On Friday, January 22, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued Cargo System Messaging Service (CSMS) # 45799085 delaying the Aluminum Import License requirement until March 29, 2021. This delay announcement is in response to the “Regulatory Freeze” issued by the White House Chief of Staff on January 20, 2021.
News / Regulatory Updates
U.S. containerized imports from Asia in December were up 29.9% year over year with December marking the third highest monthly volume figure in 2020 behind October and August.
On January 13, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced in a press release that a region-wide Withhold Release Order (WRO) for cotton and tomato products made by slave labor in Xinjiang would go into effect immediately.
The ongoing import surge continues to cause bottlenecks throughout the supply chain. For the week ending January 8, there were 35 vessels at anchor awaiting berths at Los Angeles/Long Beach.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) office issued multiple Federal Register notices on January 12, 2021, addressing the Digital Service Tax (DST) decisions for France, India, Italy, and Turkey.
The double-digit percentage year over year volume growth on the Asia to U.S. trade-lane is expected to continue well past the Lunar New Year holiday (Feb 12) and potentially accelerate as Spring volumes match or exceed prior year. It is expected that imports moving from Asia to the West Coast ports in the U.S. from November thought January will show a 30% increase year over year. This increase is spilling over to all U.S. ports with Gulf and East Coast ports also posting double-digit growth.
On December 29, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office announced in Federal Register Notice 85 No 249 FR 85831 the extension of section 301 exclusions to twenty-four (24) medical-care products needed to address the COVID-19 outbreak.
On December 23, 2020, the International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce (DOC) announced in Federal Register 85 No 247 FR 83804 the adoption of the new Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis (AIM) system which will act as the aluminum import license application platform.
The Port of Long Beach announced this week that it marked its best November on record. The port moved 783,523 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which represents a 30.6% increase year-over-year. The story in Long Beach is all about imports, which were up 30.5% to 382,677 TEUs. Exports were down 5.2% to 117,283 TEUs. But the most significant figure is the number of empty containers shipped back to Asia for refilling. This number jumped 55% to 283,563 TEUs.