DHL Global Forwarding has launched its new internal U.S. Customs brokerage management system available across all of its U.S. Customs brokerage offices.

The system has been designed to function within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s new Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). The IT system has been ACE-certified and is fully integrated with the company’s current document management system and inland transportation management system. The system will feed information to DHL’s future Unified Reporting System, as well as new Client Portal, to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2016.

DHL created the system to streamline and automate complex customs processes in collaboration with the software provider Kewill.

“With all the Customs changes taking place in the U.S., we think this new system will be a big benefit to our customers, working flawlessly with ACE to provide them a more expedited service for all their Customs filings,” said Jim Miller, senior director for Customs Brokerage at DHL Global Forwarding, U.S. “The Kewill system has a graphical user interface, enhanced electronic data interchange loading capability and an integrated work management feature to help increase productivity and ultimately allow DHL to better serve our customers.”

The system has a fully supported multilayered internal and external Kewill team of IT people available to provide long-term support. The system’s critical data are also safely hosted in DHL’s secure data center to ensure the highest levels of performance and reliability.

“We understand DHL’s need to have an internal system to manage connectivity to all Customs authorities while meeting all new requirements under ACE,” said Jim Hoefflin, president and chief operating officer for Kewill. “With our experience working for 7,500 companies in more than 100 countries, we were able to create a customs brokerage system geared specifically to meet all of DHL’s requirements.”

The system is equipped with the required Lacey Act programming, as well as functionality to interface with partner government agencies (PGAs), such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“With our new DHL system in place, we are ready to handle the PGAs’ ACE roll-outs, scheduled to take place over the coming months,” said Miller. “We have been using the system on a trial basis since May 2015, and currently file close to 100 percent of the ACE entry summaries allowed at this time with minimal to no issues.”

The Customs system is available at all DHL U.S. Customs processing facilities. DHL is one of the first freight forwarding companies to launch a Customs brokerage system that is compatible and fully compliant with all ACE requirements.