U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

CBP ruling clears way for Mexican LNG exports from Altamira Fast FLNG to Puerto Rico

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rulings on Jones Act compliance are always controversial, but New York, N.Y., headquartered New Fortress Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NFE) has welcomed a CBP ruling confirming that the transportation of LNG produced at the company’s Altamira Fast FLNG facility, located offshore Altamira, Mexico, by non-U.S. qualified vessels would not violate the Jones Act.

As a result of the CBP ruling, says New Fortress, it is now able to sell and deliver LNG produced at the...

https://www.marinelog.com/news/cbp-ruling-clears-way-for-mexican-lng-exports-from-altamira-fast-flng-to-puerto-rico/

BoxC links with FDA for faster e-commerce customs clearance

Global shipping platform BoxC announced that through a data-sharing initiative with U.S. Customs and Border Protection its e-commerce merchants shipping Food and Drug Administration-regulated products will have the capability to send products individually to the U.S. and receive the same clearance rate as bulk shipping.

Chad Schofield, co-founder and chief digital officer at BoxC, told FreightWaves the difficulties e-commerce shippers face when getting their products into the United States.

“Tradi...

Bill aims to close Jones Act ‘loopholes’

Newly proposed legislation in Congress would make it tougher for foreign vessels and their crews to work in the U.S. offshore energy sector.

The bill, Close Agency Loopholes to the Jones Act, was introduced on Wednesday by U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif. It attempts to terminate 50 years of so-called “letter rulings” issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that effectively function as short-term Jones Act waivers for foreign shipowners.

Garamendi argues that CBP has not properly used its...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/bill-aims-to-close-jones-act-loopholes

FreightWaves Classics/ Infrastructure: Blue Water Bridge is a key US-Canada crossing

The Blue Water Bridge. (Photo: ontbluecoast.com)

A major international crossing over the St. Clair River at the southern end of Lake Huron, Blue Water Bridge is located between Port Huron, Michigan and Point Edward, Ontario. When it fully opened to traffic during the fall of 1938, it became one of the fastest links between the Midwest and Ontario as well as the Northeast United States.

The (original) Blue Water Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge. Its total length is 6,178 feet; its main span is 871 feet long. The bridge was built as a joint...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classicsinfrastructure-blue-water-bridge-is-a-key-us-canada-crossing

Ambassador Bridge reopens as protests block other US-Canada border crossings

A truck crosses the Ambassador Bridge after the US-Canada border bridge reopened.

The busiest commercial crossing between the U.S. and Canada, the Ambassador Bridge, reopened late Sunday after police in Windsor, Ontario, cleared out a protest over COVID-19 restrictions that squeezed the cross-border supply chain for a week. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection processed the first truck to reach the U.S side of the border in Detroit at 12:30 a.m. Monday, the agency said in a tweet. As of 8:30 a.m, CBP and the Canada Border Service Agency reported normal operations on both sides...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ambassador-bridge-reopens-as-protests-block-other-us-canada-border-crossings

Feds to automate crew inspections for US-bound ships

After 10 years of testing an automated system for vetting crews arriving on commercial ships, the U.S. is finally ready to go fully paperless.

In an interim final rule to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is amending its regulations to require that vessel operators submit Form I-418, known as the passenger/crew list, in electronic form instead of the current paper requirement.

The new process is aimed at streamlining vessel arrivals and departures...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/feds-to-automate-crew-inspections-for-us-bound-ships

Canadian truckers forced to choose: COVID vaccines or forfeit US runs

Transport trucks pass under a "Bridge To USA" at the entrance to the Ambassador Bridge, US-Canada border crossing, illustrating an article about the impacts of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Canadian truckers.

When Canadian trucker Kerry Delaine, a lease operator from Winnipeg, Manitoba, received his first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine recently, he made a shirt to commemorate the occasion. It has a swastika formed with syringes encircled by the message: “Vaxxed by Force.” 

Delaine does not believe the vaccines are safe or effective but said he felt he had no choice. The reason: Starting in early January, foreign truckers — along with other essential workers — will only be able to enter the U.S....

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/canadian-truckers-forced-to-choose-covid-vaccines-or-forfeit-us-runs

Undercover trucker: Hauling half-ton of pot for feds in sting

Multiple commercial trucks move along the Peace Bridge, a common site of marijuana seizures at the U.S. Canada Border.

On Dec. 1, a truck driver pulling a flatbed trailer presented himself to U.S. border officers at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York, one of the busiest commercial crossings with Canada. He had picked up his load of aluminum panels in Toronto and was delivering it some 450 miles away in Somerset, New Jersey. 

At face value, it might have appeared as a typical cross-border run. But something aroused the suspicions of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers after the driver presented his...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/undercover-trucker-half-ton-pot-marijuana-us-customs-sting-canada

FreightWaves Classics: Key bridge links Michigan and Ontario

The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge. (Photo: International Bridge Authority)

The International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie is the only way for vehicles to cross between the Canadian province of Ontario and the state of Michigan within 300 miles. The International Bridge connects the United States and Canada, as well as connecting the two cities on either end of the bridge – Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario with Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. (Sault Ste. Marie is pronounced Soo-Saint-Mah-Ree.) A regional railroad that formerly served the area was known as the Soo Line.

The International Bridge at night. (Photo: Michigan Department of Transportation)The...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-key-bridge-links-michigan-and-ontario

CBP seizes cocaine hidden in watermelons, peppers headed to Canada

Bags of cocaine is displayed with boxes of produce seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Canadian border.

A truck driver hauling watermelons and peppers from the U.S. to Canada could face prosecution after border officers discovered nearly 70 pounds of cocaine hidden in her load of produce, authorities said. 

The driver, a Canadian citizen, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers conducting outbound operations at the Sweetgrass Port of Entry in Montana, across the border from Coutts, Alberta. 

Officers found the cocaine — totaling 69.5 pounds — inside the trailer, concealed in the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cbp-seizes-cocaine-hidden-in-watermelons-peppers-headed-to-canada

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