Case Study #1
A US importer who subscribes to trade intelligence service websites to keep abreast of where his competition was buying from also looked to see whether or not his US clients were importing directly from suppliers abroad. He was concerned that his competition and his clients might know about his importing information and that a simple search might yield it to anyone who was able to find it. But once he learned that he could legally remove both his and his suppliers’ information from the Ocean Bill of Lading for his shipments, he immediately had his supply chain information protected from other parties, giving him peace of mind knowing that his manifest is safely confidential.
Case Study #2
A US company that had been buying an imported product from a California supplier for years learned that they could import that product directly from the original supplier. Despite being able to import full containers of the product they once had to buy from a stateside supplier, they didn’t want to jeopardize their relationship with their former supplier. Since they are now able to remove their information from the public manifest record, the California company will not learn that they are importing directly.