A Seafood Importer and SIMP

User Story:
A Trace Register customer is a large seafood company responsible for annually importing over 2,000 containers of SIMP species. It is very challenging, with many risks if not done right.

• Their compliance manager had up to six part-time members on her team to manage SIMP imports.
• There was a massive amount of duplicated effort and many resulting errors.
• SIMP imports involved printing paper documents, keying in data, and triple- checking, all done manually. A single container of cod had over 500 pages of documents.
• TR5 transformed this manual process. It reduced their time managing SIMP compliance by 80% or more, saving millions of trees.

Threats of Not Complying with SIMP

• The importer had several SIMP containers delayed due to SIMP compliance, resulting in demurrage fees of $1,500 to $2,000 each. They constantly battled with their suppliers to get all the information required for SIMP.
• Retail buyers had zero tolerance for late deliveries causing shelf outages. They would reduce purchases or stop buying altogether.
• But the most significant threat was losing the company’s import license and IFTP number. It is what kept the compliance manager awake at night.

TR5 Solutions and Benefits

TR5 transformed her team’s SIMP compliance workflow.

• They were able to get the necessary information from suppliers more quickly and consistently.
• The time it took to review the information was reduced by 80%.
• They had greater confidence in their SIMP compliance and ability to supply products on time.
• The team was able to sleep better at night and enjoy their weekends

The TR5 Difference

• Master Data. Most of the information required for SIMP never changes. With TR5, you have Master Data (static information) you can select, reducing the need for data entry by as much as 80%. Enter the data once, verify it is correct and complete, and you can use it on every shipment in the future. It is critical, as a single punctuation error can result in NOAA saying you failed an audit.
• CMCA. Compliance managers need to check a lot of information to ensure compliance. With TR5, continuous monitoring and continuous analysis (CMCA) automatically checks if shipment information is complete and valid. CMCA shows you where corrections are needed. CMCA helped cut down SIMP container processing time by 50%.
  • A container of shrimp typically has between 10 and 15 supporting documents totaling 40 to 60 pages. For wild finfish, it is often hundreds of pages. CMCA helps verify that supporting documents match the data filed in ACE with a side-by-side comparison view in TR5.
  • Filing with your import broker often requires error correction and further review by you and your import brokers. With all the information in TR5, you can click
    a button to send a report to your import brokers in the ACE filing format required.
  • One of our customers was hit with audits three to four times yearly. They never failed an audit and were among the 30-plus companies on the SIMP Compliance Importers List. NOAA gives five days to prepare for an audit, but with TR5, our customer was audit-ready in one hour.