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Customs Authorization
At a meeting of the Customs Consultative Committee on 15th April 2011, Mr. Colm Walsh, CEO of the Irish International Freight Association addressed the concerns of many Full Trading Members in relation to the requirement to be able to produce a specified authorization confirming the clearance agent's position relative to that of the importer specifying whether direct or indirect representation is involved.
His presentation elicited a response from Revenue, which in turn was answered by IIFA. Consultation on the matter is ongoing with Revenue.
Over the past 12 months there have been instances where some customs clearance agents have had to pay substantial amounts to Revenue following the establishment of underpayments after a Customs audit. This liability to pay the underpayment, resulted from the fact that the clearance agent did not have in his possession satisfactory evidence for the authorities, as to his empowerment as declarant by the importer.
This is following various notifications by Revenue -
AEP Trader Bulletin Issue No 14 of November 2000
AEP Trader Bulletin Issue No, 25 of October 2007 and
AEP Help Desk Notification - Ref 001/2011 in February this year.
For a copy of the correspondence Full Trading Members of IIFA should apply to iifa@eircom.net
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IIFA Entry for the Young International
Freight Forwarder of the Year Award 2011
Ms. Silvia Valles Barrera, of IIFA Full Trading Member Hawthorn Logistics, as the sole voluntary entrant representing Ireland in the Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year 2011 competition, last month submitted her completed entry.
Silvia's Thesis "The Medical and Pharmaceutical Industry in Ireland and its Challenges for the Freight Forwarder" will be judged with entries from other participating European National Associations for the European Region sector of the Award. The three other FIATA regions are "Americas," "Africa and Middle East" and "Asia Pacific."
Regional winners will be notified of the success of their thesis in the first week of July, and the successful candidates will be presented with their award at the 2011 FIATA World Congress in Cairo, Egypt during 16th - 21st October 2011.
Silvia completed the FIATA Diploma in Freight Forwarding with the IIFA between 2009 - 2010 (achieving the level of Distinction upon completion of the course) and also holds a Masters Degree in International Commerce.
In 2010 Mr. William Yang, also of IIFA Member Hawthorn Logistics, entered the Young International Freight Forwarder competition. While William was not successful to the FIATA World Congress 2010 he did go on to scoope the "Rising Star of Freight" award at the IFW awards ceremony in October 2010.
Entry to the Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year Award is open to any individual in a Full Trading Member firm of IIFA, provided that they are not more than 30 years of age during the time of writing their dissertation. One candidate can represent a National Association each year and will be given three months to complete their dissertation. IIFA advises its Members of opening of the award in December of each year however if you would like specific inclusion in such notification please e-mail your request to iifa@eircom.net and we will ensure you are directly notified of the competition for 2012.
We wish Silvia the very best in this competition and we hope to see her succeed to the FIATA World Congress later this year.
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IIFA FIATA Diploma Experiments with Online Delivery
IIFA has taken further steps into online delivery of the FIATA Diploma in Freight Forwarding. On Tuesday 10th May 2011 an online tutorial was delivered by IIFA education Committee members Colm Walsh and Vincent Brennan on the subject of Insurance. Participants were able to experience the tutorial through their web browsers and desktop speakers. While delivering the tutorial online participants could communicate back with their tutors via an instant-message chat box.
Feedback from this event was been very positive with many participants prefering this method of online delivery when compared to attendance and travel to classroom situations.
Indeed eliminating the need to travel was a great advantage for some participants; while the majority of the participants logged online from various Dublin based locations, other participants logged on from as far as Co. Wexford, Co. Waterford, Poland and Mongolia.
Ms. Gerelmaa (pictured above) of Landex International Freight Forwarders, Mongolia, was also a participant in the online tutorial. Gerelmaa met IIFA CEO Colm Walsh at the 2010 FIATA World Congress in Thailand during October last and expressed a keen interest in the IIFA's delivery of the FIATA Diploma in Freight Forwarding. Following the class on Tuesday evening Gerelmaa said that the learning was of great benefit to her work and also that the software used made learning online very easy.
Closer to home another of the partiicpant's was on holidays in Poland during the time of the tutorial however this did not stop the participant logging on to attend the tutoiral which he said had no loss in quality despite the geographical distance.
Prior to the Insurance Tutorial an online multiple-choice test was also set for the 22 participants of the current FIATA Diploma class on the subject of Dangerous Goods. Results came in strong with an avergae grade of 87.75%.
Such experiments are yielding positive results for the association and if they continue to do so the possibility of a full online FIATA Diploma could be realised for the Association. In previous years the Association has had requests for training from Cork, Limerick and Sligo and it is hoped that these online experiments will enable the FIATA Diploma to finally be deliveried to these regions and more.
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Railfreight in Ireland - Report by Tim Casterton
It's been a good few years since Ireland saw any investment in rail freight, however recently this has taken place in both Dublin and Mayo to allow for services to be increased. Higher fuel prices, environmental considerations and new European legislation on drivers hours have lead to several firms taking a new look at rail freight as a viable alternative to road, resulting in more demand for rail services.
The most significant investment has been the reinstatement of the Dublin Port Company sidings into the Common User Container Terminal at Alexandra Quay this year. This is primarily to serve the International Warehousing & Transport (IWT) container trains between Dublin and Ballina. These services, introduced twice weekly in August 2009, have been such a success that they are now running every weekday. Until the port extension was reinstated, trains were being loaded and off loaded on the Alexandra Road Tramway, this involving a considerable amount of transfer between the docks and train. Dublin Port Company are giving consideration to a further reinstatement of tracks into the Dublin Ferry Terminal due to interest having been expressed in using rail by other operators.
In Mayo, Iarnród Éireann have recently reinstated a siding to the north of the small freight yard at Ballina, initially to store trains between services, but it is expected that the siding will also be used to load and unload containers from it as current freight users are negotiating with adjacent property owners to use land for storage of containers. It is also envisaged that power will be provided to enable container refrigeration units to operate at the site. Ballina is served by the daily IWT services to and from Dublin, the two or three weekly DFDS services to and from Waterford Port and trains conveying pulpwood for Coillte to Waterford. The DFDS services were introduced in 2006 primarily to convey concentrated liquids to and from Ballina Beverages, but with any spare capacity being available for use by other companies.
2011 will see a significant increase in the numbers of pulpwood trains operating from Ballina and Westport to Waterford, where the cargo is transferred to the Smartply factory for the manufacture of Oriented Strand Board. The 20% increase will take the annual tonnage transported to 60,000 tonnes. The end product is mostly exported and high demand for it in the UK is the prime reason for the increase. Coillte are also looking at the possibility of a new Derry to Waterford service, however at present this flow is being transported by sea.
There is considerable potential for more freight to transfer to rail, the prime candidates being the supermarket chains following the lead of those in England and Scotland where distribution centres operated by several large companies are served by regular rail services. IWT are also looking at possible new destinations for rail and you wouldn't have to be that much of a gambling man to put money on Cork being one of those!
-Tim Casterton
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Antwerp Launches Daily Railfreight Service to China
The first scheduled departure of a new Antwerp-Chongqing rail connection left the Belgian port on Monday, carrying a mixture of bulk cargo and container freight. The five-days-a-week service, operated jointly by Hupac, Russkaya Troyka and Eurasia Good Transport, goes from the port of Antwerp's Combinant terminal through Germany and Poland to Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia and China - more than 10,000km. Antwerp port spokesman Annik Dirkx said: "By rail, the journey takes between 20-25 days, while the sea route takes up to 35 days." And Belgium's Customs authorities hope to reduce the transit time further, to 15-20 days, through its Green Lane project - an information-sharing partnership with the various Customs authorities along the route. Dirkx admitted that the rail route was more expensive than its ocean counterpart, but insisted that for high-value technological goods, speed to destination was very important, thereby balancing cost against time. The type of cargo moving eastbound is largely chemicals, while westbound goods are mostly automotive and technological goods. The project to link Antwerp and Chongqing was established last year by the Development Authority of the Province of Antwerp, Antwerp Port Authority and the Belgian Administration of Customs & Excise. Sufficient cargo in both directions is a crucial factor for the viability of the line; the municipality of Chongqing's largest concern was generating enough return cargo from Europe to China. "Customers from Chongqing wanted the service, but we needed to establish eastbound cargo before we could start," explained Dirkx.
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Maersk Line to Raise Rates on Asia-Europe Route
The Danish carrier Maersk Line is raising the rates on the Asia to Europe route by USD 250 per teu on 1 June 2011. The increase will apply to all dry and reefer cargo moving from all Asian ports to all destinations in North Europe and the Mediterranean.
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Road Deaths Halved over Decade
Research announced by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and An Garda Síochána has revealed that road deaths dropped by 48 per cent over the last decade. The announcement came as the RSA, An Garda Síochána, Local Authority Road Safety Officers and PARC Road Safety Group marked the global launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. The research, which analyses road deaths and serious injuries during the ten year period 2001 to 2010, also revealed a drop of 58 per cent in the number of serious injuries sustained on Irish roads. With the campaign slogan 'Make Roads Safe', the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety aims to save five million lives on the world's roads in the next 10 years. This represents a total reduction of 50 per cent on the predicted global death toll by 2020. At present, 1.3 million lives are lost and 50 million injuries are sustained as a result of collisions on the world's roads every year. Last year, 211 people died and 592 people were seriously injured on Irish roads. The RSA announced a series of activities that will take place around the country to mark the UN Decade of Action with a major campaign set for later this year. The campaign will encourage people to continue their support for road safety by making a public commitment to change their behaviour on the roads for the better and make the roads safer for all road-users.
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Irish Exporters Association Optimistic about
EU and South Korea FTA
The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) has pointed to the FTA between the EU and South Korea as an impetus for exportation and job growth. Signed last October and set to go into effect July 1, the FTA is expected to increase European trade with Korea by a staggering €19 billion.
In 2010, Irish exports to Korea reached €357 million. But this number will soon rise, IEA officials said. In fact, the IEA estimated that the FTA will increase exports to Korea by 50 percent in the coming years.
"The agreement between the EU and South Korea marks a significant achievement in improving our trade links. It will provide a real boost to jobs and growth in Ireland at this critical time," IEA Chief Executive John Whelan said in a statement. "This wide-ranging and innovative deal is a benchmark for what can be achieved in other trade agreements."
Still, Whelan hopes that more FTAs are on the horizon. "The IEA urges the government to become more proactive in pushing for further FTAs at the EU," he said. "In particular, the IEA recommends that FTAs should be a key focus of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade."
According to Whelan, the agreement references both import taxes and non-tariff barriers to international trade. Because the FTA will eliminate import taxes between Ireland and South Korea, as well as other trade barriers, the IAE estimates that it will slash the costs of conducting business with Korea by nearly €16 million a year.
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Qantas Ordered to Pay Record Air Cargo Cartel Penalty
Carrier admits price-fixing to New Zealand court
Australian carrier Qantas has been ordered by a New Zealand court to pay a record NZ$6.5 million (US$5.1 million) penalty for price-fixing.The fine, "the highest yet for price fixing in this country", was proposed by Qantas as part of a pre-trial settlement in an air cargo cartel case and has now been confirmed by the High Court, the NZ Commerce Commission said yesterday.
The judge said: "As soon as the nature and scale of the problem came to the notice of Qantas senior management and its board, the commission was advised that Qantas would co-operate in every respect.
"In particular, it has proactively provided extensive evidence and documents detailing the collusive FSU [Fuel Surcharge Understanding] and its own participation in that FSU."
Qantas was also committed to making its staff available as witnesses in the cartel case against the various other airlines involved in the investigation.
Commission counsel Mary-Anne Borrowdale said it was appropriate to recognise that Qantas had admitted price fixing.
The Qantas penalty brought the amount achieved in settlements of the cartel case to NZ$14.1m, the commission said, after it also settled with British Airways and Cargolux.
Carriers continuing to defend the charges are Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Korean Air Lines, Malaysian Airlines System, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Thai Airways.
They face allegations that they colluded on fuel surcharges on international cargo flights between 2000 and 2006.
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Limits of Liability (Cargo Claims)
By Sea - Hague Visby Rules
SDR 2 per kilo or
SDR 666.64 per package
By Road - CMR
SDR 8.33 per kilo
By Air - Warsaw/Montreal
SDR 19 per kilo
IIFA Standard Trading Conditions
SDR 2 per kilo
The SDR rate on 23/05/2011 according to the
International Monetary Fund was
1 SDR = 1.126370 Euro
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Agus and focail scoir:
"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."
- Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
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