Transportation Roundup: Rail agreements and labor negotiations

The Federal Maritime Commission is working through more than 200 complaints against ocean carriers with rising demurrage and detention fees a top complaint. This comes even as congestion at ports eases and rates drop. In an interview with Supply Chain Dive, Commissioner Carl Bentzel said the FMC is prioritizing demurrage and detention fees as well as intermodal chassis refusals.

Last week, CSX railroad reached agreements with unions Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way – Employes Division (BMWED) and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen (BRC) over sick leave, providing four paid sick days each year plus three paid personal days for sick time. Now unions are asking other Class I railroads to follow suit. Read more about the agreement here.

A rail union, Transportation Trades Department (TDD), AFL-CIO, is asking the Federal Railroad Administration to provide more oversight of railroads safety operations. This comes after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio on Feb. 3. TDD believes all Class I railroads should adopt the confidential close call reporting system, so that all employees can anonymously report safety concerns. While none of the seven major U.S. freight railroads currently uses the program, some have internal systems that perform similar functions. Read more about the opinion.

Dockworkers and marine terminal employees from the West Coast agreed to set aside Seattle’s Terminal 5 issue and resume labor negotiations.

Without a resolution, the impasse over the dockworkers’ contract could result in irreversible West Coast port losses, Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) Executive Director Peter Friedmann said recently. Read about that and more of Friedmann’s remarks to the Propeller Club of Northern California via the American Journal of Transportation here.