Thune asks FMC to brief Senate Commerce Committee on VGM rule

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. asked Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero for the agency staff to brief the committee staff on this issue by no later than May 31, 2016.​    Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, asked the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to brief the committee’s staff on the new verified gross mass (VGM) regulation in the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) treaty that goes into effect on July 1.
   In a letter sent May 18, Thune asked FMC Chairman Mario Cordero for the agency staff to brief the committee staff on this issue by no later than May 31, 2016.
   “Our nation’s exporters and importers – agricultural, manufacturing, and retail businesses from across the country – continue to raise concerns with the implementation of the Verified Gross Mass (VGM) amendment to the International Convention for the SOLAS,” Thune said in the letter.
   “Despite recent discussions and actions, there continues to be uncertainty and concern,” Thune said. “The Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association published VGM guidance to provide its preferred approach to implementation by the deadline, but the Committee received testimony stating that shippers view this approach as inflexible and inefficient. OCEMA also announced a decision by its membership to issue a tariff rule that it intends to address certain shipper liability concerns,” he said.
   “Many stakeholders have raised concerns that the VGM amendment could result in the backup of cargo at our ports starting on July 1,” Thune said. “With container traffic through U.S. ports at nearly 50 million twenty-foot equivalent units per year, any disruption to the movement of goods could have serious consequences for our nation’s shippers, ports, and workers and the broader economy.”