U.S. maritime industry hails elimination of steel tariffs

U.S. maritime industry hails elimination of steel tariffs    The U.S. maritime industry praised the Bush administration for eliminating tariffs targeting steel imports.
   The administration said Thursday it would drop the steel tariffs. The move brings the United States in compliance with a World Trade Organization ruling against the tariffs and avoids a potential trade war with the European Union and Japan.
   “The president made the right decision taking into account the political nature of the business,” said Dennis Rochford, coordinator of the Free Trade in Steel Coalition, a group of more than 80 U.S. port authorities, terminal operators, local longshore unions and shipping intermediaries opposed to steel tariffs.
   Many breakbulk ports suffered severe declines in steel imports during the period that the tariffs were in place. President Bush issued the Section 201 tariffs and quotas on steel imports in March 2002.
   Rochford, who is also president of the Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay, said in a telephone interview with Shippers’ NewsWire that ship calls at the port terminals along the Delaware River were down 100 ships this year. Houston and New Orleans ports took an even bigger hit, he said.
   The Port of New Orleans led a grass roots lobbying effort of its own with the Louisiana congressional delegation in Washington to eliminate the steel tariffs.
   “We hope imported steel volume returns to normal levels in the future as the marketplace responds to this decision,” said Gary LaGrange, executive director and chief executive officer for the Port of New Orleans, in a statement.
   Rochford estimates it will take six months to a year before a trend line of increased steel import volumes is noticed by the ports that suffered from the tariffs.
   The coalition plans to closely monitor the outcome of the Bush administration’s decision.
   “We’re completing one chapter in a book as far as we’re concerned,” Rochford said. “We’re waiting the reaction from the domestic steel industry.”