US Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Daniel Maffei has visited the Port of New York and New Jersey to address the increasing congestion. The seaport has witnessed a cargo increase of nearly 12 per cent year-to-date compared to the same period last year and an astounding rise of 34 per cent in cargo volume compared to the same period during pre-pandemic 2019. This which led to increasing congestion issues.
Just last week, PANYNJ announced it will implement a new quarterly container imbalance fee for ocean carriers as part of the seaport’s effort to reduce congestion. The container management fee, targeting excess empty containers being stored in the port for long periods, will be effective as of 1 September 2022 pending a mandatory federal 30-day notice period. The fee will reduce the number of excess empty containers dwelling at the port and free up much-needed capacity for containers that are full of imports and ready to be picked up by cargo owners.
During his meeting with trucking representatives and marine terminal operators at PANYNJ, FMC Chairman Maffei defended this stricter standpoint: “When ocean carriers continue to bring thousands of containers per month to a port and only pick up a fraction of that number, it creates an untenable situation for terminals, importers and exporters, trucking companies, and the port itself.”
Source: porttechnology.org