Infrastructure Takes Center Stage – After a bruising battle that scuttled the first version of a $2T infrastructure proposal, the Biden Administration pivoted directly to a new federal budget, keeping its focus firmly on the health of the U.S. economy.  With such attention to organizing federal spending to restart growth, little room is available for issues related to international commerce.  […]

What’s Bugging Washington? Brood X (pronounced “Brood 10”) has taken over your Nation’s Capital.  There are 15 broods of periodical cicadas in the United States, and this one is now in every corner of the city after 17 years of hibernation. Thinking of riding your motorcycle into DC for the July 4th celebration?  The FTZine staff recommends a full face […]

Things Could Get Bumpy Again. . . . The August peak for trans-Pacific Ocean freight is now upon us, but transportation lanes never fully recovered from their pandemic-induced woes. That means longer wait times and higher prices may be in the future and spot rates are already at multiples of pandemic and pre-pandemic pricing. Floods in Germany and China exacerbated […]

16 Years To The Day: Its an eerie anniversary. Category 4 Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana’s Gulf Coast on Sunday, exactly 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina did the same. The financial impact of this week’s massive storm is expected to be less severe than Katrina, thanks in part to a lower storm surge. Also credit New Orleans’ […]

Happy New Year! – Happy New Government Fiscal Year that is. FY 2022 starts today and while it does not have a budget, it does have temporary funding approved just hours ago by both chambers of Congress and the President. That postpones concerns of a government shutdown . . . until December 3rd when the new spending authorization will expire. […]

Prepare For Air – It was always faster. But it was never cheaper. With the current multiplier on container rates, plus the now customary demurrage and detention charges, on top of new terminal fees just going into effect, it may now be less expensive to ship your merchandise by air than by ocean. The G-20 meeting in Rome this past […]

Omigoodness Another Variant – The World Health Organization announced a new “variant of concern” last week, right as America was preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving. It felt like déjà vu all over again. Britain responded immediately to the announcement by restricting flights from 6 African countries, and EU leaders recommended the same measure for its members. Those moves sparked fears of […]

2022 Off To An Electrifying Start – The Potomac River is indeed frozen right now, but there was still a lot of trade news flowing from Washington in the first month of the year. The largest changes to the HTSUS in five years were just implemented by CBP last week. New entry summary filing rules went into effect to execute […]