10/6/03-A bill requiring marine terminals to ensure intermodal containers are not overweight or improperly loaded failed to make it out of committee.
Under HB3448, sponsored by Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, an ocean marine terminal could be fined $500 if found to be violating this order.
The proposal would have forced terminal operators to weigh each intermodal container upon the container’s arrival at the terminal. Overweight containers could either be repacked at the port or returned to the sender.
In the event of repacking, the terminal operator would have been forced to pay a trucker $100 per hour that the container was detained. If a truck departed a terminal with an overweight container and was later stopped on route to its destination, the terminal operator would pay the trucker “at the rate specified in the contract” plus $100 per hour that the container was detained.
The bill was in the House transportation committee when lawmakers adjourned for the year in June.