American Association of Port Authorities endorses Senate shipping bill

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), Washington, says it has endorsed Senate bill 3586, the Ocean Shipping Competition Reform Act of 2022, by a vote of the industry’s legislative policy council.

The bipartisan bill, introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and John Thune, members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, would update federal regulations for the global shipping industry. The bill is designed to make it harder for ocean carriers to unreasonably refuse goods ready to export at ports and would give the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) greater rulemaking authority to regulate harmful practices by carriers, its sponsors say.

“South Dakota producers expect that ocean carriers operate under fair and transparent rules,” Thune says in a news release about the bill. “Unfortunately, that is not always the case, and producers across America are paying the price. The improvements made by this bill would provide the FMC with the tools necessary to address unreasonable practices by ocean carriers, holding them accountable for their bad-faith efforts that disenfranchise American producers. … Especially with record inflation in prices of goods, this legislation would also benefit consumers by promoting the fluidity and efficiency of the supply chain.”

“Congestion at ports and increased shipping costs pose unique challenges for U.S. exporters, who have seen the price of shipping containers increase four-fold in just two years,” Klobuchar says in that same news release. “Meanwhile, ocean carriers have reported record profits. This legislation will level the playing field by giving the Federal Maritime Commission greater authority to regulate harmful practices by carriers and set rules on what fees carriers can reasonably charge shippers and transporters. As we work to improve our supply chains, I’ll keep fighting to establish trade opportunities for the U.S.”

The AAPA says the proposed legislation would preserve “fluidity charges” that prompt cargo owners to keep their goods from piling up on severely limited terminal space.

The AAPA represents 80 deep-draft U.S. ports, which indirectly support over one-quarter of U.S. gross domestic product and 31 million jobs.

The AAPA President and CEO Chris Connor says, “U.S. ports are moving more goods than ever—to foreign markets, to American homes, to American businesses.

 “As shovels start hitting the ground for port capacity expansion, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Klobuchar-Thune bill will further help the system by prioritizing cargo fluidity and increasing access for American businesses and consumers.

“The pandemic has laid bare the need for a transport system to be able to surge and stretch—across all links, from sea, to land, to rail, to warehouse, to consumer,” Connor continues. “Incentives like fluidity charges keep cargo from piling up on the proverbial ‘baggage carousel.’ These fluidity charges are 100 percent proven to decrease the long-dwelling cargo at ports, which was a major cause of congestion during the early stages of the pileups. We look forward to seeing this bill through the mark-up process, and to both the strengthening of fluidity provisions and putting Federal investment dollars to their highest use."

The AAPA says ports, terminal operators, carriers and longshore workers have been working around the clock to keep clearing cargo, including by using expanded gate hours and emergency “sweeper ships.” However, the association says, in the longer term, America’s trade infrastructure will need sustained investments greater than those in the infrastructure law, including hundreds of billions of dollars for maritime infrastructure alone, to keep up with the growth in trade.