National Fireworks Association Notification
As we all know, shipping issues continue to be a terrible burden on our industry and businesses. The NFA is watching them closely and is working in the background on formulating solutions. We have reached out to our port contacts we worked with this past Spring, are talking with our allies in DC and are doing what we can now.
UPDATE: For now, the $100.00/day surcharge initially proposed by the Biden Administration that was to take effect this month has at least been bumped to December, and hopefully will be scrapped altogether. Shipping lines are planning to send empty ships into POLB and POLA to clear out empty containers so chassis’ can be put back to work instead of being parked with empty containers sitting on them. This would be a very positive thing to help restart the flow of goods into and out of the ports.
We must also watch the vaccine mandates from OSHA currently targeted to go into effect in January of 2022. That could further, negatively affect the transportation system if people choose to leave the job rather than be forced to receive a vaccine they do not want or submit to weekly testing. Remember what happened in air travel only a few weeks ago?
The NFA will continue to work proactively on solutions for our industry and provide updates.