Last month BIS added a new entry to the Hall of Shame: the BIS listing of export violations. The entry was for a case brought against Olympiad Lines LLC, an “NVOCC” in maritime speak (i.e., a Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier, which is a company which resells space on boats owned by others). This was the first time I had seen an export violation alleged against an NVOCC, so it was with considerable interest that I clicked the link, only to find that it was broken.
Not being easily deterred, I sent a message to BIS on the page which they set up to report web site problems. That neither garnered a response or a page fix, which remains broken several weeks later. So now we can only ponder what an NVOCC did to get themselves in trouble. And why no one at BIS apparently pays any attention to their own website.
The same problem has been around for a long time with the Licensing FAQ on the BIS website.
Try contacting Alexander Pena @ 202-482-3005 or [email protected].
The link for the case information on Olympiad Lines is now functioning!
Olympiad is now up.
[…] On Monday we complained about a broken link at the BIS website to its report of a settlement agreement entered into by Olympiad Line LLC, a Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (”NVOCC”). The link had been broken for almost a month. Today the link was at last fixed, so we want to thank whoever from BIS dropped by the site, saw our report, and fixed the link. In fact, we want to thank BIS for fixing the link even if we had nothing to do with it. […]
BIS also fixed the Licensing FAQ.