· On February 11, 2022 chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) released a statement questioning the fees being charged in by the Pier Pass company started in 2005 as a non-profit for Long Beach (LGB) and Los Angles (LA) designed initially to help incentivize better traffic flow. Daniel B. Maffei said Neither Biden nor others advocating off-peak gate incentives could have known that PierPass’ proposed fee structure generates revenue well above what is currently required to implement the program in a revenue-neutral manner," adding that "PierPass claims to be cooperating with President Biden’s Port Envoy but apparently only if it can rake in millions more in profits paid for by American importers. Maffei also stated that “Today, it collects a Traffic Mitigation Fee that mitigates no traffic”.
· After this issued statement terminal operators withdrew a recent request to the FMC to extend the traffic mitigation fee (TMF) only on daytime container moves as part of Joe Biden’s port envoy.
· With the now rescinded request the FMC must still review the chairman’s call to investigate the “underlying” agreement itself. “PierPass’ operations are so opaque that it is unclear to me that it provides any public benefit that would justify its antitrust exemption,” Maffei said.
Friday February 18, 2022
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