A labor strike at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports appears poised to occur just after midnight on Oct. 1, despite any last-ditch efforts as of press time to prevent the strike from occurring.
As the U.S. supply chain readies itself for a potential labor strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports on Oct. 1, CBP and transportation and logistics providers are helping the trade community develop their Plan Bs.
Advocating for a bipartisan bill introduced by Southwestern lawmakers to direct certain fees to land port expansions, equipment investments and staffing was the top priority for customs brokers in town to lobby as part of the group's annual government affairs conference.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, in a conference session preparing its members for a day lobbying on Capitol Hill, said that the NCBFAA is not arguing for or against a de minimis restriction proposal from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The proposal would require all goods entering in de minimis to be classified with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code and would bar apparel, footwear and other "import-sensitive" goods from eligibility.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission could issue next month its final rule compelling importers to submit their goods’ product safety certification electronically as part of the CPSC's partner government agency message set in ACE.
Statutes and regulations administered by the Federal Maritime Commission will remain in effect if International Longshoremen’s Association members go on strike next week at container terminals at East and Gulf coast ports, the FMC said in an industry advisory Sept. 23.
The following customs brokers' national permits are revoked without prejudice for failure to pay the annual permit user fee for 2023 or 2024, CBP said in a notice.
The recent confusion over requiring additional data in Air Cargo Advanced Screening security filings because of unspecified security concerns (see 2408270026 and 2409110056) has highlighted the need for Transportation Security Administration, CBP and air cargo participants to examine how to provide air cargo companies and freight forwarders with more visibility into the factors that prompt changes in data collection, said panelists at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s government affairs conference Sept. 23.
While a top CBP official didn't give any specifics on how many brokerages were suspended from a pilot that allows electronic clearance of de minimis packages (see 2405310054), he told attendees at an annual National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference not to "be afraid of that enforcement," as the brokers who were suspended were so lax that there wasn't even anything that the companies could argue about with CBP.
A subgroup of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee Secure Trade Lanes Subcommittee laid out eight recommendations for how to beef up communications among CBP's Centers of Excellence and Expertise, brokers and other trade entities amid growing pressures at CBP to be vigilant over forced labor, antidumping and other threats.