Sparx Logistics and Chinese Chamber Team Up for event

Topics: Decennial update of global trade terms; Covid-19 and logistics

On March 12, 2020, the Columbus Chinese Chamber of Commerce and member company Sparx Logistics co-hosted a presentation by Tom Cook of Blue Tiger International on the 2020 update of global trade terms called Incoterms, as well as impacts of Covid-19 on logistics.

Held at The Hub on Kenny, Mr. Cook's talk reviewed the unexpectedly few changes in to be found in Incoterms 2020, Incoterms being a globally-agreed upon set of terms for international trade that is updated once every ten years. Incoterms is where businesses find the definitions for shipping terms such as FOB and CIF.

You purchase a $100k piece of equipment and the manufacturer's warehouse team loads it onto your truck as a favor. Who pays when the warehouse team drops it before it goes in your truck?

Mr. Cook related a true-life story in which an overseas company purchased several sets of expensive equipment from a US manufacturer, and requested "ex works" shipping terms in the purchase agreement. The shipper's warehouse team dropped one piece of the equipment. The shipper repaired the equipment... and billed the buyer for the cost of repair. The buyer was not happy. It turned out that he did not fully understand what "ex works" - without any additional stipulations - really means.

To find out how Blue Tiger resolved the issue, contact them at the link above, contact our local Sparx rep, Dan Vitale, or come to the next Chinese Chamber event and ask executive director Pat McAloon.

Covid-19 Logistics Disruptions

As this was the Chinese Chamber's last event before the Covid-19 shutdown, Mr. Cook also addressed some of the challenges facing global logistics in mid-March 2020. These included: * Chinese factories and freight companies beginning to go back to work at the same time that their Western buyers were beginning to go on lock-down;

* Cargo ships returning to China for more export goods being held in two weeks' quarantine, creating a shortage of ships available for outbound goods.

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