[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 92 (Thursday, June 26, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S6493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   OCEAN SHIPPING REFORM ACT OF 1997

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1997 is a 
continuation and extension of work initiated in the last Congress by 
Representative Bud Shuster and former Senator Larry Pressler. Their 
goal was to build a fair and responsible balance in America's 
international container shipping maritime policy. The purpose was to 
better reflect the modern maritime marketplace. Unfortunately, it was 
not achieved because we ran out of time.
  In the 105th Congress, a bipartisan group of Senators from the 
Commerce Committee introduced a modified version of the Ocean Shipping 
Reform bill. It addressed many of the concerns with last year's bill 
identified by affected stakeholders. Our plan to move this shipping 
reform legislation forward has been inclusive, simple, and direct. 
Under the leadership of Senator Hutchison, and working in a bipartisan 
way, we have developed a bill that reflects a broad consensus. Most 
stakeholders in this industry are comfortable with it. This doesn't 
mean they each got everything they wanted. It does mean that a balance 
was achieved between what they desired and what the other stakeholders 
would accept. A real compromise. In this Congress, we have worked hard 
to achieve a consensus, and we will work even harder to keep it.
  This bill is not perfect. But the process has been excellent. The 
Commerce Committee held a hearing and a markup, and innumerable 
meetings with all affected parties. And throughout the process Senator 
McCain's staff has made the various iterations of the legislation 
publicly available. This transparency was important to reaching the 
compromise.
  Mr. President, I believe that it implements real change that will 
benefit America's ocean shipping industry. When passed and signed into 
law, S. 414 will help foster the many benefits of increased competition 
that this industry sorely needs and wants.
  Mr. President, it will also merge the Federal Maritime Commission 
with the Surface Transportation Board to create the United States 
Transportation Board (USTB) which will ultimately provide an 
independent federal transportation regulatory board which thinks and 
acts on intermodal issues.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I appreciate the Majority Leader's efforts 
to work with me on this important legislation. I also want to thank him 
for his efforts to address the concerns of all the interested parties 
involved in the ocean shipping industry. I identified three areas in 
the bill we passed in Committee that were of particular concern to me 
and that I wanted addressed before the bill was taken to the full 
Senate. The Leader has worked diligently to address my concerns. I too 
believe this reform is desperately needed. I am pleased that the 
committee took the extra time after the markup to complete the work on 
this bill. An agreement was reached that the majority of America's 
shipping stakeholders can accept: the ports, longshore labor, shippers, 
and carriers.

  Mr. LOTT. The stakeholders wanted more. I wanted more. I know my 
colleagues wanted more. My friend Mr. Gorton was explicit in his desire 
for more reform.
  Mr. GORTON. I agree with the Leader. This bill is not perfect and it 
does not accomplish every reform that I want to see for this industry. 
But I believe it is a significant improvement over the status quo. I do 
recognize that Mrs. Hutchison's approach was to make change 
incrementally and accept compromises to successfully move this bill 
forward and bring it to the floor.
  Mr. LOTT. I appreciate Senator Gorton's candor and his support for 
both the process and the bill. And, I appreciated Senator Gorton's 
willingness to accept compromise in order to reach a consensus which 
enables this bill to move forward.
  Mr. President, I know that during the markup, Senator Gorton 
expressed strong reservations about the bill. He made it clear that 
three issues needed to be addressed prior to a vote on the floor. And, 
a collaborative effort was used to try to accommodate these changes. 
Mr. President, two of the three issues were incorporated into the bill. 
The negotiations were tough, but all stakeholders worked together in an 
open and honest fashion to reach a consensus on this reform 
legislation.
  Mr. GORTON. Let me take a moment to briefly review my concerns. 
First, I requested that certain discrimination prohibitions concerning 
service contracts be applied to carriers only when they are working 
together, not when they are operating as individual companies.
  Second, I sought to amend the forest products definition to 
incorporate certain products, such as laminated beams or panels.
  And third, I wanted shippers and carriers to be able to keep 
confidential the essential terms of their service contracts. Since the 
markup, there has been a sincere effort by all parties to work with me.
  Mr. President, throughout this consensus building process, the 
Committee was dedicated to working through my concerns, and I believe 
that the Majority Leader did his best.
  Common ground was found on the first two of my concerns. I appreciate 
the modification of the service contract discrimination provisions so 
that they apply only to carriers when they work collectively. This 
modification is particularly important to me and to my shippers in 
Washington state.

  I also appreciate that the definition of forest products was modified 
as I requested.
  Regrettably, we were unable to reach an agreement on the 
confidentiality for service contracts. We explored the idea of not 
requiring carriers to publish information regarding volume, but this, 
unfortunately, was rejected.
  Mr. President, I would like to reserve the right to address the 
confidentiality issue in an amendment when the full Senate considers 
this bill.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I appreciate Senator Gorton's kind words, 
and recognize his right to continue to advocate for the confidentiality 
provision. However, I am convinced that any further reduction in 
service contract reporting provisions would erode the broad consensus 
achieved by the Committee for this bill.
  Mr. President, we must remember that when the Committee set out to 
develop this legislation, we agreed to move forward incrementally and 
work to keep a broad consensus.
  And, I want more reform, but I also want a bill.
  I look forward to a vigorous debate on the service contract reporting 
provision if Senator Gorton decides to bring an amendment to the floor. 
Let me be clear. I will not support such an amendment because I believe 
that in the end, it would erode support for final passage of this 
important maritime legislation.
  Mr. President, I want all our colleagues to thank Senator Gorton for 
his fine work on this bill. He has challenged us to improve the bill, 
and in doing so, he has expanded the reforms it provides. This is good 
for America. This is good for America's container shipping industry. 
This is good for the great state of Washington.
  Mr. President, I ask our colleagues to support our bill to accomplish 
meaningful reform in this important maritime industry.
  Mr. President, one final comment, I pledge to bring this bill to the 
floor in this session of the 105th Congress. It is overdue. It is 
bipartisan. It is supported by all stakeholders of the maritime 
industry.

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