Fitch warns weight regulations can raise US ports’ congestion

Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings warned that the new container weighing regulations set to take effect on July 1, 2016 are generating uncertainty at US ports and can raise congestion.

The ratings agency claimed in a statement that Fitch-rated ports are lacking both the designated facilities for weighing containers and the systems for the verification of container weights.

According to Fitch, this deficiency could lead to an increase, from July this year, in the “already chronic congestion” at the ports that are slowed by issues in chassis management, increased cargo loads from bigger ships and insufficient inland and intermodal links.