Legal

Thursday, May 16, 2013

   The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has received 13 ocean transportation intermediary license applications and changes for review.    The FMC received non-vessel-operating common carrier license applications from Feiliks Global Logistics Corp., Jamaica, N.Y. (Ami K. Wey, president); Hye Mi Express U.S.A., Torrance, Calif. (Kil Soo "Ben" Hur, president); and Sea Marine Transport, Huixquilucan, Mexico (Moises L. Sarabia, president).    The agency also received an NVO...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

   After a year-long review of substance-impaired driving in the trucking industry, the National Transportation Safety Board has issued recommendations for reducing the legal alcohol driving limit; ramping up the use of interlock devices; and beefing up penalties for non-compliance.    According to a NTSB report, the new legal blood-alcohol limit for drivers should drop from .08 to .05.    While the American Trucking Associations commended the progress on these measure...

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

   The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has adopted a new arbitration program for disputes between shippers and railroads with clear liability limits.    Effective June 12, the rule change establishes when the parties would be ordered to participate in mediation.    Initially, Class I and II railroads were to be automatically enrolled in the arbitration program unless they specifically opted out of the program by application to the board. Class III rail...

Monday, May 13, 2013

   Transportation Worker Identification Credentials, or TWIC cards, were described as a “joke” during hearings before the U.S. House of Representative’s Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee last week.    The hearings came as the Government Accountability Office issued a report that said  11 years after initiation of the program the Department of Homeland Security “has not demonstrated how, if at all, TWIC will improve maritime security.”    G...

Friday, May 10, 2013

   With large quantities of sugar currently on the domestic market, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will use its waiver authority under the Refined Sugar Re-Export Program to temporarily permit licensed refiners to transfer program sugar from their license to another licensed refiner through Sept. 30.    USDA will also temporarily increase the license limit for raw cane sugar refiners from 50,000 metric tons raw value of credits to 100,000 metric tons raw value of credits through ...

Thursday, May 09, 2013

   The United States has requested consultations with Bahrain under the Labor Chapter of the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA).    The request follows a December 2012 report by the U.S. Labor Department that highlighted labor issues stemming from Bahrain’s response to civil unrest in early 2011 in the Persian Gulf country and recommended actions to address those issues.    “Ensuring that workers in Bahrain – and in other countries – can exercise their fundamental labor...

Thursday, May 09, 2013

   Two former employees of a Marine Corps logistics base in Albany, Ga., have pleaded guilty to taking bribes totaling nearly $750,000 over a three-year period to provide local carriers with business from the base, according to the U.S. Justice Department.    The two men — Mitchell D. Potts and Jeffrey S. Philpot — face maximum prison sentences of 15 years and fines. They have already paid back the bribes and restitution to the Defense Department.    During the scheme, ...

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

   Canada said it's adopting strict environmental standards to reduce air emissions from ships navigating in Canadian waters , and these changes further align the country's air emission standards with those of the United States.    "The changes we are announcing today will help make our oceans and lakes cleaner by reducing ship emissions," said Denis Lebel, Canada's minister of transport, infrastructure and communities. "Since vessels from Canada and the United States routinely t...

Friday, May 03, 2013

   Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association's Local 1804-1 and Local 1814 have overwhelmingly voted to approve a new contract with employers represented by the Metropolitan Marine Maintenance Contractors Association.    Members voted in favor of a new six-year contract by a vote of 632-18, according to an announcement by Dennis A. Daggett, the president of Local 1804-1 and the chief negotiator for the maintenance locals. The ratification vote was held on Tuesday, April...

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

   Raytheon, a major international defense and aerospace company, will pay $8 million in civil penalties and remedial expenditures to resolve hundreds of alleged violations of U.S. export regulations designed to protect sensitive technology from falling in the hands of enemies.    The State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees exports of military goods, said Raytheon violated the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulatio...

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

   Two members of Congress from Southern California are urging the City of Los Angeles and BNSF Railway to take further steps to mitigate the environmental effects of a planned intermodal container transfer facility to protect the health of Long Beach residents who live close by.    The Southern California International Gateway is planned for construction on property owned by the Port of Los Angeles a few miles from the marine terminals. It is designed to shorten the drive for trucker...

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

   A federal appeals court will soon rule on whether an antitrust case against four railroads that allegedly engaged in price-fixing can be tried in the courts as a class action suit.    Dakota Granite Co., Zinifex Taylor Chemicals and 11 other shippers brought a suit against BNSF, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific in 2007. The plaintiffs alleged the carriers illegally imposed surcharges from 2003 to 2008. In that case, the judge allowed for a class-action su...

Monday, April 29, 2013

   The automotive supplier division of the U.S. conglomerate Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against its long-time freight payment and audit vendor, TransVantage Solutions.    The lawsuit, filed April 8 in New Jersey, alleges that TransVantage had failed to make $17 million in payments to Johnson Control’s transportation providers, and the company had been systematically hiding its misuse of the funds it handled on Johnson Controls’ behalf. &nbs...

Monday, April 29, 2013

   Cargo theft in North America stayed flat, year over year, in 2012 as European theft rates rose by 24 percent, according to FreightWatch International.    Cargo theft in Asia also increased.    According to the company, however, the greatest theft threats still exist in Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Last year, about 6,800 thefts were reported in Sao Paulo, and more than 6,000 Mexican thefts occurred in 2012.    Pharmaceutical thefts are on the rise in Europe, ...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

   Cathay Pacific Airways, Thai Airways International and MASKargo have been fined a combined $9.6 million by the High Court of New Zealand for engaging in cargo price fixing activities.    The three carriers pleaded guilty to various violations occurring from February 2000 to February 2006.    Cathay paid the largest fine, $4.3 million, for setting fuel and security surcharges on flights from India to New Zealand, among other routes. Thai, which paid $2.7 million, illegally...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

   The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security said Computerlinks FZCO of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has agreed to pay a $2.8 million civil penalty following allegations that it committed three violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).    The violations are related to the transfer to Syria of devices designed to monitor and control Internet traffic. In addition to the civil penalty, which is the statutory maximum, the company has agreed to sub...

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

   Shipowners and seafarers' unions have joined forces to express concern at flag states’ failure to submit maritime casualty reports as required under international conventions.    The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents 80 percent of the world merchant fleet, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which represents seafarers’ unions worldwide, have made a joint submission to the International Maritime Organization commenting on the apparent f...

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

   The U.S. State Department recently issued a presidential permit to the state of Michigan to build a new bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.    The State Department approves new international border crossings after reviewing whether they are in the national interest.     Local and national officials in Canada and the United States for many years have been developing plans for a second bridge to relieve congestion on the privately-held Ambassador Bridg...

Monday, April 22, 2013

   Shippers should expect delays receiving air cargo moving through major airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York after the U.S. Department of Transportation and its Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday began to furlough air traffic controllers as promised to make good on forced budget cuts that hit the entire government in March.        Critics said the Obama administration is using the reductions in air traffic control hours to...

Thursday, April 18, 2013

   Three customers of Greenville, S.C.-based freight payment and audit services provider Trendset filed petitions this week against Trendset in federal bankruptcy court.    The customers - Husqvarna Professional Products, Legrand North America, DH Business Services – were among those affected by an embezzlement and fraud case that Trendset Chief Executive Officer Gary Selvaggio described in a letter to customers in late March .    The case, Selvaggio wrote, involved a “trus...

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

   The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the American Trucking Associations' ongoing challenge to the Port of Los Angeles to impose a comprehensive licensing scheme on trucks hauling freight in and out of the port.     A transcript of the argument can be read here.    "We believe it is clear that in 1980 Congress established that trucking should be shaped by the competitive market, rather than government regulations," said ATA Deputy Chief Counsel Richard Pi...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

   Since October U.S. Customs has seized more than a dozen imported Land Rover Defender off-road utility vehicles for violating federal road safety standards, including two early last month at the Port of Norfolk in Virginia.    The agency said it is aware of vehicles with altered vehicle identification numbers to make them appear at least 25 years old and therefore exempt from certain safety standards, such as air bags. The illegal shipments have been discovered arriving from Gr...

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

   UPS is appealing the European Union's decision to block its proposed merger with TNT Express because the ruling was not legally sound and contained fact errors, according to a report by Reuters .    The integrator, which was trying to buy TNT Express for $6.6 billion, sent its appeal last week.    In January, the European Union officially blocked the proposed merger between UPS and TNT, a decision that had been developing in private and in the press for quite some time. ...

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

   Unions representing Hong Kong dockworkers will hold talks with two contractors and mediators from Hong Kong’s Labor Department on Wednesday , according to a report from Radio Television Hong Kong .    The broadcaster’s Website said port operator Hongkong International Terminal (HIT), a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings, has indicated it will sit in on the talks between workers and the contractors that employ them.    The South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed sour...

Friday, April 05, 2013

   The newspaper The Standard reported Hong Kong’s High Court has extended an injunction first obtained April 1 on striking dockworkers , barring them from entering container terminals in Kwai Chung where the port’s container terminal is located.    The paper said talks to resolve dispute failed to materialize on Thursday, and quoted Labor Party lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan stating the strike by dockworkers, now in its ninth day, would continue, but added the divergence in views b...

Thursday, April 04, 2013

   The news this week that freight payment and audit services provider Trendset has been beset by internal embezzlement and fraud comes at a particularly interesting point in the evolution of the freight payment and audit industry.    In March, the freight payment consultancy Quetica and law firm Balch & Bingham released a white paper that encourages shippers to perform due diligence when it comes to selecting an external freight payment and audit services provider.    I...

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

   The freight payment and audit services provider Trendset has alerted its clients to an internal fraud and embezzlement issue which could affect payments the provider was supposed to make on behalf of its shipper customers to their transportation carriers.    Trendset Chief Executive Officer Gary Selvaggio said in a letter to customers last week, which obtained by American Shipper, that a “trusted employee” engaged in a fraud and embezzled funds from the company’s bank account...

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today said it’s withdrawing approval of the import and sale of up to 74,000 gas-powered on-and off-road motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles from China.    EPA issued the vehicle certificates from 2006 to 2012 to two companies which operate as Snyder Technology and Snyder Computer Systems (doing business as Wildfire Motors Corp.). As a result of a lengthy investigation, EPA said that the applications for the certificates contained misleadin...

Monday, April 01, 2013

   UPS has agreed to pay $40 million to avoid prosecution for shipping drugs from illegitimate online pharmacies, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced Friday.    The Atlanta-based global express delivery company has fully cooperated with the investigation and will implement a compliance program to prevent illegal online pharmacies from using its services.    The government has turned up enforcement on Internet pharmacies because of the health consequences of taki...

Friday, March 29, 2013

    Member states of the International Civil Aviation Organization agreed to press forward for liberalization of air carrier ownership and control, enhanced air cargo liberalization and a focus on minimizing air transport taxes during last week’s air transport conference.    Representatives decided to press for a move away from state ownership of airlines and airports.     Members get together once a decade for the worldwide conference to discuss the organization’s...

Thursday, March 28, 2013

   The Baltic Air Charter Association (BACA) has elected Tony Coe, owner of Aviation Complete Ltd., as its new chairman.    The association, based at the Baltic Exchange in London, represents the interests of air charter brokers, aircraft operators, airports, aviation lawyers and others in the global air charter industry.    Coe has been in the aviation industry since 1973, when he joined cargo operator Tradewinds Airways as an operations officer. He has worked extensively ...

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

   The International Civil Aviation Organization has started an environmental project with the Indonesian government to improve the sustainability of Indonesian air transport.    ICAO's technical cooperation bureau will help the government devise a long-term plan to combat carbon emissions while also focusing on immediate changes to lower the spread of greenhouse gases.    The agreement is all part of ICAO's goal to help member states create a cleaner, more sustai...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

   Many eyes in the maritime industry Tuesday will be on Norfolk, Va., where the Virginia Port Authority's Board of Commissioner's is scheduled to vote on whether to pursue negotiations with one of two private bidders for a long-term management contract to operate the state-owned port facilities.    U.S. ports in the past decade have frequently entered long-term leases for individual terminals giving private companies operating freedom for decades at a time in exchange for some ...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

   In May, Florida Coastal School of Law will start a number of programs in logistics and transportation law, including a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree, as well as graduate certificates for lawyers and non-lawyers interested in transportation law.    The programs are offered online and can be completed on the student’s schedule any time. The first term for all programs starts May 6.    “Our goal is to train ‘solution brokers,’ well-rounded transportation and logistics profes...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

   A federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has returned an indictment against Thomas Farmer, a former executive of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Crowley Liner Services, for participating in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for freight transported by water between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.    The Justice Department's indictment, filed last Thursday in the U.S. District Court in San Juan, said Farmer, the former vice president of price and yield manag...

Friday, March 22, 2013

   Five members of Hawaii’s state legislature last week introduced resolutions (H.R. 119 and H.C.R. 150) calling on Congress to enact legislation to change the Jones Act so that ships operating between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico do not have to be built in the United States.    Lead sponsor State Republican Rep. Gene Ward noted in a press release that foreign-built vessels are allowed in the domestic Guam trade, and said an exemption for cruise ships put in pl...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

   The Government Accountability Office Wednesday released a report on shipping between Puerto Rico and the United States and possible modification of the Jones Act requirement that vessels participating in the trade be registered in the United States, crewed by U.S. citizens, and built in a U.S. shipyard.    The report was prepared at the request of Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner in the U.S. House.    GAO said “Shippers doing business in Puerto Ri...

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

   The Government Accountability Office Wednesday released a report on shipping between Puerto Rico and the United States and possible modification of the Jones Act requirement that vessels participating in the trade be registered in the United States, crewed by U.S. citizens, and built in a U.S. shipyard.     The report, prepared at the request of Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s representative in the U.S. House, said “Shippers doing business in Puerto Rico that GAO cont...

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

U.S. Customs seeks to prevent C-TPAT disclosures.    U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to exempt from disclosure under the Privacy Act certain information it collects and maintains about companies that participate in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, a voluntary supply chain security program.    In a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register last Wednesday, CBP said it needed to bypass the law's disclosure requirements with regard to C-TPAT...

Monday, March 18, 2013

   The American Trucking Associations argued Friday in front of a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours of service rule changes should not be implemented.    General counsel for the ATA argued the existing rules are sufficient and changing the rules, which will go into effect July 1, is “baseless.” Prasad Sharma, who is representing the ATA, also said the changes were “agenda-driven rather than...

Friday, March 15, 2013

   Forever 21 has been ordered by a district court to comply with a subpoena issued by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in August, demanding the retailer produce supply chain documents regarding garment shipping.     The retailer had declined to follow the subpoena.    The organization originally demanded the documents following a sweep of downtown Los Angeles garment sewing factories that found goods destined for Forever 21 stores were pr...

Monday, March 11, 2013

   Japanese freight forwarding companies "K" Line Logistics and Yusen Logistics have pleaded guilty to price-fixing and have agreed to pay a total of $18.9 million in fines, according to the U.S. Justice Department.    "K" Line Logistics will pay $3.5 million, while Yunsen's fine is $15.42 million.    The two Japanese firms bring the total number of forwarders that have pleaded guilty to price-fixing to 16. The group has been charged a total of $120 million. These fines pale...

Friday, March 08, 2013

   AMR Corp. has started preparing for an impending merger with US Airways, promoting Bev Goulet to senior vice president and chief integration officer.    Goulet, who had just finished leading the merger transition planning team, served as chief restructuring officer during AMR’s journey through bankruptcy. She held that position while working as vice president of corporate development and treasurer.     Peter Warlick will take over Goulet’s previous duties as treasure...

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

   The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said Tuesday that it had filed an unfair labor practice against Mitsui-United Grain, which operates a grain export terminal in Vancouver, Wash., on the Columbia River.    The union is complaining about a lockout of 200 members of ILWU Local 4 that began on Feb. 27. The company said it began the lockout after an investigator it hired allegedly found evidence that a union member who was part of the Local 4's labor relations commit...

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

   The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered Norfolk Southern Railway Co. to pay $1.2 million to three workers for wrongfully terminating them for reporting workplace injuries, in violation of whistleblower provisions in the Federal Railroad Safety Act.    The company has also been ordered to expunge the disciplinary records of the three workers, post a notice regarding employees' whistleblower protection rights and train workers on these rights, the Lab...

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

   Houck Anderson, a Miami-based maritime and admiralty law firm, has merged with The Chartwell Law Offices, one of the fastest growing law firms on the East Coast.    Houck Anderson was founded in 1992 by Mark Houck and Andy Anderson. The firm, with offices in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, expanded its practice areas to include general liability, premises, construction, aviation and other defense litigation over recent years. Houck Anderson represents many insurers, P&I clubs, broker...

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

   Three Philippine nationals were convicted Monday in Los Angeles of illegally importing military grade weapons into the United States after being caught in a sting operation that was conducted in the Philippines, the Justice Department said.    Sergio Syjuco, 26; Cesar Ubaldo, 27; and Arjyl Revereza, 26, were convicted after a four-week trial by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California of conspiring to illegally import the weapons into the United S...

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

   Third party logistics services provider AutoInfo has been acquired by a subsidiary of Comvest Investment Partners for a 7 percent premium on the company’s Feb. 28 share price.    AutoInfo’s board has approved the merger and is awaiting approval of its shareholders. The agreement is expected to close in the second quarter.    “Comvest’s growth strategy is to acquire well managed companies that are leaders in their market and effectively oversee their performance,” Har...

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

   The European Shippers Council has denounced a European Court’s recent judgment that gave a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary management of the German railways.    The European Union had brought a court challenge alleging that Germany wasn’t properly adhering to unbundling, a measure in the current EU railway package that separates rail transport and infrastructure management services, achieving a greater level of competition in the European railway sector.    The court ruled, how...

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

   American Airlines’ parent company, AMR Corp., and US Airways have received a request for additional information from the U.S. Justice Department concerning its proposed merger.    The move is a normal step in the process, and officials still expect the deal to close in the third quarter.    American and US Air announced the potential $11 billion merger, which would create the largest carrier in the United States, last month.    The combined carrier will have a n...

Thursday, February 28, 2013

   MIQ Logistics has promoted John Carr, a six-year MIQ veteran who became company-wide president in 2009, to chief executive officer.    Carr will also serve in an expanded president's role. Joey Carnes will stay on as board chairman.    Board member David Lack pointed to Carr's leadership during the 2010 relaunching of MIQ after its purchase by Austin Ventures as a reason for the promotion. Carr positioned the company for accelerated growth, he said.     “In...

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

   United Grain Corp. (UGC) said Wednesday it has locked out members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) from its grain export terminal in the Port of Vancouver, Wash., following alleged efforts to sabotage equipment there.    “UGC’s decision was based on evidence in an investigator’s report received Monday, February 25 that shows two significant attempts to sabotage export terminal equipment were carried out by a member of ILWU Local 4’s Labor Relations Com...

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

    A proposed law that would require the ports of Seattle and Tacoma to employ drayage truck drivers as a means to improving drivers' earnings and working conditions is a bad idea, representatives of those two ports and others told a Washington State House of Representatives committee on Tuesday.    At a hearing of the House Labor and Workforce Development Committee , witnesses opposed to the legislation questioned its legality and said the proposal would increase costs to ...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

   Washington state’s legislature has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday morning on a proposed law that would require large ports in the state to “employ drayage truck operators to load, unload, and transport containerized cargo, other than agricultural products, at or through the port."    Under the proposed law, the port district may enter into contracts with cargo owners and shippers to provide drayage services, and "all loading, unloading, and transporting of containerized cargo...

Monday, February 18, 2013

   The National Industrial Transportation League, World Shipping Council, and Maritime Law Association of the United States are calling on the State Department to review and approve the so-called Rotterdam Rules, an international maritime cargo liability convention signed by nearly two dozen countries back in 2009.    "We are quite concerned that the delay of more than three years after the United States signed the treaty is undermining international support for the treaty a...

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

   Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's Local 63, Office Clerical Unit, have re-filed a complaint against APM Terminals in Los Angeles for alleged eavesdropping.     A similar complaint made last year by the union was dismissed in December after having been found without merit by the National Labor Relations Board.    The union's new complaint was filed on Jan. 24, stating APMT activated a feature in the terminal's telephone system that cou...

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

   Jeffrey N. Shane, well-known transportation attorney and former official at the U.S. Department of Transportation, has been appointed general counsel for the International Air Transport Association, effective April 2.    He will be based at IATA’s headquarters in Montreal.    Shane has been a partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells since 2008. Prior to that he served in the Bush administration as the undersecretary of transportation for policy from 2003-2008. In his role, S...

Monday, February 11, 2013

   Two  Illinois men have allegedly defrauded UPS of more than $1.2 million in the past two years.    According to the U.S. Justice Department, Mark Gleason, a UPS employee, and Dayton Sloan of D&S Construction have been charged with wire fraud and money laundering.    The Justice Department said Gleason allegedly signed a general maintenance contract with D&S in April 2011 on behalf of UPS. D&S was to work on UPS’ three dozen locations in Ill...

Friday, February 08, 2013

   When truck drivers aren’t at fault for vehicle crashes, the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Administration shouldn’t record those accidents in its database, according to the American Trucking Associations.    The ATA is trying to get crashes that the driver didn’t cause or couldn’t have prevented erased from the FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety and Accountability monitoring system. ATA officials argue it's unfair for trucking companies to be penalized in the CSA rankings for crashes that are...

Friday, February 08, 2013

   The U.S. Justice Department said Ashu Bhandari, former president and chief executive officer of U.S. Virgin Islands-based GEM Manufacturing, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in St. Thomas for felony customs violations for his role in a scheme to illegally import protected black coral into the United States.    Bhandari is the last defendant to be sentenced from an investigation into the illegal trade of black coral. “The scheme cost Bhandari’s company, GEM Manufacturing, mil...