FMC Hopes Supply Chain Teams Address Container Return, Delivery Issues

The Federal Maritime Commission will convene six supply chain innovation teams to find improvements in the container return and delivery process at marine terminals, the FMC said Nov. 17. The announcement, made by Commissioner Rebecca Dye this week, is aimed at “improving conditions” at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California and at the Port of New York and New Jersey. The teams will be composed of ocean carrier executives and marine terminal operators.

The teams will primarily look to help truckers conduct more “double moves,” which allow them to return an empty container to a terminal and pick up a loaded container. The teams also hope to bring “certainty and predictability to the earliest return date process,” which the FMC hopes will address exporter complaints about the “unreliability of the deadline for getting cargo to a terminal.”

“Achieving double moves for truckers would improve trucker productivity and remove a constant source of conflict over container return as well as resolve problems with appointment systems and chassis shortages,” Dye said. “Earliest return date confusion is a terrible problem for U.S. exporters. This reform would also remove the constant problem to U.S. agricultural exporters of demurrage and detention charges that are not in compliance with our interpretative rule.” The first team meetings are scheduled for Dec. 1.