The United States government in general takes a dim view of counterfeiting and Customs and Border Protection is the tip of the spear when it comes to enforcement of imported products. There is no shortage of counterfeit goods, gray market items, and items that infringe on trademarks or intellectual property that the agency will interdict, […]
If COVID-19 has taught us one thing, it’s that we need to prepare for future supply chain disruptions. The pandemic caused empty shelves and huge shortages of critical things such as cleaning supplies, meat, poultry, and toilet paper. The impact on international supply chains was indisputable. Inefficient and wide space points of failure occurred throughout […]
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Lacey Act Phase VI implementation took effect on Oct. 1. At this time, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has not loaded PGA flags into ACE. Customs brokers are still under the obligation to transmit the Lacey Act data set for goods subject to the new requirements. […]
Establishing a reliable and constructive approach between carriers and employees is the foundation of an easy freight trip. Recent reports raise concerns surrounding freight transportation. Cass Information Systems announces a five-month low this year following July 2021 truckload shipments index hitting 1.177. Equipment and employee availability play a key role in successful freight transport. Methods […]
At the NCBFAA’s Government Affairs Conference in Washington, DC, last week, Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Daniel Maffei spoke to the audience of customs brokers and freight forwarders about the Commission’s current activities. Chairman Maffei was candid in his remarks to an audience who represents the majority of importers and exporters filing entries and moving […]
The Covid-19 pandemic causes significant shortages of high-demand items such as toilet paper. Spurred by fear, many people started to panic and bought and hoard supplies, leading to bare store shelves. Within minutes of delivery, toilet paper was often sold out. Years previously, tissue manufacturers had leaned out their manufacturing processes to maximize profit, so […]
The trend in ocean freight rates has had – persistently – only one direction for the past fourteen months or so and that has been *up*. This chart from Drewry tells the tale: Seemingly with no end in sight and shortly before the FMC announced their Shipper’s Advisory Committee and last week’s move by the […]
The end of the federal government’s FY at the end of September always portends small changes that impact importers and exporters alike. This year is no exception, as the agency has announced changes to fees for merchandise processing fee, e-commerce and entries. Fee changes: From CSMS 49296457, the following user fee changes are in effect […]
Prior to Covid19, retailers were already undergoing dramatic changes. However, the pandemic caused a massive exodus towards eCommerce purchases that quickly started to overwhelm the retail supply chains and take them to almost the breaking point. From March to September 2020, US online orders from Walmart tripled because of the pandemic. The major retailer saw […]
The challenges facing buyers of ocean freight through the latter stages of the pandemic have focused on both securing equipment and space for their cargo. The degradation of sailing performance by carriers has led to – by some estimates – 10% of available container capacity being idled as ships wait outside global ports to be […]
