State of the Ports Address 2016

Posted by Emily Johnson, Intern

Last Thursday, we hosted our second annual State of the Ports Address. We had Dominic O’Brien from the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and Marie Byers from the Harrisburg International Airport speak at the event.

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) is located in the fifth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Something that you might not know is that the Philadelphia port is a global leader in food imports, which is due to their vast temperature controlled storage capacity. Additionally, the port has less congestion compared to other east coast ports, with a quick ship and truck turn times with multiple rail connections in the area. There are over 250 distribution centers that lie within the PRPA’s immediate hinterland. This year marks PRPA’s 6^th year of consecutive growth! 

The Philadelphia Port has exciting new updates to their port. They have been working on a channeling deepening project to allow for bigger ships to enter, which is influenced by the Panama Canal expansion. This is 80% complete and expected to be completed by 2017. They are doing upgrades on their Tioga Marine Terminal, Southport Marine Terminal Complex, and multiple other piers that they own. This will accommodate for bringing in more cargo to the port, which creates more jobs and more trade in the region. They also recently created a partnership with Sealand, which created a direct shipping line to Mexico. This new shipping line takes only six days for cargo to travel from Philadelphia to Veracruz. 

 

The Harrisburg International Airport (HIA) serves the central Pennsylvania region with residents who purchase nearly $1 million departing airline tickets annually. Something that you might not know is that the airport is actually a self-sustaining entity that does not rely on any state or federal subsidies to operate. Given this, HIA continues to provide growth to the central PA region, creating nearly $1 billion in economic activity. 

For passenger flights, Air Canada, Allegiant, American, Delta and United currently offers nonstop service to 11 destinations with connections worldwide. In 2015, an average of 3,290 passengers used the airport each day to fly domestically and 250 people used the airport each day fly internationally. The top five international destinations for 2015 included Toronto, Cancun, San Juan, London, and Shanghai. New this year, the airport is offering direct flights to Punta Gorda, Florida, and an all-inclusive vacation package to the Bahamas.

HIA ranks 76^th in the nation for cargo shipments, which is higher than airports such as San Jose, Oklahoma City, and Norfolk. At HIA, there is a FedEx hub for cargo coming from Williamsport and Scranton. UPS also recently built a “Hub in a Box” at HIA that created approximately 100 jobs and an expected $168,000 in new revenue each year. December 2015 was a record month for the airport with 5,722 tons of cargo flown to and from the region.

Although there have been some new challenges in the airport industry from mergers, low fuel prices, and less flights, the Harrisburg International Airport continues to make expansion and customer service their top priorities to deliver an altogether better flying experience. Looking to the future, Shaner Hotel Holdings will be developing a new hotel at the airport that will have 120 rooms, meeting spaces, a restaurant, and bar. This is to be open by 2017.  

Overall, the State of the Ports Address showed us how important logistics is to boosting trade in our region. It informed attendees of new growth that will help the local economy grow. For more details, please click here to download the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority presentation and click here to download the Harrisburg International Airport presentation.

For additional pictures from the event, click here to visit our Facebook album. 

Heimtex: Setting The Stage For The Year

By WTC Guest Blogger Jessica Toutsis, RoomMates Décor

The year is off to a busy start with many members exhibiting their products at popular industry trade shows. During mid-January, international manufacturers, retailers, and designers throughout the world came together at Heimtex, the biggest international trade show for the home and contract textiles in the world! Known for setting the benchmark for the entire year, Heimtex reveals leading trends and innovative designs for the home and textile industry. Buyers and distributors from around the world gather to see the newest concepts in the industry.

Among those at the show, RoomMates Decor, North America’s largest manufacturer of wall decals and peel & stick wall decor, debuted the launch of their newest product line known as StickTILES, a revolutionary Peel and Stick decorative tile. Offering customers a faster, easier and more affordable way to create backsplashes and decorate kitchens, bathrooms and other rooms, this was one product that’s sure to get excited about! 

Other products at the RoomMates booth included peel and stick wall decor and new wall art designs displayed in a creative “Under the Sea” themed display. 

Heimtex is exciting as it allows RoomMates Décor and other businesses to connect with distributors in their sector and form relationships. 

“Heimtex is one of the most important shows that we do each year because many of our international buyers are making annual purchasing decisions while attending the show.  This year’s show was certainly one of the busiest that we have had, which gives us a great indication about the year ahead!” reaffirmed Adam Say, Director of International Sales at RoomMates.

It’s a great way to start off the year! 

Jessica Toutsis is the Digital Marketing Manager for RoomMates Décor, headquartered in York, PA, and writes on trade show experiences for the World Trade Center blog.

Despite Privacy Shield Agreement, Legal Uncertainty Remains for Businesses Transferring Personal Data between Europe and United States

by WTC Guest Bloggers Louis Dejoie and Thomas Markey, McNees, Wallace & Nurick LLC

On October 6, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated a Safe Harbor provision that allowed companies to transfer personal data from within the EU to the US, finding that the Safe Harbor failed to adequately protect EU citizens’ privacy.  The CJEU’s ruling left many companies, which relied on the Safe Harbor to conduct business, in legal limbo.  On February 2, 2016, in a step toward legal clarity for businesses and consumers, the EU and US agreed in principle to implement a new Privacy Shield.

The new Privacy Shield addresses several shortcomings that led to the Safe Harbor’s invalidation.  First, according to the European Commission’s press release, before importing personal data from the EU, US companies must commit to “robust obligations on how personal data is processed and individual rights are guaranteed.”  Second, “the United States has given the EU binding assurances that the access of public authorities for national security purposes will be subject to clear limitations, safeguards and oversight mechanisms.”  Third, EU citizens will have redress procedures they can follow if they suspect their data has been misused.

Details regarding the Privacy Shield, however, remain sparse.  The European Commission’s next step is to prepare an “adequacy decision,” and regulatory changes must occur in the US.  Additionally, the Article 29 Working Party—a group of EU data regulators—will evaluate the Privacy Shield and has insisted on receiving all related documents by the end of February.  As these events transpire, companies remain in a state of limbo in which they can rely on neither the invalid Safe Harbor nor the yet-to-be-implemented Privacy Shield.

After the Safe Harbor’s invalidation, the primary methods for legalizing transatlantic data transfers became data protection clauses in contracts between data-sharing companies and binding, regulator-approved corporate rules for transfers between subsidiaries and/or parent companies.  The Working Party indicated in a statement that regulators will continue to treat standard contractual clauses and binding corporate rules as legal data-transfer methods until the Working Party has time to fully analyze the Privacy Shield.  The Working Party expects to complete its analysis in mid-April.  The Working Party will also assess the continued legality of standard contractual clauses and binding corporate rules.  Any companies relying on the Safe Harbor, however, may now be subject to enforcement actions, which regulators informally suspended until January 31, 2016.
In summary, announcement of the Privacy Shield has not resolved the legal uncertainty regarding EU-US data transfers.  The Privacy Shield must be implemented on both sides of the Atlantic, and may face court challenges from privacy advocates who feel the new safeguards remain inadequate.  Companies that regularly transfer data from the EU to the US should continue to monitor implementation of the Privacy Shield and the legal adequacy of standard contractual clauses and binding corporate resolutions in the future.

Click here to view the original article. 

Click here to learn more about the firm's Privacy & Data group.

WTC's 19th Annual Holiday Luncheon and Reception

Posted by Hannah Copenheaver


This year, we celebrated our 19th Holiday Luncheon and Reception at the Out Door Country Club in York, PA. Every year, we choose a different global location to learn more about how their culture celebrates holidays and exchanges gifts during these times. 

This year, we decided to choose Albania. Why? Because do you know where Albania is? Not many people do! Special thank you to Iris Kapo, Int’l Trade Specialist at the U.S. Commercial Service in Philadelphia for giving such a delightful, and energetic, presentation!

We also tasted "Shëndetlie me mjaltë" made by Amy's Custom Cakery.

We collected donations for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank during the program. Together, we donated 100 pounds of food! Thank you to all who donated to this wonderful cause, especially with the holidays upon us. 

Congratulations to our food drive raffle basket winner: Scott Sipe, MANTEC

Thank you to all who attended and celebrated with us! Event pictures can be viewed on our Facebook page by clicking here.

Special thank you to our sponsors of this year's luncheon: York County Economic Alliance (Presenting Sponsor), Fulton Bank, BB&T, MANTEC, Oakworks, UPS, Zeigler Brothers, Inc.

Happy Holidays from Tina, Jan, and Hannah!