FMC Announces Three Initiatives to Address Supply Chain Issues
The Federal Maritime Commission this week announced three new initiatives it hopes will aid shippers and address supply chain issues, including one that will establish a new International Ocean Shipping Supply Chain Program and another that will reestablish the commission’s Export Rapid Response Team. The FMC will also “take the steps necessary” for carriers and marine terminal operators to employ a designated FMC compliance officer.
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All three initiatives were recommended in a report released last week by Commissioner Rebecca Dye, which stemmed from her two-year investigation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the international ocean freight delivery system (see 2206010017). One of the “most common” complaints Dye heard throughout her investigation, the FMC said, was the “excessive amounts of demurrage and detention fees” faced by shippers and truckers. The commission hopes its new initiative centered around designated FMC compliance officers “will aid in ensuring industry-wide observance of legal and regulatory requirements.”
Another initiative will create a dedicated International Ocean Shipping Supply Chain Program, which will allow the FMC to better identify supply chain issues and “offer proposals” for solutions. “The need for a dedicated International Ocean Shipping Supply Chain Program grows out of the recognition that there are longstanding, systemic problems and shortcomings in the networks and facilities serving America’s ocean commerce,” the FMC said.
A third recommendation will reestablish the Export Rapid Response Team, which will “provide a dedicated resource for shippers to use in resolving emergency commercial disputes,” FMC Chair Daniel Maffei said in a statement. Lawmakers and shippers have urged FMC to penalize carriers that decline to carry U.S. exports in favor of imports (see 2103100027). “U.S. export shippers have been particularly challenged by both supply chain disruptions and ocean carrier policies and practices that can sometimes make it difficult to meet deadlines to get cargoes aboard ships in a timely manner,” Maffei said.