6 The Journal of Commerce
|
April 30 2018 www.joc.com
Spotlight
cap
PierPass opts
for one flat fee
Marine terminal operators in Los
Angeles-Long Beach have agreed to
restructure the 13-year-old PierPass
extended gates program, slashing the
traffic mitigation fee by 55 percent to
$31.52 per TEU ($63.04 per FEU) and
including mandatory appointments
to spread truck flow out over the day
and night shis. The new structure will
take effect in August, pending Federal
Maritime Commission approval. The
members of the West Coast Marine
Terminal Operators Association
(WCMTOA) decided to shi from a congestion pricing model
of charging $72.09 per TEU only on peak daytime moves to
a flat fee assessed on all loaded-container day and night
moves, in response to complaints from beneficial cargo
owners (BCOs) and truckers about the high price of the traffic
mitigation fee and truck bunching at certain times of the day.
"The original off-peak program was an innovative and highly
effective solution to the challenges we faced in 2005, but it
was fairly inflexible, whereas an appointment-based model
is scalable and can evolve to meet changing industry needs,
technology, and practices," said John Cushing, PierPass
president. Truckers agreed that the changes are a good first
step toward an improved extended gates program at LA-LB —
the largest US port complex. "Collectively, we need to insure
that we engage in ongoing dialogue and continuously fine-
tune the details of our off-peak program," said Weston LaBar
of the Harbor Trucking Association. The new structure was
developed from a report by consultants Tioga Group and WCL
Consulting following interviews with BCOs, truckers, terminal
operators, and other port stakeholders.
Talks progress on ILA-USMX
contract extension
The outlook for an East and Gulf Coast
labor contract is improving. Negotiators
for the International Longshoremen's
Association (ILA) and United States
Maritime Alliance(USMX) have scheduled
meetings June 5-7 in hopes of finishing a
contract months before the current one
expires Sept. 30. The meetings between
USMX officials and the ILA's 200-member
wage scale committee will follow what
the two sides described as "significant
progress" during bargaining in March
on a six-year extension of their Maine-
to-Texas master contract. US beneficial
cargo owners (BCOs) are anxious for a
deal that spares them the need to activate
costly strike contingency plans. In early
March, the National Retail Federation
and more than 100 other organizations
representing BCOs urged the union and
employers to act promptly. Shippers have
warned that cargo they shifted to ILA
ports to avoid West Coast labor turmoil
could be shifted back if the ILA-USMX
contract extension remains unsettled.
The East and Gulf coasts' share of US
containerized imports from Asia rose to
34.7 percent last year from less than
22 percent in 2005, according to PIERS, a
sister product of The Journal of Commerce
within IHS Markit. BCOs are hoping for
the kind of assurances the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union and the
Pacific Maritime Association provided last
year when they signed a five-year West
Coast contract extension. Although the
ILA has not had a coastwide strike since
1977, it came close to one in 2012-2013,
when negotiations dragged on for a year
and included two contract extensions.
Trade war could dampen
strong import forecast
The strong retail import growth forecast
for this summer at major US ports may be
in jeopardy if a developing US-China trade
war continues to escalate, the Global Port
Tracker report warned. "There is nothing
good about a trade war," said Ben Hackett,
founder of Hackett Associates, which
produces the Global Port Tracker report for
the National Retail Federation (NRF). "It
is a vicious circle of retaliation where there
are no winners, only losers." US-China trade
friction is increasing as US ports record
strong import volumes. US imports rose
9.6 percent year over year in January to
2 million TEU, and rose 9.4 percent in
February
to 1.9 million TEU, as US imports
As long as the new
fee structure is
approved by the
Federal Maritime
Commission, it
will be enacted in
August.
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