I am the treasurer of the Hampton Roads Traffic Club and in mid-December, we hosted a fundraising dinner event for the Roc Solid Foundation and the Virginian-Pilot Joy Fund. The event was an enormous success, drawing three hundred and twenty-five guests. We raised $10,000 that night, and shared it equally with two worthwhile organizations. The picture below is of the Traffic Club presenting a check to Roc Solid Foundation. Roc Solid’s mission is “…to build hope for children battling cancer and their families by offering them Roc Solid opportunities to engage in the simple joys of childhood despite their conditions.” The Virginian-Pilot Joy Fund is a non-profit organization that raises monetary donations from the community to purchase new toys for local children who may not receive a single toy during the holiday season. The needs of children are a year-round concern. Certainly the holiday season brings it into greater focus for many people or calls more attention to it than at other times of the year. Our efforts for these worthwhile organizations are put to use all year round, and we as an industry are proud to play a small role in the overall effort. You can donate to the Roc Solid Foundation here. You can donate to the Virginian-Pilot Joy Fund here. Thanks so much to our sponsors for the evening: Service Transfer M&J Transport – First Coast Gilco Trucking Liberty Tire Anita Bene Carolina National Transport Fracht Hale Intermodal Western Pest ATL Trucking Port Norfolk Cal Cartage ACL Chris Stewart VIT CDS Trucking Nansmound Insurance Audax Trans M&S Shipping
Nelson International ready to assist for Philippines relief shipments
Customs and Border Protection have offered provisions for companies looking to export relief goods to the Philippines. Nelson International has been engaged by several clients to send relief goods for the Red Cross and other agencies for these efforts, and we would like to extend our offer of services to others. Nelson International are offering special rates for shipments of relief goods to help with the Typhoon Haiyan recovery. There are export regulations which govern shipments departing the United States that must be filed with the appropriate agencies, notably Census and CBP. The requirement to submit the Electronic Export Information (EEI) for all shipments remains in place. However, there are exemptions which can be claimed as part of the filing and on the shipping documents. For shipments under $2500.00 in value, shippers should cite the EEI exception 15 CFR 30.37(a) or “30.37(a)” for short. Shipments valued over $2500.00, the Internal Transaction Number (ITN) should be provided to the exporting carrier. There are also four HTS numbers to keep in mind for relief shipments of donations: 9802.10.0000 – Donated food products 9802.20.0000 – Donated medicinal and pharmaceutical products 9802.30.0000 – Donated wearing apparel 9802.40.0000 – All other donated material During this time of year, we are certainly mindful of those less fortunate than ourselves in and around our homes who are recovering from natural disasters and other difficult times. It is times like this that the generosity of the world is put on display and we are trying to do our small part to help. For more information on our relief services to the Philippines, please contact Ben Nelson III at beniii@nelsonint.com.
Import and export compliance key to trade success
Importers and exporters who are focused on the purchase or sale of their goods must realize that equally as important as securing the order is making sure it meets the regulatory requirements of the United States government. As important as any other facet of a company’s business, there are three reasons to have and maintain a documented compliance program. People-proof the process. Employees come and go, whether through promotion, attrition, layoffs or terminations. The successors to the individuals previously responsible for compliance need not be reliant on their knowledge, but rather a documented process and flowchart that gives them responsible executives leaders to communicate their questions and concerns. Documented, up-to-date compliance manuals are well received by regulators. Anyone who has been through an audit with Customs or another regulatory agency knows that they have a questionnaire or checklist that they go through to establish a baseline about the company before reviewing transactional data. One answer that is always in a company’s favor is to say “yes” when asked if they have a written and up-to-date compliance plan. To the regulators, this says that the company is invested in their regulatory compliance and the likelihood of egregious violations being uncovered, while not completely mitigated, is reduced. It goes a long way to appearing in a government press release for a settlement. Last week while everyone was making last minute turkey and travel preparations, the Bureau of Industry and Security was busy announcing a $100 million settlement with Texas-based Weatherford International Corporation. $50 million was a civil penalty for alleged illegal exports of oil and gas equipment to Iran, Syria and Cuba. The other $50 million is in the form of a $48 million Justice Department settlement for a deferred prosecution agreement and $2 million in criminal fines for two guilty pleas by Weatherford subsidiaries. The whole of what Weatherford is paying the US government, including to BIS, Justice, the SEC and OFAC totals $253 million. Importers who are focused on sourcing products should be equally focused on record keeping, classification and post-entry audit and compliance with trade agreements and participating government agencies. Exporters equally focused on making sales should insure that their buyers are permitted to receive their goods, that the exports meet the regulatory requirements of the U.S. government and if licensed are required, properly secured and declared. These three simple reasons for having a documented compliance program contribute to continuity of business, an uninterrupted flow of purchases and sales and a reduced risk for penalties long after the transactions are completed.
Hours of Service impacts truckers, deliveries
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a rule that was designed to reduce driver fatigue and improve safety. The regulations have been met with strong pushback from the industry, claiming that the rules do not do what the agency believes they will. The most contentious parts of the rule include a mandatory work break and a thirty-four hour restart at the end of a work week. The thirty-four hour rule comes once per 168 hours and requires that the restart include two 1 AM to 5 AM rest periods. Shippers and people in the logistics industry all know how much cargo moves overnight and the significance of this impact on supply chain operations. Earlier this year some relief for short-haul drivers came in the form of of a ruling from the US Court of Appeals in D.C. that vacated a portion of the final rule mandating thirty minute rest breaks for this particular class of drivers. Truckers have also expressed a concern about it because the ones who are really good at measuring data are reporting back that it has reduced productivity, increased costs and, most surprisingly, have not adversely impacted safety. A recent article in the Journal of Commerce cited trucking giant Schneider Logistics who found that their single drivers experienced a 3.1% drop in productivity and for teams the number was 4.3%. For truckers, that translates into lost revenue. Worse, for shippers, it translates into higher prices in a market where capacity is experiencing tightness due to driver shortages. At Nelson International, we understand that moving cargo involves all modes of transport, and there are few that are more important and as expensive (as a percentage of the total transportation cost) as the first and last mile. We will continue to work with our carrier partners to insure that any delays to your cargo are minimized and costs are not irresponsibly increased as a result of these rules.
Importance of ISF data before shipment.
Earlier this year, Customs and Border Protection began enforcing the provisions of the Importer Security Filing, or as it is also known, “10 + 2”. Enforcement to importers means cargo can be subject to one or more of the following: Examination resulting in delays, costs and potential damage during inspection. A liquidated damages penalty in the amount of $5,000. Refusal of unlading from the arriving vessel causing additional costs and headaches for the carrier as well, who will gladly pass those costs along to you. The filing of the ISF data is the importer’s responsibility. At Nelson International, we are your partners in this process and want you to understand and be aware that we are here to help, but do require that you work with us. Because the requirement of the statute is that the information be transmitted no less than 24 hours prior to lading on the vessel, Nelson requires that you provide us the ISF declaration no less than 72 hours prior to vessel sailing. Those data elements include: Importer of record’s name, address and federal ID number. Consignee’s name, address and federal ID number. Buyer’s name and address. Seller’s name and address. Ship to name and address. Manufacturer’s name and address. Country of origin. HTS codes. Consolidator’s name and address. Container stuffing location name and address. In order to match the information with the AMS filing, it is also helpful to have the bill of lading number and Standard Carrier Alpha Code (or SCAC) code of the carrier(s) involved. If we do not have the information, we cannot file the ISF in a timely fashion and the penalty will be issued to the importer of record. Questions about the ISF, its importance to Customs’ targeting and how Nelson submits and confirms that the data has been accepted and is on file should be directed to your account representative.
Shutdown Post-mortem: The trade’s perspective.
After a sixteen day closure, the government reopened last Thursday. While the public at large was fixated with closures of things like monuments and museums and national parks, the trade was focused on greater problems, the tools that were offline and the agencies which were unavailable. Customs and Border Protection were deemed “essential” during the shutdown, which meant that they remained open for business. However, importers whose cargo is regulated by any of a host of other agencies, including APHIS, FDA, Fish & Wildlife or the CPSC, saw significant delays in processing, assuming that their entries were even processed at all. Some of the things we as Customs brokers dealt with during the shutdown included: Fish & Wildlife moving from their online eDecs system back to a paper system that required checks and prohibited ACH or credit card payments. FDA furloughing inspectors to review entries and prioritizing to perishables and medical goods for examinations. CPSC not conducting testing on samples or not taking samples, period. Several key websites were either left to go without updates (Customs) and some were taken down in their entirety, including the one that hosts the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. This was not for the faint of heart. We wish it had not happened in the first place and we are thankfully that many companies such as terminal operators and warehouses who could have taken advantage of the trade during this time were equally understanding. However with the extremely short-term nature of the agreement, we are hoping that in three months we’re not making these same preparations all over again.
Beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, C-SPAN will be shooting its live Washington Journal morning show from Norfolk International Terminals.
From: David White Vice President Virginia Maritime Association P.O. Box 3487 Norfolk, Virginia 23514 vma@portofhamptonroads.com www.vamaritime.com Beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, C-SPAN will be shooting its live Washington Journal morning show from Norfolk International Terminals. The show will be shot in three segments, starting with Jeff Wassmer, Chairman of the Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners, Rodney Oliver, VPA Interim Executive Director, and the host discussing all things related to the Port of Virginia (approximately 45 minutes). They will be followed by a segment featuring Congressmen Bobby Scott and Scott Rigell addressing federal issues that relate to transportation, infrastructure, trade, legislation that has a bearing on the industry, security and the like (about 45 minutes). The final interview will be withKurt Nagle, President and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), North America’s largest port industry trade association. He will talk about industry-wide issues. This is a great opportunity to showcase the Port of Virginia. View the live webcastat: https://www.c-span.org/Series/Washington-Journal/.
Israel invites bids for new private ports
Something about Port development and history has always fascinated me. Aerospace has now been privatized it only makes since for country and city economies to investigate privatization of the ports. Now when APM forced their Operating bid unsolicited that was more a ethical disagreement for me. It is only fair for a Port to have the right to add requirement, specifications, and to basically control the bidding process. Does any business every get this advantage, yes, does that mean its fair, probably not. just my two cents. Sounds like Israel is looking at it the right way. https://www.nbc29.com/story/22753576/israel-invites-bids-for-new-private-ports
The port of Virginia Keeps it going! Another full day at the port!
The port of Virginia has been extremely busy for the last 6 months. Volumes are up, the heart of the work force, the truckers and the ILA members are happily exhausted! https://ow.ly/mnCUs
APM Terminal technology drives throughput, efficiency, and growth.
With a one million twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) capacity, APM Terminals, operated by Virginia International Terminals, is the crown jewel of the Hampton Roads terminal facilities. Opened in 2007, the 291-acre terminal (on a total parcel of 576 acres) at a cost of $450 million dollars is capable of an expansion that could double its throughput to two million TEUs. Today’s ports are far different than those of even just a decade or two ago when concerns about technology, security and throughput were secondary to issues of safety, hours of operation and cost. APM Terminals was developed to meet the rigorous demands and needs of all six of those guiding pillars. The yard features weight-sensitive booths and remotely controlled cranes, the first of their kind in the United States. Drivers are required to exit vehicles and stay in a booth for safety reasons while the cranes are loading. The terminal requires all visitors to be TWIC holders to insure an accurate accounting of persons who are on the port’s property. Trucks can arrive and depart quickly through twelve inbound and twelve outbound gates that minimize idling time and environmental impact through the use of optical scanners and RFID readers. Environmentally, the use of all-electric ship-to-shore cranes and electric spreader bars on gantry cranes reduces emissions and the risks of hydraulic spills. APM Terminals, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk and the same company who owns Maersk Line, owns or operates 69 port and terminal facilities and over 170 inland operations, directly employing 25,000 people in 68 countries. In 2010, APM Terminals leased the terminal to Virginia International Terminals (VIT) for twenty years and VIT moved carriers into the new facility. Last year, APM submitted an unsolicited bid to manage all the facilities at Hampton Road. This offer was rejected by the board of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA), who approved instead to move forward with a long-term restructuring plan for the authority as well as the VIT, the operating authority. “The restructuring approved by the VPA’s board of commissioners bodes well for the future of the terminal,” says Ben Nelson, III, of Nelson International. “The Port of Virginia, which was ranked sixth largest North American port in 2012 by the Journal of Commerce, continues to take steps to make themselves appealing to carriers and shippers who have a choice in ports on the East Coast. Coupled with infrastructure improvements to the port, as well as rail and road projects throughout the Commonwealth, we’re excited to be at the nexus of such potential future opportunities.”
