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Cyber-security Breach at Clarksons

11/30/2017

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    Clarksons, a shipping company based in London, has been the victim of a cyber security attack.
    In their statement, Clarksons said that a single a single and isolated user account gained unauthorised access to the company's computer system.
    Clarksons has not revealed what information may have been leaked. They have confirmed that the information was confidential.
    Hackers demanded a ransom payment for the information but Clarksons refused  to pay.
    “I hope our clients understand that we would not be held ransom by criminals.” Said Clarksons CEO Andi Case. “I would like to sincerely apologise for any concern this incident may have understandably raised.”

You can read more here…

http://www.zdnet.com/article/shipping-firm-warns-that-hackers-may-leak-confidential-information/
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China's Record Breaking "Singles Day"

11/28/2017

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    A new shopping craze has taken Chinese markets by storm. “Singles Day” on November 11th, is a sort of anti-valentine's day shopping celebration.
    Alibaba, China’s largest online commerce company, reported a record setting 25 billion in sales this year. At peak, consumers were making 256,000 transactions per second and outselling Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
    “We want to make Singles Day a more global event,” said Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang. “We could take the gala overseas very soon.”
    You can read more here...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-12/alibaba-singles-day-goes-global-with-record-25-billion-in-sales
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Putin to Close Northern Sea Route to Foreigners

11/23/2017

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    In order to boost the shipping infrastructure of Russia, President Vladimir Putin has proposed the closure of the Northern Sea Route to foreign ships.
      With almost 7.5 million tons of cargo transported through the route and an expected 70 million in 2030, Putin hopes this will increase the demand for Russian shipping vessels.
       The Northern Sea Route nearly halves the travel distance between Europe and Asia compared to alternate routes through the Suez or Panama canals.
      “The corresponding Bill is currently being considered in the State Duma,” said Putin. “I expect that it will be adopted soon.”
        You can read more here…
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/putin-wants-to-keep-foreign-shipping-out-of-russias-northern-sea-route/
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How Nevada Became a Shipping "Mecca"

11/21/2017

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When you think of Nevada a few things come to mind; Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Hoover Dam. What you may not think of is an enormous distribution hub. Companies from Amazon to JC Penney ship through Nevada because of its central location on the West Coast and a stipulation in the Nevada State Constitution that grants a tax exemption to goods leaving the state. The Reno Gazette Journal has written a comprehensive article about how this law was written into the State’s Constitution and its implications on Nevada today. You can read it here…

http://www.rgj.com/story/money/business/2017/11/20/ho-ho-holiday-shipping-heres-how-reno-created-biggest-little-distribution-center-mecca/876543001/
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What is a Non-Consensual Tow

11/20/2017

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When most people think of a non-consensual tow they think of their car being impounded. While that is true, in the world of trucking, towing, and insurance, things get more complicated.
Like other instances of non-consensual towing, problems often begins at the scene of an accident. Cars piled up, trucks jack-knifed across the road, or a breakdown in the middle of the highway. Law enforcement officials must handle these situations swiftly. Officers make a report and call out a wrecker company to move the vehicle off of the road and clean up the scene.  To be fair to all the tow/wrecker companies in the area, the police officers work off a list of towing companies called a “rotation list.” As the name implies, they call each company in succession through the list until they reach the end and start over.

For large trucks or accidents involving cargo, this may require a lot of equipment, people, and organizing to get the vehicle off the road and back to a tow yard.  They must also work with the buyers and sellers of the cargo, truck owners, insurance companies, and drivers. Unfortunately, tow companies are aware of the volatility in these situations and often take advantage.

To a small wrecker company, being called out to work on a big-rig means big money. Even on a small accident, the insurance company can pay out claims in the tens of thousands of dollars. The towing company is often the one in control because they dictate what equipment and people are needed at the scene. Regrettably, they can use their position to artificially inflate the final bill.

They can do this in several ways. Sometimes, they send out all the equipment they have and, while it may not be necessary, they bill for it using the justification, “we had to bring everything, just in case.” Other times they will charge for extra people that weren’t there or required to be there. Every so often, they disingenuously add on bogus fees and charges like “Emergency call out fee, fire department charge, etc.,” or charges they are forbidden to charge for.

So how do they get away with it? By taking advantage of a delicate situation. The tow companies get an upper hand from the start because the parties do not choose which wrecker is used and have no ability to find the best available option for what they need.  Although the insurance companies may be skeptical or know the charges are fraudulent, they have added pressures from the parties involved needing to recover their equipment or cargo expeditiously. Some tow companies exploit the situation by holding the cargo and truck hostage until the bill is paid. They know that there are many people dependent on the cargo/vehicles so they use it as leverage to get paid quickly with no questions asked. A single claim can have malicious adjustments totaling into the tens of thousands.

This leads to more than an estimated half billion dollars in loss annually for insurance companies. Insurance companies get countless claims with non-consensual tows in a year and could retain millions from loss by combating this unjust practice.  When insurance fraud like this occurs often nothing is done because wrecker lobbyists have had influence in the politics surrounding regulation.

Many states and local areas have tried to impose regulations to stop situations like this from occurring. For instance, in some areas, towing companies are bound by regulations involving the rate and amount they are permitted to charge. Other municipalities have little or no regulations at all. Frustratingly, each state’s towing regulations vary sometimes from county to county.  With variations on rules, rates, and regulatory bodies it can be hard to keep track of the correct and proper way to handle excessive towing bills throughout the country. This allows towing companies to exploit insurance companies with false charges.

Insurance fraud like this is a common occurrence but insurance companies often feel immense pressure to take care of the situation, so they just pay out hoping to get the situation taken care of as promptly as possible. Non-consensual tows occur all over the country with little to no repercussions. The first step to overcoming this problem is education on the issue. If a situation like this has happened to you of if you would like to know more about non-consensual towing  contact The Abusive Tow Authority a division of Morgan, Cohen, & Bach here.


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Lessons From This Year

11/16/2017

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2017, overall, has been good year for American businesses. Our GDP increased by over half a trillion dollars and unemployment dropped 0.7%. Great indications for an economy that is still recovering from the 2007-2008 crash. Although, a few companies were unable to take advantage of the year due to mismanagement in volatile situations or terrible public relations practices. Moving forward into 2018, let's take a look at these stories to learn what actions these companies could have taken to avoid issues with customers. Inc.com has put together a list of the 5 largest scandals to learn from this year that you can read here…

https://www.inc.com/cameron-albert-deitch/the-5-best-cautionary-tales-for-all-entrepreneurs-in-2017.html?cid=hmsub2
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Fixing Financial Troubles

11/8/2017

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How do you know when you are in financial trouble? Can you catch it before you find yourself filing bankruptcy papers? Karen Anthony at ValueWalk.com has written a guide for business owners on how to combat bad finances. She lists signs to look out for, ways to calculate the severity of your debt, and strategies to work towards profitability again. You can read more here…

http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/11/6-signs-business-financial-trouble/
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New Cargo Flight Tracker

11/7/2017

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As the shipping industries’ busy season approaches the first steps in a new global venture have been unveiled. A new Cargo Flight Tracker at Miami International Airport will allow real time access to cargo data that was previously only available directly through airlines. This new process should be much more efficient compared to the current by-hand system and should allow for expedited processing for shippers and carriers by providing real-time data.

Find out more at www.stattimes.com/miami-launches-webbased-air-cargo-flight-tracker
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The New Tax Reform Bill is Here

11/2/2017

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The long promised US tax code overhaul from the GOP has finally arrived. Details are still emerging as reporters and economists pour over the complex bill. Although we can glean some insight as to what the goals of the overhaul are from early findings. Inc.com has given a great overview for what parts of the proposed tax code we should be paying attention to. New tax brackets, elimination of the estate tax, and much more. You can read their article here…

www.inc.com/business-insider/tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-tax-reform-house-gop-2017.html?cid=hmside1
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Your Cyber Security Checklist

11/1/2017

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October was Cyber Security Awareness Month. This could not have come at a more relevant time with just over 143 million Americans having their personal information stolen during the Equifax breach. This can ruin the reputation of a business and sabotage future relationships. JDSUPRA has put together a checklist of questions each business owner should answer when considering digital security measures. You can read the list here... 

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/use-this-checklist-to-assess-your-17502/
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  • Services
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