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OR

Ports Legislation Introduced in the U.S. Senate

Jun 23, 2015, 12:55 PM by SPAN
Bi-partisan legislation was introduced by Chairman John Thune (R-SD) last month that would require the nation’s ports to report to Congress on the volumes of shipments and corresponding labor hours – something that is required by other transportation modes but not the ocean-going lines.

The bill, S. 1298,  not only requires a yearly report on key performance metrics, but also requires reporting before and during a port labor negotiation until that negotiation is completed.  This will help inform a decision as to whether or not a slowdown is occurring and what the impact is on the ports throughout the negotiation.  S. 1298 creates a new level of transparency and accountability for ports, many of which are government owned, by requiring: 

  • The director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to establish a port performance statistics program and report annually to Congress on the performance and capacity of the Nation’s key ports;
  • U.S. port authorities that are subject to federal regulation or that receive federal assistance to report annually to BTS; and
  • The Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretaries of Labor and Commerce, to report to Congress on a port’s performance before and after the expiration of maritime labor agreements to help indicate whether labor discussions have impacted operations, the estimated economic impact of such disputes and roughly how long it will take for shipments to return to normal.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is reviewing the legislation and reaching out to shippers for advice and other suggestions to make this legislation more effective.  Senator Thune’s staff explained they are interested in developing benchmarks for the first time so that claims by either management or labor can be verified as well as provide justification for increased infrastructure spending at the ports.