NEW ORLEANS -- Charge complaints before the Federal Maritime Commission are increasingly trending toward significant settlements or awards, industry officials said, urging shippers to file complaints if they believe they’re facing unfair carrier practices. Carriers are choosing to settle rather than draw the FMC’s attention, they said, especially for complaints involving demurrage or detention fees.
NEW ORLEANS -- The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is preparing to ask Congress to allow the Federal Maritime Commission to exercise jurisdiction over certain rail storage fees. NCBFAA is drafting a letter to Reps. John Garamendi, D-Calif., and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. -- the two House authors of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act -- that could ask the lawmakers to require the FMC to more forcefully regulate rail-assessed demurrage fees charged on ocean containers traveling inland.
South Korea-based SM Line Corp. failed to properly perform its transportation obligations to inland destinations, leading to unfair detention and demurrage charges, Samsung Electronics America said in an April 19 complaint filed with the Federal Maritime Commission. Samsung accused the global shipping company of "unjust and unreasonable" practices in handling property, providing invoices without "adequate information" and imposing unreasonable charges in violation of U.S. shipping regulations. Samsung asked the FMC to require SM Line to pay Samsung reparations for the "unlawful conduct" and order it to stop the conduct. Samsung also requested an oral hearing.
The Federal Maritime Commission is "actively seeking information" to confirm whether ocean carriers and marine terminal operators are complying with a recent ruling about per diem detention charges, the FMC said March 23.
The Federal Maritime Commission is preparing for increased enforcement this year as it expects to receive more complaints and hire more investigators as part of a $43.7 million congressional funding request -- an uptick from the nearly $35 million it asked for last year.
Beginning April 1, Maersk will begin invoicing shippers directly for detention charges instead of charging motor carriers by default, it said in a March 6 client advisory. "This change will support our aim to provide timely and accurate detention invoicing to the correct party," the advisory said.
A new set of recommendations previewed by a member of the Federal Maritime Commission this week could help carriers, ports, railroads and others better harmonize supply chain data and information sharing. Commissioner Carl Bentzel, speaking during a Feb. 15 Commerce Department advisory committee meeting, said he hopes to know this summer whether the FMC plans to move forward with a formal rulemaking.
In West Virginia, where the first House Ways and Means Committee hearing of the new Congress was held since the Republicans won the majority, the members asked questions of business owners, and were hosted by a mid-sized business that sells hardwood lumber to furniture makers, cabinetmakers and flooring manufacturers.
The Federal Maritime Commission should dismiss a complaint alleging U.S.-based Omni Logistics violated shipping regulations when it failed to include required information on demurrage invoices for more than 200 containers (see 2212020027), the company told the FMC this week. The complaint by Thompson Pipe Group Pressure, a U.S. supplier of construction equipment and services, “utterly fails to provide any factual detail” about how Omni violated the regulations violations, Omni said. The company also said FMC lacks jurisdiction over the dispute and the complaint alleges violations of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act despite the alleged violations occurring before OSRA was enacted.
The Federal Maritime Commission will amend its proposed rule on unreasonable carrier conduct (see 2209130040), after industry, lawmakers and at least one federal agency said the rule was too broad, missed congressional intent and didn’t go far enough to address carriers that refuse to carry exports in favor of imports. The commission plans to issue a “supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking” to incorporate changes to the rule, FMC Chair Daniel Maffei said during a Jan. 25 commission meeting, adding that he hopes to publish the updates “as quickly as possible.”