Transportation Roundup: Federal agencies seeking public comments

SSGA staff have compiled a roundup of current news in the container transportation industry. Click the links below to view the original stories.

After meeting with truckers and marine terminal operators at the Port of New York and New Jersey, Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Chairman Dan Maffei is warning ocean carriers to stop forcing shippers and drayage truckers to store their containers or pay a fee when they do so.

“The (FMC) has already been investigating reports of carriers charging per diem container charges even when the shipper or trucker cannot possibly return the container due to terminal congestion,” Maffei said. “I will ask that this investigation be broadened and intensified to cover instances where shippers and truckers are being forced to store containers or move them without proper compensation.”

Read more about the proposed fees here.

The FMC is seeking public comments on a new data collection regarding containerized vessel imports and exports as part of requirements established in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.

The Act requires the FMC to collect and publish quarterly the total import and export tonnage and total loaded and empty 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) per vessel. The FMC’s proposal would collect tonnage and TEU information each month from ocean common carriers that transport 1,500 or more TEUS per month. Implementing this approach would collect at least 99% of all imported and exported containerized cargo. Interested parties can share their comments with the FMC for 60 days once the request is published in the Federal Register.

Read more here from the FMC.

The Surface Transportation Board is also seeking comments on its draft environmental impact statement regarding the potential Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern merger. The study concluded that train noise could be the largest environmental impact while other adverse impacts would be negligible, minor and/or temporary.

If approved, the merged rail company would make capital improvements including new or extended passing sidings, adding a section of double track and adding facility working track to 25 locations along the network.

Read more about the impact study and proposed merger here.

Other noteable transportation news:

• The New York Times profiles Maffei and the FMC
• Bloomberg reports container lines are set to smash year-old profit record by 73%
• Freightwaves/American Shipper says container rates are making an ‘orderly’ decline
• The Great Lakes continue to get questions about container capacity