Although it can also move in containers and on ro-ro vessels, steel of all shapes and sizes – coils, sheets, bars, pipe, etc., -- continues to be an important breakbulk cargo.
Susan Kohn Ross, international trade attorney, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp
Will the Trump administration be able to convince a WTO panel of the correctness of its position to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum for national security reasons?
A US trade court’s ruling that an expansion of tariffs to include finished steel products was invalid allows shippers to claw back import levies, but steel importers say they need a full rollback before shipments can grow.
The Port of Brownsville is "headed for a record year" in wind energy cargo, according to port officials, a development that is helping to offset the loss of volume related to three LNG export projects currently on hold owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oil field services company Halliburton will focus on international clients rather than North American onshore oil and gas, signaling a further slowdown in US breakbulk steel imports.
Breakbulk steel imports are expected to decline further this year after falling in 2019, as sinking demand for vehicles and other steel-based products adds to tariff woes.
With information on ISPM 15 violations still difficult to come by, shippers are investigating and educating wood packaging materials (WPM) makers, increasing requirements for heat treatments, and turning to non-WPM materials for dunnage.
Commentary
Steel tariffs: A matter of national security?