How to collect traffic mitigation fee (TMF)?

Another thunder was thrown in the group of Sunny Worldwide Logistics——

"LONG BEACH, Calif., November 10, 2021—The West Coast MTO Agreement (WCMTOA) today announced that the Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will be temporarily adjusted from December 1, 2021, through January 31, 2022, subject to regulatory clearance by the Federal Maritime Commission. During this period, there will be a financial incentive to move containers during off-peak hours by charging a TMF during peak hours. Today’s announcement makes no changes to the appointment systems operated by individual terminals.

The adjustment comes at the request of the Port Envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, as well as the Executive Directors of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as part of a collaborative effort to incentivize increased use of marine terminal gates during off-peak hours. The action is part of an overall effort to expand the use of warehouses, distribution centers, and trucking during the second and third shifts for the final push of holiday goods in December and into January leading to Lunar New Year.

From December 1, 2021, through January 31, 2022, the TMF will be $78.23 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) or $156.46 for all other sizes of container for non-exempt international container moves through the terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 5:59 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Containers exempt from the TMF include empty containers; import cargo or export cargo that transits the Alameda Corridor in a container and is subject to a fee imposed by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority; domestic and transshipment cargo; and loaded container moves through the terminals from 6:00 p.m. through 6:59 a.m. Monday through Saturday and all day (24 hours) on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Empty chassis and bobtail trucks are also exempt."

In other words, TMF is an extra transportation fee charged for trucks that return containers between 7 am and 6 pm from Monday to Friday, if it is a truck that returns containers between 6 pm and 7 am This fee will not be charged.

Amazing~ It used to be Container Excess Dwell Fee (Container Excess Dwell Fee), now there is another Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF), and there are more and more operations.

Can charging so many fees really solve the problem of terminal congestion? The pressure on cargo owners and forwarders will increase, and the costs will eventually be borne by consumers, leading to rising prices and increasing inflation. The current plan is to upgrade and improve the infrastructure at the port of destination, increase manpower and worker benefits, and speed up the operation efficiency of the terminal.

Source and reference:

www.pierpass.org

Mu Fan. Surcharge cannot eliminate congestion "China Shipping Gazette"