• Headlines
  • World News
  • Commercial Law
  • Famous Cases
  • Interviews
  • Photo News
  • Property Law
  • Lifestyle
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
  • Login
Gavel International
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
The Gavel
No Result
View All Result
Home World News

U.S. launches investigation into Canada’s ‘unfavourable’ Great Lakes shipping rules

by
June 17, 2020
Reading Time: 2 min
0
U.S. launches investigation into Canada’s ‘unfavourable’ Great Lakes shipping rules
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT


Just weeks before North America’s new trade agreement is due to take effect, regulators in the United States have launched a formal investigation into Canada’s plan to change the rules that govern shipping on the Great Lakes.

RelatedPosts

Spain to legalize euthanasia and aided suicide

Facebook faces antitrust lawsuits for Privacy invasion of Instagram users and Illegal Monopolization from the FTC

#ENDSARS: President Buhari officially addresses protesting youths, assures extensive Police Reforms

U.S.-based shippers say proposed new standards for the use and release of ballast water — extra weight to improve the stability of vessels that have unloaded their cargo — are unfair, excessively expensive and designed to undermine competition in the business of ferrying goods across the world’s largest collection of freshwater lakes.

Transport Canada introduced the new rules last summer to meet the demands of an International Maritime Organization treaty that took effect in 2017 aimed at limiting the spread of harmful or invasive species — a treaty to which the United States is not a party.

In a petition filed in March with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, the Lake Carriers’ Association, which represents 13 firms with 46 U.S.-flagged “lakers” capable of transporting 81 million tonnes each year, accused Canada of seeking a competitive advantage.

The association argues that “the proposed regulations are not mandated by the IMO treaty, that compliance with the Canadian performance standard would be cost-prohibitive for its members, and that the proposed regulations are intended to drive U.S. operators from the cross-lakes trade,” the commission said in announcing the investigation.

You should also READ  Crews of cargo ships being denied shore leave for longer periods during coronavirus pandemic

The regulations, if passed, would require modern ballast-water treatment systems on all vessels operating in Canadian waters, and that shipping companies develop management plans in accordance with stringent new performance standards.

The association estimates the cost of meeting the new requirements at more than C$1.1 billion to preserve access to an estimated 64 million metric tonnes of shipments over the 25-year life of the regulations. That, they say, would amount to a doubling of their freight rates, rendering them unable to compete with their Canadian counterparts.

“Member U.S. laker operators would be unable to bear the increased cost of such regulations and stay competitive and thus would have to exit that trade,” the association writes in its petition.

“Canadian vessel operators would directly benefit from the exit of U.S. lakers from that trade by taking over the portion of the trade formerly conducted by U.S. lakers and enjoying a de facto monopoly on cross-lakes U.S. export-to-Canada waterborne trade.”

Staff in the office of Transport Minister Marc Garneau did not immediately respond to media inquiries Wednesday.

The regulations do provide an exception to U.S. Great Lakes vessels, provided they don’t “load or release” ballast in Canadian waters. But U.S.-flagged vessels transporting shipments to Canada would have no choice but to load Canadian ballast _ water that wouldn’t be released until the vessel was back in the U.S.

“Loading ballast water in Canadian waters, as opposed to discharging it, does not result in the potential introduction of non-native organisms into Canadian waters,” the association argues. “There is thus no reason from a Canadian environmental perspective to impose the regulatory requirements on a vessel simply because it loads in a Canadian port ballast water that will be discharged at a U.S. port.”

You should also READ  ‘Give me liberty or … COVID-19’: The irony of coronavirus protests in the U.S.

Source link

Like this:

Like Loading...
Tags: CanadacusmaEconomyGreat LakesGreat Lakes shippingGreat Lakes shipping rulesNAFTAnew NAFTAshipping rules Great LakesTransport CanadaU.S. investigationUS Investigation great lakesUSMCAWorld

Next Post
U.S. imposes new economic and travel sanctions on Syrian officials, president’s family

U.S. imposes new economic and travel sanctions on Syrian officials, president’s family

Discussion about this post

Trending News

  • Nigeria’s new military chiefs: Implications and Expectations January 26, 2021
  • Buhari appoints new Military Service Chiefs January 26, 2021
  • The return of Akeredolu January 26, 2021
  • Fire guts Sunday Igboho’s house in Ibadan January 26, 2021
  • Ebonyi PDP Chairman flays court order of suspension January 26, 2021
The Gavel

© 2020 Gavel International - Powered by Realdata.

Navigate Site

  • Headlines
  • World News
  • Commercial Law
  • Famous Cases
  • Interviews
  • Photo News
  • Property Law
  • Lifestyle

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Newsletter
  • Welcome to The Gavel

© 2020 Gavel International - Powered by Realdata.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add The Gavel to your Homescreen!

Add
%d bloggers like this: