From Washington

On Jan. 19, TGA submitted comments strongly opposing California’s Office of Environmental Health & Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) proposal to modify the California Proposition 65 (Prop 65) warning labels. If OEHHA adopts the proposal, companies would be required to list chemicals on their warning labels, with only a year to switch to the new labels. TGA argues that the proposal would actually make the warning labels less useful to consumers, would impose significant burdens on the small, family-owned companies that comprise our industry, and would further the over-labeling that has already occurred as a result of Prop 65. TGA continues to encourage companies to put Prop 65 warning labels on their products (See TGA guidance) as the only true way to indemnify you and your customers under Prop 65.

On Jan. 10, the Ports of LA/Long Beach again delayed the so-called “super demurrage” fee on long-standing import containers on the ports, citing a 45% reduction in those containers, the same decline the ports have cited off and on for the last two months. Meanwhile, 5 of 6 terminals at the Port of Long Beach are now imposing their own “Temporary Storage Charge” on long-standing containers on docks. And, on Dec. 30, the Port of Los Angeles announced that, effective Jan. 30, the port would start charging carriers $100/day for any empty container left on docks for more than 9 days. TGA believes carriers will pass on any fees to you, the shipper, and will respond to the new empty container fee by further restricting our ability to return empty containers. In good news, on Dec. 30, the Federal Trade Commission (FMC) launched an investigation into ocean carrier Wan Hai, citing dozens of instances where Wan Hai charged detention fees while providing shippers no way to return empty containers. Meanwhile, at least 102 ships are waiting at anchor to enter the Ports of LA/Long Beach, with one estimate showing as many as 166 ships queueing up to enter the ports.

Over the last few months, dozens of new California Proposition 65 (Prop 65) “60-day” notices have been issued alleging that brands and retailers sold totes (Notice 1, Notice 2, Notice 3, Notice 4), backpacks (Notice 1), duffel bags (Notice 1), handbags (Notice 1, Notice 2, Notice 3, Notice 4, Notice 5), wallets (Notice 1, Notice 2, Notice 3, Notice 4, Notice 5), cosmetic/toiletry bags (Notice 1, Notice 2, Notice 3, Notice 4, Notice 5, Notice 6, Notice 7), travel/garment cases/messenger/crossbody/carry bags (Notice 1, Notice 2, Notice 3, Notice 4, Notice 5, Notice 6, Notice 7), travel bottles (Notice 1, Notice 2, Notice 3), and phone/tablet cases/holders/sleeves/dry bags (Notice 1, Notice 2, Notice 3, Notice 4, Notice 5, Notice 6) in California that contained di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Bisphenol A (BPA), and diisononyl phthalate (DINP) in violation of a California law known as Proposition 65 (Prop 65). The notices serve as intent to bring lawsuits against those companies that made and sold these products. Check out TGA’s member-only California Proposition 65 (Prop 65) Best Practices Guidance on the Prop 65 page on the TGA website. This member-only guidance details best practices in developing your company’s Prop 65 testing and warning label protocol, including recommendations on which warning label text to use, where to place the warning label text, and how to test for Prop 65 listed chemicals in your products. For more information on Prop 65, please contact TGA’s Nate Herman, nate@travel-goods.org, 301-775-7633.

According to the latest reports, almost 100 ships are waiting to enter the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, with Sea-Intelligence finding 28.4% of Asia-U.S. West Coast sailing blanked last week, and Drewry’s weekly composite World Container Index showing rates are on the rise again.

On Dec. 16, TGA joined hundreds of organizations in urging Congress to restart the China Section 301 tariff exclusion process.

On Dec. 13, the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach again delayed the so-called “super demurrage fee” until at least Dec. 20 because of a 47% reduction in longstanding containers on docks. This is better than the 37% reduction announced Dec. 6, but little overall progress over the last few weeks. Even this decline is a straw house as many containers were just moved to off-dock facilities. TGA has urged the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to prevent the Ports of LA/LB from implementing the super demurrage fee on containers stuck at the ports as every carrier has already stated that they will pass this new fee onto shippers, aka you.

On December 8, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the TGA-supported Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 (H.R. 4996). The legislation, if approved by the Senate, would require the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to establish/enforce rules that would prevent the next shipping crisis, including minimum service requirements for carriers, as well as rules barring contract breaches and excessive and unjust detention and demurrage fees.

On Dec. 1, TGA joined hundreds of organizations in urging Congress to restart the China Section 301 tariff exclusion process.

On Dec. 2, TGA joined dozens of other organizations in urging Congress to approve the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) which would temporarily reduce or eliminate import tariffs on thousands of products, including some travel goods.

On Nov. 29, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach delayed the super demurrage fee to at least Dec. 29, citing 37% reduction in longstanding containers on the docks. This is the third delay for the fee, which was supposed to be implemented on Nov. 29. TGA has urged the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to prevent the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach from implementing the so-called super demurrage fee on containers stuck at the ports. Every carrier has already stated that they will pass this new fee onto shippers, aka you.