AEO status shorten Customs clearance lead time 0.1 hour

Japanese Ministry of Finance ("MOF") have investigated customs clearance turn around lead time in Japanese air/sea port, and have released the result in every 3 years time.
On July 16, 2009, MOF released the latest customs clearance turn around lead time, and found AEO related shipment shows very short lead time, as 0.1 hour in both sea and air customs clearance. For MOF in Japan, this short lead time is honorable to demonstrate its AEO initiative they have endeavoured to set up for years.

The definition of customs clearance lead time is from customs declaration time to customs approval time in import customs procedure. Therefore, this lead time does not include cargo handling time such as vessel port loading time or container de-vanning time.

The comparison with normal non-AEO shipment is as follows.
- AEO shipment: 0.1 hours (both air and sea)
- Normal shipment (Air): 0.4 hours
- Normal shipment (Sea): 3.1 hours

MOF encourage traders to apply and make use of AEO, by emphasizing this favorable result.

In order to understand whole picture of Japanese import operation time, below lead time should be noted. This lead time is from the vessel (or flight) arriving time to customs import approval time.

- Air cargo: 34 hours (1.4 day)
- Sea cargo: 62.4 hours (2.6 days)

Also, from this arriving - customs clearance lead time, the AEO shipments shows much shorter lead time as follows.

- Air cargo: AEO 20 hours (0.8 day) vs Normal 34 hours (1.4 day)
- Sea cargo: AEO 38 hours (1.6 day) vs Normal 62.4 hours (2.6 day)

The specific lead time varies depending on the cargo type (container, bulk or courrier etc) and the relevant legal requirement (food, alcohol beverage or medical etc).
The more in depth investigation result is available in appendix of below MOF web site.
http://www.mof.go.jp/jouhou/kanzei/ka210716.htm