Operations Update
Organic Update: Preparing for the 19 March deadline
In case you missed it, we sent the following information out to our customers. It provides great information if you are looking at importing organic wine.
USDA has clarified some questions regarding the effective date for the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) rule.
What happens on March 19th?
March 19th is the first loading date when organic products must comply with the SOE. This means that when carriers pick up goods from suppliers, they must provide the appropriate paperwork:
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Commercial invoices with organic products clearly identified. This will start the process on the carrier side, identifying the correct commodity and ensuring the carrier executes their SOP to ensure products are in compliance.
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Suppliers must also provide their current winery certificates.
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NOP certificates: These will be provided by certifiers and are shipment-specific.
More on NOP Certificates
The Import Certificate provides traceability to the port of entry and ensures an auditable record trail.
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Import certificates can be generated by your suppliers’ certifiers in the NOP’s Organic Integrity Database, using requests provided by the certified exporters of organic products to the U.S. Certifiers then provide key information, such as the certificate number, back to the exporter.
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For countries where USDA has an equivalency agreement, NOP is working with the other country’s government to add certifiers and exporters into a new part of the Organic Integrity Database – this new database module called GLOBAL has already been launched.
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The NOP Import Certificate has been available in PDF form for many years. It is not required out of USDA’s INTEGRITY database until March 19, 2024, however, buyers may already be checking for the certification status of exporters to prepare for final rule implementation.
We urge all our customers and those who read our newsletter to become very familiar with the requirements to import organic wine.
More information can be found at the links below:
Fact Sheet : https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/SOE-FR-Fact-Sheet.pdf
SOE Rules: https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/strengthening-organic-enforcement
Certifier Look Up: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification/becoming-certified
Example certificate: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/NOP%20Import%20Certificate.pdf
How do the steamship lines calculate the Red Sea surcharge
The Red Sea surcharge is comprised of the cost of emissions and additional bunker fuel for vessels that have been forced to re-route from the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in order to supply container stock to Europe.
The Steamship lines are adding this fee to all invoices for containers departing from both the Mediterranean and Northern European ports of discharge.
The steamship lines have yet to provide a timeline for return to the Red Sea routes.
The recent Sea Logistics Update released by Kuehne + Nagel provides projected information about the impact on transit times resulting from the Red Sea conflict. For example:
 Source: SeaLogistics Update Feb 29 2024. Adapted from SEA-DISTANCES.ORG
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