The Commerce Department issued its final determinations in the antidumping duty investigations on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-158), Colombia (A-301-806), Ecuador (A-331-804), India (A-533-920), Indonesia (A-560-840), Italy (A-475-846), Malaysia (A-557-826), Mexico (A-201-860), South Korea (A-580-918), Taiwan (A-583-874), Thailand (A-549-847), Turkey (A-489-850), the United Arab Emirates (A-520-810) and Vietnam (A-552-837). Cash deposit rates set in this final determination are set to take effect Oct. 3, the scheduled publication date for these final determinations in the Federal Register.
Antidumping duty suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements took effect May 7 for imports of aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-158), Colombia (A-301-806), Ecuador (A-331-804), India (A-533-920), Indonesia (A-560-840), Italy (A-475-846), Malaysia (A-557-826), Mexico (A-201-860), South Korea (A-580-918), Taiwan (A-583-874), Thailand (A-549-847), Turkey (A-489-850), the United Arab Emirates (A-520-810) and Vietnam (A-552-837), after the Commerce Department on that date published its preliminary affirmative determinations that they are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
The U.S. and Mexico have been consulting about U.S. complaints about favoritism to Mexican energy providers for 11 months, with no public movement toward a dispute settlement panel, and Karen Antebi, a former NAFTA negotiator, said she doesn't expect that to change in the next year.
The World Trade Organization recently posted the following notices:
Dispute settlement judges awarded the contractor in the Panama Canal expansion project more than $230 million in a fight over the quality of building materials and services, the contractor consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) said on Jan. 1. The ruling also extends the GUPC-Panama Canal Authority (ACP) contract for six months, said GUPC, which includes companies based in Spain, Italy, Belgium and Panama, in an emailed statement. GUPC has not commented.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is aiming to build a new transshipment port in Corozal region of the country, but the Panamanian National Assembly still needs to endorse the project, said the ACP in a Dec. 30 press release. The ACP Board approved the project, which would take up 120 hectares and be able to handle five million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). “The project's first phase will include 1,350 linear meters of docks, three docking positions for Post-Panamax ships, and an approximate handling capacity of three million TEUs,” said the release. “Currently, the Pacific side has an estimated capacity of five million TEUs. With the Expanded Canal, demand on the Pacific side is expected to reach six million TEUs and by 2020, eight million TEU capacity.” The new transshipment terminal would include facilities that service Post-Panamax sized vessels. The Panama Canal project, based in significant degree on facilitating those larger ships, is due for completion at the end of 2015 (see 1412100064). The National Assembly is expected to consider this specific project in the next few days, said ACP.
The final gate for the set of locks in the Panama Canal expansion project arrived at the canal on Dec. 10, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said in a statement (here). The expansion is now 82 percent complete, said ACP. A contract dispute hindered construction on the project in early 2014, but work has resumed since without significant controversy (see 14031711). The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015 (see 1411140009).
The Panama Canal expansion project entered the “homestretch” after contractors delivered the final shipment of gates for the new canal locks to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela announced on Nov. 12 (here). This final shipment came earlier than expected. The ACP previously said it expected the gates by January 2015 (see 14090810). The ACP is still transferring the Pacific locks through the canal, but the locks set for the Atlantic side are currently at a temporary dock. Italian contractor Cimolai SpA sent the gates to the ACP. The expansion project is slated for completion by the end of 2015.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) received a third shipment of gates for the canal expansion project locks, the ACP said in an emailed Sept. 8 statement. The final set of gates, which will bring the total number to 16, is set for delivery by January 2015, the statement said, adding that the expansion project is now 79 percent complete. ACP officials said in July the project was 75 percent complete (see 14031711). Both ACP and the contractor commissioned to construct the project are targeting the end of 2015 for total completion. Ships are slated to begin testing the new locks in mid-2015, after water is filled in the locks by late spring 2015, Reuters reported on Sept. 7 (here).
The Panama Canal expansion project is now more than 75 percent complete after Panama received a shipment of the first gates to the expansion site, said the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a July 21 statement. The shipment of the first eight gates account for half of the total gates intended to be used in the expansion, said ACP. The ACP and the consortium commissioned to construct the canal expansion project, Grupo Unidos por el Canal. S.A., brokered a long-term deal in March to continue construction on the canal, ending an impasse in contract negotiations (see 14031711). The two sides are targeting the end of 2015 for completion.