US retailers are calling for the inclusion of a number of key performance indicators in the new port performance statistics programme created by December’s Transportation Act.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) has led a coalition of more than 100 groups in sending specific recommendations to the Department of Transportation in an open letter to Secretary Anthony Foxx. The coalition includes organisations representing retailers, manufacturers, farmers, logistics providers, and other supply chain stakeholders.

The move follows last year’s successful campaign to include a port performance statistics programme in the federal long-term surface transportation bill.

The group’s four suggested performance indicators cover activities at the berth, including the number of containers moved to or from a ship and the number of days a vessel sits at the berth; activities within marine terminal yards, including container “dwell” time and port capacity as measured by container throughput. 

It also suggests truck gate operations, including truck turn time, availability of the tractor-trailer “chassis” on which containers are carried, and the impact of “trouble tickets” issued to truckers when cargo is not ready for pick up due to various reasons. And finally, on-dock rail operations to evaluate the velocity through the port in places where ports can put together railroad trains of cargo on-dock. 

“Having efficient, modern ports is important for the free flow of international trade, both imports and exports, and critical for our respective industries,” the coalition wrote. “Our interest in performance measures is long-standing, but has been recently spurred by significant congestion and cargo delivery delays at the nation’s largest container ports. These delays have a ripple effect throughout the supply chain, impacting all of our collective members, as well as the overall US economy.” 

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The coalition also made an argument for the Transportation Department to include cargo owners or shippers among the participants in the working group developing the port performance statistics programme.

“We have been the drivers of discussions about port key performance measures for many years,” they wrote. “We believe it is imperative for [the Bureau of Transportation Statistics] to take shipper interests into account in developing the port statistics programme.”