Nine container ship lines want the Federal Maritime Commission to order the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to quit collecting a fee that they claim illegally subsidizes intermodal rail shipments, the Journal of Commerce reported.
The carriers contend the port authority’s cargo facility fee violates the shipping act by imposing charges unrelated to services rendered. The fee applies to all cargo and gives a cost break to shipments moving via intermodal rail.
The fee has been controversial since the port authority approved it last December. Some carriers have been paying the fee under protest since it took effect March 14, rather than risk denial of berthing privileges for their ships.
Port officials said the cargo facility fee was designed to encourage more cargo to move via intermodal rail instead of truck. They said the fee would reduce idling by trucks and provide more money for road improvements at the port.
The cargo facility fee replaced a $57.50-per-lift assessment on containers handled at the port’s ExpressRail ramps. It also eliminated a truck assessment levied on interchanges of containers between truckers and container terminals.
The port authority now charges $4.95 per 20-foot-equivalent unit on all loaded and empty containers lifted on or off ships. Fees also are assessed on shipments of automobiles ($1.11 per vehicle) and uncontainerized cargo (13 cents a ton).
In their complaint to the FMC, the carriers say the new fee schedule forces them to subsidize the cost of the port’s ExpressRail rail ramps even when they don’t use the ramps.
The fee “reduces the per-container costs for rail users from a rail fee of $57.50 for each container lift to ... $9.90 per 40-foot container, with the difference being picked up by the non-rail users,” the carriers’ complaint said.
Carriers not using ExpressRail “will pay millions…for nothing. Conversely, rail users will benefit in the millions from (the carriers’) subsidies.”
A port authority spokesman said the agency could not comment about a pending FMC case.
When the fee was announced last December, the port authority said the cargo facility fee was expected to generate $26 million a year, 27 percent more than the $20.5 million generated by the ExpressRail fee. The truck fee that was replaced generated minimal revenue.
The carriers filing the FMC complaint -- China Shipping Container Lines, Cosco Container Lines, Evergreen Marine, Hanjin Lines, Horizon Lines, “K” Line, NYK, United Arab Shipping Co. and Yang Ming Marine Transport – asked the commission to order the port authority to cease collecting the new fine and to pay reparations.
The carriers contend the port authority’s cargo facility fee violates the shipping act by imposing charges unrelated to services rendered. The fee applies to all cargo and gives a cost break to shipments moving via intermodal rail.
The fee has been controversial since the port authority approved it last December. Some carriers have been paying the fee under protest since it took effect March 14, rather than risk denial of berthing privileges for their ships.
Port officials said the cargo facility fee was designed to encourage more cargo to move via intermodal rail instead of truck. They said the fee would reduce idling by trucks and provide more money for road improvements at the port.
The cargo facility fee replaced a $57.50-per-lift assessment on containers handled at the port’s ExpressRail ramps. It also eliminated a truck assessment levied on interchanges of containers between truckers and container terminals.
The port authority now charges $4.95 per 20-foot-equivalent unit on all loaded and empty containers lifted on or off ships. Fees also are assessed on shipments of automobiles ($1.11 per vehicle) and uncontainerized cargo (13 cents a ton).
In their complaint to the FMC, the carriers say the new fee schedule forces them to subsidize the cost of the port’s ExpressRail rail ramps even when they don’t use the ramps.
The fee “reduces the per-container costs for rail users from a rail fee of $57.50 for each container lift to ... $9.90 per 40-foot container, with the difference being picked up by the non-rail users,” the carriers’ complaint said.
Carriers not using ExpressRail “will pay millions…for nothing. Conversely, rail users will benefit in the millions from (the carriers’) subsidies.”
A port authority spokesman said the agency could not comment about a pending FMC case.
When the fee was announced last December, the port authority said the cargo facility fee was expected to generate $26 million a year, 27 percent more than the $20.5 million generated by the ExpressRail fee. The truck fee that was replaced generated minimal revenue.
The carriers filing the FMC complaint -- China Shipping Container Lines, Cosco Container Lines, Evergreen Marine, Hanjin Lines, Horizon Lines, “K” Line, NYK, United Arab Shipping Co. and Yang Ming Marine Transport – asked the commission to order the port authority to cease collecting the new fine and to pay reparations.