French Strikes – PARIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Most trains will be canceled in France on Thursday, with flights also affected and Paris’ subway heavily disrupted, as part of a nationwide strike against the government’s plan to make people work longer before they can retire.  Previous plans to reform the French pension system have led to long and protracted industrial disruption.  We encourage all of our importers to order early and to plan for disruption to French shipments.

East Coast Operations –The Port of  New York is still turning record volume in record time.  Elenteny continues to see encouraging signs of a turnaround in the supply chain across ocean freight, trucking and rail.

West Coast Operations – Delays of around one week are possible at Port of Oakland, however broadly speaking, the situation has improved and is relatively stable. Los Angeles/Long Beach is operating with little to no delay, no equipment shortages or difficulties securing truck power. The ongoing lack of a deal with ILWU workers and lack of consistent throughput necessitates the continued recommendation that these ports be avoided until issues are resolved.

CBMA Reclaimed in 2022,  we claimed over $1.4 million in CBMA credits for our importers. Although the system has changed for 2023 onwards. CBMA refunds are a great way to lower landed costs, increase margins, boost your programming and your competitive edge.  Don’t miss out on your CBMA credit.

CBMA 2023 – Please make sure that going forward your suppliers put their Foreign Producer IDs on commercial invoices as they do with FDA numbers. This will add an additional layer of certainty that all bases are covered. Brokers have assured us that clearances which have already been received in 2023 do not require them, but request them as soon as your wineries are able to provide them.