b'18American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comRail storage charges: a continuing headache(REFUNDcontinued frommined in China. Lower over-page 12) all tariffs on imported finished for shippers price increase for our custom- lithium-ion battery cells from ers and that end users pay anChina, noted Joshua Blume, New FMC case may (or may not) provide a remedy.extra 35% to 40%, accordinga senior trade manager, puts toThomasRosensweet,theourU.S.-basedmanufactur-By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTcompanys president. ing of EV battery cells at a U.S. tariff policy discour- distinct disadvantage.Oneoftheby-productsquestionistheMilwaukee- fromunreasonablechargesages manufacturing anodes inThe technology giant IBM oftheCOVID-19supply- basedNVOCCM.E.Deyimposedoninternationalthe U.S., Rosensweet argued,Corporationclaimedthatthe chainsnafushasbeenthat&Co.,theoceancarrieriscontainers by railroads. But,because the U.S. has a 100%301 tariffs have significantly shipperswereoftenhitwithHapag-Lloyd,andtherail- becauseofafewwrinklesantidumping duty on the formraised costs for IBMs advanced highdemurrageanddeten- road is CSX. intheM.E.Deycase,andofmagnesiumthatwouldmanufacturingoperationsin tion charges when there wereInlateDecember,thebecause its very early in thebe used, making it uneco- the United States, centered in delaysinpickingupcon- FMC secretary issued a noticeproceedings, its probably toonomical to manufacture thePoughkeepsie, N.Y., where the tainers.Cargoownershaveindicatingthattheagencysoon for a full-on celebration. anodesintheU.S.Chinacompany makes the System Z long had remedies to redresshadreceivedthecomplaint,TheM.E.Deycontain- controlsover80%ofthemainframesusedbycompa-excessive fees before the Fed- recognizingspecificallythaters were delivered by Hapag- worlds supply of magnesiumnies and government entities to eralMaritimeCommissionrail storage charges were anLloydtoCharleston,afterand provides the mineral at arun their operations and cloud (FMC),whoseregulationselementofthecontroversy.which they were transportedlower cost than other sources.infrastructures.Theimposi-prohibitunreasonablestor- Less than two weeks later, anbyCSXtoitsterminalinPanasonicCorporationoftionofSection301tariffs, agechargesprovidedtheadministrative law judge wasNashville,arrivingthereinNorth America, which recentlywrote Michael DiPaula-Coyle, offending party was an oceanassignedtothecase.TheseearlySeptember2022.Bybrokegroundonanelectricthe companys head of interna-carrierormarineterminalactions suggest that the FMCthetimethetruckingcom- vehiclebatteryfactoryinDetional trade, has raised sourc-operator. But seeking relief foris exercising jurisdiction overpany New Age Logistics wasSoto,Kansas,facesasimilaring costs by tens of millions of excessive rail storage chargesa matter involving excessiveable to move the ten delayeddilemmawithhightariffsondollars each year. has been another matter. rail storage charges. containers off the terminal aEV battery minerals like graph- iRobotCorporation,the FMCpoliciesinterpretThat may be good news(HEADACHEcontinuedite, cobalt, lithium, nickel, and(REFUNDcontinued on reasonablechargesasthoseforshippersseekingreliefon page 22) manganese,mostofwhichispage 29)intendedasfinancialincen-tivestopromotefreightflu-iditywhichwouldnt includefeesforlatepickups if the delays were beyond the shippers control. In fact, theField FreshFMC has punished ocean car-riers when they unreasonablyWith Less Wasterefusetowaivecharges,as it did with Hapag-Lloyd last year, hitting the company with a $2 million civil penalty.r aild elays& W hoP ays ?Butwhathappensif, say,anoceantransportation intermediarycontractswith an ocean carrier to move 16 containers from Rotterdam to Nashville? The carrier issues a through bill of lading and sub-contracts the inland portion of the moves to a Class I railroad. But when the containers get to Nashville,theresamonth-longdelayingetting10of them mounted on chassis and moved off the terminal. As a result,theoceancarrier,and the railroad both bill the ship-perforsix-figuredetention and demurrage fees.BythetermsofUnited States statute, the FMC lacks jurisdictionoverrailcarri-ers. The Surface Transporta-tionBoard(STB)hassome authoritytoregulaterail demurrageandaccessorial charges,butonlyasthose apply to rail cars. STB Chair MartinObermanhaswrit-ten that he is troubled over excessive rail storage charges imposedoncontainersand theSTBhasrequestedthat railcarriersdisclosetheir chargeswhichrangefromTelematics Remote Climate Data Driven Real Time$75 to $350 per day for Cana-dian Pacific and $100 to $500Technology Controls Insights Trackingper day for CSX. But thats aboutalltheSTBcando about rail storage fees when it comes to containers. Its not just the box SeaCubeC omPlaintB eforefmC its our approach to offering food waste mitigation solutions bundled with leading edge technology that makes the difference.The Rotterdam-to-NashvilleC O N T A I N E R L E A S I N GscenariorepresentsthebasicVisit www.seacubecontainers.com to learn more. seacubecontainers.comfacts included in a complaint filed in December before the FMC.Theintermediaryin BSYA 1011 Sea Cube Pineapple Food Waste Mitigation 8x10 AJOT_r5.indd 1 2/9/23 1:58 PM'