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CBP Intends to Publish Notices of Intent
Trucking Crime Steals the Show
CBP Intends to Publish Notices of Intent
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a general notice to alert the trade community of an update to the publication process regarding Notices of Seizure and Intents to Forfeit.
- Historically, CBP has not published or posted Notices of Seizure or Intents to Forfeit. However, the agency has now published the notices online effective May 16, 2023.
- According to the announcement, CBP will also “post it at the appropriate U.S. Customhouse or U.S. Border Patrol Station or Sector office at approximately the same time that it first sends a written Notice of Seizure to the party or parties it has identified as potentially having an interest in property seized by CBP,” if required.
- Click here to read the Federal Register Notice, which includes more details of past practices and the new publication timeline.
You Can Validate Flowers
- If you can buy yourself…and import…flowers, then you will want to listen up! The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)—part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—released a validation list that includes the genus, species, and subspecies names for cut flowers.
- According to officials, the goal of the Cut Flower Name Validation List is to standardize submissions and increase compliance with APHIS Core Message Set policies.
- If the genus, species, or subspecies is not included on the list, then filers should use the name and format shown on the associated phytosanitary certificate.
- Click here to view the list, which will be updated as necessary by APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program.
- Click here to read additional CBP guidance (CSMS # 56468736).
- Any questions? Feel free to reach out to our compliance experts!
CBP Rewrites POEtry
- Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) users will be able to update/correct the Port of Entry (POE) by using the update action code once the shipment has arrived and the customs entry has been released.
- With this new capability, importers and brokers will no longer need to cancel customs entries due to a change in the port of entry.
- Click here to view the updated ACE CATAIR Cargo Release Chapter from CBP.
ADDing Duties into the Mix
- On May 31st, CBP announced that they will begin distributing antidumping/countervailing duties (ADD/CVD) assessed for fiscal year (FY) 2023.
- In order to be eligible to receive a distribution or to file a distribution claim, claimants will need to submit a certification substantiating their claims to parts of the ADD/CVD distribution.
- All certifications submitted are subject to CBP’s review and approval; and must be received no later than July 31, 2023.
- For additional CBP guidance concerning affected domestic producers, check out the full Notice of Intent.
Trucking Crime Steals the Show
- A senior executive from Truckstop, a truck freight marketplace, recently estimated that fraud complaints from truck carriers and brokers are up over 400% in 2023 compared to average levels since 2010. And, by fraud, he ain’t talking about shippers pushing for lower rates and fixed fuel surcharges!
- Take a peek at these truly inspiring statistics:
- The value of goods stolen in transit was 16.3% higher in 2022 and is trending even higher in 2023. (Hooray!)
- The value of those stolen goods? In 2022, a cool $107 million; and is trending to over $150 million in 2023. (Sweet!)
- Cargo laundering by organized crime? Up 15% and climbing. (Yes!)
- By the end of 2023, the sheer number of cargo crimes will be up by double digits for three straight years. (Woohoo!)
- Trailer break-ins at truck stops and parking lots are up 18%. (Heck Yeah!)
- Last year, fraudulent pickups were up…wait for it…600%! (Yippee!)
- So, why is the sky falling for trucking security, Chicken Little? Great question…
- A complex web of factors is driving the surge in cargo theft and fraud, including a highly competitive marketplace, profound supply chain disruptions, the globalization of freight crime, and the ability of thieves to hack into digitized supply chain systems that share data in real time.
- The “competitive marketplace” makes it sound like truckers and brokers are robbing each other to make money, but the truth is perhaps even more surprising.
- Due to the unprecedented spike in consumer demand during Covid, the number of US freight haulers with operating authority and insurance on file with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) increased by 50% between December 2019 and April 2023.
- Some 361,686 entities have this authority today, and the FMCSA is getting 10,000 new enterprise registrations per month.
- As Hammerin’ Hank Seaton, a transportation attorney, put it, “they can’t possibly tell which of these are genuine owner-operators and which are scamsters.” We don’t know about you, scholarly reader but we intend to add “scamster” to our hipster vocabulary!
Truck Tech
- Drive safely in North Texas, y’all cowboys and cowgirls, ‘cuz you may very well be passing a driverless truck on your way to that rodeo!
- The North Texas area has quietly become the new frontier for the development of self-driving trucks, with several companies from around the world setting up operations to use North Texas’ lonely highways for real-world testing.
- For now, these delivery trucks do have a human behind the wheel—a safety driver in place in case of tech glitches or emergencies. Hey, somebody does have to toot the horn when the kids pull down on that imaginary rope, after all!
- North Texas offers a central location on the US transportation network, and state regulations are known by transportation scholars to be “footloose and fancy-free.”
- Several companies are competing to bring a dominant driverless technology to market for the future of moving goods on the nation’s highways. We’re just coming to grips with AI ending humankind in a few months, and now this?!
- Gatik’s self-driving trucks deliver to more than 30 Sam’s Club locations; and they also went live with Kroger, moving goods from fulfillment centers to grocery stores in Texas.
- Meanwhile, Google subsidiary Waymo is testing self-driving trucks on Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston, and California-based Kodiak Robotics operates most of its self-driving operations out of Dallas.
- While companies’ techniques in mastering autonomous trucking vary, there are some common overlaps. Many companies use computer mapping to plan the path of a self-driving truck; but nothing has been done yet to program trucks to deal with Grandpa’s forever left turn signal or a smartphone-obsessed public that does not use turn signals at all. OMG, that upsets us MORE than AI taking over our planet!
Airfreight’s Dire Straits
- What happens when you have double-digit year-over-year (YoY) capacity increases every month, an average of 5% lower cargo volumes, and dwindling jet utilization factors? You quit your airline exec job and invest in AI, that’s what!
- Let’s hope not…but what has been happening is that the average rates for air cargo have descended by 40% YoY and landed at March 2020 levels—the lowest altitude for pricing in over three years.
- At a $2.41/kg global average, airlines expect to realize diminished YoY cargo operations revenues and profits of at least 30% for 2023. Does this explain today’s high passenger ticket rates?! Well, maybe so.
- Airline industry pundits have raised overall 2023 profit expectations from $4.7 to $9.8 billion on the strength of 4.35 billion passengers scurrying through airports. With Covid’s teeth marks still visible, it is truly encouraging to see robust airline results.
- As the bad news mounts for airfreight, freight forwarders have been busy sharpening their shark fangs to leave their own teeth marks on their competition. With existing customer volumes flat at best, forwarders are bidding low for market share. This is the best buyers’ market for air cargo in a very long time—as long as shippers keep their hands out of the shark tank.
- Unlike the spring of 2020, rates are low AND capacity is abundant. The one major exception: the cargo freighter segment with flight cancellations on the rise.
- Unfortunately for the readers of this profoundly successful gazette, one brighter spot for airfreight is the China-to-US market. In May, rates rose 7% on the strength of a mini volume spike brought about by ocean cargo conversions.
- With the Panama Canal’s water low and tensions on the West Coast high, many shippers took advantage of relatively lower air rates in May.
- At the opposite market extreme, cargo rates and volumes from Southeast Asia to the US and Europe have been absolutely walloped in 2023. Prices for both destination markets are down more than 60% YoY!
- Much like the word gallop, wallop is a Middle English word first used to denote the sound of a horse’s hoof on the ground. You are most welcome, intelligent reader!
- Not unlike a union strike being the best thing for ocean rates, at least we have the world’s biggest bonfire happening in Canada. The terrifying event, like volcanic eruptions, is grounding flights at JFK and other major airports faster than you can say, “Jack Robinson.” Unfortunately, the identity of this Jack has been lost, like our chance for one last joke!
- To clear the air (not literally, obviously), our hearts and prayers are with our Canadian neighbors as they battle the flames and the poisonous air.
Deep ILWU Doo
- Starting last Friday, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) flexed its supply chain disruption muscles from Los Angeles to Seattle. From red-tagging “unsafe” equipment to operational crane slow-downs to not sending labor gangs at all, the slowdown playbook is on full display!
- However, following the Goldilocks principle, the ILWU has been disrupting cargo flows “just right” by going terminal by terminal, thereby ensuring they get the attention of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), while not inviting the full scrutiny of the mainstream media, the American public, Congress and the White House.
- The average West Coast dockworker currently makes about $100,000 per year; but the current contract demand is for that figure to increase $7.50/hour per year for each of the six years of the new deal. Thus, by the end of the agreement, dockworkers would enjoy an average pay of $200,000 per year.
- For comparison, US senators and congressional folk only make $174,000. And, despite a median age of 65 for the Senate and about 58 for the House, many lawmakers have been frantically trying to contact the ILWU with freshly updated resumes. Now, THAT is a development NOBODY expected!
- Most of us have already forgotten April’s short-lived port disruptions, mostly because blank sailing rates were 300% higher then and overall west coast port throughput was as anemic as terminal productivity levels last Friday!
- Today’s cargo climate is much better suited to gain some leverage, after May’s import volumes from Asia eclipsed 1.5 million TEUs for the first time since October 2022.
- As usual, the PMA was very quick to get their PR and marketing folks hopping! Much of the latest narrative in the press has come from ownership.
- While they have not directly addressed wages yet, the PMA did indicate that there would not be retroactive pay increases if a deal is not struck by July 1st. Interestingly, the PMA has also put its foot down and will not offer new private jets for every ILWU worker. Just kidding, the jets are still IN the deal!
- For those of you brilliant logisticians (like us) who carved out access to Vancouver and Prince Rupert this year, the ILWU Canada has also threatened disruptions. For their part, the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) has expressed their solidarity with the ILWU. Sympathetic action from the ILA on the East and Gulf Coasts would quickly make our supply chain porridge scalding hot!
- President Biden, who makes $400,000, may well have his work cut out for him, pragmatically, politically, and presidentially.
