ILWU and PMA extend contract until 2022

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced August 4th, that members voted 67% in favor of extending their contract by three years to July 1, 2022. Both port management and workers expect the agreement to boost traffic and return lost market share to the West Coast. This news has inspired speculation on the International Longshoremen’s Association and the East Coast management organization, United States Maritime Alliance, as they enter talks about an extension of their own contract, which expires on Sept. 30, 2018.

Since 2005 ports on the West Coast ports have lost 12 percent market share, from 79% to 67 %, for US imports from Asia due to the proliferation of distribution centers and warehousing near East and Gulf Coast. Also pertinent, the labor disruption of 2014 that saw West Coast ports crippled as cargo was diverted to the East Coast and Gulf ports to avoid the work stoppage. With the Panama Canal expansion completed, new dredging and harbor infrastructure in the East and Gulf ports allowed them to accept new Post-Panamax megaships that recently had only found the West Coast acceptable.

The agreement was reached by avoiding discussions about automation and jurisdiction, topics that can cause deep disagreements and tense negotiations. By focusing on benefits, wages and pensions, the parties were able to come to a mutual agreement on basic issues while ensuring work would remain consistent. As the market reacts adversely to delays and rerouting that happens when negotiations break down, the agreement comes is a welcome site.

We at New Direx watch these discussions closely to ensure your cargo is always booked and scheduled for the fasted available routing. When and if there were more delays arising, we’re prepared with alternate options for our clients to minimize the impact that this has on your business. We look forward to talking more about this issue as the East Coast ports begin negotiations and will continue to follow any news that affects our industry here in our blog.

Welcome to Our New Website!

When New Direx began in 1993, we set out to become a freight forwarder so full of knowledge and experience that our clients could look to us as an expert logistics team with whom they could partner to take the guess work out of their supply chain. As we have grown and expanded, we’ve remained committed to providing the most comprehensive industry expertise and cutting-edge technological efficiencies. With this promise, it is to our delight that we unveil our new website to provide more access, information, and transparency to your cargo.

We’re incredibly excited to share this new experience with you and invite you to take a look and see what New Direx has to offer. Let us know how we can help you with your cargo needs and be sure to request a quote!

From our new website you’ll be able to:

-Request a quote.

-Read and learn about industry current events, our team and other timely topics in our new blog.

-Contact us.

-Review our services.

-Understand our verticals

-Download important documents (and find links to important information) in our resources section.

  •  Customs Power of Attorney
  •  Export (Routed Export) Power of Attorney
  •  Shipper’s Letter of Instruction
  •  Our Terms & Conditions, Warehouse T&C, and Bill of Lading T&C

 

We look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,

New Direx

New Direx at NCBFAA G-TEC Conference

This past week, the NCBFAA’s Educational Institute was in Long Beach for two days of educational sessions. The G-TEC Conference is unique because it draws not just Customs brokers and freight forwarders, but importers and exporters as well. We find that this is extremely useful for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it is beneficial for partners in the international supply chain to hear and understand together how things are supposed to function.

We wanted to take a few minutes to key on the takeaways that we found to be the most educational and important for our customers. If you have questions about any of the topics covered below, do not hesitate to contact us.

Antidumping / Countervailing Duties and Scope Determinations.

It is not in the best interest of Customs brokers to give advice on whether or not an imported product falls within the scope of an antidumping case. We were counseled by an attorney with a prominent law firm who represents both brokers as well as importers and exporters that only the Department of Commerce can issue a scope determination.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is a Priority Trade Issue (PTI) for Customs.

IPR, whether a trademark, a copyright or a chemical formulation is an issue that CBP is very heavily focused on. This year, as Customs has focused processing of key industries in their Centers of Excellence and Expertise, CBP officers and support staff have visibility into all the entries filed for a particular type of merchandise and can exercise greater targeting against counterfeit or infringing merchandise. CBP takes a dim view of merchandise brought into the country in violation of a company or individual’s IPR and will not only seize merchandise, but will prosecute civilly and criminally to the fullest extent of the law.

Carnets can be decremented in transit.

A carnet is a document by which goods can enter and leave member countries duty-free as long as they are not changed in condition. This is great for things like touring musical or theatre acts, machinery traveling to exhibitions around the globe and other eligible situations. But did you know that carnets can be used for things like items sold on cruise ships in international waters? Goods leave the country on board listed on a carnet and whatever is sold at sea can legitimately be decremented from the carnet without incurring a penalty.

Forced labor will not be tolerated.

The president of one of the major industry sureties said that another key item that CBP is focused on is forced labor. The Department of Labor actually maintains an app called “Sweat & Toil: Global Child Labor and Forced Labor” (downloadable here) to know more about prison and forced labor conditions. It doesn’t matter if the goods are above or below the de minimis threshold of $800, CBP will enforce the rule either way. 

We learned that forced labor generates $150 billion in profits each year.

Here in California, companies are even subject to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. In the UK, any companies doing more than USD 20 million in turnover are required to have a social compliance program.

These are just a few of the topics that we learned about during this valuable two-day conference. For more information, please contact Troy Sampson in our Los Angeles office who attended and can share more.