Shippers of cargo from Asia to the U.S. East Coast could see shipments take five to 10 days longer as carriers avoid the Suez and Panama canals due to disruptions caused by conflict and drought, Nathan Strang of Flexport said Dec. 20.
National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America President J.D. Gonzalez said representatives from the rail industry and ports, and Homeland Security officials, including Undersecretary Robert Silvers, had a good discussion on how to optimize supply chain flows, but he hopes the group will meet quarterly and delve "a little bit deeper into some of the processes" needed to make the advisory group effective.
An administrative law judge this month denied Illinois importer MSRF’s complaint against South Korean cargo carrier HMM, saying the importer didn’t prove HMM violated the two companies’ service contract. The judge said none of MSRF’s claims before the Federal Maritime Commission were successful, partly because they were based on the terms of the original service contract, which had been amended multiple times mostly “for the benefit” of MSRF.
The Transportation Department this week unveiled a final rule that will place new financial security requirements on forwarders and freight brokers that fail to pay for services provided by a motor carrier. The new measures, first released as a proposed rule in January by the agency’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, are meant to address freight brokers and forwarders that purposely default on payments, triggering what can be a “costly and time consuming” process in a claims court that “generally results in motor carrier claims being paid pro rata.”
The European Commission will not extend the legal framework that exempts liner shipping from EU antitrust rules, it said in an announcement Oct. 10. The commission said the antitrust rules, known as the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER), "no longer promotes competition in the shipping sector" and will expire on April 25, 2024.
Correction: Terminal operators at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will raise their traffic mitigation fee by 4% starting Nov. 1, the West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement (WCMTOA) said in a news release (see 2310020071).
Terminal operators at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will raise their traffic mitigation fee by 4% starting Nov. 1, the West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement (WCMTOA) said in a news release. Beginning that date, the TMF will be $35.57 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) or $71.14 per forty-foot container, said the WCMTOA, which includes all 12 terminal operators at the ports. "The adjustment matches the combined 4% increase in longshore wage and assessment rates recently ratified in the coastwide contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association," the release said.
CBP's Office of Field Operations resumed railway bridge operations at the Port of Eagle Pass, the agency said in a news release Sept. 23. The reopening comes three days after CBP suspended railroad operations at Eagle Pass on Sept. 20 (see 2309210005) because of an influx of migrants at that port of entry.
Texas Department of Public Safety inspections are causing delays at the ports of Eagle Pass and El Paso/Ysleta Bridge, but Southern border ports remain open for commercial processing despite an influx of migrants (see 2109200028), with the exception of rail at Eagle Pass, according to an email from a CBP official sent out by the Laredo Licensed U.S. Customs Broker Association.
A potential Indirect Source Rule that the South Coast Air Quality Management District is considering, which would affect the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is necessary to avoid greater disruption from federal action should port emissions remain unaddressed, the district said in an email Sept. 1. It also said it is working with stakeholders to "come up with a proposed regulation that is feasible and can improve air quality without impacting cargo flows."