Vincent J. Nolan III

Joseph J. Pangaro

Most people—even those whose businesses require shipping products internationally—would be surpised to learn just how many companies are involved in the shipment of one 40-foot container. Even the most conservative estimate places the count around 10: (i) the seller, (ii) the insurer, (iii) the origin warehouse, (iv) the origin trucker, (v) the ocean carrier, (vi) the destination trucker, (vii) the destination warehouse, (viii) the buyer, and (ix) the freight forwarder.

Of course, privately owned ports, rail carriers, trucking subcontractors, ship charterers and ship brokers, to name a few, are often involved in commercial shipments as well, dramatically increasing the number of companies that might “touch” a single shipment.

More often than not the buyer, seller and even the forwarder will not have individual contracts with all of these entities, and most of the time will not even know who they are. Regardless, it is important to realize that these entities are all involved in the shipment, they all have contracts of some sort with some number of other entities within the chain, and they are all being paid for the work they do to move that single 40-foot container.

Why does all this matter to you? If your company ships products internationally, and any entity involved in the shipment is on the Specially Designated Nationals (“SDN”) list or the Foreign Sanctions Evaders (“FSE”) list, your company might find itself subject to secondary sanctions from the United States government.

To read the full text of this article by Duane Morris attorneys Vince Nolan and Joe Pangaro, please visit the Industry Week website.