FMC Investigating 8 Ocean Carriers for Improper Surcharges
The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating the surcharge practices of eight ocean carriers after receiving industry complaints that the carriers have “improperly” imposed fees, the commission said Aug. 4. The carriers -- CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Matson, MSC, OOCL, SM Line and Zim -- have until Aug. 13 to respond to questions by the FMC’s Bureau of Enforcement and to “provide details that confirm any surcharges were instituted properly and in accordance with legal and regulatory obligations.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said the commission is hearing “increasing reports” of carriers “assessing new additional fees, such as ‘congestion surcharges,’ with little notice or explanation,” with some fees being attributed to the high levels of port congestion. “It seems to me that these factors would already have been included into the record high rates charged by the carriers,” Maffei said. “As Chairman, I want to know the carriers’ justifications for additional fees and I strongly support close scrutiny by the FMC’s Bureau of Enforcement aimed at stopping any instance where these add-on fees may not fully comply with the law or regulation.” The investigation was announced less than a week after the commission issued a series of long-awaited recommendations to address problems in the international freight delivery system (see 2107290021).
The investigation into the unfair fees “demonstrates that the FMC will take action to investigate questionable carrier practices that are brought to its attention,” the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an Aug. 5 email to members. NCBFAA President Jan Fields urged members to “please support this effort by engaging the FMC with the documented cases.”
The NCBFAA said its members have reported “serious and persistent problems in the supply chain,” including a lack of container availability, “severe” strains on air freight capacity, rail yard container overflows, driver shortages, major truck congestion, “exorbitant” demurrage and detention charges and increasingly high ocean freight rates. It said some freight rates have been quoted as high as $25,000 per container.
The NCBFAA said it has met with the FMC commissioners to report the problems and encouraged members to do the same. “Not only do we need the members of the NCBFAA to speak up, but the [beneficial cargo owner’s] voice must be heard,” the association said. “We have raised the awareness to this issue, now we all must present those situations we have experienced to back us up.”