Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is now a major cornerstone of China’s foreign policy.

Importers may be unaware that they need to increase the level of the bond they must maintain with US Customs and Border Protection for duties due to be paid over a 12-month period.

Under the International Maritime Organization's rule, starting in 2020, ships will only be allowed to emit 0.5 percent sulfur, down from the currently acceptable level of 3.5 percent.

Backers of tariffs always promise positive results for the domestic economy. But tariffs were tried by the United States and many other nations in the early stages of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Now how did that work out?

Unless ocean carriers radically change the paradigm on how they go to market, the Jan. 1, 2020 sulfur cap on bunker fuel will represent another cost that carriers fail to pass on to customers. How many other industries operate this way?

The uptrend in US imports, in line with the US/global expansions, continued in June, but shippers remain cautious, and there are objective, geopolitical reasons why they are not celebrating.

Containers were one of only five items among the original 284 items granted a reprieve by the US working group consisting of nearly a dozen federal agencies.

Cargo owners and transporters are fighting back against theft — and they’re deploying new tools and strategies, in what will have to be a comprehensive effort to adequately address the problem.

Like other emerging markets, it is a “bad news, good news,” circumstance for Mexico. The bad: surface transportation and logistics operations are straining to meet shipper demands. The good: Mexico appears to have arrived on the global trade stage, with all key metrics advancing.

Businesses applauded the decision, terming it a “superb step” that will help the port achieve its goal of maximum use, around the clock.

An invaded ship is the latest job action by dockworkers at the port of Santos. They say they extend their existing three-day job action that ends Saturday if Brazil’s government does not agree to their pay/pension demands.

As of now, scrap/agriculture exporters and ocean carriers are in two parallel universes concerning whether space exists on ships heading to Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

The new regulations require carriers to complete their advanced manifest submissions considerably prior to the vessel’s arrival or departure.

Officials told trucker union representatives that the government remains sensitive to truckers’ demands and they will establish an expert committee to examine all core issues.

As in Brazil, a segment of India’s truck sector is protesting a rise in diesel prices, and the truckers argue India’s government can take steps to strengthen their business model.

Unlike rail and ocean transportation, Russian auto transport, which accounts for almost 75 percent of all container cargo delivered in Russia, is very non-transparent, with limited statistics available, and that has led to criticism by shippers.

Tariffs on containers are unwarranted and will needlessly raise costs throughout the supply chain, business leaders testifying on Capitol Hill agreed.

The expansion is needed to process increasing cargo volumes in the Manaus industrial park, also known as the Manaus Free Trade Zone.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance argues the market share loss is due to cheaper intermodal rail rates, but Prince Rupert says that is not the case — that two other factors are driving its value proposition.

It’s now an unavoidable fact that the precautions traditionally taken to avoid container ship fires — such as ensuring that stowage plans comply with dangerous goods guidelines and carriers scan bills of lading for keywords indicating the possibility of misdeclared cargoes — are failing to adequately mitigate the risk to crews, cargoes, and ships.

Shippers and business groups argue the current truckers’ freight rate table is too generous and would increase shipper costs and retail prices by double digits. The truckers’ union wants a fair rate table and said it will strike again if it is not obtained.

Although the impact would be significant elsewhere, one port complex in the United States has the most to lose — and in a big way — by a protracted, major trade war between the world's two largest economies.

After a mixed performance in 2017, Europe’s top breakbulk ports face a complicated 2018, despite above-trend European GDP growth, due to the threat posed by tariffs and the reinstatement of sanctions against Iran.

The East Coast’s largest port, with the most complex negotiations, has reached an agreement. The International Longshoremen's Association wants all such local agreements to be completed before the master contract that covers the ports on both coasts can be ratified.

US importers plan to bring in record container volume this peak season, which will translate into an impressive 2018 year-end gain compared with 2017.

Ocean carriers want to avoid being caught up in secondary sanctions that will be imposed by the United States on companies dealing with Iran.

Shippers watching for the way the Federal Maritime Commission rules on a wide variety of issues that affect the movement of cargo may question the quality of analysis and decision making that will result from having just two Republican commissioners on the board, out of a possible five-member bipartisan board.

The suspension decision was implemented after delegates from the National Sindifisco and a politician close to Brazilian President Michel Temer reached an agreement.

A petition calling for a ‘small business’ exemption to the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate has failed, and that means the ELD era has become more entrenched.

Djibouti’s strategic location on the Gulf of Aden makes the area an important military outpost for several world powers.

Although the truck strike has ended, Brazil’s transportation bottlenecks need a bigger government and private sector fix.

Energy prices have risen, lowering the margins of a key supply chain performer, and that has implications for the container shipping industry.

Industry leaders generally agree that the Goods and Service Tax has tapered the cascading effect of multiple central and state levies on supply chains — and that has resulted in substantial cost and productivity benefits.

Shippers in Argentina, hit Friday by a one-day customs officers' strike in Buenos Aires, had breathed a momentary sigh of relief this week, after truck drivers accepted a 19 percent pay increase and did not strike.

Authorities have asked stakeholders to examine a proposed fast-track/streamlined last-mile/last touch logistics plan for inland container depots — dubbed “direct inland delivery” — which they believe will prove to be another major boon for hinterland shippers.

Europe’s rail and truck transport systems are at a pivotal moment. The two could complement each other and help meet the likely 30 percent increase in European cargo expected by 2030. However, turf protecting could still rule the day, especially if rail views truck platooning as a threat.

Supply chain experts at the SM3 Connections 2018 conference are taking a focus-on-what-one-can control stance, while also counting on more-constructive policies in the years ahead that are likely to support the decades-long globalization trend.

Thailand on July 2 will become the second country in less than a month to ban the importation of certain waste goods, as Malaysia considers similar measures, according to a published report.

There are still differences of opinion among stakeholders regarding the equity of the proposed system for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The number of hours truckers may drive is getting more attention from Congress, but do bills calling for reform, or the overturn of the electronic logging device mandate, stand a chance this year?