The Port of New York and New Jersey will implement a new quarterly container imbalance fee for ocean carriers as part of the seaport’s effort to handle record cargo volumes due to peak cargo season and a cargo shift from the West Coast.
The container management fee, targeting excess empty containers being stored in the port for long periods, will be effective as of Sept. 1, 2022, pending a mandatory federal 30-day notice period.
The fee will reduce the number of excess empty containers dwelling at the port and free up much-needed capacity for containers that are full of imports and ready to be picked up by cargo owners.
As we continue to manage record cargo volume and work with our tenants and port stakeholders for the removal of empty containers in a timely manner, we call on all industry stakeholders to find sustainable, long-term solutions to an industrywide problem affecting many U.S. ports
said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole.
According to Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton, “this new proactive container management approach is an example of the Port Department’s ability to identify and implement solutions before they cause logjams in our region.”
We emphatically encourage ocean carriers to step up their efforts to evacuate empty containers quicker and at higher volumes to free up much needed capacity for arriving imports in order to keep commerce moving through the port and the region
added Bethann Rooney, director of the Port Department at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The container imbalance fee will be assessed on ocean carriers who do not evacuate empty containers that take up sorely needed space for arriving imports and impede overall port productivity and fluidity.
Under this new container management fee, which will be assessed on a quarterly basis, ocean carriers’ total outgoing container volume must equal or exceed 110 percent of their incoming container volume during the same period, or they will be assessed a fee of $100 per container for failing to hit this benchmark. Incoming and outgoing containers include both loaded and empty containers, excluding rail volume.
Fee proceeds will be used to offset the costs of providing additional storage capacity, and other expenses incurred by the glut of empty containers.
In addition to the fee, the Port Authority has taken other steps to manage the empty containers, including the repurposing of 12 acres within Port Newark and the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal for temporary storage of empty containers and long-dwelling import containers, and is in the process of negotiating or investigating additional storage space.
The agency has met with ocean carriers both individually and as an industry and identified additional mitigation strategies, conducting targeted outreach to shipping companies and cargo owners currently storing their import containers within the port for excessive periods.
The fee will be reassessed when the global supply chain crisis eases, with a review as needed to the agency’s Board of Commissioners no later than September 2023.
