Managing through transportation issues

These days, every discussion the editors of Recycling Today have with contacts who trade recyclables includes comments about the logistics issues that are hindering the movement of materials. If people are not talking about the limited availability of containers or truck drivers, they are talking about the ever-increasing prices and how they are eating into margins.

In a conversation in mid-February, one metals trader told me the fragility of the transportation system appears to have taken everyone by surprise.

The infrastructure law will attempt to address some of these issues. For instance, the law’s DRIVE Safe Act has created a way for drivers under 21 years old to work in interstate trucking. The law also allocates dollars to port improvements.

Relief also could come from Senate Bill 3586, the Ocean Shipping Competition Reform Act of 2022, which seeks to update federal regulations for the global shipping industry. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and John Thune, members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, is designed to make it harder for ocean carriers to unreasonably refuse goods ready to export at ports and would give the Federal Maritime Commission greater rulemaking authority to regulate harmful practices by carriers, its sponsors say.

“Recyclers have also felt the need to ‘surge and stretch’ in response to the situation as they explore their options to keep materials moving.”

Noting port congestion and increased shipping charges, Klobuchar says the proposed legislation “will level the playing field by giving the Federal Maritime Commission greater authority to regulate harmful practices by carriers and set rules on what fees carriers can reasonably charge shippers and transporters.”

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), Washington, has endorsed the bill, saying it would preserve “fluidity charges” that prompt cargo owners to keep their goods from piling up at terminals.

The AAPA President and CEO Chris Connor says, “The pandemic has laid bare the need for a transport system to be able to surge and stretch—across all links, from sea to land to rail to warehouse to consumer.”

Recyclers also have felt the need to “surge and stretch” in response to the situation as they explore their options to keep materials moving. Most sources say they have gotten better at managing the situation. But they need more substantial relief, and none I’ve talked with believe it is imminent.