Shipping costs should continue to ease (Kiplinger Letter)
Shipping costs [ocean, air, and trucking] should continue to ease, quickly if there is a recession, more slowly if there isn’t. Rates and volumes will head back to long-term averages. However, full warehouses and chassis shortages [and port congestion] this year are still causing delays, which could delay rate adjustments. If the retail inventory glut worsens, then rates may dip below long-term averages because of overcapacity in the transportation sector.
On air freight rates, expect continued price declines next year. Air capacity is back in line with demand, largely because demand has weakened in recent months. That balance figures to continue next year, or even slip into excess capacity…helpful for shippers. On average, expect rates to dip 5% to 10% from this year’s freight costs.
CBP not sending some notices and requests for information to brokers
As a result of its recent ACE deployment, CBP Forms 28, 29 and 4647 now only are being routed to importers. Until now, brokers also received a copy so we could help. If you receive one of these, please notify us immediately! If you have an ACE portal, and it is set properly, these notices can be sent to us via ACE, so please contact us to set your portal properly. Failure to respond timely to these can result in unnecessarily higher duties and/or penalties.
Importers, Others Warned of Higher Penalties for Product Safety Violations (From Sandler Travis & Rosenberg)
Importers, manufacturers, and others are being warned that failures to timely report product defects may be met with higher civil penalties and other enforcement measures.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced July 7 that a U.S. company has agreed to settle charges that it failed to immediately report that one of its products contained a defect or created an unreasonable risk of serious injury. The company allegedly had information about this problem for years before reporting to the CPSC and initiating a recall. The company’s predecessor was fined $500,000 in 2008 for similar violations.
As part of the settlement the company will pay a $7.5 million civil penalty; maintain a compliance program to ensure that it complies with the Consumer Product Safety Act; maintain internal controls designed to ensure timely, complete, and accurate reporting to the CPSC; and file annual reports regarding its compliance program and system of internal controls for three years.
CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric said companies should be on notice that the Commission “will be even more aggressive in the future,” including by pursuing “significant civil and potentially criminal penalties.” For more info, please go to
Reshoring of Production Seen in FTZ Data (From Sandler, Travis, and Rosenberg)
Data on utilization of foreign-trade zones in 2021 shows that FTZs are supporting an increase in U.S.-based operations as companies continue to reshore production from foreign sources. FTZs are one of a number of proven and legitimate ways to escape or limit the impact of import tariffs and can offer other logistical and financial benefits as well. For more info, please go to: