News

Friday, 27 November 2015 17:37 |

FDA IMPLEMENTS NEW IMPORT FOOD SAFETY RULES

The Food and Drug Administration has issued new rules establishing enforceable safety standards for produce farms to prevent foodborne illness and make importers accountable for verifying that imported food meets U.S. safety standards.

Under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, food importers must verify that foreign suppliers are producing food in a manner consistent with U.S. safety standards and that they are achieving the same level of food safety as domestic farms and food facilities. Verification measures include conducting audits of a supplier’s facility, sampling and testing of food, or a review of the supplier’s relevant food safety records based on risks linked to the imported food and the performance of the foreign supplier.

The FDA also finalized a rule on accredited third-party certification. The FDA can require in certain circumstances that a food offered for import be accompanied by a certification from an accredited third-party certification body.

For more information, please consult: http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm334115.htm

Monday, 16 November 2015 12:02 |

COUNTRY RISK ASSESSMENT & BUSINESS CLIMATE IN 2015

Friday, 25 September 2015 17:17 |

NEWS ABOUT THE EUROPEAN HARVESTS

This year the harvests started earlier than usual in most of the European vineyards.

The quality of the wine is expected to be excellent due to the long heat wave in Europe this summer.

In France, the harvests started at the end of August in southern regions and quickly spread across the whole country which was unusual for the Beaujolais and Burgundy regions. The volume is estimated at 46.5 MHL on a par with 2014. Northern vineyards should produce less, in Alsace -2%, Beaujolais -25%, Burgundy -11% and Champagne -11% while the Southern ones should produce higher volumes such as the Languedoc region +6%.

Germany also started earlier and may have lower volume than last year following a summer drought, it should be less than the ten-year average which amounts to 9.1 MHL

Italy should be good in both quality and quantity, especially for red wines. The total harvests should amount to 46.3 MHL. Except Tuscany which will be down by 5%, all other major vineyards in Italy should increase : +5% Abruzzo and Emilia Romagna, +10% Friuli VG, Piedmont, Sicily and Veneto, +15% Lazio Umbria and +25% Puglia.

Spain should also record a good year for quality but maybe less in quantity after the summer heat wave. The total production should not go over 44 MHL like the year before. The reduction is mainly in Ribera del Duero, Extremadura and Valenciana while Rioja, Galicia, Aragon, Cataluna and Navarra enjoy more volume.

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2020 Ocean Sulphur Change

Even if ships have always been the most sustainable transport mode for goods and commodities, ships becoming even more energy efficient, they use heavy fuel oil containing sulphur. SOx are known to be harmful to human health. Limiting SOx emissions from ships improves air quality and protects the environment. IMO regulations on energy efficiency support the demand for greener and cleaner shipping. IMO regulations to reduce SOx emissions from ships came into force in 2005. Ocean carriers have upgraded engines, bought lighter bunker and implemented surcharges like LSS or LSF. From 1/1/20, the limit for sulphur in bunker will be reduced to 0.5% (currently at 3.5% with some specific areas already at 0.1%). This will significantly reduce the amount of SOx and should have major health and environmental benefits. A ship which is more energy efficient burns less fuel so emits less air pollution.

A 2016 study to IMO estimated that by not reducing the SOx limit for ships from 2020, the air pollution from ships would contribute to more than half million premature deaths worldwide between 2020-2025.

Let’s be prepare to some increases in the LSS or LSF surcharges in early 2020 and maybe late 2019.

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Merge of 2 existing services from MED to U.S. Atlantic ports

Once all charges deducted, MED rates to U.S. Atlantic ports are low and can’t be sustainable enough for carriers.

The immediate consequence will be the merge of 2 services in 1.

As from December, the services of THE Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, ONE & YML) and OCEAN Alliance (CMA, APL COSCO & OOCL) will merge in a single service.

The vessels deployed will be bigger (8000-8500 TEU) which may reduce their operating costs per TEU, however there is no capacity increase compared to the existing 2 services.

Read more:

Reefer containers to prevent and protect your wines

Fall is coming, let’s remember some changes in temperature can occur and be extremely sensitive or suddenly severe especially in some areas such as the Mid-West and/or when your wines are shipped from far away sailing with a long transit time making difficult the anticipation of temperature upon arrival.

Please note that the coverage of "alteration of temperature" with a container equipped with thermal blanket is suspended during the period from November 1 (date of arrival) through March 31rst for any shipment going to the Mid-West Area – Great Lakes area or any “remote” inland destinations.

So it is recommended to use reefer containers to prevent and protect your wines with that upmost solution.