OCEAN carriers have stepped up efforts to clear thousands of empty containers lingering in and around the Port of New York and New Jersey by deploying extra ships, port rotation changes, and cross-chartering space from one another.
The moves come ahead of the implementation of a tariff that aims to penalise carriers for letting empty containers dwell too long across the region, reports IHS Media.
In a recent filing with the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) said its planned 'container imbalance fee' has resulted in ocean carriers sweeping up some 3,500 empty containers from the port in the two months from July through August.
The fee was originally due to go into effect September 1, but has been delayed due to possible modifications to the tariff's language, a PANYNJ said. A new implementation date has not been made public.
As originally drafted, the US$100-per container fee will be applied if ocean carriers don't remove at least 10 per cent more containers than they dropped off during a quarter. For example, if a carrier discharges 100,000 containers in a particular quarter, they must take 110,000 from the port. Failure to do so would result in a $100 per container fee for every box short of 110,000 left at the port, excluding intermodal freight that leaves the port.
The fee, which the port began to publicly float in June, aims to chip away at the 200,000 empty containers that the PANYNJ has lingering in the region, with many of those in trucker and warehouse yards.
'Empty containers continue to be a major challenge as the PANYNJ experiences record volumes,' the port said in the filing, which was in response to the FMC's request for industry comment on whether to enact an emergency order calling for greater data sharing to combat port congestion.
'The announcement of the new container imbalance fee has encouraged ocean carriers to evacuate empties more quickly from NY/NJ. Ocean carriers calling on the PANYNJ have cited evacuating over 6,000 TEU between July-August 2022.'
Many of those empties have left on sweepers calling at the port, with 11 ships over the course of June and July alone, according to data from PANYNJ. More sweeps have occurred in September, according to three sources who are familiar with the carriers' plans but asked not to be identified due to ongoing business relationships with them.
Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) plans to send in three empty sweepers during September that will take up to 6,000 empty containers. CMA CGM lifted 3,500 empties with a sweeper and Hapag-Lloyd plans to lift as many as 7,000 from NY-NJ this week through next week, while an empty sweeper scheduled for early October will remove about another 1,000.
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The moves come ahead of the implementation of a tariff that aims to penalise carriers for letting empty containers dwell too long across the region, reports IHS Media.
In a recent filing with the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) said its planned 'container imbalance fee' has resulted in ocean carriers sweeping up some 3,500 empty containers from the port in the two months from July through August.
The fee was originally due to go into effect September 1, but has been delayed due to possible modifications to the tariff's language, a PANYNJ said. A new implementation date has not been made public.
As originally drafted, the US$100-per container fee will be applied if ocean carriers don't remove at least 10 per cent more containers than they dropped off during a quarter. For example, if a carrier discharges 100,000 containers in a particular quarter, they must take 110,000 from the port. Failure to do so would result in a $100 per container fee for every box short of 110,000 left at the port, excluding intermodal freight that leaves the port.
The fee, which the port began to publicly float in June, aims to chip away at the 200,000 empty containers that the PANYNJ has lingering in the region, with many of those in trucker and warehouse yards.
'Empty containers continue to be a major challenge as the PANYNJ experiences record volumes,' the port said in the filing, which was in response to the FMC's request for industry comment on whether to enact an emergency order calling for greater data sharing to combat port congestion.
'The announcement of the new container imbalance fee has encouraged ocean carriers to evacuate empties more quickly from NY/NJ. Ocean carriers calling on the PANYNJ have cited evacuating over 6,000 TEU between July-August 2022.'
Many of those empties have left on sweepers calling at the port, with 11 ships over the course of June and July alone, according to data from PANYNJ. More sweeps have occurred in September, according to three sources who are familiar with the carriers' plans but asked not to be identified due to ongoing business relationships with them.
Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) plans to send in three empty sweepers during September that will take up to 6,000 empty containers. CMA CGM lifted 3,500 empties with a sweeper and Hapag-Lloyd plans to lift as many as 7,000 from NY-NJ this week through next week, while an empty sweeper scheduled for early October will remove about another 1,000.
SeaNews Turkey