American Shipper magazine : Opinion

The world of commercial shipping is a tough place, focused on schedules, asset and freight management, making money and paying the bills. Until earlier this year, few carriers, shippers and transportation intermediaries would have considered Haiti as one of their places of business. The impoverished island nation offered little in terms of export and import opportunities. The World Bank...

On Second thought… By Dietmar Jost On Jan. 1, the agreement on establishing a Customs Union between the Russian Federation, Belarus and Kazakhstan entered into force. By July 1, a common Customs tariff and a common Customs law will be put in place and the Customs Union will become fully operational. Clearly, the creation of a Customs Union is a very welcome development from a bus...

Spiller I recently read Jim Collins’ newest book, How the Mighty Fall, which provides a useful structure for thinking about why some global carriers have gotten themselves into trouble. Collins says mistakes causing a mighty company to fall include: • Radical changes of philosophy forgetting proven underlying strengths. • Big acquisitions to create transformation. • Hiring a vi...

Customs discretion is the extent to which customs officials, accorded statutory powers, are free or obliged to apply them, either by express regulatory stipulation or because they have no specific instructions on their practical implementation. It operates at the Customs-trade procedural interface in two quite distinct modes and guises. In many developing countries with high tariffs, ...