A longshoreman's union on the West Coast is calling for a one-day work stoppage on June 19 in response to racism and police brutality, the Local 10 leader told Jacobin magazine. International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 is a majority African American local, and the stoppage is also in protest of what it called plans to privatize the port of Oakland. The stoppage will be for eight hours, and will affect all 29 ports on the West Coast.

The Federal Maritime Commission will accept comments on its proposed interpretative rule on detention and demurrage charges until Oct. 31, the agency said in a notice. The agency previously said comments are due Oct. 17 (see 1909130026).

Imports at major U.S. retail container ports reached “unusually high numbers” just before the new 15 percent Section 301 tariffs on List 4A Chinese goods took effect Sept. 1, the National Retail Federation said Sept. 10. Imports “are expected to surge again” before the List 4B tariffs take effect Dec. 15, it said. “Retailers are still trying to minimize the impact of the trade war on consumers by bringing in as much merchandise as they can before each new round of tariffs takes effect and drives up prices." U.S. ports handled 1.96 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in July, the latest month for which actual numbers are available, NRF said. That was up 9.1 percent sequentially from June and represented a 2.9 percent increase from July 2018, it said. “Likely driven by the new tariffs” scheduled to take effect Dec. 15, NRF forecasts November imports will reach 1.97 million containers, the highest monthly total since shipments topped 2 million last October, it said.

Vessels coming from the Seychelles must take additional security measures before entering the U.S. due to "deficient anti-terrorism port measures," the Coast Guard said in a notice. The U.S. notified the country last year of the issues, but the Coast Guard subsequently found that "Seychelles failed to maintain effective anti-terrorism measures in its port facilities," it said. As a result, vessels "that visited a port in the Republic of Seychelles in its last five port calls" are required to meet additional conditions for entry, it said. Additional countries that lack effective anti-terrorism measures and are subject to the security conditions are: Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Micronesia, Nauru, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Syria, Timor-Leste, Venezuela and Yemen.

The Federal Maritime Commission plans to start the final phase of its investigation into detention and demurrage charges, the agency said in a news release. Commissioner Rebecca Dye will continue to oversee the investigations and meetings with industry experts that are planned to be held by mid-April, the FMC said. "It is an enormous challenge to develop an industry-wide practice for demurrage and detention," Dye said. "Our goal is to make focused, significant changes that will emphasize demurrage and detention incentives and boost freight fluidity. Contributions from industry experts and commitment to continuous supply chain process improvement are necessary to achieve this goal." A final report is due Sept. 3. The agency issued a report on the second phase of the investigation in December 2018 (see 1812100037).

Louis Sola and Daniel Maffei were sworn in as Federal Maritime Commission commissioners on Jan. 23 after Senate confirmation on Jan. 2, the agency said in a news release. Maffei previously served on the FMC, while Sola comes from the Florida Board of Pilots Commissioners, the FMC said. The additions of Sola and Maffei bring the number of FMC commissioners up to four.

The Federal Maritime Commission will allow for the changes to the PierPass "OffPeak" program to go forward, the agency said in a news release. The FMC announcement means the changes will take effect Nov. 19, as planned (see 1810150032). PierPass, a not-for-profit company owned by the ports' marine terminal operators, said in a news release that the changes will update the congestion-pricing model with "a reduced Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) across all hours of terminal operation to help offset the cost of operating extended gates."

Companies moving containers through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will no longer have to pay congestion surcharges and instead will pay a flat fee of either $31.52 per 20-foot equivalent unit or $63.04 for other size containers starting Nov. 19, PierPass said. Companies will need to register with PierPass if they have not already, because all trucks bringing containers out of the ports will need to make an appointment. Nine of the 12 terminals at the two adjacent ports already use appointment systems, so most trucking firms serving the ports are already using these systems, the press release announcing the change said. The marine terminals will offer common appointment windows and common last appointment times for each shift.

The Federal Maritime Commission will discuss the fact finding on conditions related to port detention, demurrage and free time practices during a Sept. 19 meeting, the FMC said in a notice. The FMC recently released its first report from that fact finding (see 1809060033). It will also discuss the regulatory reform task force and a redesign of the agency's website, it said.

The Federal Maritime Commission issued its first report on the detention and demurrage practices for vessel operating common carriers and marine terminal operators, the agency said in a news release. The full interim report includes a number of observations about the processes involved, but notes further discussion with industry leaders is planned. Regarding one question as to whether VOCCs or MTOs charge demurrage during government inspections, little data was available, the FMC said. "As for mitigating demurrage and detention due to customs holds, some VOCCs indicated that they do not charge demurrage for the time during which a container was taken off-terminal for an inspection," the agency said.