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.
News / Supply Chain Alerts
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.
On July 1, 2016, the new container weight verification rule will go into effect and will impact shippers from 171 countries due to the added requirements of necessary documentation. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted this new requirement under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter VI, Part A, Regulation 2.
The Port Authority of NY/NJ has reported a labor walk-off that took place at 10:53 this morning involving the workers of the International Longshoremen’s Association.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted a new requirement under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter VI, Part A, Regulation 2. The new container weight verfication rule will go into effect on July 1, 2016, and will impact shippers from 171 countries due to the added requirements of necessary documentation.
This amendment to SOLAS states that the shipper is responsible for providing the container’s gross verified weight to the ocean carrier and port terminal representative prior to the container being loaded on a ship; regardless of who packed the container.
Heavy rain fall in Chennai, India over the last three weeks has led to flooding, and the severe weather is predicted to continue for the next 72 hours.
The trade ministers from the 12 participating TPP countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam) after five (5) days of round-the-clock negotiations in Atlanta agreed on Monday, Oct 5, 2015 to the largest regional trade agreement in history. The final sticking points in Atlanta centered on the length of market protections for an emerging class of pharmaceuticals, tariffs for dairy products and rules governing how to classify where automobiles are manufactured.
The TPP still faces months of debate in Congress even as presidential candidates, labor unions and liberal activists line up to oppose the agreement. On the other hand, Congress gave the president “fast track” trade promotion authority (TPA) in June, which guarantees that trade agreements will receive expedited consideration in Congress and a yes-or-no vote without amendments or filibusters.
The full text of the Agreement’s thirty (30) chapters will not be available for a month. Under the terms of the fast-track legislation, the president must wait 90 days after the TPP agreement is completed before he signs it and sends it to Congress for a vote, and the text of the accord must be made public for at least 60 of those days.
For more information, please contact your local MIQ Logistics representative.
The U.S. Customs & Border Protection announced this week they are delaying the mandatory migration date of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) to February 2016. Please keep in mind these two deadlines:
- November 1, 2015 is the beginning of the transition period for using ACE for all electronic cargo release and related entry summary filing.
- February 28, 2016 is the mandatory use date of ACE for all remaining electronic portions of the CBP cargo process, as ACS will no longer be available.
Four more fires broke out today at the industrial park where the Tianjin explosion occurred on August 12th. One fire was reported to have occurred in a logistics site for vehicles, and the other three fires were reported within the central blast area.
Also reported today was an increase to the death toll, which has now reached 116, with 60 people still missing.