The Federal Maritime Commission will carefully consider a petition filed by the Coalition for Fair Port Practices for the agency to issue a rulemaking preventing common carriers and marine terminal operators from charging demurrage, detention and per diem fees during events beyond the control of shippers, FMC Chairman Mario Cordero said in a statement emailed to International Trade Today. The 25-member coalition submitted the petition on Dec. 7 (see 1612080021). Cordero said given the “seriousness” of the issues raised in the petition, FMC will determine “the most appropriate next step.” Cordero added: “Given the Commission’s commitment to maintaining the most efficient ocean-linked supply chain system possible, we are always interested in allegations of any practices or behavior that contribute to diminishing efficiency or increasing costs.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s 1,400 radiation portal monitors at U.S. ports of entry are 100 percent operational and can function beyond their estimated service life, until at least 2030, as long as they are properly maintained and spare parts remain available, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Nov. 30 (here). DHS started planning for replacing the entire fleet in fiscal 2014 and 2015, as the monitors began to reach the end of their estimated 13-year service life, but the department in 2016 changed to a selective replacement policy, entailing the use of monitors upgraded with new alarm threshold settings or buying “enhanced, commercially available” monitors to gain operational efficiencies and reduce labor requirements at some ports, GAO said. During fiscal years 2016-2018, DHS plans to replace about 120 monitors along the northern border with upgraded units, and from fiscal year 2018 through fiscal year 2020, intends to replace monitors that can’t be upgraded with new alarm thresholds at northern land border crossings with existing upgraded inventory, the report says.
The State Department and other agencies are considering whether to approve an amended Texas Department of Transportation application to build a second bridge for southbound traffic crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at Presidio, Texas, and Ojinaga, Mexico, State said (here). State received the application for an amended presidential permit Sept. 7, and is circulating it to relevant federal agencies for review. Agencies will consider foreign policy, environmental, cultural and economic impacts, as well as compliance with existing laws and regulations, among other things, State said. State is accepting public comments through Oct. 27.
A $10 million Transportation Department grant for the Port of Everett, Wash., will help the port complete modernization of its south terminal and double its rail capacity, facilitating the support of larger vessels and heavier cargo, the office of Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement (here). The port sees the export of $25 billion worth of goods every year, supporting Washington state’s aerospace, construction, manufacturing and energy sectors. “With this federal investment, we will be able to modernize our facilities to continue to support the aerospace, manufacturing and construction industries in the region,” port CEO Les Reardanz said in a statement.
An increase in the number of cargo ships bound for the U.S. but later redirected to other North American ports was a result of congestion issues during 2015, the Federal Maritime Commission said in a report (here). "The annual increase in congestion rates combined with the labor disputes of late 2014 and early 2015 and the growing attraction of foreign ports as a means of getting cargo into the United States all led to the continued growth of cargo diversions in 2015," the FMC said in the report, an update to the commission’s 2012 “Study of U.S. Inland Containerized Cargo Moving through Canadian and Mexican Seaports." The agency pointed to three main factors that led to increased use of neighboring countries' ports: "port congestion, stale trade growth, and the ability of U.S. importers to determine cargo routing as part of their corporate import strategy."
Steps taken by some ocean carriers and terminal operating companies are “encouraging signs” for smooth implementation of new Safety of Life at Sea verified gross mass (VGM) container weighing requirements that take effect July 1, Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero said July 29 (here). At least four ocean carriers have published customer advisories in recent days saying that they will accept VGMs as determined by scales at marine terminals, he said. Cordero also praised a recent agreement between the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and six East Coast ports that would allow use of terminal-determined weights (see 1606270039).
Other terminal operators should adopt the Terminal Weighing Approach recently agreed to by the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and six U.S. ports, OCEMA said in a news release. The Federal Maritime Commission recently approved an agreement between OCEMA and the ports -- South Carolina Ports Authority, Georgia Ports Authority, North Carolina State Ports Authority, the Port of Houston Authority, The Port of Virginia, and the Massachusetts Port Authority -- to use that approach (see 1606270039). New verified gross mass (VGM) requirements under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention are scheduled to take effect July 1. "The six major East and Gulf Coast operating ports and 19 carriers in OCEMA have moved quickly to adopt this approach which is terminal, shipper and carrier friendly," OCEMA Chairman Frank Gossi said. "This is a game changer as it will cover almost 40% of U.S. containerized exports. We urge other U.S. terminals to adopt the TWA approach in a way that facilitates the smooth flow of U.S. export movements.”
Marine terminals in the U.S. should adopt terminal weighing solutions as part of new container weight verification requirements, the Agriculture Transportation Coalition said in a news release. Use of that approach will help prevent a slowdown of U.S. exports related to the International Maritime Organization rules under the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) that will require container weight verification starting July 1 (see 1603030014), the trade coalition said. The AgTC said it agrees with the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association that the marine terminals offer the best approach to satisfy the Verified Gross Mass requirements. The group also supports the G6 Alliance's plan as described to marine terminals recently. The alliance "developed an on-dock rail procedure that is compliant with the Equivalency and SOLAS requirements," the AgTC said. "The G6 solution utilizes the shippers' certification of cargo weights tendered to the railroad, as required by the Intermodal Safe Container Transportation Act. The carriers will marry these shippers' weights with the associated container tare weights pulled from the carriers' own equipment fleet registers, to arrive at the VGM, which will be electronically transmitted to the terminal by the ocean carrier."
A group of trade associations updated a list of Frequently Asked Questions (here) on coming global container regulations set to take effect on July 1. The rules will require submission of Verified Gross Mass (VGM) information under the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) (see 14051911). The update includes "new questions and answers as well as expanded answers to some" of the previously listed questions, the World Shipping Council said in a news release. "As such, these FAQs do not introduce new interpretations or approaches, but seek to provide further assistance in explaining the SOLAS VGM requirements by building on existing guidance material. Some of the supplementary FAQs explain in more detail how the SOLAS container verified gross mass requirements should be fulfilled in various circumstances as described in questions received from supply chain parties," the groups said. The WSC, the TT Club, the International Cargo Handling Coordination Association and the Global Shippers' Forum jointly produced the document.
The Federal Maritime Commission OK'd an agreement between the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and six ports that would allow for the use of container weights determined at terminal gates to meet Verified Gross Mass requirements, the FMC said in a news release (here). The FMC also granted expedited review for the agreement to be effective ahead of the July 1 effective date for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention VGM requirements, it said. "Permitting this agreement to take effect as quickly as possible was in the best interests of all parties and I am pleased that the Commission was able to allow this agreement to go into force without requiring additional information," FMC Chairman Mario Cordero said. "The parties and Commission staff worked hard to come to consensus on how to best balance the desire to create this additional option for filing container weight information that would satisfy guidance issued by the US Coast Guard, with the need to tailor the agreement to the specific circumstances at hand." There's no reason to "not be flexible, practical, and pragmatic in providing ways to comply with these new obligations" and "I hope that other port authorities and terminal operators will be inspired to establish their own innovative processes to ease SOLAS VGM compliance," he said. The six ports -- South Carolina Ports Authority, Georgia Ports Authority, North Carolina State Ports Authority, the Port of Houston Authority, The Port of Virginia, and the Massachusetts Port Authority -- and OCEMA filed for FMC approval in May (see 1605200025).