PSI Panel Focuses on

Transportation Challenges

As part of the PSI Chapter’s contributions at the Paper and Plastics Recycling Conference in Chicago last week, past PSI president Nini Krever of Wilmington Paper Corp. moderated the “Moving Materials Revisited” panel discussion on Oct. 20, which featured Karyn Booth of Thompson Hine LLP, Gregory Edwards of Virginia International Terminals, Matt Schrap of the Harbor Trucking Association, and Krissy van Niekerk of Maersk. The discussion covered the gamut, including the recently passed Ocean Shipping Reform Act, the ongoing digitization of freight data, rail- and freight-service problems, and port congestion, among other topics.

Past PSI president Nini Krever (far left) moderated the "Moving Materials Revisited" session, with speakers (beginning second from left) Gregory Edwards, Krissy van Niekerk, Karyn Booth, and Matt Schrap.

“There has been a lot of pain for importers and exporters,” Booth stated, and recyclers have particularly felt pain regarding steep—and, in their view, unfair—demurrage and detention charges. “While demurrage and detention is legally recognized in the law to spur efficiency in the system, the charges must be imposed fairly,” Booth said.

Those charges are just one example of the inefficiencies of the freight market. According to Schrap, “there’s so much inefficiency built into the system, and the shippers are being charged for that inefficiency.” In particular, the freight and port industry “suffers greatly from the lack of data integration,” Edwards said. The industry is working to improve that situation—“trying to all talk from the same sheet of music,” he said—but it isn’t there yet. Adding a freight company’s perspective, Van Niekerk said, “We’re not trying to overly penalize our customers, but we must work within the constraints of the data system.”

Fortunately for shippers, Congress passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act in June, which is designed to address key problems in the ocean freight market. Booth encouraged recyclers to “get familiar with the new remedies available to you [in the new act], especially regarding demurrage and detention. Get smart about this because it’s here to give you more tools.”

Currently, the ocean freight market is seeing a decline in imports, which is allowing freight lines to clear congestion at U.S. ports, clean house, and focus on serving their current book of business, Van Niekerk said. On-time vessel performance—which dipped significantly during the pandemic—is also improving, Edwards said.

Going forward, Van Niekerk encouraged recyclers to take advantage of the online data tools available from freight lines like Maersk, which give them information at their fingertips, improve communication, and enhance efficiency in the market. “Let’s work together to make the business more consistent,” she said.

Turning to the rail market, rail service, rail rates, and rail competition are among the issues coming to the attention of the federal Surface Transportation Board. The threat of a possible rail-worker strike is also hanging over the rail market. “Either a deal gets made, Congress steps in, or the union may wait until after the election and Thanksgiving to strike,” Booth noted.

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