Market Update
Ocean and air freight rates and trends; customs and trade industry news plus COVID-19 impacts for the week of June 10, 2020.
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Blank Sailings Drift Into Peak Season As the traditional maritime peak season approaches, a 6-week period of stability ended in a week-over-week increase in blank sailings, with more planned for Q3. Supply Chain Dive notes the blankings, a capacity management technique to keep rates up as demand is down, could indicate there will be no actual peak season this year.
China-Europe Rail Transport Advances Between the rise of blank sailings and the continuous volatility of airfreight, rail transport is chugging through Russia, connecting China and Europe along a new Silk Road, according to The Loadstar. Services are increasing on existing routes, while new routes connect additional cities.
Meanwhile, this week, Flexport Chief Economist Dr. Phil Levy noted the following economic highlights:
USTR Initiates Section 301 Investigation on Digital Services Taxes The USTR issued a notice that they have initiated a Section 301 investigation on Digital Service Taxes (DST) for the following countries; Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, European Union, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and Turkey. Over the last few years, DST's have grown in popularity as a way for foreign companies to target and tax revenue of large US tech companies. Comments from the trade community are being accepted until July 15, 2020.
BIS Issues Rule Changes Restricting Exports to China The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule effective June 29 amending current Export Administration Regulations affecting China, Russia, and Venezuela. The change expands military end-use and military end-user restrictions with license requirements and additional controls. It also will eliminate the license exception (CIV) Civil End-Users and (NS) National Security for the three countries.
Section 301 List 4 Exclusions Granted The USTR released a new list of exclusions to the fourth tranche of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions cover two full 10-digit tariffs and 32 additional items with specific product descriptions. The exclusions apply retroactively from September 1, 2019 and will remain in effect until September 1, 2020.
For a roundup of tariff-related news, visit Tariff Insider.
Please note that the information in our publications is compiled from a variety of sources based on the information we have to date. This information is provided to our community for informational purposes only, and we do not accept any liability or responsibility for reliance on the information contained herein.
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