Up Front: Two crises in the Americas

By Peter Hurme

Sobering news
The shipping news took a back seat in mid-January with the historically tragic events in the Caribbean archipelago of Haiti.

At this issue’s press time, there were estimates of up to 200,000 dead in the wake of a 7.0 earthquake and its aftershocks that effectively destroyed the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

A new city and surrounding area will need to be reborn at some point, and will likely take decades to completely re-build in what is
arguably the poorest country in the Americas.

In the meantime, the immense logistical challenges of a completely clogged, one-runway airport, and a crumbled, inoperable seaport has in effect blocked much of the emergency aid its populace so desperately needs.

A good central resource of reputable organi-zations for Haitian relief donations can be found at: www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake.

It ain’t easy being a U.S. exporter
As Bill Armbruster’s Trade Tools column points out this issue, less than one percent of U.S. companies actually export abroad. Great Recession aside, this is an alarming statistic coming from the world’s biggest economy.

While Bill offers up U.S. government tools and services, I’m reminded of a comment made at our China Conference in Oakland four years ago by Jim McGregor, our featured keynote speaker at the time and former longtime editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau.

Jim is the author of the fascinating book One Billion Customers. Outside the conference hall, he and I were interviewed by a local ABC affiliate. He told the reporter that his home in Beijing was outfitted with appliances and other goods from places like France, Germany and Italy, but nothing from the U.S. because not much was available that was sourced from his home country. He felt those other countries put a heck of a lot more effort and investment into export promotion.

There are certainly many other obstacles to U.S. exporters; such as the fact that our manufacturing sector is a shadow of its former self, along with the intense global pricing competition facing U.S. commodities sectors. There are also myriad compliance and regulatory issues, including Denied Party Screening, outlined in this issue’s Compliance Corner.

It can also be challenging to ship out of the U.S. because the containerized importer is king. Whatever is happening at any given time with U.S. imports directly impacts exporters. Now that U.S. importers have been so adversely impacted by the economic meltdown, carrier capacity and services have been drastically cut, while rates are going up. This doesn’t help containerized exporters, even if the U.S. dollar presents more favorable opportunities for them.

So what to do? We will be covering more U.S. export issues and opportunities in CBN, because as Bill’s column points out this issue, U.S. exports could, and should, grow by hundreds of billions of dollars.

In This Issue

Up Front

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

Trade Tools: How Uncle Sam helps exporters

Capital Watch: Larger issues loom behind federal transport agendas

Supply Chain
Chris Steele: Development opportunities north and south of the border

Compliance Corner: Denied Party Screening – Make sure you comply...
comprehensively and timely

Tech Trends

Product Review: Invoicing and Auditing solutions

Commentary
David Bennett: Early signs of trouble

Gateway Glance
Panama

China

The Port Community
Game Changer: Expansion of the Panama Canal will reshape global trade patterns

All-weather ports are “all-in”

Breakbulk Quarterly: East Coast - Thinking outside the box

Breakbulk Quarterly: Brighter outlook for West Coast breakbulk in 2010

The Shipping Environment

Casualties
Navy tanker breaks loose, container crane topples,
longshoreman dies at Virginia port ... and much more

Final Say
Getting TIGER by the tail