberships and relationships:
- National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, Inc.
- United States Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel.
- Long Island Import and Export Association
- Los Angeles Customs Brokers Association
- Global Business Association
- NEXCO
- The Port Authority of NY & NJ