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10 Ways Congress Can Help Shippers and Carriers
1. Spend More on Highways and Bridges
There’s little agreement among witnesses on the best way to boost surface
infrastructure spending, but they all want Uncle Sam to open his wallet more. Aside
from raising the fuel tax, executives have encouraged Congress to consider
charging highway users by how far they drive and making infrastructure projects
more welcoming to private investment.
2. Increase Truck Sizes
Although witnesses refrained from calling for higher truck weight limits, FedEx
President, CEO and Chairman Fred Smith and UPS Chief Operating Officer David
Abney called for trailer sizes to be increased from about 28 feet to 33 feet. This
would allow the parcel carriers to haul more goods, particularly the increasing
number of lightweight items ordered via the Internet.
3. Finish Next Generation Transportation System
Congress needs to fund the long-delayed satellite-based system that will replace
the current ground-based system, witnesses said. By allowing flight routes to be
shortened, the air cargo industry will be able to better manage capacity and reduce
delays. The absence of the Next Gen system means the U.S. wastes “millions and
millions of gallons of fuel a day,” FedEx’s Smith said.
4. Don’t/Do Re-regulate the Railroads
Sometimes the best way Congress can help is staying out of the way. That’s the
message the Association of American Railroads delivered to Congress on June 27.
Some shipper groups, including the National Industrial Transportation League,
counter that proposals, such as one to allow reciprocal switching, would increase
competition and boost industry.
5. Increase Free Trade Agreements
UPS’s Abney urged Congress to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the
recently launched Trade in Services Agreement, a proposed pact aimed to change
the rules of how 21 countries conduct global trade. UPS also supports the
anticipated start of free trade talks with the European Union, known as the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. When the U.S signs a free trade
pact with a country, Abney says UPS sees cargo traffic between the U.S. and that
country increase more than 20 percent.
6. Reduce Customs Delays
Delays in getting goods cleared by Customs and Border Protection at land, sea and
air ports of entry hinder shippers’ just-in-time supply chains. Reducing supply chain
barriers, such as slow Customs clearance, could raise global GDP by about 5
percent and increase trade by nearly 15 percent, Abney said in prepared
statements, quoting a World Economic Forum study.
7. Create National Freight Policy and Freight Trust Fund
A national freight policy is needed to transform the country’s freight patchwork into a
network, executives told the House. The Department of Transportation is forging
such a plan and is seeking input from an advisory group consisting of shippers and
logistics providers. Although grant programs, namely TIGER, have helped advance
freight projects, executives also want a Freight Trust Fund.
8. Fully Use HMT Tax for Ports
All of the revenue gained through the Harbor Maintenance Tax has to go back to the
ports that collected the revenue, not just half as is currently done now. The Senate’s
version of the Water Resources Development Act would eventually give ports all the
money back they collect, and the House is poised to try something similar in its own
version of the bill.
9. Provide More Clarity on Trucking Regulations
Shippers and freight brokers need more help from the government in determining
which drivers are safe to hire in relation to the Safety Measurement System in its
Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, better known as CSA, said Scott
Satterlee, senior vice president of transportation at C.H. Robinson Worldwide. Truck
executives also have complained that the new hours-of-service rules, set to take
effect July 1, are too vague.
10. Make Freight Project Reviews More Efficient
Freight projects take too long to be permitted, AAR President and CEO Ed
Hamberger told the House. He pointed to the years of delays added to the
construction timeline of an intermodal terminal to serve the ports of Long Beach and
Los Angeles. “In many cases, railroads face a classic ‘not-in-my-backyard’ problem,
even for projects for which the benefits to a locality or region far outweigh the
drawbacks,” Hamberger said in prepared statements.
