|
North America Inland Cargo Delays
The recent hurricanes have had serious impacts on the movement of cargo by rail and truck throughout North America. The railroads have embargoes in place for Gulf destined cargo, idling rail cars throughout the network that were already loaded with Gulf cargo and negatively affecting rail car repositioning to sustain an increased volume of import cargo hitting the West Coast. Last week the BNSF (Burlington Northern Sante Fe) suffered a derailment in Victorville, CA further limiting power and railcar availability. The BNSF has implemented temporary cargo allocation measures that severely limit cargo volumes to approximately 1/3 of their normal capacity. These delays are beginning to cause congestion at the marine terminals on the West Coast. Carriers and rail lines are working together to resolve the issues.
Waterways re-open after Rita
The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday said that operations at the Port of New Orleans have returned to normal conditions. The Houston Channel is open to all tug and barge traffic during daylight hours only, and to vessels with drafts of less than 35 feet.
Requirements for the Audits of Sea Containers in New Zealand On 7 June, 2005 Biosecurity New Zealand released the “System for Auditing Compliance with the Import Health Standard for Sea Containers from All Countries” document for consultation. Consultation is now complete and a final version of the document, renamed as “Requirements for the Audit of Sea Containers”, is published on the sea container page of the Biosecurity New Zealand website at:
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/border/transitional-facilities/sea-containers/bmg-std-scadt.htm The analysis of the submissions received in response to this consultation is available from the consultation page of the Biosecurity website at:
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/border/transitional-facilities/sea-containers/final-analysis-submissions.pdf The following is a summary of the major changes to the audit system as a result of consultation:
• the external cleanliness inspection has been changed to a 4-sided instead of a 6-sided inspection. This change brings the audit system in line with the current practice for containers from low risk countries that arrive without a quarantine declaration;
• the external cleanliness inspection (for base level 1) will be carried out at the transitional facilities instead of the port area. This change will enable the efficacy of accredited persons at the ports of arrival to be assessed. However, the external cleanliness inspection for level 2 and level 3 audits will be carried out in the port area;
• the accredited person section has been expanded to include the transitional facility. This inspection will be a basic check of whether the accredited person is present, has the right equipment, etc, but will not be a detailed compliance audit. If any problems are noted a MAF Biosecurity Officer will complete a full audit of the transitional facility and issue corrective action requests if required;
• the non-compliances section has been clarified;
• a disputes section included;
• the naming of level 2 (5%) and level 3 (100%) has been reversed;
• the level 2 (5%) audits will be carried out on a maximum of 5 consignments;
• inspections at level 2 or level 3 will be charged using the hourly inspection rate ($72.30). The MAF Quarantine Service will carry out a phased implementation of this audit system. It is expected that the auditing of the Import Entry (section 4.1) will commence on 10 October, 2005. The other sections of the audit system (4.2, 4.3 and 4.4) are likely to be phased in soon afterwards. Aspects of the audit system will be subject to review as a result of the audit inspections. In particular Biosecurity New Zealand plans to develop a complete process for auditing accredited persons and to revisit the external inspection requirements. MAF Quarantine Service will contact relevant stakeholders with specific information about this process prior to 10 October 2005. Used Vehicle and Equipment Pathway Project – New Zealand Biosecurity New Zealand is undertaking a review of the used vehicle and equipment pathway in 2005-2006. The project comprises three elements, namely: 1.
Imported used vehicles and machinery videoscopic inspection project. This project is already underway and will assess the effectiveness of the current visual inspection methods as a means of detecting biosecurity contaminants on and in imported used vehicles and machinery. A probe videoscope device is being used to further inspect the hidden areas of vehicles and equipment that have passed visual examination. 2.
A risk analysis of the used vehicle and equipment pathway. A separate risk analysis of high impact moths such as Asian gypsy moth is also being carried out as moths are intercepted on this pathway. 3.
A review of the three current used vehicle and equipment Import Health Standards incorporating the results of the risk analyses.
Further details are available at the following web page:
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/imports/non-organic/used-vehicle-equipment.htm
Back |
