Port of NY & NJ Makes an Impressive Showing in May 2017 - Port of NY/NJ Breaking Waves
Lifts at the Port of New York and New Jersey were 6.7 percent better in May 2017 compared to the same month, previous year. The port handled 325,373 lifts (565,052 TEUs) for a new monthly record overall.
Hitting this mark made May 2017 one of the top five best months in Port of NY & NJ history.
Import loads also rose 4.8 percent for May 2017 over May 2016 at 163,367 lifts.
Export loads rose 2.8 percent to 66,520 lifts while empties rose 13.2 percent 94,031 lifts.
Year-to-date volumes of 1,520,939 lifts (2,645,069 TEUs) beat the same count for 2016 by 4.9 percent.
At 767,873 lifts, import loads were up 4.4 percent while export loads rose slightly, up 1.3 percent at 318,187 lifts.
At 428,448 lifts, export empties were up 9.1 percent compared to 2016.
Rail lifts for May 2017 (48,287) were 5.4 percent better than May 2016.
Year-to-date volumes remained ahead of 2016 by 2.4 percent.
With 42,656 units, auto volumes rose 5.7 percent over May 2016. Year-to-date, auto volumes are up 9.6 percent.
Travel Advisory - Bayonne Bridge to Close this Weekend for Ongoing Construction Project - Port of Authority of NY/NJ
The Bayonne Bridge will be closed this weekend – from 11:59 p.m. Friday, July 14, through 5 a.m. Monday, July 17 – to accommodate ongoing construction work on the crossing.
Once the bridge opens at 5 a.m. Monday, July 17, it will remain open until its standard 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. overnight closing on Monday night. The Bayonne Bridge’s overnight closings are cancelled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, July 18 through July 20. However, on those nights, there may be two 15-minute traffic holds between the hours of 12 a.m. and 4 a.m. in the southbound direction to allow for the delivery of construction materials.
During this weekend’s closing, traffic will initially be detoured via 5th Street in Bayonne to support construction activities. Beginning at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, July 15, traffic will be detoured via Avenue A for the duration of the bridge closing.
To receive real time traffic updates, travelers should register for Bridge and Tunnel Alerts at www.paalerts.com, call 511 or visit www.511NY.org or www.511NJ.org.
USITC: New Releases, Documents, Announcements - www.usitc.gov
WASHINGTON— The United States signed two Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements (CMAA) today with Bolivia and with Georgia marking a significant milestone in collaboration on security and trade facilitation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Executive Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Trade Brenda Smith signed the agreements on behalf of CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Executive President of the National Customs of Bolivia Marlene Ardaya signed on behalf of Bolivia and First Deputy Minister of Finance, Director General of the Georgia Revenue Service Giorgi Tabuashvili signed on behalf of Georgia.
“The legal framework of these agreements strengthen the ties and commitments to exchange information between the United States and these international partners,” said Executive Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Trade Brenda Smith. “These Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements will greatly facilitate U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s work to prevent, detect, and investigate customs offenses.”
The United States has now signed 79 CMAAs with other customs administrations across the world. CMAAs are bilateral agreements between countries and enforced by their respective customs administrations. They provide the legal framework for the exchange of information and evidence to assist countries in the enforcement of customs laws, including duty evasion, trafficking, proliferation, money laundering, and terrorism-related activities. CMAAs also serve as foundational documents for subsequent information sharing arrangements, including mutual recognition arrangements.
CBP is one of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s largest and most complex components, with a priority mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the United States. It also has a responsibility for securing the border and facilitating lawful international trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws and regulations, including immigration and drug laws.
ICE is the largest investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.
Hobby Lobby Settles $3 Million Civil Suit for Falsely Labeling Cuneiform Tablets - ICE
NEW YORK – Pursuant to an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (“Hobby Lobby”), a nationwide arts-and-crafts retailer based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and two of Hobby Lobby’s corporate affiliates, the United States filed civil complaint to forfeit thousands of cuneiform tablets and clay bullae. As alleged in the complaint, these ancient clay artifacts originated in the area of modern-day Iraq and were smuggled into the United States through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, contrary to federal law. Packages containing the artifacts were shipped to Hobby Lobby and the shipping labels on these packages falsely described cuneiform tablets as tile “samples.”
The government also filed a stipulation of settlement with Hobby Lobby, in which Hobby Lobby consented to the forfeiture of the artifacts in the complaint, approximately 144 cylinder seals and an additional sum of $3 million, resolving the civil action. Hobby Lobby further agreed to adopt internal policies and procedures governing its importation and purchase of cultural property, provide appropriate training to its personnel, hire qualified outside customs counsel and customs brokers, and submit quarterly reports to the government on any cultural property acquisitions for the next eighteen months.
“American collectors and importers must ensure compliance with laws and regulations that require truthful declarations to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, so that Customs officers are able to scrutinize cultural property crossing our borders and prevent the inappropriate entry of such property,” stated Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Bridget M. Rohde. “If they do not, and shippers use false declarations to try to clandestinely enter property into the United States, this Office and our law enforcement partners will discover the deceit and seize the property.”
According to the complaint and stipulated statement of facts filed with the court, in or around 2009, Hobby Lobby began to assemble a collection of historically significant manuscripts, antiquities and other cultural materials. In connection with this effort, Hobby Lobby’s president and a consultant traveled to the UAE in July 2010 to inspect a large number of cuneiform tablets and other antiquities being offered for sale (the “Artifacts”). Cuneiform is an ancient system of writing on clay tablets that was used in ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years ago.
In October 2010, an expert on cultural property law retained by Hobby Lobby warned the company that the acquisition of cultural property likely from Iraq, including cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals, carries a risk that such objects may have been looted from archaeological sites in Iraq. The expert also advised Hobby Lobby to review its collection of antiquities for any objects of Iraqi origin and to verify that their country of origin was properly declared at the time of importation into the United States. The expert warned Hobby Lobby that an improper declaration of country of origin for cultural property could lead to seizure and forfeiture of the artifacts by CBP.
Notwithstanding these warnings, in December 2010, Hobby Lobby executed an agreement to purchase over 5,500 Artifacts, comprised of cuneiform tablets and bricks, clay bullae and cylinder seals, for $1.6 million. The acquisition of the Artifacts was fraught with red flags. For example, Hobby Lobby received conflicting information where the Artifacts had been stored prior to the inspection in the UAE. Further, when the Artifacts were presented for inspection to Hobby Lobby’s president and consultant in July 2010, they were displayed informally. In addition, Hobby Lobby representatives had not met or communicated with the dealer who purportedly owned the Artifacts, nor did they pay him for the Artifacts. Rather, following instructions from another dealer, Hobby Lobby wired payment for the Artifacts to seven personal bank accounts held in the names of other individuals.
With Hobby Lobby’s consent, a UAE-based dealer shipped packages containing the Artifacts to three different corporate addresses in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Between one and three shipments arrived at a time, without the required customs entry documentation being filed with CBP, and bore shipping labels that falsely and misleadingly described their contents as “ceramic tiles” or “clay tiles (sample).” After approximately 10 packages shipped in this manner were received by Hobby Lobby and its affiliates, CBP intercepted five shipments. All of the intercepted packages bore shipping labels that falsely declared that the Artifacts’ country of origin was Turkey. No further shipments were received until September 2011, when a package containing approximately 1,000 clay bullae from the same purchase was received by Hobby Lobby. It was shipped by an Israeli dealer and accompanied by a false declaration stating that the bullae’s country of origin was Israel.
In executing the stipulation of settlement, Hobby Lobby has accepted responsibility for its past conduct and agreed to take steps to remedy the deficiencies that resulted in its unlawful importation of the Artifacts. Hobby Lobby has agreed to the forfeiture of all of the Artifacts shipped to the United States.
The government’s case was prosecuted by the Eastern District of New York.
FMC Collects $925,000 In Penalty Payments - Federal Martime Commission
The Commission completed compromise agreements recovering a total of $925,000 in civil penalties. The agreements were reached with eight non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs) and an unlicensed entity. The agreed penalties resulted from investigations conducted by the Commission’s Area Representatives in New York, Seattle, and South Florida, and by Washington D.C. headquarters staff. The parties settled and agreed to penalties, but did not admit to violations of the Shipping Act or Commission regulations.
The Respondents and the alleged violations are:
Separate compromise agreements with NVOCCs Brilliant Group Logistics Corp., Valley Stream, NY; King Freight (USA), Inc., Cerritos, CA; Interglobo North America, Inc., Jersey City, NJ; Fastic Transportation Co. Ltd., Shanghai, PRC; and Pudong Prime Int’l Logistics, Inc., El Monte, CA, alleged that the Respondents each knowingly and willfully obtained transportation at less than applicable rates and charges by improperly utilizing rates contained in service contracts limited to certain named shipper accounts for unrelated shipments of cargo. Each compromise agreement also alleged that the Respondent provided transportation in the liner trade that was not in accordance with its published tariff.
The joint compromise agreement with NVOCCs Seamaster Logistics, Inc., Diamond Bar, CA, and Toll Global Forwarding (Hong Kong) Limited, Hong Kong, alleged that Respondents knowingly and willfully allowed another NVOCC to access their service contracts for a fee, and thereby unlawfully permitted a non-contract party to enjoy the benefits of service contracts contrary to its contract with the respective ocean common carrier. It was also alleged that Respondents provided ocean transportation in the liner trade that was not in accordance with their published tariffs.
The compromise agreement with Pacific International Import Export, LLC, Auburn, WA, alleged that Respondent acted as an NVOCC without a license, evidence of financial responsibility, or a published tariff.
The compromise agreement with licensed NVOCC A-Sonic Logistics (USA), Inc., Valley Stream, NY, alleged that Respondent knowingly and willfully accepted cargo from one or more ocean transportation intermediaries that did not have a published tariff, bond or other surety as required by the Shipping Act. It was also alleged that Respondent provided transportation that was not in accordance with the rates and charges set forth in its published tariff.
Statement from Alberto Gutierrez, Ph.D., Director, Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health on the Status of FDA's Investigation into Inaccurate Results from Certain Lead Tests - Food & Drug Administration
On May 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Americans that Magellan Diagnostics’ LeadCare test systems performed on blood drawn from the vein (venous) may provide inaccurate results.
At that time, our first priority was to warn laboratories, health care professionals and people who may have been impacted by this issue. We also launched an aggressive investigation to determine the cause of the inaccurate results and promised to continue to communicate as we learned more about the issue.
As part of our investigation, we inspected Magellan Diagnostics’ facility in North Billerica, Massachusetts. Today, we are releasing the report issued at the conclusion of the inspection, which includes several inspectional observations that may be violations of federal law. We are carefully reviewing the evidence collected during the inspection to determine if there have been violations of federal law and whether further action is warranted.
The FDA takes these observations and the risks these tests may have posed to patients very seriously and continues to encourage people to follow the FDA’s and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations from May 17.
As we continue our investigation into the cause of the inaccurate results, the FDA will continue to provide updates on our findings and any changes to our recommendations.
The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.