FMC nominees Cordero, Dye testify to Senate

FMC nominees Cordero, Dye testify to Senate    Mario Cordero, former president of the Board of Harbor Commissioners for the Port of Long Beach, told members of Congress that improved intermodal infrastructure at ports was a key to making U.S. ports and the national economy competitive.
   Cordero, an attorney who has been a member of the Long Beach harbor board for seven years, was appearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which was considering his appointment to be a commissioner at the Federal Maritime Commission. Also appearing was Rebecca Dye, who is being reappointed to the FMC where she has served as a commissioner since 2002.

Cordero

   Questioned by the Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., about rail infrastructure, Cordero said, 'The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, comparatively speaking have been blessed because of history with the kind of railroad infrastructure that has made us successful. In years to come that railroad infrastructure has to be amended and improved.'
   Cordero said there is a need to improve the flow of containers from ships to inland locations. He pointed to the Alameda Corridor, which went into operation in 2002, and the Port of Long Beach's current Middle Harbor project, which will bring on-dock rail to two aging container terminals in the port.
   Saying he believes the country is entering a period where the government will be financially restricted, Rockefeller asked Dye if the FMC would be an advocate for the transportation industry.

Dye

   Dye, a former counsel to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the U.S. House of Representative, said the FMC takes it 'role as being an independent, objective voice, very seriously, to faithfully execute the law.'
   But she said that as part of a just-concluded FMC fact-finding investigation into vessel capacity and equipment availability the agency did work 'a little outside the box as far as collaborating, using moral suasion to draw people together to help them solve their own problems and get something done.'
   Dye, who acted as the fact-finding officer for that study, said she delivered her final, confidential report to the FMC Tuesday and that it would be considered at a Dec. 8 meeting.
   Dye noted she has strongly supported providing relief from tariff publication requirements for ocean transportation intermediaries, and said the FMC will consider that matter in the near future. ' Chris Dupin