American Shipper is reporting that Evergreen Line, Wan Hai and Simatech Shipping will start a new service in May. The East Africa (EAF) Service will link Colombo to two eastern Africa ports, and will operate with three 1,200-TEU ships, one from each carrier. The service will call the following ports: Colombo, Mombasa, and Dar es Salaam. The first sailing will leave Colombo May 11.

According to Consumer Reports, Washington state has joined Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota and Wisconsin in banning Bisphenol A in certain products. Under Washington's law, plastic containers made with BPA that are designed to hold food or beverages for children under three may not be manufactured, sold, or distributed in the state, effective July 1, 2011. Effective July 1, 2012, the ban will extend to plastic sports bottles.

Remember the case of the Red Bicyclette? E & J Gallo thought they were purchasing fine pinot noir from France, all the while the producers were actually giving them a wine produced from an inferior grape.

Please be advised that as of mid-April, Maersk will relocate all services from the Port of Izmir to a new terminal called Tce Ege (TRIZMTC), which is located in Nemrut Bay. The first call for the Scanmed Service will be April 16, 2010. The first call for northbound feeder service will be April 12 and 13. The first call for southbound April service will be April 13 and 14.

1. The US has made changes to its import controls, specifically Anti Dumping and Countervailing duties. This update affects many products across the tariff.

I have added some new conferences and seminars to the Trade Compliance Calendar. We also have a new white paper and eBook available in the White Papers page:

SupplyChainDigest features some guidance for US exporters looking to take advantage of the National Export Initiative today:

Special thanks to International Trade Law News for the following video about the National Export Initiative. You can also follow them on Twitter at @TradeLawNews.

The Justice Department reports that two Taiwanese nationals that ran a business named Peng Chia Enterprise Co. Ltd. have plead guilty to conspiracy to ship internationally protected black coral from mainland China into the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is a violation of both the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act. The shipments were falsely labeled and a Hong Kong intermediary was used.

Today I added a brand new feature to Trade-Compliance.org - A handy calendar!

Delegates at the UN conference in Doha on endangered species have axed the trade ban on bluefin tuna. They also shot down a measure intended to protect polar bears.

ZIM is please to introduce the Asia-Med-Europe (AME) Service. Commencing April 7th, the port rotation will include the following locations: Shanghai-Da Chan Bay, Port Kelang, Colombo, Nhava Sheva, Haifa, Ashdod, Felixtowe, Antwerp, Hamburg, Alexandria, and Limassol. The service will offer additional direct links to Europe and the Mediterranean from China, South East Asia, and India.

China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine states that foreign companies and individuals would not be allowed to directly sell imported feed and feed additives within China under a draft, revised Regulation on the Administration of Animal Feed and Feed Additives, which opened for public comment on February 20, 2010.

BusinessWeek reports that China Trade surplus fell making many believe that China is not just an exporting country anymore.

As a blog reader, you're already ahead of the game when you're keeping up with trade compliance news. But did you know about these channels of networking and sharing news with your colleagues?

As a blog reader, you're already ahead of the game when you're keeping up with trade agreement news. But did you know about these channels of networking and sharing news with your colleagues?

American Shipper is reporting that the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is proposing to allow the import of all varieties of Fuji apples from Japan. Of course, certain conditions must be met. To prevent the import of yellow peach moths and fruit tree spider mites, all shipments will be required to undergo cold treatment and fumigation, which will be supervised by APHIS officials in Japan.

The below presentation shares some facts and challenges of Global Trade Management (specifically trade compliance) and also covers what solutions Management Dynamics offers. Check out the last slide for links to some webinars, videos, & white papers!

Management Dynamics will be exhibiting at the ICPA Conference next week in Orlando. Please be sure to stop by booth number 23 and say hello to us. Also, Thursday morning we'll be presenting along with Adrienne Braumiller of Braumiller Schulz LLP in the Compliance Software Workshop. Our time slot is 9:50 - 10:20am, so come check us out!

I have pulled together some recent articles on trade compliance and global trade management below. Enjoy!

Maersk announces that the slot charter agreement between Maersk and Horizon Lines on the Trans-Pacific 1 (TP1) service will cease in December 2010. The weekly service currently calls Yantian, Xiamen, Kaohsiuing, Los Angeles, Oakland, Honolulu, and Guam. A plan to replace TP1 capacity will be released in the 3rd quarter.

The following is an update from Elyse Eriksson, Director of Training at the International Trade Center-SBDC, which is hosting the Import Certification seminars on Thursday and Friday. Please see below for additional information on registering for the program, whether live or in webinar format.

Just a reminder, everyone - exporting (and importing for that matter) is a privilege and not a right.

The following press release is courtesy of The International Trade Center SBDC, a joint program of the Small Business Administration and the Dallas County Community Colleges system.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) sent a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asking USTR Kirk to immediately challenge the legality of the tariffs Mexico has levied on U.S. exports. The Association has previously stated that the tariffs should be declared illegitimate so that the debate regarding cross-border trucking with Mexico can be shifted from economics to highway safety and security.

Australia has repealed anti-dumping duties on certain silicon from China and certain galvanized steel pipes from Thailand. It has also added import control (import permit) on tablet presses. The following HTS chapters are affected: 28, 73 and 84.

On February 26, 2010, the World Trade Organization circulated a request from the U.S. that the WTO Secretariat compute the export competitiveness of textile and apparel exports from India, in accordance with the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement, as the U.S. believes India has met the definition of "export competitiveness" for certain products.

Mediterranean
Hamburg Süd has decided to replace its current Med-Caribbean service through a slotcharter agreement with Hapag-Lloyd's Mexican Gulf Express (MGX) service. The new service will call the following ports: Cagliari, Livorno, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Port Everglades, Veracruz, Altamira, Houston, and New Orleans.

Caribbean
Hamburg Süd will change its Intra-Caribbean network. The Intra Caribbean Feeder Service (ITFS) will be upgraded to two vessels calling on a weekly fixed-day basis at Cartagena, Puerto Limon, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Kingston, and Rio Haina. Simultaneously, Hamburg Süd will open a new weekly service connecting the hub in Cartagena with Barranquilla (Colombia) and San Juan (Puerto Rico).

CSAV Norasia will launch a new service between China and the West Mediterranean. The Mare Nostrum Service (MNS) will commence on March 18, 2010. The service rotation will include the following ports: Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Port Kelang, Malta, Genoa, Fos, Barcelona, Valencia, Malta, and Jeddah.

According to ICTSD, the EU and Vietnam announced this week that the two nations will be starting negotiations to enter into a bilateral free trade agreement.

According to China's embassy in the U.S., a Foreign Ministry spokesman has called on the U.S. to improve bilateral relations. Recent events that have seriously damaged U.S.-China relations include the sale of arms to Taiwan in January 2010 and President Obama's February meeting with the Dalai Lama. The spokesman said the U.S. should abide by the principles laid out by three joint communiques and a joint statement.

The US government has announced its support of banning the trade of bluefin tuna. The fish has long been highly valued as a sushi delicacy. However, due to its popularity, the bluefin tuna population in the Atlantic has been dwindling.

US Export Controls have been updated. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is publishing a final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by revising the controls on select agents identified in Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 1C360 on the Commerce Control List (CCL). These changes reflect amendments that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently made to the Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs (PPQ) list of select agents and toxins.

Shippers are increasingly turning to freight forwarders for ocean, air and logistics needs. An IFW article reported this morning that as carrier relationships are becoming more complex, forwarders have more than doubled their share of the container market in the past 20 years. According to a report from Drewry Supply Chain Advisers, which was cited in the IFW article, forwarders’ share of the sea freight sector increased to around 35% in 2009, compared with around 15% in the 1980s, and is continuing to grow. The corresponding market share for air freight was 95%, a rise of five percentage points since the 1980s.

The article explains several benefits of using a freight forwarder. Forwarders have a history of good customer relationships, and often provide extra services such as IT systems. Additionally, when shippers found it difficult to access container capacity out of Asia last winter, they were forced to come to forwarders.

The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) has issued a notice to inform importers of the policies and practices regarding the administration of the 10,000,000 kilogram per year tariff rate quota (TRQ) for milk protein substances. The notice applies to substances with a milk protein content of 85% or more by weight, calculated on the dry matter, that do not originate in a NAFTA country, Chile, Costa Rica, or Israel.

On February 18, the Federal Maritime Commission voted in favor of a rule that would relieve licensed Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carriers (NVOCCs) of the costs of publishing in tariffs the rates they charge for shipments. According to the FMC, this could save many of these businesses up to $200,000 per year.

According to the Official Journal of the European Union, 27 denied parties have been deleted from EU restricted party lists. The Department of Commerce has added 18 denied parties to the United States' restricted party lists. Click here to learn more about restricted party screening.