The Transportation Department this week unveiled a final rule that will place new financial security requirements on forwarders and freight brokers that fail to pay for services provided by a motor carrier. The new measures, first released as a proposed rule in January by the agency’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, are meant to address freight brokers and forwarders that purposely default on payments, triggering what can be a “costly and time consuming” process in a claims court that “generally results in motor carrier claims being paid pro rata.”

The European Commission will not extend the legal framework that exempts liner shipping from EU antitrust rules, it said in an announcement Oct. 10. The commission said the antitrust rules, known as the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER), "no longer promotes competition in the shipping sector" and will expire on April 25, 2024.

Correction: Terminal operators at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will raise their traffic mitigation fee by 4% starting Nov. 1, the West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement (WCMTOA) said in a news release (see 2310020071).

Terminal operators at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will raise their traffic mitigation fee by 4% starting Nov. 1, the West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement (WCMTOA) said in a news release. Beginning that date, the TMF will be $35.57 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) or $71.14 per forty-foot container, said the WCMTOA, which includes all 12 terminal operators at the ports. "The adjustment matches the combined 4% increase in longshore wage and assessment rates recently ratified in the coastwide contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association," the release said.

CBP's Office of Field Operations resumed railway bridge operations at the Port of Eagle Pass, the agency said in a news release Sept. 23. The reopening comes three days after CBP suspended railroad operations at Eagle Pass on Sept. 20 (see 2309210005) because of an influx of migrants at that port of entry.

Texas Department of Public Safety inspections are causing delays at the ports of Eagle Pass and El Paso/Ysleta Bridge, but Southern border ports remain open for commercial processing despite an influx of migrants (see 2109200028), with the exception of rail at Eagle Pass, according to an email from a CBP official sent out by the Laredo Licensed U.S. Customs Broker Association.

A potential Indirect Source Rule that the South Coast Air Quality Management District is considering, which would affect the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is necessary to avoid greater disruption from federal action should port emissions remain unaddressed, the district said in an email Sept. 1. It also said it is working with stakeholders to "come up with a proposed regulation that is feasible and can improve air quality without impacting cargo flows."

International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada said late on July 19 that it has "removed" a notice that it would be again be striking at Canadian West Coast ports beginning July 22. The 72-hour strike notice had been issued earlier that day (see 2307190031). The ILWU did not respond for further comment.

Hapag-Lloyd violated U.S. shipping regulations by failing to establish adequate facilities to return empty containers to the Port of New York and New Jersey and unfairly charging detention and demurrage for containers caught in the "logistical paralysis" of its own making, Rahal International said in a June 30 complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. Rahal, an Illinois-based importer and distributor of fruit and vegetable juices, said backlogs and delays created by the shipping line damaged some of its juice shipments, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

Longshore workers are "prepared" to walk out of work at Canadian West Coast ports at 8 a.m. on July 1, after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada issued a 72-hour strike notice to the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, ILWU Canada said in a news release June 28. The ILWU Canada Bargaining Committee "has run out options at the bargaining table because the BCMEA and their member employers have refused to negotiate on the main issues, and we feel we are left with no choice but to take the next step in the process," the news release said.