U.S. Government Shutdown – What Does This Mean For You?

As you have seen in the news, the United States Government is currently on a so-called “Shutdown”. Here you’ll find important information about what this means for you:

Imports into the USA

• • Due to the Shutdown, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has only a small number of employees working on pre-approving imports into the U.S. It currently takes the EPA much longer to process these approvals, and U.S. Customs may reject your import at arrival if the approval letter is not ready.

• • Staff of the EPA’s Light Duty Vehicle Center are currently on forced leave. Exemption letters for racing vehicles will not be available until they are back in the office.

• There may be delays on container examinations upon import due to the number of government workers on forced leave.

Exports out of the USA

• • Wait times for U.S. Customs export examinations are taking longer than usual.

• Wait times for title clearance of vehicles exports have all been extended by 12 hours.
  The current (extended) wait times are below:
  • Houston, TX: 48 hours
  • Long Beach, CA: 36 hours
  • Miami, FL: 48 hours
  • New York, NY: 48 hours
  • Oakland, CA: 48 hours
• Coding changes to the automated filing system of U.S. Customs are causing delays in export approvals. Because the coding changes have been put in place but have not been formally announced due to employees on forced leave, shipping companies, like CFR Classic, need to spend extra time to find out what the proper coding practices have changed to.

We thank you for your patience during this challenging time.

Rest assured, CFR Classic is working extra hard to make your shipping experience as smooth as possible despite these issues.