Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Former Sea Star Line President Frank Peake, convicted of price-fixing in the Puerto Rico domestic trade, has challenged sentencing guidelines he said would give him the longest prison term of anyone ever convicted of an antitrust violation.

Australia’s international merchandise imports in July were A$22.0 billion (about US$20.0 billion), jumping 20 percent from $18.3 billion in June, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that the U.S. oil country tubular goods industry is “materially injured” by imports of OCTG products from nine nations that are sold at “less than fair value.”

The Maritime Labour Convention, an International Labour Organization agreement established in 2006 to embody all existing global maritime labor conventions and recommendations...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has expanded the amount of chicken products being recalled by the Chilean Ministry of Health.

The California Air Resources Board has fined three international shipping companies a combined $440,250 for failure to switch from bunker fuel to low-sulfur marine distillate fuel...

WASHINGTON — New hours of service rules for truck drivers are here to stay following a federal court ruling earlier this month, the president and CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association said Thursday.

Confusion reigns in China as the transport and logistics industry tries to come to terms with a new value-added tax of 6 percent introduced on Aug. 1.

Vietnam will lift its remaining ban on white offal on Sept. 1, 2013, although it will simultaneously impose several new conditions on imports of the animal product, according to the European Commission.

Expansion of China’s pulp manufacturing capacity in the last five years has resulted in a “dramatic increase” in the importation of wood chips to supply the new paper mills...

Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., next month will introduce legislation that would repeal the controversial harbor maintenance tax and replace it with a user fee to fund harbor dredging and maritime-related intermodal infrastructure projects.

Former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, has become the 10th administrator of the Department of Transportation’s Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp.

United Nations inspectors have arrived at Panama’s Manzanillo port to examine the North Korean ship carrying hidden military equipment that was intercepted by Panamanian authorities...

The global economy weakened slightly in the second quarter of 2013, mainly driven by declining optimism in Asia and Latin America, although North America showed signs of continuing recovery...

In the second quarter of 2013, the eurozone’s gross domestic product rose 0.3 percent compared with the previous quarter, which was better than expected...

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board today adopted a final rule that will require all rail carriers that submit R-1 reports to begin breaking out expenses for positive train control...

The Border Commerce and Security Council has voiced concerns about U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s plan to fund certain staffing costs through agreements with some border cities.

The federal government needs to better manage, promote and coordinate trade programs so that export resources can be better used to help small and medium-sized business be globally competitive, according to a Government Accountability Office report released today.

The Surface Transportation Board will hold a public hearing this fall related to a petition by The National Industrial Transportation League to modify the board's standards for mandatory competitive switching.

Delegations from North and South Korea will make a last-ditch effort to reopen Kaesong industrial complex later today.

The U.S. and the U.S.-East African Community have agreed to launch formal negotiations on a trade facilitation agreement, according to Michael Froman, U.S. Trade Representative.

The Japanese economy grew 0.6 percent in the April-June quarter from the preceding quarter, or at an annualized pace of 2.6 percent, in real terms, the Cabinet Office said in a preliminary report.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today reversed a ruling that turned a price-fixing lawsuit against four U.S.-based Class I railroads into a class action.

China’s exports and imports “surprisingly” rebounded in July, offering some hope that the nation’s economy might be stabilizing after more than two years of slowing growth, Reuters reports.

WASHINGTON — It’s still more than three years away, but completion of Customs and Border Protection’s long-delayed major cargo-processing system appears to be in sight.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released a schedule for completing trade processing capabilities in its automated commercial environment by the end of 2016.

The European Commission reported almost 90,000 detention cases were registered by the European Union Customs Union in 2012...

The Obama administration has vetoed the U.S. International Trade Commission’s ban on the import and sale of some Apple iPhones and iPads...

In seasonally adjusted terms, Australia had a goods and services trade surplus of A$602 million (about $541.2 million) in June, an increase of A$95 million, or 19 percent...

President Obama has signed an executive order, “Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security,” in response to the explosion earlier this year at a fertilizer facility in West, Texas.

Why isn’t U.S. trade with India growing more rapidly? One key factor has been the inability of Indian national and local governments to modernize the country’s backward transportation and trade infrastructure.

India has adopted policies favoring its own companies in industries such as clean energy, technology and medical devices. It has also imposed tariffs and local content requirements, and denied and revoked patents, according to an official at the National Association of Manufacturers.

The Federal Railroad Administration yesterday issued an emergency order aimed at making the hauling of hazardous materials safer, following the deadly Quebec fuel train accident last month.

President Obama this week nominated the nation's drug policy czar to take the reins of Customs and Border Protection, setting the stage for the agency to get its first politically appointed chief in more than a year and a half.