Flexport violated U.S. shipping laws by charging unfair detention and demurrage fees and millions of dollars in other "accessorial charges" at unreasonable rates, U.S.-based Giti Tire said in a complaint filed with the Federal Maritime Commission May 16. It alleged Flexport's invoices lacked required information, were "excessive and unreasonable" and duplicated charges also invoiced to another party, leading to $12.7 million in damages.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register May 16 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Senate on May 14 retroactively confirmed the ongoing terms of Daniel Maffei as chair of the Federal Maritime Commission and Rebecca Dye as FMC commissioner. Maffei's term expires June 2027 and Dye's term expires June 2025. Neither FMC official had their appointment confirmed by the Senate at the beginning of their current terms.
CBP has released its May 15 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 19), which includes the following ruling action:
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register May 15 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
PKDC, a Colorado-based furniture distributor, accused ocean carrier CMA CGM of refusing to meet its commitments to the distributor, coercing "extracontractual" payments from PKDC, and charging detention and demurrage for situations outside the distributor's control. The furniture distributor, in a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission dated May 10, said it paid over $1 million in unreasonable detention and demurrage and that CMA CGM cost it over $12 million by refusing to meet its quantity commitments under the service contract.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP in April identified 392 shipments valued at more than $184 million for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labor, including goods subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and withhold release orders, the agency said in its most recent operational statistics update. The number of shipments detained is down from March's total of 749, but the value of those shipments is sharply up from the $32 million worth of shipments detained in March (see 2404150075). Also in April, CBP seized 1,736 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $235 million if the items had been genuine, the agency said.