Dole Ocean Cargo Express Selects Descartes’ Customs Filings Solution

WATERLOO, Ontario – December 2, 2010 – Descartes Systems Group announced that Dole Ocean Cargo Express, a division of Dole Food Company, has selected Descartes' Global Filer to manage its import and export customs filings for the upcoming European Union (EU) regulations on advanced entry (ICS) and exit (ECS) summary declarations.

Global Filer is part of Descartes' Global Trade Compliance suite which offers a broad range of solutions that help prepare organizations around the world to meet current and long-term compliance mandates.

Global Visibility and Improved Efficiency of EU Customs Operations

Dole Ocean Cargo Express selected Descartes' Global Filer to be compliant with EU safety and security regulations and improve overall efficiency and visibility of Dole’s customs operations. Global Filer met all of Dole’s selection criteria, including the following:

• A single point of access and dashboard to manage all data entry and filing requirements for Dole’s security filings to and from its European ports;

• Complete, real-time visibility into the customs status of cargo and the ability to provide this status information to logistic partners and clients, regardless of their location;

• Integration capabilities with its back-office cargo management system, optimizing data entry efforts, allowing for re-use of data and significantly reducing the risk or error; and

• One solution as opposed to different applications to cover multi-country requirements, allowing for a more efficient adoption of resources and time.

“Dole handles a substantial amount of import and export filings to and from Europe on a daily basis, so optimizing the quality and flow of information across the entire supply chain is a continuous effort and goal. Descartes’ Global Filer is a sophisticated application and the user-friendly dashboard reduces managing the complexity of EU customs processes to a minimum,” said John Trummel, Vice President and General Manager, at Dole Ocean Cargo Express.

“Our goal at Descartes is to help our customers be compliant with EU customs regulations,” said Jonathan Wasserman, Senior Vice President, Global Trade Compliance Solutions at Descartes. “In addition to ensuring compliance, Global Filer helps decrease potential errors, delays and penalties, by providing our customers with a solution that not only reduces costs, but also increases productivity and efficiency.”

Global Logistics Network Exchanges Information and Maximizes Collaboration

Dole Ocean Cargo Express is already a customer using Descartes’ Ocean Compliance product, which leverages the power of Descartes’ Global Logistics Network (GLN). Descartes’ GLN enables transportation providers to connect to their trading partners and regulatory organizations and reliably exchange information to increase performance and drive high levels of customer satisfaction.

“We know from experience that Descartes has the expertise, technology and customer service to optimize our logistic operation efforts,” said John Trummel, Vice President and General Manager, at Dole Ocean Cargo Express. “Descartes’ GLN integrates with a broad range of solutions that help us meet regulatory requirements. In addition, the unified approach of Descartes’ GLN offers significant cost savings and enables effective communication and collaboration with our logistics partners.”

Source: Descartes Systems Group