As Hurricane Matthew threatens the southeastern United States, the Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, ordered an evacuation of coastal areas. Due to the evacuation, our Charleston office will be closed on Thursday, October 6th, 2016 and Friday, October 7th, 2016. Charleston employees will be working remotely to handle any urgent matters, but we thank you […]

Hanjin Shipping lines is now facing a new challenge as it continues operations of loaded vessels en route to final destination. Although it seemed the issue of stranded Hanjin ships and cargo may be tapering to an end with the release of funds to pay terminal handling and unloading fees, a new problem has arisen […]

Scenario 1: Vessel Diverted to Foreign Port and Discharged: A Hanjin vessel does not arrive in the intended U.S. port and diverts to a foreign port to discharge freight. The manifest and Importer Security Filing (ISF) must be deleted. All bills of lading need to be deleted (not cancelled) Entries and entry summaries need to […]

The world’s seventh-largest container line, Hanjin Shipping, sent shockwaves throughout the industry as it filed for and was placed under court protection on Wednesday, August 31.   After a liquidity plan fell short and was rejected by the Korea Development Bank, Hanjin applied for receivership, which, once granted, will allow the company to ‘wind down’ under […]

Recent news out of South Korea suggests that Hanjin Shipping Company has lost the support of its creditor banks and may be headed for bankruptcy. The news, as reported by the Journal of Commerce, has prompted the Korean Exchange to halt trading in Hanjin shares as it looks for further clarification from the Hanjin Group. […]

On August 5th, the U.S. was added to the Chinese government’s list of Zika infected countries as a result of the localized outbreak in South Florida. The news of the inclusion of the U.S. on this list has been followed by a significant amount of confusion and vagueness concerning what the effects that this news […]

As we approach the July 1st implementation date for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention Amendments, Shapiro wants to remind our valued export customers of the upcoming changes to the export process, particularly in regards to the determination of the Verified Gross Mass, or VGM. On July 1st, the VGM will need to be […]

Customs & Border Protection (CBP) at U.S. ports is no longer required to send requests for liquidated damages (LD) to its Headquarters for approval. Non-compliant Importer Security Filings can result in cargo holds at the port instead of, or in addition to, liquidated damage claims. Additionally, liquidated damage claims against importer bonds will no longer […]

Shapiro is fully programmed for all FDA filings and has been actively filing FDA though ACE for many months.   Under the ACE platform FDA is requiring additional, and in many cases new information, to be submitted in import entries.  Specifically all entries for FDA Food, Cosmetics and Medical Devices are affected. Below is a list […]

As of June 16, CBP will require filing in ACE of FDA entries and entry summaries under entry types 01, 03, 06, 11, 23, 51 and 52. CBP boldly stated that the Automated Commercial System (ACS) “will no longer be a CBP-authorized [electronic system] for purposes of processing these electronic filings.” While the agency concedes […]

On Wednesday, February 24, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (H.R. 644).  The comprehensive authorization is the first overhaul of the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) since 2003.  The bipartisan legislation seeks to strengthen trade enforcement at ports, to fortify detection of duty […]

While U.S. exporters have voiced serious concerns over the feasibility of complying with the SOLAS Verified Gross Mass (VGM) mandate by the implementation deadline, it has now been revealed that the Coast Guard could choose to delay implementation of the mandate for up to a year provided the delay is announced prior to the July […]

On Thursday, February 11th, the U.S. Senate passed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (H.R. 644), the first overhaul of the United States’ Customs and Border Protection Agency in over 15 years. The legislation will give teeth to programs protecting U.S. businesses from unfair trade practices and rampant ‘trade cheats.’ The bill […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been actively tracking and assessing stakeholder readiness for the mandatory filing of all electronic entries and corresponding entry summaries in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). While significant progress has been made, continued concerns about stakeholder readiness have necessitated an updated timeline for the mandatory transition to ACE for electronic […]

With the ACE February 28th deadline looming, many filers are reporting various technical problems involving FDA processing that are resulting in extreme issues across the board. To outline some examples: Messages are not returning to the filer’s software at all. The FDA Review is received, but there is no follow up message Rejected FDA entries […]

A settlement was reached by the International Longshoreman’s Association and the New York Stevedores Association at 7 pm on January 29th. As a result of the quick settlement, the New York and New Jersey Ports will resume normal operations on Monday, February 1st, 2016.

As of 10:53 this morning, longshoremen walked off the job at New York and New Jersey Ports due to an ongoing labor dispute. As a result, port officials are not allowing any new trucks to enter the New York and New Jersey ports. The Port Authority is doing everything in its power to resume port […]

A chemical explosion at the Santos Port in Brazil has led to the evacuation of workers and the closure of several terminals. The explosion occurred Thursday evening as more than a dozen flammable containers combusted, causing toxic smoke to be strewn across the city. Though the fire has been entirely extinguished, a large, potentially toxic […]

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) announced a new tariff for calculating container demurrage, detention, and per diem effective December 5, 2015 for all U.S. ports. Demurrage is defined as the free time that the carrier and terminal provide for a container once it discharges the vessel or arrives at the inland rail dept. Detention is also […]

How will ACE affect AES Direct Portal for exporter? Within the coming few months, the AESDirect Portal will go live in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). All exporters must have an ACE account to access the new AESDirect system, to be known as Refactored AESDirect. Accounts will not transition from the existing system. The existing […]