The Board of Harbor Commissioners of the City of Los Angeles, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) #202, has submitted an application to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board requesting authority to reorganize and expand its zone in the Los Angeles area within and adjacent to the Los Angeles-Long Beach Customs and Border Protection port of entry. The application was formally filed on December 11, 2009.

FTZ #202 was originally approved on July 14, 1994 (Board Order 693, 59 FR 37464, 7/22/94), and it has been expanded and reorganized since. Details of the proposed changes can be found in the Federal Register notice.

Christopher Kemp of the FTZ Staff has been designated examiner to evaluate and analyze the facts and information presented in the application and case record and report findings and recommendations to the Board.

Comments (original and 3 copies) should be addressed to the Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 2111, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230-0002. They are due by February 16, 2010. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period to March 3, 2010.

For further information, contact Christopher Kemp at Christopher.Kemp@trade.gov or (202) 482-0862.

France’s biggest longshoremen’s union is calling for two 24-hour strikes in January in the latest revolt against privatization of container terminals at seven of the country’s biggest ports.

The CGT union said its members will walk out on Jan. 4 and Jan. 11 to protest the government’s failure to honor a pledge to create thousands of new jobs on the waterfront as part of a wider reform program at publicly owned ports.

Dockworkers, who already are refusing to work overtime and at night, will escalate industrial action if the government does not respond to their grievances, the union warned.

The planned strikes, which will disrupt shipping at Le Havre and Marseilles, France’s two biggest ports, follow a 24-hour nationwide strike on Nov. 6.

The government pledged to create 30,000 new jobs when it unveiled plans in 2008 to transfer container terminal operations from port authorities to private stevedores.

Dockworkers staged three months of rolling strikes in 2008 but called off their action after Parliament approved the reforms.

The CGT accuses the government of spending billions of dollars bailing out banks and subsidizing automobile sales but refusing to spend a relatively small amount creating new port jobs.

The government says the reforms, which will transfer some 2,000 crane operators and maintenance workers to private operators, will help boost French ports’ competitiveness and boost annual container traffic to 10 million TEUs in 2015 from 3.6 million in 2007.

The five other publicly owned ports affected are Dunkirk, Rouen, Nantes-Saint Nazaire, Bordeaux and La Rochelle.

- Bruce Barnard, The Journal of Commerce Online.

FedEx will use the first two of its new 777 freighters on routes between Hong Kong and Memphis starting next month, company officials said, adding service at an Asia gateway hit hard by capacity shortages during the peak season.

The operations will link the world’s two largest air cargo airports with non-stop freighter service. FedEx, which has an intra-Asia hub in nearby Guangzho, China, has been operating between Hong Kong International Airport and its main express hub in Memphis through the carrier’s transshipment center in Anchorage, Alaska.

“Obviously that’s a very powerful lane for us,” FedEx Chairman, President and CEO Frederick W. Smith told investment analysts this month, “so much so that our first group of 777s are going” there.

FedEx this fall took its first two of 30 of the Boeing twin-engine widebody aircraft the company has ordered.

Smith said the aircraft’s longer range will allow the company to provide later pickup times on U.S.-Asia traffic because an interim fuel stop will be eliminated and the large capacity - the freighter has a revenue payload of about 104 metric tons - will lead to route changes on trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe operations.

The Hong Kong and Memphis airports have been the world’s top two cargo airports for several years. Hong Kong, long the world’s busiest international freight airport, reported lengthy delays in October and November after a sudden recovery in Asia exports.

- The Journal of Commerce Online.

Representatives of the United States and the Government of Jordan last week convened a meeting of the Joint Committee of the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Christopher Wilson, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East, led a U.S. delegation that included representatives from the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, Labor and State.

Officials discussed economic conditions in both countries, reviewed bilateral trade and investment advances since the FTA entered into force, and discussed cooperation on investment, agriculture, innovation, IPR protection and enforcement, customs issues, environmental and labor issues, and capacity building. Both governments acknowledged the progress and collaborative work that has taken place since the last meeting of the Joint Committee in Washington in October 2008. They also reviewed the past year’s activities under the Plan of Action from that meeting. As part of the discussion, officials committed to explore ways to intensify joint work on environment, labor, and other issues. Jordan agreed to include the United States in consultations on its environment law and proposed amendments and arranged for a set of outreach sessions on the margins of the meeting with key environmental stakeholders.

The U.S.-Jordan commercial relationship has developed significantly since the U.S.-Jordan FTA entered into force in December 2001. Overall trade in goods between the United States and Jordan increased 430% between 2001 and 2008 to $2.1 billion. The United States exports to Jordan are dominated by sales of vehicles, machinery and aircraft whereas imports are predominantly textile goods. Bilateral trade has declined slightly in the last 2 years due to global economic conditions, but both governments are hopeful that the positive trend will soon return.

A week after most large trans-Pacific container carriers sought an “emergency” increase in U.S. import rates, carriers said they will seek higher rates on containerized export shipments of dry cargo from the U.S. to Asia.

The Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, representing 10 container lines, said its members agreed to recommend a general rate on dry cargo, effective Feb. 15, as part of a 2010 rate plan aimed at securing quarterly increases throughout the year.

The proposed February increases would be $100 per 40-foot container and $80 per 20-foot container via the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach; and $150 per 40-footer and $120 per 20-footer for shipments from other U.S. ports and on intermodal moves from inland points.

The WTSA said cargo demand is rising but that trans-Pacific eastbound and westbound rates remain depressed.

“Carriers face a very difficult business environment in 2010,” WTSA Executive Administrator Brian M. Conrad said.

“Westbound cargo is going to have to make a greater proportionate contribution to overall sailing costs if lines are to keep pace with cargo handling, equipment management, documentation and other operational requirements.”

The WTSA includes most members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, which announced Dec. 15 its members had agreed on an “emergency revenue program” to help carriers stay afloat until the next annual round of service contracts take effect in May.

As a discussion agreement, the TSA and WTSA operate under antitrust immunity that allows them to discuss and recommend voluntary guidelines on rates.

The TSA said its members would seek increases of $400 per 40-foot container, $320 per 20-footer, $450 per high-cube 40-footer and $505 per 45-foot container, effective Jan. 15. The TSA has 14 members and is scheduled to add Maersk Line as a member effective Dec. 24.

WTSA members are APL, Cosco Container Lines, Evergreen Line, Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, “K” Line, NYK Line, Orient Overseas Container Line and Yang Ming.

- The Journal of Commerce Online.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced on Dec. 21 that the WTO Appellate Body had confirmed that China’s restrictions on the importation and distribution of certain copyright-intensive products are inconsistent with China’s WTO obligations. The products at issue include films for theatrical release, DVDs, music, books and journals. The United States initiated this WTO dispute in April 2007.

“Today America got a big win. We are very pleased that the WTO has found against China’s import and distribution restrictions on U.S. movies, music, DVDs and publications,” Ambassador Kirk said. “The Appellate Body’s findings are key to ensuring full market access in China for legitimate, high-quality entertainment products and the exporters and distributors of those products. U.S. companies and workers are at the cutting edge of these industries, and they deserve a full chance to compete under agreed WTO rules. We expect China to respond promptly to these findings and bring its measures into compliance.”

The Appellate Body report and the WTO panel report released on August 12, 2009, call on China to allow U.S. companies to import into China films for theatrical release; audiovisual entertainment products, such as DVDs; music and other sound recordings; and reading materials. They also call on China to eliminate the discriminatory treatment that U.S. distributors of certain products face and to allow U.S. companies to partner with Chinese enterprises in joint ventures to distribute music and other sound recordings over the internet.

“This case is also an important part of our efforts to combat intellectual property piracy,” Ambassador Kirk noted. “The panel and Appellate Body findings ensure that legitimate American products are granted market access so that they can get to market and beat out the pirates. This finding helps to ensure that America’s creative ingenuity and innovation are protected abroad.”

The WTO Dispute Settlement Body is expected to adopt the Appellate Body report and the panel report within the next 30 days. Within 30 days following adoption, China must announce its intentions with respect to implementation of the WTO’s rulings.

Containerized exports at the Port of Oakland soared 39.7 percent in November over the same month a year ago, a new sign of growing demand for U.S. goods overseas.

Oakland also reported its smallest year-over-year decline in containerized imports in November, a 1.2 percent slip that helped the California port show its first overall increase in monthly container volume of 2009.

Overall container traffic at Oakland, loaded and empties, grew 3.4 percent over November 2008.

On a month-to-month basis, the loaded container traffic measured in 20-foot equivalents slipped 2 percent from October to November, marking the end to the fall peak shipping season.

But export demand has remained steady since June and Oakland’s strong year-over-year increase in November follows reports from other West Coast ports showing solid demand for goods heading out of the country.

- The Journal of Commerce Online.

On Dec. 15, Larry Bustle was elected 2010 chairman of the Manatee County Port Authority (MCPA). He succeeds Ron Getman, who served as port authority chairman in 2006 and 2009.

Other MCPA officers elected with Bustle include Ron Getman, first vice chairman; Dr. Gwendolyn Brown, second vice chairman; and John Chappie, third vice chairman. Donna Hayes, Joe McClash, and Carol Whitmore return as members of Port Manatee’s governing body.

The authority sets policy and approves major expenditures for Port Manatee. It comprises the seven members of the elected Manatee County Commission, but with distinctively separate officers and financial accountability.

Bustle was elected to the Manatee County Board of Commissioners in 2008 and has served on the MCPA for one year. Previously he served two terms as mayor of Palmetto.

Each year, U.S. farmers and food manufacturers lose millions of dollars in sales to India because of high tariffs and a wide array of nontariff measures (NTMs) that substantially raise the cost or effectively prohibit U.S. agricultural exports to the nation, U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) said in its report India: Effects of Tariffs and Nontariff Measures on U.S. Agricultural Exports.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, completed the report at the request of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

The report provides an overview of Indian agricultural production, imports, and consumption during 2003–2008; Indian tariffs and NTMs; the Indian food marketing and distribution system; and Indian government regulations relating to the agricultural market, including foreign direct investment and intellectual property rights policies. The study also provides economic modeling analysis of the effects of Indian tariffs and certain NTMs on U.S. agricultural exports.

The USITC found that, although the United States was the world’s leading agricultural exporter by value in 2008, with a 17% share of global export markets, U.S. exports to India amounted to just 6% of the Indian agricultural import market in 2008.

India’s WTO bound tariff rates on agricultural products, averaging 114%, are among the highest in the world, and much higher than the average bound rates for other major developing countries such as Brazil and China. Average applied agricultural tariff rates declined significantly from 113% since 1991, before Indian economic liberalization, to approximately 34% in 2007, but they remain among the highest in the world. The gap between bound and applied rates allows the country to vary its rates frequently and substantially on some commodities, the USITC said, creating uncertainty for U.S. agricultural exporters.

Moreover, India is a major global producer of agricultural products and is largely self sufficient in agricultural production. Agricultural imports are relatively small and concentrated and supplied only 3% of demand in 2008. In addition, inefficiencies in India’s marketing and distribution system make it less attractive for U.S. agricultural producers.

The agency found that U.S. agricultural firms are active participants in the Indian market through foreign direct investment (FDI), which allows them to adapt products to local needs and requirements and bypass tariffs and NTMs that constrain exports.

Indian intellectual property rights (IPR) policies reportedly are of critical importance to U.S. seed firms operating in India, the USITC found, but U.S. firms in most other agricultural sectors do not identify IPR as a significant trade or investment barrier.

Japan’s merchandise trade surplus with the United States expanded in November for the first time in 27 months as the pace of decline in Japanese exports slowed significantly, according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry on Monday.

Japan’s exports to the U.S. fell for the 27th consecutive month in November on a year-on-year basis, dipping 7.9 percent to $9.6 billion, while its imports from the U.S. fell for the 14th straight month, nose-diving 19.8 percent to $5.1 billion.

The rate of decline in Japanese exports compares with 27.6 percent in October, and helped produce a $4.5 billion Japanese surplus, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier.

The drop in Japan’s U.S.-bound exports in November was led by motorbikes, down 81.1 percent; metal processing machinery, down 75.5 percent; and motors, off 20.6 percent in terms of value. But Japanese automobile exports rose 5.1 percent, the first increase in 19 months.

Leading the decline in Japanese imports from the U.S. were grains, scientific and optical equipments, and soybeans, which slumped 40.6 percent, 21.8 percent and 52.5 percent, respectively, in terms of value. The decline in Japanese imports is significant because U.S. exports to much of the rest of the world have been rising rapidly with the falling value of the dollar.

Japan posted an overall trade surplus of 373.9 billion yen ($4.2 billion) with the rest of the world, compared with a trade deficit of 227.5 billion yen ($2.5 billion) a year earlier. It was the 10th consecutive monthly trade surplus.

- Hisane Masaki, The Journal of Commerce Online.