Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) have introduced “The Port Performance Act” to measure productivity at major U.S. ports. The goal of the bill is to help signal productivity slowdowns resulting from labor disputes.

Federal agencies would be required to collect port performance data and produce reports as exports decline. This will help inform a decision as to whether or not a slowdown is occurring and what the impact is during labor negotiations.