Risk Management

Friday, May 11, 2012

   Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano has formally notified Congress that her department will postpone by two years the mandate that all inbound ocean containers be scanned for hidden nuclear weapons or other terror-related contraband at foreign ports by July 2012.    The 9/11 Recommendations Act that required the 100-percent inspections included authority for the secretary to waive the deadline under certain conditions.    In a May 2 letter to the House and Senate Homelan...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   Axway, which develops cloud-based software, has announced Nathan Associates has picked the company’s business-to-business integration (B2Bi) service to run a single window pilot program.    The pilot is being put into place by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The goal of the single window is to reduce the time needed to process import and export documents, allowing businesses to operate more efficiently. ASEAN also said it expects the program to b...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   As part of a multipronged effort to streamline compliance requirements, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will open two more industry-focused units aimed at centralizing the import process for trusted shippers, one for automotive and aerospace in Detroit and one for petroleum, natural gas and minerals in Houston.    Customs officials made the announcement Thursday in Long Beach, Calif., during the agency's annual Trade Symposium, which is being held on the West Coast for fir...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   U.S. and European Union customs officials have finalized an agreement to treat qualified shippers in their respective supply chain security programs as equivalent to their own, but a wide range of technical details must still be worked out before low-risk companies can enjoy reduced fees and inspection levels for ocean freight.    Under the agreement signed last Friday, Customs and Border Protection will recognize voluntary participants in the EU's Authorized Ec...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

   Retailers on Tuesday advised the House Committee on Natural Resources' subcommittee on fisheries, wildlife oceans and insular affairs that several significant compliance challenges have emerged from the 2008 Lacey Act Amendment that deserve attention from Congress.    The law requires importers to provide to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service details such as the genus, species and country of harvest for products that include wood m...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

   The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) has voiced concern over a pending EU regulation that requires independent validation of agents involved in air cargo shipments to Europe.    The law is an amendment to the EU security regime for air cargo and mail and went into effect Feb 1. It requires an airline to validate agents in third-party countries on all shipments into Europe.    “Simply put, there seems to be a gap between the expected cap...

Monday, May 07, 2012

   According to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, future warnings of deadly and disruptive tsunamis may come from commercial vessels, especially those with newer tracking and navigation systems.    The discovery came from the university's research vessel, Kilo Moana , which found that ship GPS can be used to determine sea surface height changes.    On its way from Hawaii from Guam, the ship was traveling when a tsunami was generated by the 8.8 earthquak...

Thursday, May 03, 2012

   Amber Road, formerly Management Dynamics and a provider of global trade management systems, has released a study on U.S.-based mid-market companies' export compliance challenges and found they are increasingly at risk of violating federal regulations.    Of the 150 companies surveyed, 23 percent do not screen for restricted parties prior to engaging overseas customers. For those that did perform this screening, 30 percent make checks manually using sp...

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

   Zepol Corp., a trade intelligence company based in Edina, Minn., has released its newest trade data tool, ComplianceIQ, to help U.S. importers comply with government import regulations.    The tool bridges multiple import-compliance datasets in a unified interface in hopes of bringing as much information to the customer as possible for specific Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes.    Zepol said users can view product classifications, search by binding rulings...

Monday, April 30, 2012

   The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security will add 16 persons - four individuals and 12 companies in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates - to its Entity List for providing materials used to produce improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and used against U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.    The persons who were added to the Entity List have been determined by the federal government as a threat to U.S. national security or foreign p...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

   The Weather Channel this week said it expects the Atlantic hurricane season in 2012 to be milder than in recent years.    “This preseason forecast calls for 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes (category three or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale),” the channel said. “These forecast numbers are below the long-term average from 1950-2011 (12 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes) and well below the averages for the curre...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released its Global Engagement Report, detailing the many activities and strategies the agency is currently using to transform itself from a domestic to a global public health agency.    Specifically, the report describes steps FDA is taking to ensure that imports of food, drugs, medical devices, and other regulated products meet the same rigorous standards for safety and quality as those manufactured domestically.    “As our wor...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday confirmed a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as “mad cow” disease, in a dairy cow from central California.    “The carcass of the animal is being held under state authority at a rendering facility in California and will be destroyed,” said USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford in a statement. “It was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at no time presented a risk to the food supply or...

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

   Significant theft of metals in the United States has increased by 254 percent, from 13 thefts in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 46 incidents in the first quarter of 2012, according to a report from FreightWatch International, a logistics security company.    Freightwatch says there were more metal thefts in the first quarter than all of 2010 and over half of all metal thefts recorded in 2011.    "Theft of copper and other metals is not unique to the United S...

Monday, April 23, 2012

   The U.S. Department of State on Thursday announced $2.6 million in funding to help train foreign governments on investigating and prosecuting intellectual property rights crimes in Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.    Workshops and training seminars will be conducted for customs authorities, judges, prosecutors, police, and other enforcement officials in Mexico, Chile, and Colombia    A dozen projects were selected for training and technical assistance with inp...

Friday, April 20, 2012

   CUSTOMS Info (CI) has made a version of its CI Mobile app available to freight forwarders, allowing them to provide trade information to their clients for free.    The information sent from the app, including details on duties, taxes and denied party lists, will be branded with the forwarder’s contact information.    The app is available for the Apple iPhone and iPad, plus all Android phones and tablets.    CI and its sister company Global Data Mining...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

   Willis Global Marine, part of Willis Group Holdings, had good news for shippers as it released its Marine Market Review Wednesday.    "Cargo insurance buyers continue to enjoy the benefits of a soft market this year, achieving reductions in both premium and deductibles, as well as increases in limits, at little or no additional cost. Despite ever-dwindling returns to insurers, competition for business remains fierce with a flurry of new entrants creating excess capacity,...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

   Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. (Hactl), the biggest air cargo handler at the world’s largest air cargo hub, said Wednesday it has set up the first International Air Transport Association (IATA) Authorised Training Center (ATC) for cargo in Hong Kong.    The goal of the center is to increase competency levels for air cargo practitioners in the industry. The training institute will provide distance learning and e-learning modules for those wanting to upgrade their know...

Monday, April 16, 2012

   AIR Worldwide, a Boston-based provider of risk modeling software and consulting services, has extended its Catastrophe Risk Engineering (CRE) service to quantify, mitigate, and manage risks associated catastrophes in supply chain networks.    AIR’s service aims to help managers assess and reduce risks from hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and tsunamis. The company said this covers physical damage as well as secondary business interruption and losses across the entire su...

Monday, April 16, 2012

   A newly launched Website, CargoHandbook.com , provides transportation details related to more than 750 commodities.    The Website also offers definitions and restrictions related to the products, with the goal of reducing cargo-related incidents and claims.    In addition, it provides an alphabetical list of cargo items and is built on the same structure as sites like Wikipedia for easy searches. Users can also submit information which ...

Thursday, April 12, 2012

   Arlington, Va.-based GreenLine Systems, a provider of services for cross-border management, has appointed Scott Suhy to chief executive officer, the company told American Shipper .    Noah Rosenkrantz, co-founder and previous CEO, has transitioned to chairman. “As our team expands to serve an increasing number of customers worldwide, Scott has become a critical part of our success and his appointment as CEO is an important milestone for our organization,” he said.   &nbs...

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

   IES, which provides a suite of import and export services, announced that its entire Ocean AMS customer base will be moved from the Automated Commercial System (ACS) to the new Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), a commercial trade processing system developed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.    ACE is an attempt to create a single window approach for the United States where international traders electronically provide all information needed by federal agen...

Monday, April 09, 2012

   Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration searched a Walgreens distribution center in Jupiter, Fla., and six of its drug stores in central Florida to see if the company or its employees had sold or distributed an excessive numbers of pain pills, authorities said Friday.    Walgreens is the latest to come under scrutiny over the sale of prescription drugs as DEA named Florida the biggest source of narcotic pain pills in the Southeast.    ...

Monday, April 09, 2012

   The Singapore Armed Forces has agreed to a deal to allow the Dutch military to store small arms and ammunition at its outpost, according to a report in Singapore’s Straits Times .    “The arms will be used by Dutch military teams who sail on board Dutch-flagged merchant vessels, which pass through the piracy-infested waters off the Somali Coast and the Gulf of Aden,” the report said. “These military teams - known as vessel protection detachments (VPD) - are deployed on b...

Friday, April 06, 2012

  A report released this week by a committee of the Institute of Medicine  urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its overseas counterparts from the top industrialized nations to work together to help developing countries improve their regulatory systems for food and drug oversight.   The discovery of a counterfeit version of the cancer drug Avastin earlier this year further underscored the challenges for U.S. regulators as imports increasingly dominate the American mar...

Friday, April 06, 2012

  The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security has posted an online tool this week to help exporters determine if they are eligible and in compliance with the License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (STA).   The tool can be found in the "On-Line Training Room" of the new BIS Website . It can also be located on the Export Control Reform Website  underneath the left sidebar item “For Exporters.”   “This tool is purely voluntary and ser...

Friday, April 06, 2012

   The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade is starting work on the modernization of the European Union’s trade defense operations — mainly antidumping and countervailing duties, safeguards, and similar protections — and seeks input from importers, producers, and other companies that deal with cross-border trade.    Trade defense instruments in this case are largely the means that governments and companies use to address what they feel as unfair international tradi...

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

   Analysis from the London-based TT Club, which provides insurance and risk management services for transport and logistics companies, said its latest research has found that human error is the key cause of supply chain claims.    TT Club said it researched claims totaling more than $120 million during the past six years and found that almost 80 percent of the incidents resulting in claim were “avoidable.”    “The vast majority involved some form of human error,” Laurence ...

Friday, March 30, 2012

   TradeCard, Inc., which operates a supply chain and global trade platform, announced a new partnership with Technia to extend its services to more trading partners in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.    Technia supplies the Nordic region with a product lifecycle management system.    The partnership will extend TradeCard's growing presence in Europe and facilitate the delivery of its cloud-based supply chain service. The company said Technia's local know...

Thursday, March 29, 2012

   Los Angeles-based Less Software, a supply chain management service provider, has joined Avalara’s list of certified original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and will now integrate Avalara’s Software-as-a-Service platform for sales tax management into its own applications.    Avalara said that its OEM partners, which in this case are software publishers and providers, typically offer the Avalara tax service under their own names.     Less Software Chief Execu...

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

   Swiss freight forwarder Kuehne + Nagel Group said Tuesday it's introducing a new product for the pharmaceutical and health care industry.    KN PharmaChain will give shippers door-to-door temperature control, a 24-hour alert system, and optional wireless temperature measuring.    “KN PharmaChain is Kuehne + Nagel’s response to the pharmaceutical industry’s requirements for effective and proper air freight transportation solutions,” the company said. “If not cor...

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

   A Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation found that counterfeit military parts remain readily available from Chinese companies for use in U.S. weapons systems.    The congressional watchdog agency set up a fake Internet company as part of a sting operation against counterfeit goods. Chinese sources represented 84 percent of the bids the fake company received. GAO said the findings conclude that China is not pursuing counterfeit...

Monday, March 26, 2012

   The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a $571,458 grant to Morocco to support a feasibility study to improve safety and security at the Port of Casablanca.    The grant was specifically issued to Marsa Maroc, a major port operator in Morocco.    The Moroccan government is planning to invest $360 million to modernize the port infrastructure by 2015. The Port of Casablanca currently handles 32 percent of all national port traffic. Another $76.5 m...

Friday, March 23, 2012

   Smiths Detection has named Sal Cipres its new head of global programs, overseeing the company's work in transportation, military, ports and borders, emergency response and critical infrastructure markets.    Cipres was formerly general manager of Smiths’ Edgewood, Md. facility and director of global chemical and biological programs.    Smiths develops government-regulated technology products that help detect and identify explosives, chemical and biological agents, r...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

   CargoNet, a source for cargo theft information, said it recorded 1,215 cargo theft incidents last year, 17 percent more than the 1,035 in 2010.    Its annual report said 116 incidents involved base metals, 229 electronics, 105 apparel and accessories, and 200 prepared foodstuffs and beverages.    Most cargo theft incidents occurred on Fridays (227), Saturdays (202), and Sundays (198) at locations such as truck stops, carrier/terminal lots, and unsecured pa...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

   Marken, a global clinical supply chain service provider with a presence in more than 150 countries, has started a new shipping system designed specifically for biological samples and clinical trials.    Marken’s BioSystem is the latest addition to its biological-related logistics services and focuses on long-term temperature control as well as standardized box dimensions for freight costs and dry ice use.    The company said the new system will be available at ...

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

   The U.S. Coast Guard is stepping up its activity in the Arctic in response to increased shipping activity and oil exploration, said Sally Brice-O'Hara, the agency's vice commandant.    Speaking Monday at the Connecticut Maritime Association's Shipping 2012 conference in Stamford, Brice-O'Hara said the Coast Guard is watching as new trade routes emerge, noting there was "some success this year with north sea routes along the coast of Russia."    Sh...

Monday, March 19, 2012

   xMatters and Fusion Risk Management have partnered to streamline and integrate their risk-to-response process for large firms' supply chain operations.    "Globally, thousands of companies struggle to identify risks and ensure an appropriate response to crisis events," said David Nolan, chief executive officer of Illinois-based Fusion. "Countless millions of dollars and untold hours are annually invested in various activities.”    The companies' i...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

    Research and Markets  has added John Wiley and Sons’ Handbook of Integrated Risk Management in Global Supply Chains to its offering.    The book aims to be a primary reference for research on integrated risk management, modern applications, and management best practices.     “The set of the normal business risks is expanded as firms are now often facing unfamiliar and uncertain demand and supply markets, and unanticipated commodity price shocks a...

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is seeking comments on a proposal to complete efforts to modernize the country’s import rules related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow” disease.    “This proposal is an important step forward in our efforts to bring our import regulations in line with science-based, international animal health standards,” said John Clifford, APHIS deputy administrator and chief veterinary officer,...

Friday, March 09, 2012

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Thursday it will hold its first Trade Symposium event this year on May 10 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif.     The annual event has taken place in Washington each of the past 11 years, but CBP officials decided to add a second Trade Symposium on the West Coast to reduce the cost and inconvenience for members of the trade community in that part of the country. CBP plans to hold the East Coast version of...

Monday, March 05, 2012

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection is expected to release this month a draft strategic plan for taking its Air Cargo Advanced Screening system from a limited pilot program to a mandatory requirement that carriers pre-file information on all air shipments bound for the United States, according to industry representatives and government officials involved in the project.    Publication of the program blueprint comes as the security program prepares to enter its second phase, with s...

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

   Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services (STTAS) said Gianluca Romano, senior vice president, will take on the additional role of deputy chief operating officer.     In this new position, Romano will supervise the STTAS information technology group and share management responsibility for all STTAS commercial operations with Alfred J. D’Amico, the firm’s COO and executive vice president for commercial and advisory services.    Romano has expanded the firm’s overs...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     The number of Industry Integration Centers for Excellence and Expertise within U.S. Customs devoted to centralizing the import process for trusted shippers could double to four this fiscal year, Acting Deputy Commissioner Thomas Winkowski recently said.    Customs and Border Protection last fall established two Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) - one in New York that deals with the pharmaceutical industry and one in Los Angeles responsible for electronics - as ...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make substantial changes to the way imported merchandise is transported inland under a bond, enabling the cargo owner to defer payment of duties until it reaches the destination port or is exported.     The primary fixes involve making the in-bond process electronic and tightening up procedures to better track merchandise and prevent diversion. In the past, CBP has...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing will participate in the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Supply-Chain Finance Guarantee program, which provides competitively priced working capital financing to suppliers of goods or services to U.S. exporters.    Ex-Im Bank approved the Boeing supplier program in September 2011 with an initial capacity of $740 million. The bank can guarantee up to 90 percent of that capacity. Citibank N.A. will serve as the lender operating the program for Boein...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Eric L. Hirschhorn on March 1 will meet with leading Silicon Valley companies to update them on the reform of the country’s export control regulations.    The two-hour seminar, scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at SAP in Palo Alto, Calif., is sponsored by Women in International Trade – Northern California. The seminar will include a preview of proposed rulings and how companies are impacted by the e...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     MercuryGate International, a transportation management solutions (TMS) service provider, has announced a partnership with JFE Pfe Ltd., a supply chain services provider, to create MercuryGate Asia Pacific.    MercuryGate has operated in the Pacific Rim region for some time, but said the move was to add a global face forits  TMS in the region, as well as to better support existing customers there.    Based in Singapore, MercuryGate Asia Pacific ...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     Government logistics services provider LMI will establish a southeast region office via its recent acquisiton of Belzon Inc., a government consultancy in Huntsville, Ala.    LMI, which focuses on defense and intelligence, health care, homeland security, energy and environment, and civil government work, said the purchase was finalized, but did not disclose financial terms.    Belzon has done work in logistics planning, readiness management, program ...

Monday, February 20, 2012

     The U.S. honeybee population is safer today after U.S. Customs officers at the Port of Norfolk in Virginia recently intercepted a red mason bee hitchhiking in a container of household goods from the United Kingdom, the agency said.    It is the first known interception of the red mason bee, which is commonly found in the United Kingdom, and is not established in the United States. Inspectors found the insect within a rolled rug and called in agriculture specialists to ident...

Monday, February 20, 2012

     Unisys Corp. is in talks with India’s shipping ministry to provide security systems to domestic ports to avoid traffic congestion and piracy threats, according to a report in India’s Economic Times .    The project involves drawing a port-security roadmap for threats, as well as a vessel traffic management system, with a deal possibly signed by March, according to the report.

Friday, February 17, 2012

   The Johannesburg, South Africa-based Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and Imperial Logistics, a logistics services provider, have launched a Supply Chain and Logistics Program to provide teaching and research in the fields of logistics, supply chain management, and transportation management.    The goal of the program is to raise awareness of supply chain management systems for firms in the Southern and greater Africa regions, and also create supply chain ...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     The U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism could evolve beyond a program focused on supply chain security to one that encompasses all types of threats associated with international trade, David Aguilar, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, recently said.    Plans to widen the scope come as the program prepares to take a $5 million hit, according to the Obama administration's fiscal year 2013 budget proposal released this week.  &nbs...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

   Leavitt Partners and Park City Group have paired to create a joint solution to improve supply chain visibility for food and drug safety.    The partnership will leverage Park City’s product "synchronization" technology that maintains inventories, tracks product movement, and is used to settle financial transactions among buyers.    Leavitt Partners, a health care and food safety consulting firm, said the firms will start with a database of seller and b...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

   The European Shippers’ Council (ESC) said the state of piracy, while improving, is still at a "shocking" level.    “A year on from our last press statement on this issue, the ESC remains alarmed by the latest figures released by the ICC's International Maritime Bureau,” the council said. “Although figures show a decreasing number of piracy attacks, the damage done is still unacceptably high.”    ESC referred to a reported 37 attacks in 2012, coming on the heels of 420 at...

Monday, February 13, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection said front-line personnel seized $51 million worth of counterfeit perfume at ports of entry in fiscal year 2011, ended Sept. 30.    Fake perfumes labeled with brand names cost the legitimate manufacturer lost sales and possible reputation if customers associate the inferior product with the company. Counterfeit perfumes also pose a potential health hazard because they are often contaminated with unknown chemicals.    The bor...

Friday, February 10, 2012

     The Defense Trade Advisory Group (DTAG), a private-sector panel that provides advice to the federal government on the policy and regulation of U.S. defense trade, is now accepting membership applications for the upcoming 2012-2014 term.    “Membership on this panel presents an exciting opportunity to participate in the administration’s Export Control Reform Initiative, seeking to better align the export control process with emerging global security challenges,” the State De...

Monday, February 06, 2012

   Several environmental groups reported a shipment of 113 containers of toxic waste discovered last month at the Jakarta Tanjung Priok Port in Indonesia points up the continuing problem of hazardous waste being shipped to developing countries.    Indonesia Toxics-Free Network, the Basel Action Network, Ban Toxics, and BaliFokus urged all world governments to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment and enforce the Basel Convention  which seeks to control...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

     Transportation and supply chain management company Ryder has launched the latest version of its RydeSmart onboard telematics system and now provides it as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product to make it easier to deploy and monitor.    RydeSmart 3.0 offers GPS fleet location, tracking, and vehicle performance management via a hardware and software unit installed in the vehicle and connected to its existing computer and diagnostic system. RydeSmart wirelessly syncs wi...

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

     The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled its global supply chain security strategy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.    The document  is a whole-of-government approach towards balancing security and international trade that acknowledges to properly manage cross-border commerce extends beyond the Department of Homeland Security.    The objective is to have a holistic approach for preventing, mitigating and responding to supply chain...