CBP has detained thousands of Porsche, Bentley and Audi cars in U.S. ports after a supplier to parent company Volkswagen found a "Chinese subcomponent" in the vehicles that violated the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the Financial Times reported on Feb. 14. The delivery will be delayed until as late as the end of March, the paper said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2403 Feb. 13, containing 590 ABI records and 120 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. The update includes several partner government agency Harmonized Tariff Schedule flag updates, as well as adjustments required by the verification of the 2024 HTS.
Visual Comfort & Co. (VCC) filed an amended complaint against COSCO Shipping Lines Co., the Federal Maritime Commission said in a Feb. 14 Federal Register notice. In the complaint, which was filed with the FMC Feb. 6, VCC said that from January 2021 to December 2022, COSCO didn't divert shipments to less crowded ports or extend the number of free days when "circumstances outside VCC's control" affected the shipment, leading to more than $1 million in damages.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet March 6 remotely and in person in Charleston, South Carolina, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by March 1.
Two Supply Source subsidiaries filed another five complaints at the Federal Maritime Commission Feb. 14 against multiple carriers, accusing them of violating the Shipping Act and charging unfair detention and demurrage from 2021 to 2022, leading to over $2.1 million in financial damages. The companies include COSCO Shipping Lines, Lihua Logistics Company Limited, CMA CGM, Overseas Container Line Limited, and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
China continues to expand its labor transfer programs for Uyghurs and other minorities, despite a recognition in the U.S. and elsewhere that the programs are a form of forced labor, a new report from the Jamestown Foundation said. "State work plans for this year mandate an intensification of employment requirements for the region’s targeted ethnic groups, and official labor transfer statistics reflect heightened work requirements first introduced in 2021," the report said. "Xinjiang’s focus on these requirements intensifies the region’s forced labor risk, extending it into higher-skilled sectors while concealing its coercive nature."
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) violated the Shipping Act by assessing detention and demurrage for periods that were outside the shipper’s control, shippers told the Federal Maritime Commission. The complaint, filed Feb. 14 by Impact Products and Safety Zone, both subsidiaries of Supply Source, alleged that MSC refused to divert shipments to less crowded ports and failed to extend the number of free days afforded when ports were congested from 2021 to 2022, leading to over $200,000 in financial damages.