On 14 July 2006, the People's Republic of China ("PRC") and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") signed an arrangement on reciprocal recognition and enforcement of each other's judgments in civil and commercial matters ("the Arrangement").
On Thursday 14 September, the US Senate voted without dissent to tighten security at American seaports by scanning nearly all incoming cargo for "dirty bombs" and other nuclear weapons.
Dutch police sources have stated that poor document control, lax information security and failure to carry out proper procedures is contributing to the theft of whole trailer loads in the Netherlands.
In a speech to the Logistics Law seminar in London, Mike Foster Claims Director based in the Club's London office, has warned that logistics operators should make sure that their insurance cover is adequate. The reason for this, he explained, was that insurance providers are finding it difficult to keep up with the pace of change in terms of complexity of risk in the logistics and transport industry, and many are still basing their principal insurance product for this sector on a model of the freight forwarding industry that is up to thirty years old.
Writing in Inbound Logistics magazine, our colleague Dan Negron in New Jersey reports on a recent appeal for help from a member in the United States. He was handling an importation of roof tiles for a client, but it had been held up by the Customs & Border Protection service. There was nothing wrong with the tiles themselves, but the wood used in the crates did not bear a "permanent and legible mark" that it had undergone appropriate treatment against infestation.
The explosion and fire on board Hyundai Fortune affected a very large number of containers which had been on their way to Europe, and consequently also very many intermediaries -- whether they call themselves forwarders, NVOCs, NVOCCs, logistics operators or consolidators -- and their clients. While general average is a very ancient maritime institution, it is a fairly rare occurrence these days. It therefore comes as no surprise to note that the ocean carrier's demand for GA guarantees has caused problems for shippers and intermediaries alike: very few understand how it operates in practice. Harry Lee in the Club's Hong Kong office explains:
