Industry Outlines Port Metrics Expected to be Useful
The planned new port metrics program should include information on loading and unloading operations with consideration of ship and berth size, among other things, said a group of trade associations representing various industries involved in international trade in a Jan. 14 letter (here). The letter, addressed to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, includes advice on "key metrics" that should be included within the Bureau of Transportation Statistics working group effort to develop the measures. The metrics can help “jump-start” private efforts to bolster efficiency and decrease congestion at U.S. ports brought on largely by big container ships, a recent surge of “very large scale” operating alliances between containership owners, evolving critical equipment procedures, and an aging port infrastructure, said the groups.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The groups, which included the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the Airfowarders Association and Fashion Accessories Shippers Association, suggested that DOT should divvy up and assign metrics for certain operational areas, including berth activities, marine terminal yard activities, and truck gate operations. Specifically, the associations said they hope that the port statistics program will examine the following issues —for berth activities, average lifts per hour by vessel size and berth size and monthly average vessel turn time by vessel size and berth size; for yard operations, average monthly dwell time for import and export containers and average monthly port capacity; and for truck gate operations, average monthly total truck turn time, chassis availability, and “trouble tickets,” which are issued to a trucker when a container scheduled for pickup is unavailable because of a customs issue or other related reason. A BTS spokesman said the letter would factor into the bureau's crafting of the stats program. "We have received the letter," the spokesman said in an email. "It will be considered with all other comments."
The new port statistics reports are a statutory requirement of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (see 1511240013), signed in to law Dec. 4 (see 1512070011). Section 6018 (here) establishes a “Port Performance Freight Statistics Program,” to provide “nationally consistent measures of performance”—or key performance indicators (KPIs)—of, “at a minimum,” the nation’s top 25 ports by tonnage, by 20-foot equivalent unit, and by dry bulk. FAST requires Transportation Department officials to get recommendations for specifications and measurements to be used under the statistics program.