The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has suspended BNSF Railway and Union Pacific from its Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program.
The railroads’ certification was suspended for 90 days effective Aug. 22, BNSF and UP said in customer advisories.
“We continue to work with our partners to ensure safety procedures are followed and that our certification is reinstated. Union Pacific’s security processes and measures remain fully in place to ensure the security of your shipments. We do not anticipate any delays from an Operations perspective due to the temporary suspension. Our long-standing safety and security procedures with the CBP remain intact,” UP told customers. “Union Pacific plans to appeal the decision to temporarily suspend our CTPAT certification. As we wait for our certification to be reinstated, we continue to follow our approved security procedures for inspection at the borders and ports.”
Likewise, BNSF said the temporary suspension would not affect “BNSF customs bond status, required customs documentation, or clearance processes. BNSF will continue to follow our approved security procedures for inspection at borders and ports and we do not anticipate any delays in our operations.”
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to an email seeking comment on the suspension of the railroads’ certification.
The program has more than 1,400 certified partners, according to the agency’s website.
“When an entity joins CTPAT, an agreement is made to work with CBP to protect the supply chain, identify security gaps, and implement specific security measures and best practices. Applicants must address a broad range of security topics and present security profiles that list action plans to align security throughout the supply chain. CTPAT members are considered to be of low risk, and are therefore less likely to be examined at a U.S. port of entry,” according to the Customs and Border Protection website.
“CTPAT Partners enjoy a variety of benefits, including taking an active role in working closer with the U.S. Government in its war against terrorism,” the agency says.
A former UP CEO didn’t really care for the UP Police Dept and cuts were made.
One might check the number of UP police officers 15-20 years ago and see what the count is today. Just a thought.
For everyone above…I would be it has nothing to do with anything other than CBP being idiots. They have some good people there, but not all, especially if this came down from Washington, headquarters of any of the DHS components are out of touch with reality and can be counted on to make stupid decisions all the time. I know, I work for one of those DHS components(not CBP, but I know front line employees there).
The last W (why) is not there because other than Bob Johnstown’s pieces, the TRAINS NEWS site merely posts press releases. David P. Morgan is spinning in his grave.
JOHN: In the days of David P Morgan, in what manner was late breaking railroad-related news offered for free? Editing a magazine which will be delivered to your door months after the contents were composed is an entirely different product than what is being offered here. Is it reasonable to expect that in the days of declining print subscriptions that trains has someone ready to instantaneously flesh out each and every press release? I, for one, am happy to have a single site I can go to and get a decent overview of the news of the day.
This story omits the fifth “W” of journalism – Who, what, where, when, and WHY?
Wonder if these RRs did not have enough personnel for these job? Another PSR casualty?