NCBFAA Transportation Committee Meeting Minutes September 27 7:30 10:15am

Transcription

1 NCBFAA Transportation Committee Meeting Minutes September 27 7:30 10:15am Master Transportation Committee Attending Jan Fields Transportation Committee Chairman Yes Melzie Wilson Vice-Chairman Transportation Committee No William App Past Chairman Transportation Committee Yes Peter Powell Past Chairman Transportation Committee Yes Ed Greenberg General Counsel Yes Jon Kent NCBFAA Legislative Representative Yes Travis Hull Area 1 Yes Rich Roche Area 2 Chair NVOCC Committee Yes Butch Connor Area 3 No Donna Mullins Area 4 Chair Air Freight Committee No Merit Tremper Area 5 CESAC Liaison Yes TBN Area 6 Melzie Wilson Area 7 Chair Logistics Committee No Frank Parker Area 8 No Paulette Kolba Area 9 Yes Guests: Angelica Quintanilla Thayne Worsley John Heimsath Joe Trulik Pat Fosberry Myra Reynolds Amy Slavko Becky Lyons Jeanette Gioia Len James Mike Lahar Dan Meylor Maurine Cecil Amy Magnus Geoff Powell Ryan Tanner Jeff Coppersmith Mary King Pam Brown Shannon Whitt Federico Zuniga John Morgan Scott Larson Mary Peglow Howard Woltmann Sandra Scott Bruce Goodwin Leah Ellis Michelle Francis Reagan Odom Tom James Gary Ryan Elizabeth Tajes Karen Damon Lisa Waller Lori Chaltin Annmarie Velez Janice Klein Michael Dugan Roger Clarke Marie Armelagos Jerry Becnel Paige Morgan Gary Stratton 1. Call to order and introductions Our meeting was called to order at 7:30am. 2. Reminder of our Anti-Trust policy All attendees were reminded of our current Anti-Trust policy, as below:

2 It is the unqualified policy of NCBFAA and all of its operating committees to conduct their operations in strict compliance with the antitrust laws of the U.S., and that no discussions shall be held that may infer or lead to violations. 3. Approval of the June 27, 2015 meeting minutes The minutes of the June 27, 2015 Transportation Committee meeting were approved with no revision. 4. FMC and Legal Report Ed Greenberg SOLAS requirements go into effect July 01, 2016 and will significantly impact our industry. Shippers need to understand they will be required to certify the exact gross weight of each container or the container will not be loaded on board the vessel. These regulations apply not only to the exporter, but also to the NVOCC as shipper to the master carrier. NVOCCs need to establish a mechanism to certify the weight provided by the original shipper. U. S. Coast Guard will enforce SOLAS and will lean heavily on the carriers to ensure containers without certified weights are not loaded on board the vessel. The SOLAS guidelines permit two methods of weight certification. Method 1: Truck, chassis, and containers are weighed empty, then weighed full to determine the cargo weight. Method 2: Weighing individual cargo loaded in the container and adding the tare weight of the container, using the tare weight as marked on the container itself. Each carrier will develop processes to comply. Our Carriers Best Practice committee will attempt to discuss standards with the various carriers. Each country will establish guidelines to comply with SOLAS regulations. This should be considered when handling foreign to foreign cargo. Ed Greenberg has proposed changes to four NCBFAA documents to address SOLAS responsibilities. These documents have circulated amongst the Transportation Committee and will be submitted to the Board for official adoption. Documents were also updated to authorize AES electronic filing, align with FMC regulations on authorization to endorse OBLs and to clarify export licensing responsibility. NCBFAA Terms and Conditions of Service Combined Transport Bill of Lading POA Customs and Designation of Export Forwarding Agent POA Designation of Export Forwarding Agent

3 FMC Commissioner Rebecca Dye's term expired in June A renomination will be required for her to remain in her position. We have two pending issues with the Federal Maritime Commission We are waiting on an NPRM to be issued on OTI Rulemaking. Our NRA petition has not yet been addressed. 5. NVOCC Rich Roche Port Congestion discussion The FMC published two reports on port congestion with a third to follow. The report issued in July 2015 should be reviewed by everyone as it is an excellent outline of the challenges we face. Ed Greenberg and Jon Kent recently met with the Federal Maritime Commission Chairman to discuss the agency s next step. Ed commented that prior to containerization the Federal Maritime Commission did regulate demurrage levels. Ed and Jon will push the FMC to act in some manner to address these issues. o Ed Greenberg is moderating a panel at the GAC to address port congestion with our NVOCC Chairman Rich Roche, the Director of Long Beach, the CEO of the World Shipping Council, the President of the National Retailers Federation, FMC commissioner Michael Khouri, and Jennifer Hall from House Transportation. Demurrage - Our immediate focus is to eliminate demurrage when the cargo owner is unable to obtain cargo through no fault of its own. Port congestion, labor issues as well as weather conditions that shut down or delay port moves should not be used as a money maker for the carriers. We have a few examples of these types of situations and are looking for more. Rich Roche cited a client who paid $2.5 million in demurrage at the port of NY/NJ due to three issues including superstorm Sandy, while their demurrage costs before and after these events were zero. o Rich Roche recommended BCOs consider adding a reverse demurrage clause to Service Agreements when the containers are unavailable for pick up or delivery due to an unacceptable level of congestion. Clients are hesitant to address on an individual basis for fear of retaliation by the carriers. Although there are laws to prevent retaliation, it is extremely difficult to prove. 6. Legislative update Jon Kent Jon Kent advised the transportation bill is being circulated along with a couple of labor bills that came about because of the west coast labor issues.

4 We received a memorandum commissioned by the National Retailers Association and NIT League outlining their concerns and requesting our support that an NPRM be issued to address the demurrage issue. Jon Kent outlined our position papers on Port Congestion and the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act. 7. Air Freight Paige Morgan We discussed TSA secured information; therefore confirmed everyone in the room had a Non-Disclosure Agreement on file. Written report will be available to anyone with an NDA, upon request. 8. Logistics Issues FMCSA Trucker Vetting NCBFAA Comply Directory - We discussed the need for additional marketing of this service the Association is providing without cost to members. There were only a few members in the room utilizing the vetting service. We need to increase participation of this valuable tool. Trade Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSC) We will submit Melzie Wilson as a potential member as soon as a Federal Register notice is issued. 9. CESAC update Merit Tremper Merit Tremper is the co-chair of CESAC along with Bernadette Stover. The committee has been quite busy with SOLAS regulations holding weekly calls to discuss. Merit is the liaison between CESAC and our committee. The next CESAC meeting will be October 19 and 20 in Virginia. Doug Schneider has agreed to speak. As always, house bill of lading release will be pushed. We are challenged with CFS automation and their reluctance to invest in programming. To encourage participation Bernadette and Merit contacted every CFS in CBP Port 39 to discuss release processes. Export ocean air and rail manifest pilots have been published. Merit will discuss with Customs on Wednesday September 30, CBP Robert Rawls is pushing for a bonding requirement for filing export manifest and we question why this is either necessary or appropriate action by CBP. Even if it is, we question why we couldn't use the same bond that is on imports for AMS filing. We need to stay close to this issue.

5 10. Export Compliance Paulette Kolba. Members of our committee have engaged in informal discussions with Census regarding future notices and recommended wording. ACE Reports for exports are currently available. If you are receiving blank reports, there is simply a glitch in the original set up. Once fixed, data is available for five years. We should review these reports for accuracy. Forwarders should produce a report of their own EIN in case someone has used it in error. There are enhancements forthcoming for AES in ACE including electronic filing of DSP-5 licenses. Look for CBP Pipelines for announcements. AESDirect in ACE - If you plan to use AES Direct, please note the look up function for SCAC and IATA codes are not included. Theresa Gordon is the new Census ombudsman and will be at our post conference meeting Wednesday morning to review. Option 4 status No action has been taken. Future of CBP oversight: Manifest: Bonding/Liquidated Damages; Compliance Program guidelines - Robert Rawls commented that CBP plans to establish export compliance guidelines and has discussed a forwarder certification type program with Melzie and Paulette. We need to tread carefully to ensure that any formal program is appropriate and does not inappropriately create compliance problems for OTIs. Export Vehicle Processing - No action was taken, but we will continue to discuss at future meetings. Recent Federal Register Notices o Commerce/Census seeking comments to proposal to collect conditional data issued August 20, We will comment by the due date of October 19, Original ITN Number New or Used Electronics indicator o Export Manifest updates ACE Export Manifest for Air Cargo Test issued 07/ ACE Export Manifest for Vessel Cargo Test issued 08/20/2015 ACE Export Manifest for Rail Cargo Test issued 09/09/ NCBFAA Partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce s International Trade Administration (ITA) Jan had a discussion with Pat Kirwin, Director of Trade Promotion at the Department of Commerce regarding our partnership with the NCBFAA. Pat

6 requested we recommend additional tools the DOC can provide to facilitate exports. Their consolidated denied parties screening has been successful. Are the DOC Export Assistance Centers reaching out to work with the local brokers associations? Jan will follow up and advise. 12. Post Conference Meeting Preliminary Schedule Wednesday September 30 th 9:00AM 1:00PM Congressional Room Census Dale Kelley and Theresa Gordon BIS Gerry Horner and Tom Andrukonis The Customs Committee Post Conference meeting agenda with Customs includes ACE Exports at 1:00pm. 13. Old Business Melzie Wilson, Donna Kavanaugh and HNM Global Logistics participated in an AES Direct webinar/demo with Census on July 8 th 14. New Business - none There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 10:15am. Attachments: Air Freight Report (only to those with an NDA on file) SOLAS Proposed change Combined Transport Bill of Lading SOLAS Proposed change T&C SOLAS Proposed change POA Customs SOLAS Proposed change POA for Exports