Monday Morning eBriefing

The U.S. and Kenyan governments on July 14 announced the launch of the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) to strengthen trade and investment between the two countries. The two governments identified the following initial issues where the U.S. and Kenya will develop an “ambitious roadmap” for enhanced cooperation with the goal of negotiating “high-standard commitments” to achieve economic benefits:

NCBFAA has invited Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus to be our keynote luncheon speaker during the 2022 Government Affairs Conference (GAC) at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill Sept. 18-20.

NCBFAA has now opened registration for the 2022 Government Affairs Conference (GAC) to be held at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill on Sept. 18-20. Register here today!

The NCBFAA Educational Institute (NEI) invites all global logistics professionals to its 8th Annual Global Trade Educational Conference (G·TEC). This two-day event at the InterContinental Magnificent Mile Hotel in Chicago on Aug. 1-2 will give customs brokers, freight forwarders, NVOCCs, OTI, service providers, importers, exporters, and all global logistics professionals an opportunity to update themselves on industry developments and connect with colleagues new and old

NCBFAA is asking all members to send us your questions, experiences, and concerns with the recently implemented Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA 22). Your name and companies will remain confidential during the compilation of this essential feedback. Send your input to NCBFAA Executive Vice President Megan Montgomery as soon as possible by email at mmontgomery@ncbfaa.org.

NCBFAA on July 6 responded with written comments to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Carrier Automated Tariffs by highlighting a number of significant concerns for the agency to consider.

The “Write My Representative” page, located in the “I Want To” section of the hamburger menu/main navigation of the new NCBFAA website, is now available for members to browse and take action on behalf of the customs broker and forwarder industries.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome the following members who have recently joined our association:

GGL USA LLC is an emerging and vibrant logistics solution enterprise with offices in the tri-state region of the U.S. Northeast. The company is an offshoot of GGL Singapore which has a strong footprint in Asia, Indian Subcontinent, and Middle East. Despite supply chain disruptions causing upheaval to the flow of cargo in North America, GGL USA has found alternative solutions to ensure speedy movement of cargo. GGL USA’s immaculate service record keeps its customers nominating it to handle their shipments. The company is active in specific industry sectors such as heavy equipment, food and beverage, automotive, healthcare, chemicals, and home furnishings. GGL USA offers ocean (FCL/LCL) and air transport, warehousing and distribution, OOG and project handling, domestic trucking, cross-border transport, customs clearance, and ISO tank transport.

NCBFAA Wants You—our Regular Members—to become more active in your association by taking part in one of our myriad Committees and Subcommittees. Every Regular Member can make a markable difference in how our industry operates now and well into the future through their participation in NCBFAA! So, what are you waiting for?

Registration for Customs and Border Protection’s 2022 Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit on July 18-20 closes July 12 at 5 p.m. ET. NCBFAA members are encouraged to attend this important event which will be held in Anaheim, California.

NCBFAA knows that you as our members are doing their best to keep up with their day-to-day businesses under dire supply chain circumstances, and now add on top of all that the recent flurry of U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. What do these sanctions mean to your business (our industry)? Well, it can be an awful lot, depending on whether you work with customers that had export or import business with Russia prior to invasion

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have continued to postpone their “Container Dwell Fee,” and said they will reconsider its possible imposition on July 15.

The NCBFAA Transportation Committee’s Logistics Subcommittee is regularly collecting data on the nation’s rail delays and port congestion that are impacting the supply chain and your business operations.

Here is a summary of the latest legislative and regulatory transport, logistics and trade sector updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Transportation Counsel firm Venable:

Here is a summary of the latest customs and cross-border trade regulatory updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Customs Counsel firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has postponed the deployment of Enhancements to ACE Truck Manifest – Phase 3 from July 11 to July 19 at 5:00 a.m. ET. “This deployment will finalize the modernization of ACE truck manifest functionality and will complete all backend services used for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) processing,” the agency said.

To assist the trade community with compliance with trade remedies under Section 201, 232, and 301, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has provided sources of information to assist with questions on trade remedy issues.

The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Trade’s National Commodity Specialist Division and the Office of Trade Relations has announced its lineup of commodity-specific educational webinars for the trade in July. The webinars started in February and will run through September 2022. Each webinar will be approximately an hour.

The Automated Export System (AES) Response Code 66Q was implemented on Jan. 13 as a Compliance Alert, and the Census Bureau announced on July 7 that the response code will be upgraded to Fatal severity, effective July 13, causing the Electronic Export Information (EEI) to be rejected.