Booking of these containers is prohibited, Evergreen Shipping strengthens SOC compliance review

Sunny Worldwide LogisticsIt is a logistics company with more than 20 years of transportation experience, focusing on markets such as Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Southeast Asia. It is more of a cargo owner than a cargo owner~

In order to strengthen economic sanctions compliance management, Evergreen Shipping recently issued an announcement on the cargo owner’s own container receipt policy to further clarify the SOC booking review requirements.And announced a batch of box owner codes that are prohibited from receiving. Evergreen Shipping reserves the right to refuse bookings or suspend transportation for self-contained containers that do not meet compliance requirements.

Evergreen Shipping issued a customer announcement on July 28, "About Owner-Owned Container (SOC) Receipt," further explaining the SOC booking and receipt requirements and reminding customers to conduct relevant compliance checks before booking to avoid sanctions risks affecting transportation arrangements.

According to the announcement,Evergreen Shipping will not conduct business with any individual or entity that is included in the sanctions list by the applicable sanctions regime; at the same time, it will not undertake relevant business for entities directly or collectively held by sanctioned targets with 50% or more ownership.This standard is consistent with major international economic sanctions regulations (such as the 50% rule of OFAC in the United States), reflecting Evergreen Marine's prudent attitude under the global compliance framework.

In terms of SOC receipt, Evergreen Shipping has made it clear that it will not accept any owner-provided containers that may expose the company to the risk of economic sanctions. Before delivering the SOC to Evergreen Line, customers must complete necessary due diligence to confirm that neither the container owner nor the corresponding container owner code is subject to sanctions, nor is it an entity established under the laws of Iran, North Korea, Cuba or Syria.

In order to facilitate customer identification, Evergreen Shipping also announced some SOC container owner codes that are currently prohibited from receiving, including:HDXU, IRSU, ALXU, XBIU, SBAU, BYTU, CBKU, CGVU, NMKU, RZZU, SSFU, SSGU, FESU, FCCU, RZDU, BXAU, VOLU, VOTU, SLVU.Evergreen Marine emphasizes that the above list is for reference only, not a complete list, and may be adjusted at any time based on changes in the international sanctions situation.

Before making a new SOC booking, customers can consult local Evergreen Marine business personnel for the latest restriction list if necessary.

In addition,For voyages operated by Evergreen Marine's joint operating partners, due to possible differences in the economic sanctions compliance policies and SOC container owner code restrictions implemented by each partner shipping company, the relevant SOC bookings will be handled in accordance with the specific requirements of the partner shipping company.This means that even if an SOC is accepted on Evergreen Marine's main routes, it may still be rejected on voyages operated by joint venture partners due to different review standards of the partners.

The announcement also pointed out that Evergreen Marine has the right to further verify SOC-related information. If necessary, the shipper or booking party can be asked to supplement the container ownership, container owner information and other relevant supporting documents. Before completing the submission and review of the information, Evergreen Line may decide at its discretion to refuse to accept the booking application, or to postpone the receipt and transportation of the relevant SOC. For self-contained containers that fail to pass the compliance review, the relevant booking may face risks such as cancellation, cargo delay and additional operating costs, and the resulting costs and responsibilities will be borne by the shipper.

Industry insiders believe that as global sanctions compliance requirements continue to become stricter, liner companies are continuously strengthening their SOC audit mechanisms. For cargo owners and freight forwarding companies that use owner-provided containers for transportation, they should check the container owner code and container ownership information in advance to ensure compliance with the latest compliance requirements of the shipping company, so as to avoid affecting booking and transportation plans due to failure in the audit.

It is recommended that freight forwarding companies proactively verify container owner information with cargo owners when accepting SOC bookings, and establish an internal compliance pre-inspection mechanism to advance risk screening to the booking process to reduce operational risks.