Export Growth Boosts Economic Recovery
December 10, 2009 by admin
Exports surged to the highest level in nearly a year! This surge of 2.5 percent in exports, allowed the 32.9 billion dollar trade deficit for October to fall by 7.6 percent below the September deficit of 35.7 billion.
The Associated Press today announced that “The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in October” and that “growing exports, boosted by a weaker dollar, are expected to boost demand for American manufactured goods in coming months and provide important strength to the overall economic recovery.”
They report that in the first 10 months of this year, the deficit is at an annual rate of $364.8 billion. That is about half the gap for the whole year in 2008. The stock market in turn rose after the improved deficit was reported. In mid-day trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up about 81 points, for an increase of 0.8 percent.
However to temper that good news, the narrower trade deficit reflects the impact of the recession, which cut consumer demand for domestic and foreign goods.
Goverment Stimulus Loans for Small Businesses
November 13, 2009 by admin
Not Reaching Their Intended Targets!
The government has reacted to the needs of the small business owner to have more capital available to them. They set aside the money for SBA loans and even guaranteed the regular commercial lenders that the funds will be repaid should the borrower default. Yet, the commercial lenders are still using their previous lending criteria as the decision making criteria in issuing those critical loans. The small businesses needing help can’t meet the usual lending criteria, as spare capital is exactly what they don’t have, and that they are looking to obtain!
Where do we go from here? How does a strapped small business access the guaranteed money that is set aside to help them? We need to get the word back to Congress. Our government needs to impress upon the lenders, the need of an updated model of lending criteria that fits the borrower’s tough cash flow conditions for having spare collateral of capital funds in this tough economy!
While we at Unitrans Worldwide, Inc. have been lucky to escape finding ourselves in this difficult “catch 22”, the worry is always there! Being a small business in this market for 30 years, our savvy financial management has helped secure us. Yet a huge part of our success as a small business in this tight economy has been the pure luck to have the timing between the cash flow of our vendors and our customers balance out each month.
US Customs requires importers of record to file ISF 10+2
September 3, 2009 by admin
The 1st ISF 10+2 Rule Essay
Effective January 26 of 2010, importers will be faced with a $5,000 fine per violation if the ISF data is not filed.
This is a brand ocean containerized cargo new rule, called the “Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements”, and is being enforced:
- to enhance the importer’s sphere of accountability back to the point of stuffing
- that will in turn enhance cargo targeting prior to the loading at the foreign port
- and ultimately should result in fewer exams for low risk shipments
The responsibility of the ISF importer for the “Importer Security Filing” covers the “10″ data elements component of the rule, and the responsibility of “Additional Carrier Requirements” by the steamship line corresponds to the “+2″ container tracking report portion of the rule. The 10 elements of the importer’s data are: seller, buyer, importer, consignee, manufacturer, ship to party, country of origin, harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) number, container stuffing location, and consolidator. The 2 elements of the steamship’s data are: vessel stow plan and container status messages.
The rule has been a goal of Customs and Border Patrol for many years, as an effort to push supply chain security efforts back from our borders to the point of origin (“stuffing”). The proposed rule was published back in January of 2008, with the final rule published last November of that same year (2008). The effective date of the rule was this past January (2009), and full enforcement of the rule is planned for January 26th, 2010.
Unitrans Worldwide, Inc. can conduct this mandatory government filing on your behalf and keep your company in compliance and save you possible fines.
The 2nd ISF 10+2 Rule Essay
If any data in a container changes while it is in transit between a foreign port and a US port, then according to Customs and Border Protection, the shipper must amend its Importer Security Filings and file them in the Federal Register. Only the party who originally filed the ISF is permitted to update the ISF.
US Customs Announces ISF Rule Change
September 3, 2009 by admin
If data changes while a container is in transit between a foreign port and a US port, the shipper must amend its Importer Security Filings according to Customs and Border Protection and filed in the Federal Register.