Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

Despite some pockets of progress, exactly how container shipping achieves decarbonization will likely remain an unanswered question until new zero-emission fuel standards are adopted, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Draft legislation would also seek to codify that rail demurrage fees be billed to the ocean carrier, which would then pass along the charge to the responsible shipper or BCO. .

Just a month after the European Commission announced that the block exemption regulation for carriers would not be renewed next April, the UK competition authority has also called for it to lapse upon expiry.

The bill is a response to growing CBP demands that ports pay for new inspection-related equipment, or risk having the agency reduce the amount of time its officers spend performing inspections.

The International Maritime Organization voted in May 2022 to implement the so-called Maritime Single Window from the start of 2024 in a bid to accelerate digitalization in shipping.

Despite public commitments by some 4,000 companies globally to reduce Scope 3 emissions, ocean shippers have thus far been unwilling to pay higher-than-market freight rates to achieve those goals.

An explosion in the use of the so-called de minimis provision, which enables US consignees to bring in a package under $800 in value each day, has US customs regulators worried about the intrusion of illicit goods, such as fentanyl.

Alongside broader talks on wages for its members, the International Longshoremen’s Association said individual ports need to use more union supervisors and foremen, particularly throughout the South.

Along with the grant for the Port of Wilmington’s proposed container terminal, Tacoma and Long Beach received grants for improving truck and rail access, respectively.

Six amicus briefs have been filed to the US Supreme Court supporting the South Carolina Ports Authority’s position that the ILA is illegally forcing carriers to boycott Charleston’s Hugh Leatherman Terminal as a means to acquire jobs that belong to state employees.

Carriers are already beginning to adjust schedules ahead of Europe’s new shipping carbon tax, something forwarders say could reduce direct port connections and boost transshipment activity.

The Georgia Ports Authority plans to open a third ocean terminal in Savannah in 2030 and says updating its current hybrid labor model to an all-union workforce could cost the port $600 million in its first operating year.

As activity heats up around decarbonization, there remains the stubborn fact that an unofficial law of container shipping, which dictates that shippers will always seek the lowest price or at the very least cost parity with peers, is exerting powerful resistance to the forces of climate progress.

The FMC complaint is atypical in that it’s an ocean carrier challenging fees rather than a cargo owner, forwarder or trucker pushing back against detention and demurrage charges.

The case of TCW Trucking versus Evergreen could set a precedent for whether the US Federal Maritime Commission can penalize ocean carriers for charging detention and demurrage fees during weekends and holidays when a port is closed.

The window is closing fast on shipping’s goal of having scalable zero-emission fuels account for 5% of international shipping demand by 2030, a conference in Athens was told.

Encouraging cargo owners to pay more for green ocean services remains a challenge, but carriers are reporting growing momentum from shippers aiming to cut Scope 3 emissions.

The European Commission’s announcement that the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation was “no longer fit for purpose” and will not be renewed when it expires next April blindsided most in the container shipping industry who were expecting a revision of the rule rather than its scrapping.

Following a review process launched in August last year, the European Commission reached an emphatic conclusion that the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER) “no longer promotes competition in the shipping sector.”

To comply with the European emissions trading system, ocean carriers will essentially need to become experts in carbon credit trading, on top of monitoring, verifying and reporting CO2 emissions.

The Federal Maritime Commission said its enforcement agency does not have a case against the ocean carrier over a congestion surcharge complaint from a shipper.

If shippers found the post-IMO 2020 bunker fuel formulas confusing and misaligned across ocean carriers, just wait until they see the surcharges linked to Europe’s new emissions trading system, says analyst Lars Jensen.

While three companies jointly control some operations at marine terminals at Savannah and Charleston, they are not considered marine terminal operators, an FMC judge has ruled.  

Use of the little-known arm of the FMC comes as shippers are increasingly turning to US maritime regulators to perform a consumer protection function in the aftermath of pandemic-linked disruptions and broad shipping reform that became law 15 months ago.

While the South Carolina Ports Authority cited the “urgency and importance” of the Leatherman terminal issue to the state and regional economies, getting on the Court’s docket is a daunting task.

The concept of widespread use of a hedging tool continues to face an uphill battle within the container sector years after it was introduced, especially among carriers whose buy-in is considered essential to confer legitimacy on the fledging market.

Shippers more than tripled their formal complaints in fiscal year 2022, emboldened by the maritime regulator’s sharpened focus on how ocean carriers interact with their customers.

Small onboard nuclear reactors could ultimately be the lowest-cost method of decarbonization as shipping competes with other thirsty industries for sustainable net-zero fuels, according to energy and investment analysts.

Washington is urging NVOs and forwarders to “know their customer,” a steep challenge for co-loaders who bundle multiple shipments for multiple customers into a single container, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The bids would require carriers to quote a negotiated “green premium” that cargo owners would pay to transport the containers on ships powered by zero-carbon fuels.

The new allegation against Yang Ming comes less than a week after the carrier settled a dispute with another US importer, also over allegations it failed to honor vessel capacity commitments.

Freight brokers, load boards, technology providers and law enforcement are attempting to contain the growing threat of truckload cargo theft and the fraudulent schemes that underpin it.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with countries protecting their shipping interests, but there are always ripple effects on the commercial side that benefit some stakeholders and disadvantage others, writes analyst Lars Jensen.

The regional air quality board is pushing back against what it says is “grossly inaccurate rhetoric” from transport interests who say a cap on Southern California cargo volumes may be on the horizon.

The move is part of an ongoing effort by the FMC to bolster the oversight of regulated entities through “informed compliance,” an agency spokesperson said.

Two congress members, backed by terminal operators, are insisting maritime regulators follow the congressional intent that underpins OSRA-22 or risk “severe” disruptions to the US supply chain.

The carrier is looking to have an earlier ruling by the FMC reversed, arguing that the agency turned the incentive principle guiding cargo flow through US marine terminals “on its head.”

With a formal request for information, Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel believes the agency is introducing a more “transparent and inclusive process” with stakeholders when it comes to policymaking.

The proposed rulemaking shows how far the pendulum of power has swung in favor of shippers seeking to hold carriers accountable for practices that occurred during the pandemic, but which were rarely experienced prior to that period, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The clash between shippers and container lines highlights a major challenge for the FMC in finalizing rulemaking on when a carrier can refuse to serve shippers, most notably the risk that it could create a rule that’s so commercially restrictive that it’s unconstitutional.