SSGA joins letter to Biden team regarding ag transportation priorities

By Bruce Abbe, SSGA Strategic Adviser for Trade and Transportation

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) joined an informal coalition of 49 national food and agriculture organizations that on Jan. 7 sent a letter outlining agriculture transportation priorities to the transition team of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

The joint statement laid out for the incoming administration recommendations for federal regulations, programs and initiatives for the trucking, freight rail and water transportation sectors:

• Trucking: Motor carrier recommendations covered rules addressing driver hours-of-service regulations overseen by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and state departments of transportation, driver shortage, harmonizing trucking weight limits on interstate highways and state roads, and more.
• Rail: Recommendations included following through on steps to strengthen the Surface Transportation Board’s ability to address needed rail competition, meaningful rail rate reform and shortcomings posed by current exemptions to STB regulatory oversight.
• Water: Recommendations included continuing federal investment in infrastructure for the inland waterways system and for strengthened oversight of ocean shipping regulation by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).

A current critical issue for SSGA export container shippers, the coalition (which includes the National Grain and Feed Association, American Farm Bureau Federation and national commodity organizations, among many others) expressed strong support for the FMC’s investigation of detention and demurrage abuses, export container availability and container return practices by ocean carriers and terminals at the ports.

Read the entire letter here..