US Importer Accuses Carrier of Illegal Shipping Practices
CertiFit, a Utah-based auto parts importer, on May 4 filed a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission against Evergreen Line, accusing the ocean carrier of violating shipping regulations. CertiFit accused Evergreen of "systematically failing to meet its commitments" under a service contract, "refusing tendered cargo, refusing to provide empty containers, failing to provide necessary information concerning booking issues, and a refusal to deal," the complaint said. CertiFit is seeking reparations for Evergreen's alleged violations of the Shipping Act.
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The complaint alleges that between April 2020 and April 2021, Evergreen failed to meet its minimum quality commitment (MCQ) and "initiated a practice of systematically failing to meet its quantity commitments" to CertiFit, refusing to accept loaded shipping containers in Asia for transport to the U.S., and refused to provide empty containers for CertiFit to use. By April 19, 2021, Evergreen had only shipped 157 of the 445 containers it agreed to as part of the contract, CertiFit said.
This forced CertiFit to find space on the spot market for a significantly higher price and forced the company to pay higher detention and demurrage charges, as containers were shipped to the nearest rail yard instead of their facilities and they had less free time to return containers, the company said. Those detention charges rose to $160 or more per day, CertiFit said.
On several occasions when Evergreen failed to provide the appropriate space and CertiFit had to use the spot market, its cargo was still shipped on Evergreen's ships. This shows that Evergreen "did, in fact, have capacity to carry" CertiFit's "containers pursuant to its service contract," the complaint said. CertiFit tried to contact Evergreen but they "either responded negatively or did not respond at all."
Evergreen "sought to take advantage of the higher prices by forcing shippers with service contracts" to "resort to spot market purchases to secure needed freight carriage," the complaint said. The carriers' "unreasonable practices were knowing and deliberate, and were not due to a lack of available cargo space or as a result of any other circumstances outside of [their] control."
CertiFit is asking for an investigation by the FMC onthese violations, an order after the investigation that Evergreen violated the Shipping Act, an order forcing Evergreen to stop these practices in the future, an order requiring Evergreen to pay CertiFit reparations, and any other orders the FMC "deems just and proper."
Evergreen did not immediately respond to our request for comment.