Port of Oakland Hosts Roundtable for Port Stakeholders

Evey Hwang, CBFANC President

Framed as an open forum to “discuss the state of shipping issues facing importers and exporters”, Commissioner Bentzel acknowledged the challenges faced by maritime stakeholders. Market surges creating equipment issues, port space constraints, lack of rates transparency, and supply chain disruptions are persistent problems. Costs and damage to commerce will increase if disruptions continue, while it becomes more difficult to determine infrastructure funding that will be needed for solutions. Especially appreciated was frank dialogue on impacts of California’s Air Resources requirements on the port and trucking which puts our CA ports at a competitive disadvantage to other ports.

We raised the supply chain pain points and bottlenecks which are not serving imports and exports alike. :

Opening the ports 24/7 was raised and quicky realized for “flex hours” which can be worked out with labor for continuous labor
Railroad need to be brought in to solve the for inland moves.
Warehouse and trucking at West Coasts are at capacity and strained due to manpower and driver shortages
Current dwell time for equipment are at 2.5 times the “normal”
BCO are being penalized for cancellation fees and congestion surcharges over which they have no control over.
Small businesses are paying (again and always) expenses which are unplanned and unsustainable
Transparency for rate changes and increases.
Vessel schedules as well as better communications needed by the port and carriers.

We were pleased Commissioner Bentzel offered review on recent Destination Congestion Surcharges and continuing FMC’s Factfinding 29 investigation into detention and demurrage. As this investigation is ongoing, our ask is for FMC to provide oversight on the carriers. The unfair practices and lack of commitment by the carriers to provide service and solutions for their customers who are paying historically higher rates? This is our ask on FMC as the government agency’s responsibility to enforce the Shipping Act. Of interest the Commissioner did mention his involvement in the 1998 revisit of the Shipping Act of 1984. Given the introduction of the Congressmen Giramendi and Johnson’s 2021 Ocean Shipping Reform Action, we are hopeful Commissioner Bentzel’s familiarity serves well for constructive solutions for maritime partnerships. If the current supply chain disruptions continues into next year, the damage to our U.S. commerce may be long lasting and irreversible.

https://gcaptain.com/white-house-u-s-department-transportation-appoint-port-envoy-address-supply-chain-disruptions/


Port of Oakland Hosts Roundtable for Port Stakeholders Evey Hwang, CBFANC President Framed as an open forum to “discuss the state of shipping issues facing importers and exporters”, Commissioner Bentzel acknowledged the challenges faced by maritime stakeholders. Market surges creating equipment issues, port space constraints, lack of rates transparency, and supply chain disruptions are persistent problems. Costs and damage to commerce will increase if disruptions continue, while it becomes more difficult to determine infrastructure funding that will be needed for solutions. Especially appreciated was frank dialogue on impacts of California’s Air Resources requirements on the port and trucking which puts our CA ports at a competitive disadvantage to other ports. We raised the supply chain pain points and bottlenecks which are not serving imports and exports alike. : Opening the ports 24/7 was raised and quicky realized for “flex hours” which can be worked out with labor for continuous labor Railroad need to be brought in to solve the for inland moves. Warehouse and trucking at West Coasts are at capacity and strained due to manpower and driver shortages Current dwell time for equipment are at 2.5 times the “normal” BCO are being penalized for cancellation fees and congestion surcharges over which they have no control over. Small businesses are paying (again and always) expenses which are unplanned and unsustainable Transparency for rate changes and increases. Vessel schedules as well as better communications needed by the port and carriers. We were pleased Commissioner Bentzel offered review on recent Destination Congestion Surcharges and continuing FMC’s Factfinding 29 investigation into detention and demurrage. As this investigation is ongoing, our ask is for FMC to provide oversight on the carriers. The unfair practices and lack of commitment by the carriers to provide service and solutions for their customers who are paying historically higher rates? This is our ask on FMC as the government agency’s responsibility to enforce the Shipping Act. Of interest the Commissioner did mention his involvement in the 1998 revisit of the Shipping Act of 1984. Given the introduction of the Congressmen Giramendi and Johnson’s 2021 Ocean Shipping Reform Action, we are hopeful Commissioner Bentzel’s familiarity serves well for constructive solutions for maritime partnerships. If the current supply chain disruptions continues into next year, the damage to our U.S. commerce may be long lasting and irreversible. https://gcaptain.com/white-house-u-s-department-transportation-appoint-port-envoy-address-supply-chain-disruptions/
CBFANC Newsletter - copy of August 2021 - Info Expeditor