What is CTPAT?
The official description of CTPAT from US Customs website to “What is CTPAT?” is: “CTPAT is a voluntary public-private sector partnership program which recognizes that CBP can provide the highest level of cargo security only through close cooperation with the principal stakeholders of the international supply chain such as importers, carriers, consolidators, licensed customs brokers, and manufacturers.”
That’s a mouthful! CTPAT stands for “Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism”. We don’t want to oversimplify things – but at the highest level, CTPAT was created in resp0nse to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. (CTPAT was created in November, 2001).
US Customs realizes that the supply chain is extremely fragmented and there are many people and companies involved in getting a shipment from origin to destination. CTPAT was designed to certify every company and person involved in moving cargo as ‘safe’ or as safe as possible through background checks, security checks, process checks, etc.
Who is a member of CTPAT?
As of this writing, there are over 11,000 partners who have been certified as members of CTPAT
To learn more about CTPAT, visit: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry/cargo-security/ctpat
If you have questions, BorderBuddy can help at https://borderbuddy.com/