U.S. ADMINISTRATION “DISSATISFIED” WITH JAPANESE PORT REFORMS

U.S. ADMINISTRATION “DISSATISFIED” WITH JAPANESE PORT REFORMS

U.S. ADMINISTRATION “DISSATISFIED” WITH JAPANESE PORT REFORMS

   The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission said that executive agencies of the U.S. administration are dissatisfied with continued restrictions on non-U.S. carriers in Japanese ports.
   In a hearing before the House subcommittee on coast guard and maritime transportation, Steven Blust, chairman of the FMC, updated Congress on several pending international issues handled by his agency.
   “Although Japan maintains that its ‘deregulation’ of shipping has resulted in major improvements, including increased competition in Japanese ports, the U.S. executive agencies with maritime responsibilities and others continue to express dissatisfaction with the results of Japan’s deregulation efforts,” Blust said.
   Japanese port practices became a high-profile international issue in 1997 when the FMC imposed million-dollar fines on Japanese shipping lines that call at U.S. ports because of what it regarded as restrictive port practices in Japan.
   Blust related that the commission took action in 1997 under section 19 against various restrictive conditions in the harbor services industry in Japan. This targeted the    system “that required carriers to receive permission from the Japan Harbor Transportation Association (a cartel of Japanese terminal and stevedore companies) before making any operational changes, and prevented non-Japanese carriers from offering or performing for themselves or others terminal and stevedoring operations routinely undertaken by carriers at U.S. ports,” he said.
   Following the 1997 international dispute, Japan revised its Harbor Transportation Business Law and has made other changes in port operations.
   “Unfortunately, I cannot report to you that those changes have resolved fully the challenging conditions affecting the operations of non-Japanese carriers in Japanese ports,” Blust said.
   The FMC hopes that attempts to address the problem through bilateral talks will be renewed.