New POA rules do not allow third party POA’s
Effective December 19th, 2022, a Customs Broker will no longer be able to accept a Power of Attorney (POA) from a third party (i.e. agent, freight forwarder, attorney). We must now receive ALL POA’s directly from the Importer of Record (IOR). If we hold such a POA in the IOR’s name, we will not be able to make entry or submit an ISF after the grace period ends on Feb 17th, We have contacted all IOR’s we know of that fall into this category.
Container shipping costs from China could finally be returning to normal (Kiplinger Letter)
Rates soared 600% to a peak last year, but have dropped since, and appear to be headed back to prepandemic levels. A factor stopping them from going lower: Transportation costs that have risen with inflation and make shipping more costly. Retailers have finished restocking their inventories and demand will decline as the goods sector slows down. Supply has been built up after the shipping crunch of 2021, and ships are no longer stuck waiting because of port congestion. Note that rates will not fall as much on small ocean routes. The reason? New ship efficiency rules will raise costs for older ships that tend to ply these lanes.
Lufthansa Cargo decreases Airfreight Surcharge to 0.70 USD/kg
Lufthansa made this announcement this week, effective January 2, 2023. We expect both air and ocean rates to continue to decline for the foreseeable future.