By EUN-KYUNG KIM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - American officials dropped their plans to
block Japanese cargo container ships from U.S. ports, averting at
least temporarily the disruption of billions of dollars in trade
between the world's two largest economies.
The Federal Maritime Commission reversed its order to bar
vessels from Japan's three biggest shipping lines after U.S. and
Japanese officials announced Friday they had reached an agreement
in principle to give American shippers freer access to Japanese
ports.
The ban had been scheduled to take effect at midnight Friday.
Commission Chairman Howard Creel said the panel will meet Monday
morning to review details of the completed agreement. If no
concerns are raised and the Japanese shipping firms agree to pay
the $4 million in fines they owe, the commission will permanently
drop its threatened ban, he said.
''I am very much encouraged by the progress that has been made
today,'' Creel said. ''I hope that this breakthrough represents a
major step towards reform of what have been deeply troublesome port
conditions for U.S. carriers and U.S. commerce.''
President Clinton hailed the accord as good news for American
companies.
''We have long pressed Japan for a firm commitment to liberalize
trade in its ports and today they have done just that,'' Clinton
said in a statement issued from Argentina, the last stop on his
South American tour.
Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, who assumed leadership
of the U.S. negotiating team Friday, characterized the deal as a
''breakthrough which we hope will lead to meaningful reform of
these restrictive, costly and prohibitive port practices.''
The maritime commission, a small, independent agency that
oversees U.S. ports, voted to deny entry to the three Japanese
shipping lines after they refused to pay the $4 million in fines
that came due at midnight Wednesday.
Those fines - amounting to $100,000 per ship entering a U.S.
port - were imposed in September after the United States claimed
the Japanese government failed to live up to earlier commitments to
liberalize port practices.
A ban on Japanese container ships would have affected billions
of dollars worth of products just as American retailers were trying
to stock up for the holiday sales season.
American goods, including farm products carried on the Japanese
ships on their return trips, also would have been affected.
Japanese Ambassador Kunihiko Saito said at a news conference
with Eizenstat that there were ''still a few details to be worked
out.'' Both men characterized the remaining issues as minor.
Lower-level negotiators were directed to work out the fine
print, a process that the U.S. side estimated could take the
weekend to finish.
Eizenstat said he believed the tentative deal could lead to
''meaningful reform'' in Japanese port practices, which U.S.
shippers have long complained discriminate against them.
Under the accord, the Japanese agreed to create an alternative
system for U.S. and other foreign carriers to negotiate for
stevedores to unload their ships.
This had been a key demand of U.S. shippers, who wanted the
Japanese government to rein in the Japan Harbor Transportation
Association, a group of stevedoring companies that American
shippers complained greatly limited access to Japanese ports and
drove up costs for unloading goods.
In addition to dispatching Eizenstat to lead the U.S.
negotiating team, the White House kept close tabs on the
discussions, convening a meeting of the president's National
Economic Council to review the proposals that were on the table.
The three shipping lines - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., Kawasaki
Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and Nippon Yusen K.K. - typically carry
containers that can be loaded onto railroad cars.
The vast majority of products that move between the United
States and Japan are transported in container ships. While
automobiles are transported separately in specialized ships, the
huge two-way trade in auto parts goes by container ship.
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