Seaports/global logistics: New congressional focus on environment and infrastructure urged
Patrick Burnson -- Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 8/6/2009
WASHINGTON—Among the two legislative bills recently introduced in the House by Rep. Laura Richardson late last week, was one specifically designed to ensure Long Beach and Los Angeles are not “financially at a disadvantage with its nationwide counterparts as they implement long needed actions that will improve the health of our communities.”
That was the wording the Democrat from California’s 37th Congressional District used when proposing H.R. 3446, The Clean Low-Emissions Authorization Nationwide (CLEAN) Ports Act.
According to Richardson, the bill is “an outgrowth of lessons learned by the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from their aggressive emissions reduction programs.”
Spokesmen for the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) said that the bill is still being evaluated before being endorsed. AAPA spokesmen said that it is also examining the merits of Richardson’s H.R. 3447, the Harbor Maintenance Trust (HMT) Fund Reform Act, which requires Congress to appropriate the entire amount of ocean freight taxes collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection each year. Currently, there is a surplus of funds yet to be used.
The HMT is assessed on ocean imports and domestic freight moves along the coast to help pay for maintaining deep-draft navigation channels. The tax is computed at 0.125 percent of the cargo’s value.
Shipping analysts suggest that while both bills have merit, the former may be driven by a political agenda designed to address declining inbound freight volumes at Southern California ports. And some major shippers’ associations are taking issue with the HMT bill, too, noting that goods being sourced from Canada or Mexico would be exempt from the tax, but imports that arrived at Mexican or Canadian ports and then enter the United States via the land border would be taxed at a rate of 0.3125 percent of the cargo value.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) noted in a statement, that trade at the nation’s ports has dropped 30 percent to 40 percent in many locations with the attendant job losses and business closures.
“Now is not the time for an increased tax on containers or cargo,” said NCBFAA president, Mary Jo Muoio.
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