GHY Tradelines

(Journal of Commerce Online – R.G.Edmonson)

Slow progress on Ambassador Bridge work prompts project transfer to state Department of Transportation

A Wayne County judge in Detroit on Thursday ordered the Michigan Department of Transportation to take over and complete a project to link two interstate highways with the Ambassador Bridge.

District Judge Prentis Edwards said a construction committee set up by the Detroit International Bridge Co. to oversee completion of its share of the $230 million Gateway Project had not made sufficient progress in the past month. Read more here.
 

(CBC News)

Canada’s trade surplus fell to $2.1 billion in January as the value of exports fell, down from $2.9 billion the month before.  However, it’s the third consecutive monthly surplus.

Total exports fell by 2.3%, while imports edged down 0.6%. Both figures are measured in dollars — as opposed to volume of goods — and that pushed down the figures.  Canadian exporters sent over $41 billion worth of goods outside of the country in January, but 2.2% lower prices sent the total down. Read more here.

Merchandise trade statistics are on the Statistics Canada website here. Export and import price indexes can be found here.
 

(CFIA)

The following meat hygiene directives are now available in HTML and PDF versions here.

MHD 2012-10
Chapter 11 – Section 11.7.3 – Korea (Republic of)

MHD 2012-08
Chapter 11 – Section 11.7.3 – United States of America

MHD 2012-07
Chapter 11 – Section 11.7.3 – Australia

MHD 2012-06
Chapter 11 – Section 11.7.3 – Canada

The PDF version of directives should be used for maintaining print copies of the meat hygiene manual of procedures.
 

An updated list of recently published government memorandums, notices, regulations and decisions for the week ending March 9, 2011 is now available on our website here.
 

(CBC News)

No work stoppages while the Canadian Industrial Relations Board investigates

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt has asked the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to investigate Air Canada’s disputes with two of its unions — pilots and ground staff — a move that will buy time to reach agreement and avert a strike and lockout threatened for midnight Sunday.

Raitt told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday that she will ask the board to investigate what a work stoppage would mean to Canadians, based on “health and safety concerns.”

“Air Canada can carry some cargo that is related to the health industry, related to pharmaceuticals, and certainly those kinds of things related to remote communities that, simply put, nobody else flies to because Air Canada has jurisdictional responsibility to fly to certain remote areas,” Raitt told CBC News. Read more here.
 

(Journal of Commerce Online – Peter T.Leach)

Multiyear deals will be an ‘evolutionary process, not revolutionary’

Multiyear contracts indexed to freight rates are slowly starting to catch on in global trade lanes as a means of creating stable and predictable rates for shippers and ocean carriers.

Despite their benefits, however, index-based contracts aren’t likely to become the new standard any time soon, according to a panel of shippers, carriers and intermediaries at The Journal of Commerce’s 12th Annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference.

“Is it for everybody? Probably not,” said Brian Conrad, executive administrator of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a discussion group among 15 carriers in the Asia-to-U.S. trade. “We see it as evolving, an evolutionary process, not revolutionary.” Read more here.
 

(Export Development Canada – Peter G. Hall)

For all its oft-repeated recession-resilience, China’s economy is slowing. Forecasts are fading fast, the latest coming from China’s leaders themselves. On Monday at the National People’s Congress, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lowered the 2012 growth target to 7.5%, a half-point below both the long-standing official target and EDC’s current forecast. Is it tranquilizer time again?

One look at recent GDP data, and the deceleration looks very gradual. Since the final quarter of 2010, year-to-year growth has edged down from 9.8% to 8.9% in the final three months of 2011. At face value, that’s still an impressive number. Trouble is, it embodies a lot of stuff that happened over the course of the whole year. More recent numbers are less certain, with annualized growth in the 8-9% range. Even so, the numbers square well with official targets, and remain strong. Read more or watch the video here.
 

(Industry Week – Steve Minter)

Government gridlock and uncertainty about regulation cited as continuing risks

Nearly 60% of middle-market manufacturing and distribution executives are optimistic about the U.S. economy, according to the latest quarterly survey from McGladrey & Pullen, a tax and consulting firm. That is a 146% increase from the fall 2011 survey.

Some 59% of the executives said they were optimistic about the U.S. economy, compared to 24% in the fall. “Optimism about the world economy increased significantly, as well, with 27% indicating optimism this winter, compared to 17% in the fall,” said Karen Kurek, national manufacturing leader for McGladrey & Pullen. “These increases in optimism are good signs for 2012.”

The survey found automotive and transportation executives more likely than others to be optimistic about their companies, and automotive and industrial machinery executives more likely than others to be optimistic about their industries. Read more here.
 

(CBSA)

1. System enhancements are scheduled for May 27, 2012 and will take effect on May 28, 2012. These enhancements will update the U.S. Port of Exit Codes and U.S. Free Trade Zones valid for use on Form B3, Canada Customs Coding Form.

2. For U.S. Port of Exit Codes, 31 previously valid codes have been deleted and 15 new codes have been added as per the attached tables. For U.S. Free Trade Zones, there are 239 new codes to be added and 131 previous codes to be deleted as per the tables located at the following URL address: www.cbsa.gc.ca.

3. Memorandum D17-1-10 will be published soon after the May 27, 2012 system enhancement to reflect these changes and provide current information. So importers and clients, particularly CADEX users, have time to complete changes to their systems and be prepared for the effective date, the upcoming changes are being provided in advance by way of this notice.

4. All enquiries regarding these upcoming changes should be directed to the Assessment Unit via the unit mailbox at: Assessment-Cotisation@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.