L/C Before May 15 Doesn't Save You Now — Miss Nov 15 Shipping, Pay Full 50% Surcharge

If your Letter of Credit for a vehicle was opened on or before 15 May 2026, you were told you'd dodge the 50% CID surcharge on imports. Turns out that's only true if the ship actually loads your car with a Bill of Lading dated on or before 15 November 2026 — that's tomorrow. Miss that cutoff, even by a day because of port congestion or a delayed sailing, and the exemption disappears, retroactively, no matter how early the L/C was opened. One side says rules are rules: this was announced months back, every importer had the same runway, and anyone who left shipping to the last week should've pushed their agent harder. The other side says this punishes people for something they don't control — carriers reschedule sailings constantly, and a buyer who paid a deposit in May expecting a duty-free car could now be hit with a CID bill 50% higher through no fault of their own. If you've got an order in the pipeline right now, will your shipment make the cut? And if it doesn't, who should absorb that extra cost — the importer, or you? මැයි 15ට කලින් L/C open කරත් නැව නියමිත දිනට පටන් නොගත්තොත්, මේ පාඩුව කාගෙද?