A return to cruise ship operations means that Sobel Network Shipping stands ready to help vendors and cruise ship operators meet the storage, transportation and replenishment demands the industry requires.
Americans are eagerly looking forward to a return to “getting out there”. TSA is reporting increasing numbers of passengers through their checkpoints. You can’t find a rental car and both hotels and private accommodations are reporting a surge in bookings as travelers looking for places to go this summer.
One place many are eagerly turning are cruises. The CDC, working closely with the cruise ship industry, has focused on ensuring that a restoration of service is done in as safe and responsible manner as possible.
With each voyage comes the need to provision a small city with supplies for days or weeks. Brian Wills, Sobel Network Shipping’s President, explains.
“Everything goes on board a ship when it calls a port. Everything. There’s the most obvious consumables like food and beverages, but there is furniture, bedding, supplies to keep the ship running or make repairs during a voyage.”
“That’s all got to be kept somewhere staged and ready to go,” he continues. “More importantly, it has to be ready to load in a window of a few short hours the ship spends in port.”
Because ships consume most of these goods outside US territorial waters, anything that is imported for use on board ships doesn’t technically enter the commerce of the United States, so duty shouldn’t be paid.
This is where experts like Sobel enter the picture.
Sobel Network Shipping assists cruise ship operators and companies supplying them with the international importation by air or ocean and keeping the goods in Customs custody – either by filing a warehouse entry or entering the goods into a Foreign Trade Zone. Once transferred to these specially designated facilities, the goods are treated as if they’re still “outside” the United States.
Cruise lines will then notify us of the supplies that they require for a ship’s upcoming voyage. For regular consumables, we prepare them as a standard item for removal from the bonded facilities. For special items like parts to repair or maintain the ship, we are instructed to add them to the withdrawal.
At the appropriate time, Sobel Network Shipping notifies Customs of our intent to remove these goods from the warehouse to transfer to the ship where they will then be “exported” without having to pay Customs duties.
Managing the complex manifest of goods boarding a ship requires an experienced partner like Sobel who has been assisting cruise operators in Miami and New York for years.
For more information including a consultation, demonstration and a quote for our services tailored specifically to cruise line operators, contact us today.
