Transport, Trade and Regulation News

The head of the International Maritime Organization has urged all players in the global supply chain to communicate with each other to ensure a successful implementation of the container weight verification regulation that comes into force July 1.

Amid the massive protests of long-haul truckers and transport companies, the Russian government has made the unprecedented decision to freeze for several months the planned increase of a controversial highway tariff opponents say could shrink Russia’s domestic transportation market by 30 percent.

The National Industrial Transportation League has named Jennifer Hedrick as executive director, replacing president and CEO Bruce Carlton who is retiring, but will remain involved with the largest U.S. shipper group as a consultant.

Chinese industrial overcapacity and a global commodity collapse will contribute to economic growth being stuck in low gear this year at about 2.5 percent, IHS Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh told the 2016 TPM Conference in Long Beach on Monday. He warned trade won't recover this year, and when it does in the next two years, it will not recover to the rates seen in the 1990s and 2000s when the growth was double that.

Transportation intermediaries are likely to play an important role in verifying container weights for international shippers and shipping lines, a UPS Supply Chain Solutions executive said at the 16th Annual TPM Conference here Tuesday.

The SOLAS guidelines on container weight verification that will be implemented from July 1 are not mandatory, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Thomas told a packed TPM Conference here Tuesday.

A working group made up of major non-vessel-operating common carriers is urging the International Maritime Organization to issue status updates of how the 162 contracting states to the SOLAS convention will implement the container weight mandate.

U.S. exporters are being told to resist some guidance from carriers on how to meet the SOLAS container weight mandate, with the Agriculture Transportation Coalition saying the notifications from liners are “contradictory” to the Coast Guard’s hands-off stance on the rule.

Backers of U.S. highway and freight projects looking for a little help from Uncle Sam are eyeing $800 million in federal grants made available Friday through the government’s first-ever program dedicated to speeding up the flow of cargo.

Start thinking differently, potentially a lot differently, about how to comply with the new container weight rule that enters force July 1.

A solution to the challenges confronting the industry by the SOLAS container weights rule proposed by the head of the Port of Charleston could be workable in practice and not disrupt trade, according to a key player in the development of the rule, which enters force July 1.

U.S. ports and backers of other freight projects have another shot at some help from Uncle Sam to help pay for repair, maintenance and expansion projects, after the U.S. government said Tuesday that $500 million will be available in the latest round of a popular federal grant program.

World forwarding body FIATA added its weighty voice to the growing discussion over container weight verification, calling for container lines to better communicate how they expect to receive the verified gross mass data.

Brazilian chicken exporters are making the most of a cheap and devalued currency to boost worldwide sales by attending a number of food and beverage expositions with a view to increasing exports by more than 10 percent by the end of this year, according to industry association ABPA.

The federal government has limited ability to fight port congestion, but an advisory committee to the Commerce Department has come up with some ways it can help prevent supply-chain bottlenecks.

The U.S. Coast Guard Thursday said it will not consider delaying the International Maritime Organization’s controversial new container weight rule and the agency cannot, and will not, hold shippers responsible for not providing container weight documentation to carriers.

There’s little chance that Canada will ask the International Maritime Organization to delay the SOLAS container weight mandate or even give shippers a “soft start” when the rule takes effect July 1, said Bob Ballantyne, president of the Freight Management Association of Canada.

The election of Mauricio Macri as president of Argentina could see the the long-diminished Mercosur trading bloc once again become a serious force and help its members forge successful trade pacts with the EU and the North American Free Trade Agreement member nations, and possibly even its west coast of South America rival, the Pacific Alliance.

An 0.9 percent increase in industrial production reported by the Federal Reserve this week, following several months of contraction, may signal an end to the "industrial recession" and an eventual uptick in shipments.

Among U.S. ports pursuing major harbor deepening projects, there were decidedly more losers than winners in President Obama’s 2017 budget request unveiled earlier this month. For some, the $4.1 trillion proposal came with a mix of good and bad news. For others, there was no news at all.

Brazil seems to have most things in place for the new Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, container weight mandate of the International Maritime Organization, according to several terminal managers and trade and maritime commentators in the South American country.

Russia plans to later this month ask the International Maritime Organization to delay the container weight mandate by one year to July 1, 2017, even as it continues to prepare for the global rule. Any country that is a signatory to the Safety of Life at Sea convention, under which the verified gross mass mandate draws authority, may delay implementation as long as they formally request an extension from the IMO before the July 1 implementation.

Fifteen leading ocean container carriers, including Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM, have offered to change their practices for setting freight rates to settle an antitrust probe, the European Commission said Tuesday

Retail inventories expanded in the U.S. in December, as slower than expected sales at brick-and-mortar stores kept large piles of goods largely intact. Those inventories are likely to be a drag on U.S. freight shipments in the first quarter, adding to fears of a new recession.

Mentions of a recession-like environment from top transportation executives and lackluster growth in domestic and international freight volumes are sparking fears that a U.S. freight recession is upon us that could be a harbinger of something even worse: an outright economic recession.

The United States and any other country that is party to SOLAS can delay implementation of the International Maritime Organization’s controversial container weight rule by up to a year, a fact bound to increase pressure on the U.S. Coast Guard to extend the deadline past July 1 to avoid potential trade disruption.

U.S. lawmakers in the Senate Thursday overwhelmingly passed a U.S. Customs and Border Protection bill that will streamline import duties on goods destined to be re-exported and allow articles exported from the country to be commingled for the first time. The bill also toughens U.S. trade law enforcement and rules against currency manipulation.

In an indication of the range of issues that remain to be resolved in the U.S. before the SOLAS container weight rule takes effect in July, a public meeting of U.S. federal agencies, carriers, terminals and shippers (and media) will meet later this month in Washington under the auspices of the Federal Maritime Commission.

Maritime NZ, New Zealand’s maritime authority, is seeking stakeholder comments until March 11 on draft guidelines for compliance with the International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea verified gross mass amendment.

Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and more than a dozen other carriers will revise their pricing practices to avoid fines and end an EU antitrust suit and investigation.

The White House’s $4.1 trillion budget proposal unveiled Tuesday once again falls far short of the targets set by legislation President Obama, himself, signed less than two years ago.

The Agriculture Transportation Coalition said a new international container weight verification rule threatens U.S. exporters with lost business and supply chain “turmoil,” and warrants a congressional inquiry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Monday it will be taking “a staggered approach” to the rollout of its “single window” initiative, after many said they simply weren’t ready for the new system.

Container lines, at least in the U.S., are starting to take forceful action to prepare for the Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, weight verification rule.

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has issued an order to the Russian Federal Customs Service to significantly streamline customs clearance procedures with the aim of speeding cargo handling at Russia’s borders and seaports.

WASHINGTON — The enforcement of the SOLAS container weight mandate for U.S. exports — if there is any — will be done by the U.S. Coast Guard's Captain of the Port of each gateway, and the agency will also check for boxes without verified gross mass documentation when it boards inbound vessels.

Japan’s government has drawn up the drafts of guidelines and revised ministry ordinances, which contain penalties and variation between the verified gross mass and actual weight of a container, for the smooth implementation of the International Maritime Organization's looming Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, container weight rules.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will extend deadlines for certain criteria that will be required after the rollout of its “single window” initiative on Feb. 28, according to the brokers, forwarders, importers and exporters who say they simply won’t be ready to meet those requirements by the end of the month.

Saying it will be impossible to implement the SOLAS container weight rule by July 1 without severely disrupting trade, U.S. exporters are calling on the Coast Guard to delay the rule until it can be amended and determined that they won’t face a competitive disadvantage against foreign exporters.

Ukraine is slashing tariffs on container cargo transportation by 60 percent in an effort to attract more volume from China to the European Union, according PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine, the country’s largest railroad.