| China
Do you have any hazardous products that you ship to or from China? The Chinese are taking terrorism very seriously during the upcoming Olympics. They will not allow any hazardous substances at the following six major Chinese airports: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Qingdao. There will strict controls and approvals required for hazardous materials at other Chinese airports. These rules will be in effect from July 1 through September 30, 2008.
While China is still a very hot topic, and likely the biggest area for international shipping both import and export to all areas of the world, there has been a very slight cooling in shipping due to several reasons: China's cost of living; supply and demand; dramatic increases in transportation costs; lead times including manufacturing and transit. These all lead to a considerable increase in the cost of importing and exporting to and from China.
The report I saw did not mention hazardous materials at ocean ports, nor the movement of hazardous materials within China between factories and ocean ports, nor whether hazardous materials could be shipped within a certain distance from airports, if the airport was not the destination. If you have any hazardous materials going to or from China during this period, be sure to have your vendor or customer do some close checking, before you ship.
Dubai Ports
You may remember a couple years ago, when Dubai Ports bought some terminals at U.S. Ports and the uproar that followed by certain people who knew little or nothing about international transportation or security. These people had no rest until Dubai Ports sold these newly acquired port operations to another foreign based operator. Never mind that Dubai does not have a history of spawning terrorists. Never mind that Dubai is and has been a friendly country to the U.S. for many years. So, what's the difference between Dubai and the other foreign
entity? Dubai is in the Middle East. Can you say bigotry?
Now for the "in your face" affront to the bigots. Dubai Ports World is now the only international port operator to be certified under Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) by our U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
C-TPAT is a voluntary government-business initiative to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve overall international supply chain and U.S. Border security. C-TPAT is a time-consuming and costly effort to become certified as safe and secure by the U.S. CBP. Of course, cost is not a factor for an oil rich Middle East Country.
CSI (Container Security Initiative) is a program which the United States promotes to station U.S. inspectors at foreign ports of loading in foreign countries. Under this program the containers are inspected BEFORE they are loaded on board a ship bound for the U.S. while still in a foreign country. This cuts down on the time and effort spent on inspections, when import shipments arrive here. Dubai Ports World says they have U.S. inspectors at fourteen of their terminals around the world to inspect containers prior to their loading on board a vessel bound for the U.S.
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Balance Of Trade
In April, 2008 the balance of trade deficit widened again. Although U.S. exports increased greatly, U.S. imports increased by double the export increase. Some speculate that oil plays a major factor in the high imports.
AES
The Automated Export System is the electronic reporting of information formerly reported on the paper Shippers Export Declaration (SED). AES has been in effect for many years however it has been optional. Although it has been optional, there has been a fee assessed against export shipments
accompanied by a paper SED. Without a doubt it is much more costly to process shipments manually on paper, than by computer via AES. Therefore a fee has been in effect for a few years for each export shipment submitted with a paper SED.
Beginning July 2, 2008 AES will be mandatory. Until now it has been optional with a fee attached. Although July 2 begins the mandatory AES requirement, the Census Bureau will provide a 90 day grace period and not reject export shipments with paper SEDs until after September 30, 2008. Be sure you get rid of paper SEDs now.
Water
With all the snow we've had during the winter and all the rain we've had in the spring, let's hope and pray that now water stays under waterborne vessels in navigable waterways. |
