More carriers plan congestion charge

Container carriers are announcing West Coast port congestion charges of $1,000 per FEU    More container carriers are confirming they will institute a congestion surcharge on cargo moving through West Coast ports.
   Maersk, the largest container carrier, said it will apply a surcharge to all cargo received on or after Nov. 26th at various countries in the Far East and discharged in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle if it is bound for the U.S., Canada or Mexico. It will also apply the surcharge on U.S.-bound cargo routed through Vancouver, B.C., or Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico. The amount of the surcharge is $800 per 20-foot container, $1,000 per 40-foot container and greater amounts for high cube, reefer and 45-foot containers.
   Many carriers announced surcharges earlier this month on cargo moving through West Coast ports, including cargo that they was already in transit or in-gated at terminals, but then suspended them, at least temporarily, after the Federal Maritime Commission raised questions about their ability to impose surcharges on cargo that was already tendered to carriers.
   The FMC also said tariff rules allowing carriers to impose congestion surcharges “must be clear and definite as to the implementation and termination of the surcharge based upon specific criteria related to ‘labor unrest.’ “
   But late last week, many carriers began reinstating the charges, saying that the charges would only be imposed on cargo tendered on Nov. 26.
   The freight forwarder Mallory Alexander has been posting details on surcharges by other carriers as it receives them in a table here.
   Mario Cordero, chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, told American Shipper Monday morning that the agency’s staff “is looking at this issue. For those carriers who have stepped back on their surcharge, I appreciate their action on that, and for those who have moved forward, I think it is unfortunate given the issue presented and our interpretation of that.”
   The carriers are making the announcements as talks between the primary negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association ended last week, outraging many shipper groups that are frustrated by delays on their imports and exports  moving through ports.
   Craig Merrilees, an ILWU spokesman, said discussions by ILWU-PMA committees working on specific issues were expected to continue this week, though the PMA has accused the ILWU of “slowdown tactics” in the bargaining talks.
   The PMA has accused the ILWU of of a “coordinated series of slowdowns that have plagued the major West Coast ports of Tacoma, Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach.”
   In Los Angeles and Long Beach, where containerships normally can proceed straight to berth upon arrival at the port, more ships are going to anchorage for at least a day to wait for a berth. Monday morning at 7 a.m., there were eight containerships at berth, down from 12 on Sunday morning, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
   On Friday, the leaders of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma asked President Barack Obama to assign federal mediators to resolve the contract negotiations.
   In a letter to the president, Theodore J. Fick, the chief executive officer of the Port of Seattle, and John Wolfe, the chief executive officer of the Port of Tacoma, urged him “to reconsider your decision not to assign federal mediators to help the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union resolve pending contract negotiations. We believe that mediation has become a critical and necessary tool because the parties have been unsuccessful in concluding discussions after seven months. Lack of resolution, we believe, has negatively affected the efficient flow of commerce through ports along the West Coast for several weeks now.
   “The ports of Seattle and Tacoma comprise the third-largest container gateway in North America,” the port executives wrote, “and represent a critical node in the United States-Asia trade gateway on which American and global businesses and consumers depend.” They also noted that “Puget Sound serves as the principle gateway for waterborne commerce to the state of Alaska, which has limited surface transportation connections to the lower 48 states.”
   Tacoma has said productivity at the port has been “slower than usual” and is affecting both people who work in the ports and “beneficial cargo owners across many states.”
   Those shippers “have reached out to us to share tales of the crippling effect of the current situation,” the port said. “Examples include: agriculture exporters are unable to get perishable goods to market resulting in major losses during peak season; manufacturers have had to shut down operations and send employees home; shippers and transloaders are incurring higher costs for trucker-standby time; and there are examples of storage and rail-car demurrage due to backlog at ports. We also are aware of shippers who have diverted their cargo to non-U.S. ports, resulting in the loss of American jobs to foreign competitors. The bottom line is that across many sectors from agriculture to manufacturing, workers are not getting paid during the Thanksgiving season, and some businesses are closing down.