Click here for the latest news

This page last updated on 04/10/2008 08:21 AM

D e c e m b e r    2 0 0 6

All Federal Offices will be closed on Jan 2nd
in honor of Gerald Ford's death

A strong earthquake off Taiwan's southern coast damaged undersea cables, cutting off phone and Internet service Wednesday to parts of China, South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and the United States.

Click here for WCTC Global Business Program listings

U.S. to Expand Cargo Scans to Detect Nuclear Material
All cargo sent by container ships to the United States from three ports — in Pakistan, Honduras and Southampton, England — will be scanned for hidden nuclear weapons starting next year.

The Journal of Commerce reported that Senator Joe Biden of Delaware will introduce legislation to require 100% exams on all containers in US ports.

GSP for non African countries is set to expire at the
end of this year.

Click here for the 2007 Harmonized Tariff Schedule

N o v e m b e r

The average chance that your container is designated for a
customs exam is one out of twenty.

As of November 13^th, 2006, a new requirement calls for additional requirements for the importation of HAZMAT goods into the US from Canadian and Mexican licensed truck drivers. On that day, the drivers are required to possess a valid FAST card in order to transport placarded hazardous materials (HAZMAT) and explosives into the United States.  Fast Application information and the locations of FAST enrollment centers are available at www.cbp.gov

 HOLIDAY NOTICE IN SINGAPORE

October 21, 2006         Deepavali Celebration

October 24, 2006        Hari Raya Puasa Celebration

Fednav - Port of Milwaukee - New MPP Vessels

As of February 2007 Fednav will be taking delivery of six small 17,000 DWT multi-purpose tweendeckers equipped with gear ranging from 45 up to 60 MT which can be married to load heavy lift cargo from 90-120 MT.

Fednav for the last 47 years has operated, under the Federal Atlantic Lakes Line or FALLine umbrella, a westbound trans-Atlantic steel and breakbulk transportation service between ports in Northern Europe and the Canadian and U.S. St. Lawrence and Great Lakes ports. 

With the advent of the arrival of these six very versatile MPP vessels, Fednav is giving serious thought to starting an eastbound general cargo service, from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence to mainly Antwerp, as transshipment hub or point of final destination possibly beginning next spring .

World Holiday Business Closings
China  Oct 1^st - 8^th       Taiwan Oct 6^th- 10^th       Germany Oct 3^rd

Hong Kong  Oct. 1-2 National Day,  Oct. 7 Mid-Autumn Festival, 
Oct. 30 Chung Yeung Festival

Japan  October  9,  National     Thailand  October  23,  National

Japan Holiday

We recommend that shipments be expedited because right now, the spaces are extremely tight & I would expect vessels to be full the week prior to Oct 1 & after Oct 7.

Keep in mind that some cargo, particular LCL, not shipped prior to the holiday, may not ship until mid October as it takes factories a week to “ramp up” after a week long holiday.  This is why it is important to ship any urgent freight well in advance of October 1 as the alternative may be airfreight.

We will adv update LCL schedule for shipment before Oct 1 & after 7 Oct around 12 Sep 06.

September 1

The HS is due for significant changes effective on 1/1/2007.  These changes are in response to World Customs Organization (WCO) recommended HTS modifications.  The proposed modifications contain several hundred amendments that include 83 chapters and 240 headings of the HS.  Many current HS headings and subheadings are being deleted, added, broken up, or merged into new tariff headings. The chapters most affected are those dealing with industrial and high-technology products (chapters 84, 85, 87 and 90).

M.E.Dey & Co., Inc is seeking ways for highlight the changes that affect each of its current customers.  Keep an eye out for our recommendations in late fall. 

0900 hours – August 29, 2006

Based on the latest projections from our weather services regarding TS Ernesto, the Port of Charleston will close its gates for operation at noon tomorrow (Wednesday, August 30).  Vessel operations will stop by midnight Wednesday night.  We anticipate being closed all day Thursday as the storm passes.  We anticipate reopening Friday morning, weather permitting.  The above schedule will be adjusted as needed and determined by weather developments.  As new information becomes available, additional updates will be provided via e-mail and on the web at www.scspa.com.

Press Office  Transportation Security Administration  August 13, 2006

SECURITY LEVEL REMAINS THE SAME, TSA REFINES AND CLARIFIES BAN

15th August - National Holiday  INDIA INDEPENDENCE DAY

Alert Level Status

From U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP.gov

Worldwide trade negotiations, known as the DOHA round, have collapsed.

The reasons are many and varied. Suffice to say that the world is less interested in free trade. The US has accused certain countries of sabotaging the negotiations. Interestingly, the list of countries that the US has accused are countries that qualify for duty free imports into the United states under the GSP program. The GSP program is up for renewal at the end of this year. Some in Washington want to kill the entire program. Others are focusing on removing certain countries from the program. The specific countries under consideration are Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela.

Hong Kong August 3rd

PLS BE INFORMED ALL FLIGHTS CANCELLED THIS AFTERNOON UNDER THE AFFECT OF STRONG WIND OF CYCLONE.

ACCORDING TO THE FORECAST TRACK, CYCLONE PRAPIROON WILL CROSS THE COAST OF WESTERN GUANGDONG TONIGHT. HOWEVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN PRAPIROON AND HONG KONG WILL STAY MORE OR LESS STRONG IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS. WINDS OVER THE HARBOUR WILL REMAIN STRONG.

Bush: Castro health crisis won't change Cuba policy
from the Journal of Commerce

President Bush said that he favors maintaining the U.S. embargo against Cuba, as the administration continues to monitor the health crisis of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

The Singapore flagged vessel Cougar Ace remains disabled and listing at 90 degrees 230 miles south of the Aleutian Islands.

A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft from Air Station Kodiak Alaska deployed several life rafts to the Cougar Ace and returned to Kodiak for fuel.

A Coast Guard rescue helicopter from Air Station Kodiak has been deployed to the vessel.

The Alaska Air National Guard have deployed two Pavehawk helicopters accompanied by a C-130, and two HC-130 aircraft with in-flight refueling capabilities, all carrying parachute deployable rescue teams, from Kulis Air Force Base to assist in the rescue operation.

The merchant vessel Ikan Juara remains on scene.

Port of Beirut, Lebanon closed to commercial traffic – relief supplies entering

Port of Tripoli, Lebanon closed to commercial traffic – relief supplies entering

Port of Haifa, Israel cargo moving sometimes

Some ships diverted to Port of Ashdod in Israel

Beirut, Lebanon airport closed to commercial traffic

Some cargo for area coming in from Jordan by road

It has the ring of an urban legend: A cell phone blows up and sets fire to a house. But to Pablo Ortega, it's no myth. A mobile phone exploded in his living room last year, causing up to $100,000 in damages.

Fire and insurance investigators say the phone's lithium-ion battery failed and then ignited.

 Last week in Allcovered News we gave you the link to pictures of a Dell computer that exploded into flames at a tech expo in Japan.

SEE PICTURES: http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550

Aviation regulators are taking notice too. The National Transportation Safety Board is holding hearings to explore whether lithium-ion batteries stowed in a cargo jet caused a midair fire last winter on a plane going to Philadelphia.

Reuters has reported from a meeting of OPEC that oil producers want to avoid high oil prices that may harm global economic growth. OPEC President Edmund Daukoru, indicated that the latest spike in oil prices to near $80 a barrel was "very uncomfortable" and hurting the world economy.  On Friday, oil held above $74 a barrel on concerns about the terrorist group Hezbollah and their unrepentant violence against Israel.  The counter action from Israel has spread fears that the war may widen to include Hezbollah’s main sponsor, Syria.  Oil has increase 22% so far this year.  Daukoru has also said that OPEC had spare production capacity of more than 2 million barrels per day available if required.  OPEC, supplier of more than a third of the world's oil, said this month that oil markets are well supplied and that it has no influence over geopolitical tensions that are driving oil prices. The price rally has also been fueled by worries over oil supply from Nigeria, the row over Iran's nuclear program and now Hezbollah’s actions

U.S. crude soared to as high as $78.40 a barrel in intraday trading before settling up 33 cents at $77.03. Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $2.94, or 4 percent, this week. London Brent rose 58 cents to $77.27 a barrel, after jumping to a record of $78.03 a barrel earlier in the session.

Korean national holiday on Monday, July 17th

Do you want to be thought of as wise and articulate, a master of words?

There is no need to delve into the dictionary and read it from cover to cover.  Use the Phillip Broughton Systematic Buzz word projector. Using the list below, think of any 3 digit number, then select the correspond buzzword from each column. 

For instance, the number 457, “functional logistical projection” is sure to impress your audience even if they don’t quite understand what you just said.

Almost 7,000 evacuated as typhoon nears SE China

FUZHZOU, July 13 (Xinhua) -- More than 6,900 people, mainly seafood farmers, had been evacuated from their homes in Southeast China by Thursday afternoon as Typhoon Bilis approached, local authorities said.

    As of 5:00 p.m. Thursday, the eye of Bilis was located about 120 km southeast of Hualien, Taiwan Province, and was moving northwestward at around 15 to 20 km per hour toward eastern Taiwan, packing winds of 117 km per hour, the provincial observatory of Fujian forecast Thursday.

    Bilis, the fourth typhoon to threaten China this year, is estimated to land on northeastern Taiwan on Thursday night and on the mainland province of Fujian at Friday noon.

    The observatory issued alarms against rainstorms and strong winds. As of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, more than 8,900 fishing boats had been directed back to harbor.

    All passenger liners had suspended services in Fujian. Air traffic in the province continued, but local airports were on high alert to make responsive changes in fights, according to the provincial office for flood and drought relief.

    Meanwhile, water conservation workers were checking reservoirs in preparation for flooding as the storm was expected to bring rainfalls of up to 250 mm from Thursday night.

    The fishery departments of eastern Zhejiang Province, neighboring Fujian, has also issued warnings of high seas and rainstorms, advising vessels to return to harbor ahead of the storm.

Industrial stoves, lumber, steel, shampoo, diapers and custom built vinyl windows were some of the stolen cargo from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) recently recovered from a Jamaican shipping yard by York Region police. Cargo theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the GTA. The Ontario Trucking Association estimates the cost of cargo theft to Canadian businesses is about $1 billion a year with about $300 to $500 million lost in Ontario. Cargo theft has long been a problem in Florida and California. Trucks on the road are now being stolen at gunpoint south of the border. But until the mid-'90s cargo theft was almost unheard of in Toronto. The most common method criminals use to steal cargo is "fishing," when thieves break into trucking yards at distribution centers looking for trailers filled with cargo, often with the help of insider information.

Full Enforcement for Wood Packaging Material Import Regulations to Begin July 5

Top of Page
 

J u n e

Importing Candles from China?

Beware that the rules have changed. Many more Candles have been brought under the Special duty umbrella. Effective June 2, 2006, the scope of products subject to the antidumping duty order on candles form China was significantly expanded. This expansion includes most candles previously excluded from the order. CBP has been instructed to impose 108.3% antidumping duties on all new entries, and to suspend liquidation of those entries and unliquidated entries made over 15 months ago.

RETROACTIVITY DECISION IN CHINESE CANDLE CASE COULD AFFECT IMPORTERS OF OTHER PRODUCTS AS WELL

The Department of Commerce recently (DOC) imposed antidumping duties of 108.30% on mixed wax candles from China.  This action reversed previous Department scope rulings that excluded certain types of candles.  .  In addition, the DOC determined that the assessments of these punitive duties are due on all relevant entries from February 2005 until now!!!   DOC will direct Customs to begin sending our bills for the special duty plus interest in short order.  Importers should be aware that this change in direction of the DOC could apply to other imported products that might have additional special duties.

W. Ralph Basham succeeds former Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner

as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection by the US Senate on May 26^th.  Commissioner Basham is a 29-year Secret Service veteran and was chief of staff of the TSA.

President Certifies Rescission of Libya's Designation as State Sponsor of Terrorism

Only 57% of all liner vessels arrived on schedule between December and April

according to an ongoing survey conducted by Drewry Shipping, a maritime consulting firm based in London. Drewry's survey, which tracks 3,300 vessel arrivals on 23 different east/west and north/south trade routes, found the current percentage of liner vessel calls arriving on time during the period was 57%, with 22% of all vessels arriving the day after the scheduled day, 7% making it two days late and 12% of vessels calling at the port of arrival three or more days late. Maersk Line and sister company Safmarine, together with Evergreen-subsidiary Hatsu Marine, scored the best for reliability. The lowest on-time percentages were from MSC and China Shipping.

Top of Page
 

The TACA BAF to apply from July 16th, 2006, will be announced on a minimum of 30 days notice. Appropriate details will be published timely in TACA's relevant tariffs and on its website.

M. E. Dey & Co. feature article in Business Journal

Importing, exporting through waves of change
Family-owned Dey & Co. survives 99 years, reaches fourth generation

Fuel Surcharge Adjustment Effective on 16 May 2006

According to the Scotch Group that manufacture the Scotch Paper Pallet,

the use of paper pallets avoids export restrictions on wooden pallets and reduces delays for shipping to foreign countries. Traditional wooden pallets face quarantine if not approved. Scotch says paper pallets save money and time with no fumigation or certification is required. The pallet is lightweight, (12kg lighter than a wooden pallet) and so particularly useful for air freight which is charged on weight. It is also ideal for one way non-returnable. For sea freight, it means a higher cargo weight.

Top of Page
 

A p r i l

Many Asian businesses are closed for Labour day (May 1)
and Buddha’s Birthday (May 5^th)

Fuel Surcharge Adjustment effective on 9 May 2006

Plan to widen Panama Canal

Panama announced a $5.25bn plan to double capacity of the 92-year-old shipping canal that cuts across the country, allowing ships of more than twice the present maximum size to use the vital waterway.  The 82km-long canal, which links the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, needs to expand because its locks, which were large enough to accommodate every ship afloat in 1914 when the canal opened, are now too small for many of the world's largest container ships.  Almost all the canal's capacity is used after a boom in demand for services linking Asia with the US east and Gulf coasts. In recent weeks, scores of ships have been queuing at either end of the canal, waiting for a passage because so few slots are available.  The planned expansion would involve construction of a third lane of locks alongside the two parallel lanes of existing locks.  Each new lock would measure 1,400 feet by 180 feet with a draft of 50 feet - a size that would accommodate container ships carrying up to about 12,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), against a current maximum for the canal of about 5,000 TEUs. The largest container ships now afloat carry about 10,000 TEUs.  Current plans are to start construction in 2007 and complete the expansion in 2014. 

"Non-C-TPAT importers have their shipments stopped by CBP for enforcement examinations six times more often than C-TPAT importers,
and four times more often for trade-compliance issues. That's measurable. That has a large financial impact on these companies. It allows them to be more productive with the timeliness issues."

Todd Owen, acting executive director for cargo and security conveyance for cbp

Temporary Denial of Export Privileges to Tysonic Enterprises, Etc.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a notice announcing the issuance of an order temporarily denying certain export privileges to Tysonic Enterprises and Chan Heep Loong. BIS has alleged that the respondents violated the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) in certain shipments subject to the Iranian Transaction Regulations.

Census Posts 2006 Schedule B on its Web Site

The 2006 Schedule B is now available on the Bureau of Census’ (Census) Web site for browsing, searching, and downloading.

Schedule B, Statistical Classification of Domestic and Foreign Commodities Exported from the U.S., is the official schedule of commodity classifications to be used by shippers in reporting export shipments from the U.S. and in compiling the official statistics on exports of merchandise from the U.S.

List of Changes That Have Been Made to the 2004 Schedule B Also Available

Census has also posted to its Web site a list of changes that have been made to Schedule B effective January 2006. These changes include the replacement of certain previously used Schedule B numbers with new Schedule B numbers.

On May 1^st in protest of America’s recent stand on illegal immigration, Mexican unions, political and community groups are calling for a boycott of American goods.  “The Great American Boycott”, as its being called, is in response to recent U.S. policy shifts concerning the criminalization of existing illegal immigrants.  This boycott, which now appears to be taking on the shape of a strike, has the potential to negatively influence harbor and store door drayage in Southern California; the Bay Area in particular. The immediate concern seems to focus on trucking/drayage services in SoCal.  Of course, the key link in the supply chain is critical.  We will advise as this situation as necessary.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil jumped to a fresh record high above $74 a barrel on Thursday after a steep drop in U.S. gasoline inventories fueled fears of tight summer supplies at a time of growing anxiety over Iran's exports.

April 17^th - It was reported that the New Delhi Express, one of the 4250 TEU containerships on charter to CP USA, went aground for about two hours at the entrance of Newark Bay, New Jersey, early Saturday morning in heavy fog. The vessel is currently discharging containers and will move, under her own power, to a local drydock for permanent repairs on or about April 19, 2006.  Containers are being barged to Norfolk for unlading. 

ILA Local 1804-1 in Newark/Elizabeth yesterday (4/19) returned to work.  Maher Terminals are returning to normal operations.

NEWS ITEM: Considering just the cost of the oil, for every $1 increase in the cost of a barrel of oil increases the cost of a gallon of gasoline by 2 and a half cents.

Work stoppage at Port Newark/Elizabeth. 

ILA local 1804-1 work stoppage has disrupted truck traffic today in the port that handles half of the container traffic in the NY/NJ port as the port was forced to suspend gate processing of container traffic. It is hoped that this work stoppage will end yet today.

SECURITY – LAWMAKERS EYE 100% AIR CARGO INSPECTION:

Legislation to require physical inspection of all cargo booked on passenger planes is likely to gain traction because of election-year politicking. "Votes to ensure that Republicans are on the record opposing inspection amendments will be held as often as Democrats can schedule them," says Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association. "If some Republicans start feeling cornered on the issues and are facing a tough race, there could be defections that allow the passage of this legislation.”

INSURANCE   GENERAL AVERAGE CLAIM

MOL Euro-Oriental Shipping, owners of the containership "MOL Initiative," have declared General Average, following a fire in the engine room of the vessel on April 3 off the coast of Japan. Following the declaration, MOL is required to hold cargo pending authority to release from their appointed General Average adjustors, Asia and Ichikawa of Tokyo. There will be a requirement to post separate salvage security to the salvors at the completion of the salvage operation.

Marine Insurance offered through our offices always has coverage for general average claims.

04/14/2006 (AP) Two explosions struck New Delhi's main mosque shortly after several hundred people offered Friday prayers, and at least six people were injured, officials said.

The two blasts occurred within 30 minutes of each other at the Jama Masjid mosque, the police said. No immediate cause of the explosions was reported.

ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING DUTY ORDERS IN PLACE AS OF
FEBRUARY 16, 2006, BY COUNTRY

Asian Holidays

Thailand

Apr 6, 2006    -    Chakri Memorial Day

Apr 13 - 15, 2006    -    Songkran Festival Days

Hong Kong

April 5, 2006    -    Ching Ming Festival

Apr 14-17, 2006    -    Easter Holiday

May 1, 2006    -    Labour Day