UFLPA Detentions: What the Importer of Record Has to Prove
Most import rules ask you to declare what something is. This one asks you to prove what it is not. That single inversion is why the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act catches technology importers who thought it was somebody else’s problem, and why the importer of record is the party expected to assemble and present […]
CBP Heightened Import Disclosures ANPRM: Comments Close 1 December
There is a document filed with Chinese, Vietnamese or Mexican customs before your goods leave. You have probably never seen it. It may be your supplier who files it. It may equally be a trading company, a distributor, a consolidator or a third-party logistics provider, which is the range CBP itself names. Either way you […]
Suez vs Cape of Good Hope: Days, Miles and Cost per Container
Ask what the Cape of Good Hope costs instead of Suez and you will be given a number. Ask where that number came from and it is usually a distance with no cost attached, a cost with no emissions exposure in it, or a transit time lifted from a different trade lane. The honest answer […]
Red Sea Shipping 2026: Carriers Return as the Risk Rises
Two things happened in the Red Sea this month that should not be happening together. Carriers moved more services back through the Suez Canal, and Houthi forces made further territorial gains along the Yemeni coast that the canal’s southern approach runs past. Both are documented, and they point in opposite directions. That gap matters commercially. […]
Customs Enforcement Executive Order 2026: New IOR Bond and Vetting Rules for US Importers
If you import into the United States, one date matters more than the one being talked about. Since 18 September 2026, CBP may void an importer of record number where the information on CBP Form 5106 is inaccurate or incomplete. That enforcement is already running, and it started before any of the headline changes in […]
Decommissioned, Not Free to Ship: Exporting Retired AI Hardware
The cluster is decommissioned. The buyer is agreed, the racks are ready to come out, and the shipment cannot lawfully leave the country. Not because anything was done wrong, but because two questions were never asked: is this hardware still controlled, and is your company even eligible to act as the exporter? Both answers surprise […]
EU Battery Regulation for Importers: EPR, Labels and 2027 Passport
If you import battery energy storage, industrial batteries, or hardware with batteries built in, the shipment now has to clear more than customs. The EU Battery Regulation attaches a set of product-compliance and producer duties to those goods, and several of them fall on the importer, not only the overseas manufacturer. The trap is treating […]
1PL to 5PL Explained: The Logistics Tiers and Where the IOR Fits
Every logistics explainer walks you up the same ladder: 1PL, 2PL, 3PL, 4PL, 5PL, more outsourcing at each rung. That part is easy, and most guides stop there. But if you move high-value goods across borders, the ladder leaves out the one question that can create a serious customs problem: when your cargo reaches a […]
Ship Loaned or No-Sale Equipment to Canada Without CARM Registration
Here is a situation we see constantly. A US or international company needs to send equipment to Canada, laptops on long-term loan to a client’s staff, demo units, tools that stay the company’s property and are never sold. There is no sale, no invoice value changing hands, so it feels like it should be simple. […]
Section 338 Tariffs on Canada: The New 50% Duty From 19 August 2026
On 20 July 2026, the United States imposed an additional 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, and the duty takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on 19 August 2026. Two things make this different from the tariff changes importers have already absorbed this […]