Customs brokers in Washington to lobby for the Customs Business Fairness Act renewal should also talk about the importance of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021, National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America transportation committee members told the annual government affairs conference attendees, as a way to fight excessive detention and demurrage fees.
The Federal Maritime Commission approved some recommendations made by Commissioner Rebecca Dye in July to address ocean freight delivery and port issues (see 2107290021), the commission said Sept. 25. Under one recommendation, the FMC will issue a “policy statement” to provide guidance to shippers seeking to obtain reparations for violations of the Shipping Act, including unfair detention and demurrage fees. The statement will provide guidance on the “scope of the prohibition against carrier retaliation,” when attorney fees may be imposed on the losing party, and who may file a complaint with the FMC.
More than 150 trade groups and companies sent a letter to the co-sponsors of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, endorsing the legislation. The letter says, "We certainly welcomed the Interpretive Rule on Detention and Demurrage as published by the Federal Maritime Commission, but we need more than just 'guidance' that is not being followed by ocean carriers nor marine terminals, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in unfair penalties against US shippers and their transportation partners.”
Despite recent steps by the White House and the Federal Maritime Commission to address supply chain issues hampering agricultural exporters, the problems are worsening, trade groups said this week. Carriers are increasingly declining or canceling export bookings, ship delays are backlogging orders by months and agricultural exporters are seeing steep drops in revenue due to continually rising container costs, 76 trade associations said.
Pakistan recently amended its Foreign Exchange Manual to simplify its cross-border commercial payment process, which has implications for logistics-related payments, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Aug. 26. The changes include new “arrangements” for paying container detention charges, port demurrage charges and charter costs to the owner of a ship or aircraft, the report said.
More than 80 agricultural trade groups are endorsing a bipartisan House bill they say would address unreasonable detention and demurrage practices and ocean carriers’ refusal to carry U.S. exports in favor of imports. The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021, introduced Aug. 10 by Reps. John Garamendi, D-Calif., and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., aims to support the “growth” of exporters by holding carriers accountable for their unfair fees and declined export bookings, according to a fact sheet from the Agriculture Transportation Coalition.
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.”
The Kenya Ports Authority again renewed the free storage period for containers at its ports to help the shipping industry as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2105060007), the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Aug. 4. The new deadline is Oct. 20. Port users are entitled to up to 15 days of free storage for domestic export containers at most ports, up from the previous nine-day limit. The number of free storage days for import containers varies by port and type of container. Traders and exporters will be required to pay $30 to $90 per container, depending on the size, for goods stored beyond the free period. Traders will also face a $25 demurrage fee per day.
The Federal Maritime Commission this week issued a series of long-awaited recommendations to address issues in the international freight delivery system that have been exacerbated over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The recommendations, which resulted from Commissioner Rebecca Dye’s fact-finding mission that began in March 2020, aim to minimize barriers to Shipping Act enforcement and better allow the FMC to “facilitate prompt and fair dispute resolution,” Dye said July 28.
The Federal Maritime Commission will audit ocean carriers’ compliance with the FMC’s rule on detention and demurrage (see 2009140045 and 2011170041) in a bid to stop carriers from imposing unreasonable fees. The newly established Vessel-Operating Common Carrier Audit Program, which includes a dedicated audit team, will conduct the audits, the FMC said July 20. The program will “analyze” the top nine carriers by market share for compliance with the FMC’s rule and “clarify any questions or ambiguities.”