Beginning Monday night and running through Tuesday, a major nor’easter is forecasted to impact several states in the northeastern U.S. Blizzard conditions are expected to bring heavy snow and strong winds affecting many areas including, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., New York, New Jersey, and most of New England. According to the National Weather Service, “The heaviest snowfall is expected to occur from the northern Middle Atlantic to Southern New England where 12 to 18 inches can be expected with localized amounts up to 2 feet. Strong winds could down trees and cause power outages”.
News / Supply Chain Alerts
The President formally withdrew the United States from the TPP on January 23.
Because the United States represents over 60% of the combined GDP of the original 12 countries, without U.S. participation the agreement cannot enter into force.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) designed the eManifest initiative to modernize and improve cross-border commercial processes. When fully implemented, eManifest will require all carriers, freight forwarders and importers to electronically transmit advance commercial information about their shipments.
The below information is sourced directly from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The 2016 Biennial Renewal Period began Saturday, Oct 1, 2016 and ends on Saturday December 31, 2016 at 11:59 PM.
The National Hurricane Center issued Advisory #34A concerning Hurricane Matthew, which as of 4:00 p.m. e.t. is less than 115 miles east-southeast of West Palm Beach, FL. The public advisory states that currently Hurricane Matthew is a category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, with sustained winds of 140 mph. The advisory speaks to the current Hurricane Watch which is in effect from Edisto Beach, FL to South Santee River, SC.
Hurricane Matthew is targeted to land in South Florida over the next 48 hours. This is expected to create significant flood threat, high winds and heavy downpours.
Earlier today Hanjin Shipping Co. filed for court receivership. According to reports from Reuters, the largest South Korean container shipping firm and 7th largest in the world, made the decision to seek court receivership from the Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday. Additionally, the request to the District Court was to also freeze the assets of Hanjin. This decision came after Hanjin discovered that they were losing support from their banks. Hanjin’s debt reportedly stood at approximately $5 billion (USD), and their existing funding was no longer adequate.
On August 2nd the World Health Organization listed the U.S as a country that was reporting the mosquito-born Zika virus. Just 24 hours after this announcement China added the U.S. to their list of Zika-infected countries; which currently totals approximately 40. This listing brings about new requirements for all containers that are being shipped from the U.S. to China.
Reports are coming in from both ocean and rail carriers as well as news sources that the Blue Cut fire, which swept through the Cajon, CA area on Tuesday, is currently impacting both rail and highway logistics routes northeast of Los Angeles at this time.
In view of the recent easing of the SOLAS VGM requirements, specifically the Terminal Weighing Approach (TWA) where carriers will accept the weight from the terminal and not the shipper, we will no longer require the Verified Gross Mass (VGM) Certification distributed earlier this month.