[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 103 (Friday, May 27, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33657-33658]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12551]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Docket No.: 160511417-6417-01]
RIN 0690-XC004


21st Century U.S. Port Competitiveness Initiative: Request for 
Public Comment

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department) is seeking public 
input on U.S. seaport efficiency and competitiveness issues for its 
21st Century U.S. Port Competitiveness Initiative. In this effort, the 
Department is working with seaports, stakeholders, and port users to 
identify and share best practices in port-stakeholder-user 
coordination, collaboration, and information-sharing that are being 
used to resolve operational and infrastructure issues that affect 
freight flows and increase port and supply chain congestion. The 
Department's goal is to ensure that U.S. seaports and their supply 
chains have the tools they need to strengthen U.S. port and supply 
chain competitiveness, facilitate international trade, and catalyze 
local, regional, national economic growth and job creation. We welcome 
input from all interested parties.

DATES: Submit written comments on or before 5 p.m. Eastern time on July 
11, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this notice by any of the 
following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit your comments via the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=DOC-2016-0003, click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, 
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
     Mail: Russell Adise, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 
Constitution Avenue NW., Room 11018, Washington, DC 20230. Include on 
the envelope the following identifier ``Attn: 21st Century U.S. Port 
Competitiveness Initiative.''
    Comments submitted by email should be machine-readable and should 
not be copy-protected. Responders should include the name of the person 
or organization filing the comment, as well as a page number on each 
page of their submissions. Paper submissions should also include a CD 
or DVD with an electronic version of the document, which should be 
labeled with the name and organization of the filer. Please do not 
include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as 
sensitive personal information or proprietary information. All comments 
received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted 
to regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying information 
(e.g., name, address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be 
publicly accessible. Information obtained as a result of this notice 
may be used by the Federal Government for program planning on a non-
attribution basis.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Russell Adise, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Room 11018, Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-5086; email: [email protected]. 
Please direct media inquiries to the Department's Office of Public 
Affairs, (202) 482-4883.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The U.S. marine transportation system is an essential driver of the 
U.S. economy. Every day, U.S. ports and waterways handle millions of 
tons of domestic and international cargo, ranging from retail and 
agricultural products to finished goods and components, coal, 
petrochemicals, heating oil and automobiles. Those ports support more 
than 23 million American jobs throughout the supply chain, including 
the local economy in and around port communities.
    America's seaports are crucial generators of economic development 
and well-paying jobs, both regionally and nationally, and throughout 
the supply chains that use the ports. They are also crucial to our 
nation's ability to take advantage of the leveled playing field and 
increased market access being enabled by Administration trade 
initiatives, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). 
Approximately 75 percent of U.S. international merchandise exports and 
imports flow through our seaports including Made in America exports and 
the intermediate goods and components used in them.
    Long-term port congestion and efficiency problems remain a major 
systemic threat that creates a drag on local, regional, and national 
economic growth and employment.\1\ According to a recent Journal of 
Commerce seaport berth productivity report, U.S. West Coast container 
ports may be as much

[[Page 33658]]

as 25 to 48 percent less productive than the world's most efficient 
container ports. As the nationwide port congestion and slowdown in 2014 
and 2015 demonstrated, what happens at any one port, or group of ports, 
can have far-reaching and nationwide impacts on all U.S. ports and the 
companies and stakeholders that use and rely on them.
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    \1\ Please see Federal Maritime Commission, ``U.S. Container 
Port Congestion & Related International Supply Chain Issues: Causes, 
Consequences & Challenges,'' June 2015 http://www.fmc.gov/NR15-11/.
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    Port congestion and efficiency problems stem from a variety of 
factors, only some of which are directly under a seaport's control. 
Larger vessels, growing trade volumes, insufficient infrastructure, 
operating inefficiencies, poor labor-management relations, and lack of 
communication and collaboration among ports, stakeholders, and users 
can result in inefficient cargo movement and congestion that can 
dramatically slow the movement of trade to and through America's 
seaports, ultimately resulting in lost sales, markets, and jobs across 
the nation, and the loss of U.S. port and supply chain competitiveness 
in the global marketplace. U.S. seaports' inability to respond quickly 
enough to rapidly-changing industry and cargo flow demands further 
compromises U.S. trade, competitiveness, and resiliency.
    In the U.S., most of the elements of these port-related challenges 
are owned by local government entities and domestic and foreign 
companies, with limited communication across the full range of ports, 
users, and stakeholders affected by these challenges. To address these 
issues comprehensively and nationally, the U.S. Department of Commerce 
is playing a convening role for seaports, stakeholders, and users to 
help them work together to identify how they can cooperate, 
collaborate, and share information more effectively and efficiently in 
order to achieve mutually beneficial improvements, and how the Federal 
Government can help spur increasing public-private partnerships and 
investment that can improve port-related operations, data-sharing 
technology, and infrastructure.
    Under this initiative, the Department of Commerce has launched a 
series of regional port and supply chain competitiveness roundtables at 
key ports across the U.S., similar to the Administration's 21st Century 
Ports Roundtable in Baltimore in March 2016. Through these roundtables, 
the Department is learning what leading U.S. seaports are doing, 
together with their stakeholders, to improve their ability to 
coordinate, collaborate, and share information towards identifying and 
resolving operational port and infrastructure inefficiencies that 
negatively impact trade flows and cause congestion. The Department is 
also learning what additional steps could be taken to improve port/
stakeholder collaboration and partnerships, as well as to improve 
investment in port infrastructure, equipment, and technology.
    This Notice is intended to supplement the Department's roundtables 
by soliciting public comment on the issues described below. The 
information gained through these roundtables and this Notice will be 
used to develop a report on best practices that U.S. seaports, 
stakeholders, and users can use as appropriate as a tool to help 
develop and implement mutually beneficial congestion relief and 
efficiency improvement measures through coordination, collaboration, 
and information sharing. The report is intended to be released in 
December 2016.

II. Objectives of This Notice

    This Notice offers an opportunity for all interested parties to 
share their perspectives and recommend actions that the Federal 
Government, state and local governments, and port users and 
stakeholders--individually and together--can take to help address U.S. 
port congestion and efficiency challenges, improve U.S. port and supply 
chain competitiveness, and enhance the role of ports as engines and 
catalysts of local, regional, and national economic development and job 
growth.

III. Questions

    Commenters are encouraged to address any or all of the following 
questions. Please note in the response the number corresponding to the 
question(s). For any response, commenters may wish to consider 
describing specific goals; actions and roles that the United States 
Government, ports, stakeholders, and users might take to achieve these 
goals; evidence that demonstrates the benefits and costs associated 
with the action; and whether the proposal is inter-agency or agency-
specific. Specific, actionable proposals for action and for policy 
mechanisms directed to the relevant government agencies are most 
useful.
    The Department seeks public comment on the following questions:
    1. What are the most important challenges and opportunities facing 
U.S. port-related operations and efficiency?
    2. What are best practices for improving port-related operations? 
How can the Federal Government help to share these best practices 
nationwide?
    3. How can the Federal Government best promote the coordinated use 
of public funds for the development of port-related infrastructure? 
What can the Federal Government do, that it is not doing now, to 
stimulate and/or leverage private funding for port-related 
infrastructure?
    4. What Federal policies should be modernized to promote U.S. port-
related investment and operational performance?
    5. How can the Federal Government best collaborate with 
stakeholders (state, local, labor, industry, port authorities, 
academia, financial institutions, etc.) to enhance U.S. port-related 
competitiveness?
    6. What can the Federal Government do--on its own or in 
coordination and collaboration with state and local governments and the 
private sector--to enhance the value of ports as engines of economic 
growth and job creation?
    7. How can technology and data be used to improve U.S. port and 
supply chain performance? What mechanisms, if any, should the Federal 
Government deploy to promote information sharing and develop a common 
technology platform?
    8. Are there actions that have been taken by specific U.S. or 
foreign ports or other nations that should be highlighted as best 
practices for ports? If so, please describe.

    Dated: May 20, 2016.
Bruce H. Andrews,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-12551 Filed 5-26-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-17-P