Commissioner Carl W. Bentzel continues to lead meetings about the Maritime Transportation Data Initiative (MTDI) at the direction of Chairman Daniel B. Maffei. The MTDI is examining the data generated by a container from its arrival at a US port to its destination. To date, Commissioner Bentzel has heard from beneficial cargo owners, drayage truckers, chassis providers, providers of warehousing, distribution, and third-party logistics services, members of the railroad industry, Federal Agencies, and OTI Representatives. The meeting with Longshore Labor was held March 8, 2022, with Dennis A. Daggett, Executive Vice President of International Longshoremen’s Association; Dane Jones, Clerks’ Technology Coordinator of International Longshore & Warehouse Union; Michael A. Podue, President pf International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 63; and Alan A. Robb, Assistant General Organizer of International Longshoremen’s Association, as Scheduled Participants. The meeting with FedEx, UPS, and Amazon was held February 22, 2022, with Cynthia Allen, Vice President Regulatory Affairs & Compliance of FedEx Logistics; Steve McMichael, Vice President of UPS Ocean; and Adnan Quadri, Director, Global Imports-Network Planning and Infrastructure of Amazon, as Scheduled Participants. The meeting with Large Aggregators was held March 1, 2022, with Phil Denning, Vice President U.S. Sea Logistics Operations of Kuehne + Nagel Inc.; Steve Lee, Vice President of Regulatory & Trade Compliance of Flexport; and Chris Penley, Director Global Operations of C.H. Robinson, as Scheduled Participants. This initiative has three key goals: cataloging the status quo in maritime data, storage, and access across the transportation chain; identifying key gaps in data definitions/classification; and developing recommendations for common data standards and access policies/protocols. The MTDI will culminate in a Data Summit tentatively scheduled for June of this year.
Closed Meeting on WCMTOA
The FMC held a meeting in closed session on February 25, 2022, to discuss the West Coast MTO Agreement (WCMTOA). The meeting was called by Chairman Daniel B. Maffei. The original agenda called for a discussion of both WCMTOA and an amendment WCMTOA filed permitting the continuation of an incentive program for off-peak gate use. The amendment was withdrawn by PierPass. PierPass operates under authority granted through WCMTOA. The Commission closed this meeting for several reasons including because business and proprietary information filed pursuant to agreement monitoring requirements was discussed.