On August 21, 2024, EACC Florida held the Inaugural Meeting of its new Task Force Transportation, Logistics and Customs. The event, hosted by EACC Florida Member CLASQUIN USA at their new offices in Doral, brought together experts and industry leaders to discuss critical best practices for the safe and compliant transport of goods, both maritime and beyond. The interactive discussion, led by Kurt Lunkenheimer, a former federal prosecutor and part of Cozen O’Connor‘s team in Miami, delved into key insights for manufacturers, exporters, freight forwarders, and logistics companies.
The topic of this first event was “Know Your Cargo: Reinforcing Best Practices to Ensure the Safe and Compliant Transport of Goods in Maritime and Other Forms of Transportation”. Issues discussed included Know Your Customer and Know Your Cargo, due diligence in researching sellers, buyers and intermediaries, payments for goods, remaining on top of new rules such as slave labor and others.
Attended by EACC Florida Members and a few invited Friends, this first event reached its stated objective: to start developing a space with a transatlantic focus where companies and professionals from this industry can exchange about specific issues at expert level and share best practices.
The Task Force will now get back to work and start planning the next event which will be held on Wednesday November 13, 2024.
Stay tuned for details.
Why a dedicated Task Force?
With the second-largest foreign trade zone network in the U.S., Florida is home to 11,500+ logistics and distribution establishments. The broader wholesale trade, transportation, and logistics industry accounts for over 67,000+ establishments and employs more than half a million individuals across the state. Evolving geopolitics, recurring supply chain disruptions, the “greening” of the industry and increasing regulatory requirements are impacting global trade and it is expected that trade will become less global and more regionalized with a renewed focus on the Transatlantic Corridor – North America, Latin America and Europe.
While there are a number of entities and professional groups – federal, State and local – that serve these industries and their professionals to advance their interests, few if any have a transatlantic focus or specifically serve European companies and professionals from these industries present in Florida. And whereas specific know-how and expertise represent a competitive advantage for any company, the issues confronted by the sector are the same for all.
EACC Florida’s Task Force is loosely inspired from a similar TF run by EACC Auvergne-Rhone-Alps: https://eacc-ra.com/task-forces/.
Mission: to bring together active professionals who understand the benefits of sharing best practices across industries, ensuring that there is no silo thinking.
Role: to organize meetings on a regular basis to address strategic issues, share findings and best practices and make mutual recommendations for improvement in a given sector of activity. Chatham House rules or any other confidentiality rule might be used to allow for open exchange during the meetings.
Task Force Members: representatives of EACC Florida Member companies with interests in the transportation/logistics industry invited to serve on the Task Force.
If you wish to receive further details about the Task Force, please contact Christina Sleszynska at [email protected]
Many thanks to Founding Task Force Members: Clasquin USA, Pernod Ricard, RAF Solutions
