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Short Sea Shipping
For the last few years we have reported on the latest information on Short Sea Shipping. Some points of interest are: Truck congestion on the nation’s highways; Illegal Harbor Maintenance Tax and harbor dredging; Much larger ocean vessels; Fuel and other savings.
You may remember in the 80’s the harbor maintenance tax (HMT) was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court and the court ordered the federal government to refund all collected HMT on exports. It is only legal to collect HMT on import ocean shipments and domestic water shipments.
There are many harbors which require regular dredging. As ocean going vessels are built bigger and bigger, those ports will require even deeper dredging. Import HMT collections are not enough to do all the dredging. There are ongoing efforts to eliminate the HMT on domestic shipments.
Elimination of HMT on domestic shipments would reduce the cost of barge shipments on rivers and Great Lakes. This could make the competition with trucks easier, so that the slower transit time by water could offset the higher cost of truck freight. This could reduce some of the truck traffic hauling ocean going containers on the nation’s highways, and allow automobile traffic to move more easily on less congested highways.
Many ocean vessels are being built bigger and bigger and much more fuel efficient. By having these super large vessels call only at the naturally deep ports, and by using smaller vessels to feed the cargo from ports with lesser depths, much of the dredging costs could be avoided.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS. Our TAMI board is planning a presentation on Short Sea Shipping for our annual banquet currently scheduled for February 24, 2009. Betty Nowak will be the featured speaker and her topic will be Short Sea Shipping. Let’s all turn out and get the latest on this topic. Watch for information and bring relatives and customers and family and friends.
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CAFTA-DR
The Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) is an agreement by which qualifying cargoes move between the member countries at reduced or no duty.
According to the US Trade Representative News, the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua signed the CAFTA-DR in August 2004. Implementing legislation for the CAFTA-DR passed the US Senate in June 2005 and the House of Representatives in July 2005. It was signed by the President in August 2005. The first of the foreign countries to sign on was El Salvador on March 1, 2006; next Honduras and Nicaragua on April 1, 2006; then Guatemala on July 1, 2006; finally the Dominican Republic on March 1, 2007. The CAFTA-DR is expected to be completed with implementation of the agreement for Costa Rica on January 1, 2009. Trade has increased regularly as the agreement has been implemented.
10 + 2
Are you ready for 10 + 2? 10 + 2 is more properly called the Importer Security Filing (ISF) program. It will go into effect on January 26, 2009, at which time all import shipments arriving in the U.S. by ocean carrier will require an ISF confirmation number.
There are ten data elements which must be transmitted to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) no later than 24 hours PRIOR to the cargo leaving the foreign port of loading. The importer is responsible for having all information available. All importers and their brokers must be certain that all data is in order and timely to avoid penalties and/or delays.
Now and then people say their broker warned them about 10 + 2, but told them they were on their own, because the broker was not able to help them. This will be a problem. All brokers and importers must be familiar with and comply with all aspects of 10 + 2. 10 + 2 is only one of many compliance regulations designed to keep our country safe.
SANTA CLAUS IS THE ONLY PERSON EXEMPT FROM 10 + 2 FILING! |
