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• P.A.E.I - Professional Association of Exporters and Importers
• www.paei.org.

• OWIT NC - Organization of Women in International Trade Check website for updates
• Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA) - Monterey Bay International Trade Association
  Check Website for updates
• Norcal W.T.C. - The Northern CaliforniaWorld Trade Center
  Check Website for updates
• PTA. - Pacific Transportation Association Check Website for updates

Above, a partial screen shot of attendees at the CBFANC Annual Meeting

CBFANC President Evey Hwang welcomed CBFANC members and supporters to the 2021 annual meeting held virtually on December 10, 2021.  CBFANC by-laws require the association to hold this meeting every year, and to announce the election of new members of the board of directors.  Chris Ramos, CBFANC Board Chairman, announced that the 2021 elections:  Incumbents Chris Garcez (TLR-Total Logistics Resource Inc), Felicia Addison (Green World Shipping LLC), and Peter Gong (Great Way Trading) were reelected.  Their terms will be for 2022 through 2024.
Evey said that while an in-person meeting was hoped for this year, she was glad that the meeting was still available virtually.  She also briefly commented on WESCCON, which was held in Palm Springs in October and was a big success with over 270 attendes.  Half the seminars were held indoors, half outdoors, and sometimes masks were not needed. 
 

Above, Evey Hwang, CBFANC President, Alba Wheels Up

Last Monday, it started with ONE.  By Friday it was COSCO and others.  Both SSA (OICT) and Trapac terminals posted ocean carriers closings on empty receiving.   What will the restrictions on empty returns mean?   Containers are stuck in the truckers yard and stuck with per diem; the chassis stuck underneath the container are not available for pick up; no chassis to pick up imports and containers may be stuck with further dwell time.   
 
Effective Monday 12/20/21, SSA will impose dwell time fees additional to the regular demurrage fees.    According to their website notice, the dwell time fees are said to cover “increased operating and storage costs incurred as result of congestion caused by containers left on terminal for extend periods of time”.   The Port of Oakland has yet to see Vessel service has not fully returned to the Port of Oakland and yet the terminals are congested already?
 
Port stakeholders should contact their carrier.   The restrictions on empty receiving creates chassis shortages and will only result in even further congestion.  Whether sweeper vessels are needed or having chassis providers collaborate (pooling), we just do not want to become stuck in a situation resembling the LA/LB crisis!
 

CBFANC Executive Director retires, his replacement begins Jan 1, 2022!

The CBFANC board of directors wishes to express our gratitude to Brian Christopher, our CBFANC Executive Director, for his exemplary service to the board and CBFANC membership.   Along with outgoing board member Michael Baekboel, Brian oversaw the conversion of our website to current service as well as providing valuable support to the board and fulfilling responsibilities to our members.  For job well done and with care, thank you Brian!


 Looking to 2022, we are grateful to welcome Debbie Edwards as our new Executive Director.    A long-time board member and past President, Debbie has the breadth of CBFANC experience and responsibilities to well serve the board and CBFANC membership.   
 As 2021 closes, we wish to extend our thanks to our CBFANC board of directors – gratitude and well wishes to outgoing directors Sandra Alvarez and Michael Baekboel – then in January we welcome and thank new and continuing board members.   We especially want to express our thanks to our CBFANC membership for their community spirit and support – together we are stronger.    Best wishes for the holidays and well wishes for the 2022 year!
Below, incoming CBFANC Executive Director, Debbie Edwards.

Above, Andrew Hwang, Manager of Business and International Marketing, Port of Oakland

Impact of LA/LB Congestion, lack of transparency, skipped vessel calls, new infrastructure funds, among topics discussed.

Andrew began his presentation with basic statistics:  Imports were up 7.8%; Exports down 6.5%, total TEU up 1.1% for the year.  November imports were up 6.5%, but exports down 9.4%.  Generally, the trend is upward.  The number of vessel calls fell 30% (349 fewer calls), but the average call is up 46.6% because the ships have become much larger over the last decade, which also means that the time to discharge a ship at port is taking more time.  There were 75 vessel calls in November vs 54 in September.  Oakland is rarely the first port of call for ships arriving from overseas.
The port is working to enhance abilities to handle more cargo.  There are three new cranes at OICT, and 1 new crane at Everport. Several carriers (CMA, Wan Hai, Matson, and charter ships) are planning to increase first port of call service to Oakland.  New, major importers have established or expanded operations in Northern California (Michael, Kubota, Tesla, for example).  Firms are starting to diversify their supply chains by shifting from all LA service to include more cargo at the port of Oakland.
Sun Wook (John) Lee expressed concerns about carriers skipping Oakland, the lack of transparency forces the industry to “work in the dark.”  Can anything be done to create more transparency and provide us with advance notices of changes to vessel routings? 

Above, Chris Ramos, CBFANC Board Chair, KSI  Corporation
I want to take this opportunity to especially thank our amazing slate of candidates for stepping up and volunteering to serve on the CBFANC Board of Directors, acting on behalf of the membership to continue navigating us through these challenging times.  We sincerely appreciate their time and efforts.
 The new members elected to serve on the 2022-2024 CBFANC Board of Directors are:
 Chris Garcez – TLR / Total Logistics Resources Inc
Felicia Addison – Green Worldwide Shipping, LLC
Peter Gong – Great Way Trading
 Congratulations to all and we look forward to finding new ways to enhance our commitment to the community at large.
 

Pictured above:  Chris Garcez, Felicia Addison, Peter Gong

CBFANC Partners with Second Harvest Food Bank
Help CBFANC help put food on the tables of those in need.
 
This year, in lieu of a mandatory registration fee for the annual meeting, CBFANC is hoping that you will contribute to our partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank to sponsor a Food Drive.
 
The pandemic has created a real food insecurity for many Bay Area families; therefore, we encourage you to please help with your donation now and throughout the year to assist those in need. 

All donations are tax deductible.
 
Please find us on the CBFANC fundraising Food Drive donation page by following the link below. CBFANC donations are open through June 2022.
 
https://impact.shfb.org/fundraiser/3584834
 

Effective 12/20 : EXTENDED DWELL TIME FEE AND PAYMENT INFO
Dwell Fee Payments are processed through either Emodal.com or our Salt Lake City office.   
Payment options: Checks, Money Orders, ACH, Wire Transfers
(no credit card payments available at this time).
Make check payable to:  SSA Terminals (Oakland) LLC
Payments can be scanned via email to OICTDwellFee@ssamarine.com  along with a copy of an overnight airway bill per below comment.  
(Send via OVERNIGHT Courier only if the amouht is greater than $2,000 - all others via U.S. Mail to the below address).  This is for Salt Lake City payments only...
Company checks are capped at $2,000.00 per day
For payment inquiries please contact: OICTDwellFee@ssamarine.com
For questions related to the fee itself please contact:
OICTCUSTOMERSUPPORT@ssamarine.com and Susan.Ransom@ssamarine.com
 

Happy Holidays to all.

Above, Peter Friedmann, OurManInDC, AgTC Executive Director

AgTC: OSRA21 -- A Strong Start
 
“The Agriculture Transportation Coalition is gratified that the overwhelming majority -- 364 -- Members of the House of Representatives have now acted decisively, by passing the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 (OSRA21), to reign in ocean carrier practices threatening our nation's agriculture and forest products' global competitiveness. We look forward to similar support in the Senate, energetic response to unreasonable carrier practices by the Federal Maritime Commission, and most importantly, constructive engagement with individual ocean carriers to alter certain practices and to implement needed supply chain efficiencies, ultimately benefiting US exporters and importers, and also the carriers themselves.
 
This legislation is the product of Members of Congress who have stepped forward to learn the supply chain as it impacts their constituents, and found deficiencies injuring agriculture in every state of the country. Congressman John Garamendi, a Democrat representing northern California, and Congressman Dusty Johnson, a Republican representing South Dakota, drafted the OSRA21; the success of US agriculture and commerce is not a partisan issue, the vote (364 out of 435 total Representatives) for final passage confirms this. 
 

East Oakland Stadium Alliance Statement Regarding Release of Howard Terminal Final EIR
 
The following statement is attributed to Mike Jacob, Vice President and General Counsel of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association:
 
“Our coalition will be thoroughly reviewing the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) over the coming weeks to determine whether it responds adequately to the serious concerns identified by hundreds of Oakland community members, businesses, labor leaders, and government agencies, or remains a seriously flawed document. During the Draft EIR phase, our coalition and others submitted detailed comments regarding the need for the City to revise and recirculate the Draft EIR, which was inadequate on numerous fronts, but it appears the City has chosen to ignore these requests and refused to re-circulate. It is also troubling that the City of Oakland chose to play hard-ball with the community and release the FEIR just before the holidays when Port stakeholders are working around the clock to keep goods moving during an unprecedented supply chain crisis and community advocates are focusing on issues like feeding and housing those in need. (Itallics:  Editor)
 

We need to bring in new blood

Before starting his presentation at the CBFANC Annual Meeting, Andrew advised that he works with the California Academy and local public schools to get the word out about opportunities in logistics and trade.  It is important to get more young people in our business.  Perhaps the attention generated by the current crisis at the ports will provide an opportunity to bring in new people by sparking their interest in a heretofore relatively unknown yet vital industry.  Logistics and trade should become known as an option that could provide a solid career path for many younger people.
 

The US Army Corp of Engineers and the Port of Oakland invite you to attend the Turning Basins Widening Study Community Stakeholder Information Session #2 on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 from 6:00 – 7:30 PM. It is not clear how broadly the Port is distributing the invitation, so please feel free to forward it to your personal networks. Below are the details to participate in the session. 
 
What: Turning Basins Widening Study Community Stakeholder Information Session #2
When: Wednesday, January 12, 2022, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Meeting Registration Required: Please click HERE to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing a Zoom link and information about joining the meeting.
 

US DOT and USDA urged ocean carriers to restore reciprocal treatment of imports and exports and improve service.  
 
DOT Secretary Buttigieg and USDA Secretary Vilsack said: “Ocean carriers have made fewer containers available for U.S. agricultural commodities, repeatedly changed return dates and charged unfair fees as the ocean carriers short-circuited the usual pathways and rushed containers back to be exported empty. The poor service and refusal to serve customers is exemplified by many ocean carriers suspending service to the Port of Oakland. DOT and USDA are calling on the carriers to more fully utilizing available terminal capacity [at various ports] on the West Coast.”
 
Click here for full Statement: 
https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2021/12/17/transportation-and-agriculture-departments-urge-end-reduced-and
 

Happy New Year!

Above, new Commission of Customs & Border Protection, Chris Magnus

The Senate, by a vote of 50-47, approved the confirmation of Chris Magnus to serve as Customs and Border Protection commissioner. This will be the agency’s first Senate confirmed leader since 2019.

Magnus most recently served as chief of the Tucson Police Department in Arizona, a position he held since joining the department in 2016. Prior to that, he served as chief at police departments in Fargo, North Dakota, and Richmond, California.

CSMS #50413389 - Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2115 created on December 15, 2021


Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2115 was created on December 15, 2021 and contains 8,848 ABI records and 1,397 Harmonized Tariff Records. The HSU Query has been updated to include the Annual Stage Rate changes and 484 F changes.
Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2114 is the predecessor to HSU 2115. The HSU was created on December 10, 2021 and contains 8,457 ABI records and 1,351 Harmonized Tariff Records.
Additionally, all HTS updates mentioned above are available in ACE CERT environment.
Questions or concerns should be directed to Entry Summary, Accounts & Revenue Division (ESAR) at esar@cbp.dhs.gov.
 

The Federal Register Notice was published on November 23, 2021, regarding the 2022 Annual Permit User Fee.    Please note the following:  Permit User Fees are due by January 31, 2022 Permit User Fee is $153.19 BMOs are responsible for collecting District Permit User Fees BMOs are responsible for collecting National Permit User Fees for licenses issued through their specific Ports  Permit User Fees are not yet automated; collection of the fee remains with the port location