Transport, Trade and Regulation News

The American Trucking Associations has applauded the introduction of the TRUE Safety Act in the House by Reps. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y.; Tom Rice, R-S.C.; and Mike Michaud, D-Maine.

Trade growth to and from the Philippines is being held back by poor gateway performance and a lack of hinterland infrastructure, claim lines and forwarders.

A bipartisan trio of U.S. legislators has introduced legislation that would block new hours of service rules for the trucking industry, the latest salvo in motor carriers’ fight against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulation.

Congress was not caught napping as federal regulators moved to set new requirements for identifying and treating sleep disorders among truck drivers. Despite a partial government shutdown, legislators this month rushed a bill to the White House ordering the Department of Transportation to pursue a full rule-making and not simply issue guidance on obstructive sleep apnea and truck drivers.

Los Angeles-based businessman Sunil Jiwat Mirwani has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for evading customs duties on more than $30 million in Chinese-made apparel...

WASHINGTON — The messengers were more important than the message when a special House panel, following six months of hearings and logistics site visits, recommended spending more on freight transportation.

The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation released its final report today on the current state of freight transportation...

Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordrero warned Congress that continued tight budgets will harm the FMC’s ability to regulate the shipping industry, gather information and upgrade its information technology.

The Federal Maritime Commission has completed seven compromise agreements with nine non-vessel-operating common carriers and freight forwarders, recovering a total of $617,500 in civil penalties.

Footwear importers are mounting an all-out effort to convince Congress and the Obama administration that disproportionately large duties on their products are punishing both retailers and American consumers.

WASHINGTON — The Senate and House are set to conference on a long-delayed water resources bill authorizing port and inland waterway projects after the lower chamber approved its version tonight 417-3.

Transportation and warehousing businesses added 23,000 jobs in September, mostly in transit and passenger transportation, as total nonfarm employment increased by 148,000 jobs, the U.S. Labor Department said on Oct. 22.

Mario Cordero, chairman of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, has called on fellow regulators in the European Union and China to join him in a global regulatory summit on the proposed P3 Network.

Japan’s exports to the U.S. rose for the ninth straight month in September on a year-over-year basis, surging 18.8 percent to 1.109 trillion yen (about US$11.3 billion)...

The European Union and Canada expect their free trade agreement boost two way trade in goods and services by $29 billion a year.

As Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia is one of the rising stars on a continent full of them. An archipelago consisting of more than 17,000 islands, it’s also one of Asia’s biggest logistics challenges. Now it’s facing another challenge, a slowing economy marked by rising inflation colliding with an urgent need of a transportation infrastructure upgrade.

The Japanese government adopted a new anti-piracy bill at a cabinet meeting this week that would allow private armed guards to board Japanese-registered oil tankers and other cargo ships in waters off Somalia and elsewhere.

Thilawa is located some 20 miles down the coast south of Yangon, the commercial center and former capital of Myanmar in the days when it was more famously known as Burma. There, a gleaming new multipurpose port complete with 3,300 feet of berth — with a planned adjacent special economic zone likely to house a cluster of original equipment manufacturers — stands testament to the rapid transformation of Myanmar's economy.

Chinese officials have officially accepted an August finding by the World Trade Organization that China improperly imposed anti-dumping and counterveiling duties on U.S. poultry.

China and India are tipped to overtake the U.S. as the lead importers of goods tied to infrastructure projects by the end of this decade, according to a new forecast by analysts at HSBC.

One of the consequences of the prolonged U.S. government shutdown is the suspension of federal transportation and trade data releases.

There’s little good news coming out of Washington these days. The federal government partially shut down at the beginning of the month after a stalemate in Congress over funding President Obama’s health care reform law. Congress and the Obama administration failed to address long-term fiscal issues, allowing the federal budget sequestration — the proverbial gun pointed to its own head — to fire.

Inland waterways shippers and barge companies welcome the prospect of freeing up Inland Waterways Trust Fund dollars for projects other than the problem-plagued, over-budget Olmsted Lock and Dam project. But they’re also keen to pay more in fuel taxes so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can better maintain and modernize the nation’s lock and dam system.

Russia today ended supplementary border checks on Lithuanian trucks imposed a month ago amid rising tensions over the European Union’s bid to forge closer trade relations with ex-Soviet republics.

It sounds pretty straightforward and uncontroversial, but few issues have divided the shipping industry more deeply than the International Maritime Organization’s proposal for a legal requirement to verify the weight of containers prior to loading on a ship.

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., has been temporarily closed by the government’s partial shutdown.

The U.S. and the European Union will today attempt to agree on a new date for trans-Atlantic trade talks...

WASHINGTON — Import cargo delays at U.S. ports of entry will become “catastrophic” if the partial government shutdown lasts more than two weeks, an international trade attorney said on Friday.

The governments of Spain and Japan have agreed to streamline their customs procedures to facilitate trade, ensure compliance and exchange information on new customs procedures.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory has confirmed that 27 egg masses of Asian gypsy moths were discovered on a freighter in Baltimore, and again during the ship’s transit to Brunswick, Ga.

Textile manufacturers with export production sites in Vietnam have the most to gain from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, according to a new report.

Less than 48 hours after the federal government's shutdown, shippers dependent on some agencies to clear cargo are seeing delays at U.S. ports of entry.

Hong Kong has launched a pilot free trade zone scheme in Shanghai.

The next politically appointed Customs and Border Protection commissioner faces a steep learning curve, funding challenges and calls from many in the trade community to improve a key trusted trader initiative.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is finalizing talks with five entities to allow some U.S.-Mexico shippers to fund additional Customs and Border Protection staffing during busy times or for extended hours as part of a pilot project.

SINGAPORE — Emerging nations still offer the most opportunity for businesses and logistics service providers, even if growth rates have slowed, industry leaders told delegates at a major logistics conference held in Singapore last week.

International merchandise trade continued to be relatively stable in August, deteriorating “slightly” from a reading of 116.1 in July to 116.0 after seasonal adjustment...

The European Union and Indonesia today signed a voluntary partnership agreement on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber products to the EU to fight illegal logging.