Week In Review : Compliance

Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Richard A. Lidinsky has forwarded a wide-ranging set of recommendations for revising the Shipping Act of 1984 to the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. Lidinsky Included in the recommendations to committee Chairman Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, R-Md., are six proposals: • Bring container and chassis lessors within the ambit of...

While export control reform is well underway in the United States, the Obama administration on Tuesday warned exporters that enforcement of the regulations remains a top priority. The reform, announced by the White House on April 20, calls for significant changes to the way the federal government processes export licenses for controlled U.S.-made military and commercial items. The plan al...

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security wants input from the industry to develop an updated set of proposed best practices for how companies may avoid becoming involved in the illicit transit, transshipment and re-export of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. BIS said it’s especially interested in receiving industry feedback regarding new transshipmen...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday launched a new organizational performance management system. The system, FDA-TRACK, will monitor more than 100 FDA program offices through data from key performance measures established each year. That data will be gathered monthly, analyzed and presented each quarter to FDA’s senior management. The public will also be able to track this da...

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has received 16 license applications and changes for review. The FMC received non-vessel-operating common carrier license applications from ECM Freight Solutions Corp., Miami (Christian A. Saravia, vice president); “K” Line Logistics (U.S.A.) Valley Stream, N.Y. (Antonio Rodriguez, vice president); Norma’s Cargo Solutions, Miami (Norma A. Pineiro, mana...

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency has awarded the Brazilian government a $674,000 grant to fund a feasibility study on the implementation of vessel traffic management systems at four of the South American country’s main ports. The large volume of commercial activity transiting each year through Brazil's thirty-four public ports has lead to logistical challenges for Latin America's lar...

The Surface Transportation Board has scheduled an oral argument for Sept. 28 in a challenge by Arizona Electric Power Cooperative to the rates BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad charge to carry coal to its generating plant near Cochise, Ariz. The utility is challenging rates from New Mexico and the northern part of the Powder River Basin, in Wyoming and Montana. The hearing of or...

The Federal Maritime Commission said it has executed compromise agreements with six companies, recovering $218,750 in civil penalties. The agreements were reached with a vessel-operating common carrier and five ocean transportation intermediaries and range from $100,000 to $15,000. Compromise agreements and amounts are: • Network Shipping Ltd., Coral Gables, Fla. FMC staff allege ...

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday it has closed its investigation into the proposed merger of UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, and Continental Airlines, effectively allowing the merger to proceed. The decision by United, the third-largest U.S. carrier, and Continental, the fourth-largest, to transfer takeoff and landing slots and other assets at Newark Liberty Airport in New Je...

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency has awarded a $864,000 grant to Pakistan International Airlines to help it enter the growing aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul market. The grant will support a feasibility study designed to assist the airline developing a facility to service engines, landing gear, airframes and aircraft components for domestic and foreign carriers. USTDA said ...

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency has awarded the Paraguayan government a $391,000 grant to update its aviation master plan and to position the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport for potential concession. The South American country’s goal is to improve passenger service and increase operational efficiency. The master plan will offer potential business opportunities to U.S. airpor...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow, under certain conditions, the commercial import of fresh mango fruit from Pakistan into the United States. Based on the findings of a pest risk analysis, APHIS has determined the application of one or more phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risk of introducing certain plant p...

Proponents of wider port trucking industry regulation applauded last week's California district court ruling that upheld components of the Port of Los Angeles’ Clean Truck Program. The decision, supporters say, could benefit efforts to regulate trucking in other ports. The decision, which the American Trucking Associations has said it will appeal, "bolsters the standing of burgeoning ...

Container carrier Zim said it had second quarter net income of $3 million compared to a $186 million loss in the second quarter of 2009. The Israeli carrier said revenue for the quarter ending June 30 was $933 million, 72 percent higher than the $543 million in the comparable quarter of 2009. Average freight rates in the second quarter was $1,328 per TEU, 26 percent higher than the $1...

The European Union has begun an antitrust investigation into marine-insurance agreements among groups of ship owners, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday. The probe will examine the actions of 13 protection and indemnity clubs that collectively insure about 93 percent of the world’s commercial fleet, checking whether “they unfairly shut commercial insurers (not in one of the clubs) o...

The International Association of Independent Tanker Owners said its council will be invited at its October meeting to appoint Joseph “Joe” Angelo as managing director, to succeed Peter Swift as managing director when he retires Dec. 31. In addition, Katharina “Kathi” Stanzel has been named deputy managing director. Intertanko membership is open to non-oil companies and non-state-contr...

The U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) on Thursday announced a list of 14 proposals it says would strengthen the administration of the nation’s antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Antidumping (AD) duties are levied on foreign firms that are investigated and found to sell their products in the United States at prices below their home market price or c...

A federal judge ruled Thursday that contentious components of the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program -- including an employee-driver mandate for drayage companies -- were legal. It is a huge victory for the port and a major defeat for the American Trucking Association, which had filed suit against the port in 2008, alleging the clean truck plan violated the interstate commerce clause...

The Maritime Cabotage Task Force said Wednesday its members remain committed to the oil cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. While the Deepwater Horizon well has been capped, it’s estimated that 1 million barrels of oil from the spill may remain in the Gulf waters. “The need for considerable cleanup effort remains,” said Mark Ruge, counsel to the Washington-based task force. “The U.S. marit...

Two Scandinavian carriers said Thursday they are jointly transporting a shipment of iron ore from northern Norway to China via Russian and Arctic waters, the so-called Northern Sea Route. Tschudi Shipping Co. and Danish Nordic Bulk Carriers are working in partnership with Russian Rosatomflot (the Russian national ice-breaking fleet), to provide two icebreaking vessels to escort the bulk c...

The U.S. Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration on Wednesday Rear Adm. Philip H. Greene Jr. has been appointed to superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. Greene comes to the academy from the U.S. Navy, where he was director of the Navy Irregular Warfare Office. There he developed and employed a global maritime preventive security strategy. ...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has finalized interim entry rules for certain softwood lumber products exported from any country into the United States. The final rule implements Title VIII (Softwood Lumber Act of 2008) of the 1930 Tariff Act, which requires the White House to create and maintain an importer declaration program for the import of certain softwood lumber and softwood lum...

The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday that Maj. Gen. Kevin A. Leonard has been appointed to commanding general of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC). Leonard replaces Maj. Gen. James L. Hodge, who will command the Sustainment Center of Excellence at Fort Lee, Va. Hodge took command of SDDC June 30, 2008. Leonard has served in a variety of joint and oper...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has lowered the eligibility age for taking the customs broker license exam from 21 to 18 years old, effective Sept. 27. In the United States, adulthood is considered 18 years old and CBP said it’s consistent with the requirement that an application for an individual broker's license must be submitted within a three-year period after the applicant takes a...

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission said it has instituted an investigation of Sinicway International Logistics Ltd., a China-based firm that provides non-vessel-operating common carrier service. "It appears that after registering with the FMC in April 2009 Sinicway originated and substantially participated in an ongoing practice of misdescribing cargo to the transporting ocean common ca...

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has received 10 license applications and changes for review. The FMC received non-vessel-operating common carrier license applications from Concept Cargo Freight & Logistic, Doral, Fla. (Marcos A. Bacan, president); Finlay’s International Shipping & Trade, Baldwin, N.Y. (Wendy A. Finlay, president); Kesco Logistics, Jamaica, N.Y. (Geoffrey Tice, presid...

The U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Aviation Administration on Monday gave Nigeria its top rating for aviation safety. The African country has achieved a Category 1 rating under the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program, which means Nigeria complies with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO is the United...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin will host a conference with other agencies and select members of the trade community to discuss ways to ensure the safety of imports, a CBP spokesperson confirmed. The event is billed as a roundtable discussion among agency heads to improve interagency collaboration and communication for the purpose of stopping unsafe imports fro...

Xe Services, the private security contractor formerly known as Blackwater, has agreed to pay $42 million to settle charges of violating arms export control laws, the State Department said Monday. The department said Xe committed 288 violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations involving the unauthorized export of defense items and provision of defense services to foreign-en...

The California State Assembly last week passed a resolution urging the federal government to create a national freight policy, adding to the chorus of those seeking such a framework to upgrade and secure the nation’s goods movement network. The resolution, SJR 33, specifically asks U.S. Congress to adopt a uniform federal interest in improving the flow of cargo through California’s airpor...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has significantly increased its license fees under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), effective Oct. 1. Specifically, annual license fees of $550 will be raised to $995. Fees for branch locations are increased from $200 for branch locations in excess of nine, to $600 for each branch location. The maximum amount a licensee will pay per ye...