Schumer wants to add MTB and GSP Renewal to NDAA
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has written to his colleagues that it is likely that the Senate will consider the National Defense Authorization Act this week and that the China package that includes the renewal of the Miscellaneous Trade Bill (MTB) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) that the Senate passed much earlier this year may be attached to it.
The bill that was passed is the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USIOCA) that includes authority for the USTR to extend China 301 exclusions as well as renewing MTB and GSP. By attaching it or the NDAA, it would allow negotiations of the USIOCA with the House and hopefully move it on before the end of the year.
PierPass Fee Format Will Temporarily Change
In cooperation with Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and in response to a request by the Biden Administration, the terminal members of the West Coast Marine Terminal Operators Agreement (WCMTOA) announced that they will temporarily change the PierPass process back to charging higher fees for pickups during regular daily work hours and will charge no fees to pickups during off hours.
Import containers picked up by trucks on weekdays during 7:00 am and 6:00 pm will be assessed a Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) of $78.23 for a twenty-foot container and $156.46 for a forty-foot container and for containers of any other size. PierPass fees must again be guaranteed before being picked up by trucks. There will be no TMF charged for containers that will move by rail.
This will be a temporary action going from December 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022. This announcement will not change the appointment systems operated by individual terminals. A copy of the PierPass notice can be found by clicking here.
Port Dwell Time Fees in Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach Have Been Postponed
The new fees for excessive dwell time for containers sitting at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach had been pushed back to November 22, 2021. This change was made due to an already notable progress with decrease of 26% of the containers that had been sitting and taking up space at the docks. Since the second announcement, the Ports have continued to assess the progress more and have announced a second postponement to November 29, 2021. You can find the announcement by the Port of Los Angeles by clicking here.
FMC Convenes Innovation Teams to Address Container Return and Delivery
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) announced it will convene six supply chain innovation teams to find improvements in the process for the return and delivery of containers at marine terminals. The goal of the teams will be to help truckers make more double moves which would allow them to return an empty container to a terminal and pick up a loaded container.
Changes would allow more moves to be done daily. This would allow more containers to move daily. It would allow trucks to make more than one or 2 moves a day which would increase their profitability. Fees paid for a single move per day do not sustain owner operators that are paid per move. This change could bring back more drivers that could not operate on one move per day and could alleviate some of the driver shortage contributing to the congestion problem for both importers and exporters.
A copy of the announcement can be found on the FMC’s website.
U.S. and Turkey Announce a Compromise Agreement on Digital Taxes
The United States and Turkey have announced on a compromise agreement to join in the two-pillar system that much of Europe has already agreed on to address Tax issues arising with the digitalization of the economy. This agreement should eliminate the assessment of additional U.S duties on Turkish goods that we set to go into effect by the end of 2021. We are now waiting on a formal announcement for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to stop the additional duty. You can find the announcement from the department of Treasury by clicking here.