Traders, Port Operators Support Bill to Require Reporting on Port Activity
U.S. traders and port operators urged the Senate Commerce Committee to move forward on the Port Transparency Act, S-1298 (here), in letters to committee leadership in recent days. The legislation would establish a set of port performance reporting requirements in order to prevent port shutdowns and slowdowns. The bill would also direct the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to create a performance program, and require the Transportation Department to report to Congress on conditions at U.S. ports before and after port labor agreements expire.
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Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., introduced the measure in May. After months of shutdowns, slowdowns and heated negotiations, West Coast port operators reached a deal with union workers in February to return to work at full capacity (see 1502230002).
The Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland applauded the bill's performance report requirements in a letter to Thune and committee ranking member Ben Nelson, D-Fla., in a June 19 letter (here). “The common understanding about the cause of the recent West Coast port congestion places the responsibility primarily on the recently concluded labor negotiations,” said the letter. “However, it is understood within the industry that there are other contributing causes – including the advent of larger ships, chassis divestment, and cargo alliances.” Port officials also prodded lawmakers to focus the reporting on port-wide “capacity and utilization,” as well as ship, gate and rail productivity.
Meanwhile, dozens of trade associations representing manufacturers, agricultural producers, importers, exporters and retailers said the legislation is “an important first step to truly gain visibility into how U.S. ports are operating.” Port shutdowns and congestion wreak havoc on the U.S. economy, said the trade groups in a June 22 letter to Thune (here). “We all recognize that there are many reasons for the bottlenecks and delays,” said the letter. “But frustrating the attempts to address and study these problems is the universal lack of good, empirical data on port congestion, efficiency, and throughput.”