Title 49TransportationRelease 119-73

§6314 Port performance freight statistics program

Title 49 › Subtitle SUBTITLE III— - GENERAL AND INTERMODAL PROGRAMS › Chapter CHAPTER 63— - BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION STATISTICS › § 6314

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Create a port performance statistics program. The Director must set it up for the Secretary to measure how well ports work for the Nation’s top 25 ports by tonnage, top 25 by 20‑foot equivalent unit, and top 25 by dry bulk. The Director must send Congress an annual report by January 15 each year with capacity and throughput numbers for those ports. The Director must collect data from U.S. ports that get Federal help or that federal rules require to give the needed capacity and throughput information. The Director must get recommendations on what measures to use and how to collect timely, consistent data, including ways to protect proprietary information. Within 60 days after the Transportation for Tomorrow Act of 2015 became law, the Director must form a working group made up of many federal agencies, industry and labor representatives, port and terminal representatives, and research advisors. That group must give its recommendations within 1 year after that Act’s enactment. The Director must make the statistics public while following security limits and must protect the data under section 3572 of title 44.

Full Legal Text

Title 49, §6314

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Director shall establish, on behalf of the Secretary, a port performance statistics program to provide nationally consistent measures of performance of, at a minimum—
(1)the Nation’s top 25 ports by tonnage;
(2)the Nation’s top 25 ports by 20-foot equivalent unit; and
(3)the Nation’s top 25 ports by dry bulk.
(b)(1)Not later than January 15 of each year, the Director shall submit an annual report to Congress that includes statistics on capacity and throughput at the ports described in subsection (a).
(2)The Director shall collect port performance measures for each of the United States ports referred to in subsection (a) that—
(A)receives Federal assistance; or
(B)is subject to Federal regulation to submit necessary information to the Bureau that includes statistics on capacity and throughput as applicable to the specific configuration of the port.
(c)(1)The Director shall obtain recommendations for—
(A)port performance measures, including specifications and data measurements to be used in the program established under subsection (a); and
(B)a process for the Department to collect timely and consistent data, including identifying safeguards to protect proprietary information described in subsection (b)(2).
(2)Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of the Transportation for Tomorrow Act of 2015, the Director shall commission a working group composed of—
(A)operating administrations of the Department;
(B)the Coast Guard;
(C)the Federal Maritime Commission;
(D)U.S. Customs and Border Protection;
(E)the Marine Transportation System National Advisory Council;
(F)the Army Corps of Engineers;
(G)the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation;
(H)the Bureau of Labor Statistics;
(I)the Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health;
(J)the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness;
(K)1 representative from the rail industry;
(L)1 representative from the trucking industry;
(M)1 representative from the maritime shipping industry;
(N)1 representative from a labor organization for each industry described in subparagraphs (K) through (M);
(O)1 representative from the International Longshoremen’s Association;
(P)1 representative from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union;
(Q)1 representative from a port authority;
(R)1 representative from a terminal operator;
(S)representatives of the National Freight Advisory Committee of the Department; and
(T)representatives of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
(3)Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the Transportation for Tomorrow Act of 2015, the working group commissioned under paragraph (2) shall submit its recommendations to the Director.
(d)The Director shall ensure that—
(1)the statistics compiled under this section—
(A)are readily accessible to the public; and
(B)are consistent with applicable security constraints and confidentiality interests; and
(2)the data acquired, regardless of source, shall be protected in accordance with section 3572 of title 44.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of the enactment of the Transportation for Tomorrow Act of 2015, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), (3), is the date of enactment of title VI of div. A of Pub. L. 114–94, which was approved Dec. 4, 2015.

Amendments

2020—Subsec. (c)(2)(G). Pub. L. 116–260 substituted “Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation” for “Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation”. 2019—Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 115–435 substituted “section 3572 of title 44.” for “the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note; Public Law 107–347).”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2019 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–435 effective 180 days after Jan. 14, 2019, see section 403 of Pub. L. 115–435, set out as a note under section 306 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 2015, see section 1003 of Pub. L. 114–94, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2015 Amendment note under section 5313 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Transitional and

Savings Provision

sFor transitional and

Savings Provision

s related to the amendment of this section and other provisions of law by title III of Pub. L. 115–435, see section 302(d) of Pub. L. 115–435, set out as a note under section 3561 of Title 44, Public Printing and Documents.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

49 U.S.C. § 6314

Title 49Transportation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73