Transport, trade and regulation

Ten days after the US Federal Maritime Commission told shippers they no longer need to pay a filing fee or retain a lawyer to submit a complaint, shippers have already begun taking advantage of the updated process.

Pressure is mounting on European regulators to conduct a review of container shipping’s block exemption from competition law.

A range of US importers are at risk of violating new regulations over the involvement of forced labor in the goods they import, leading Maersk and technology vendor Altana AI to partner in a program to help shippers identify that risk.

The complaint comes one month after OSRA-22 became law, giving the FMC additional funding to hire more staff to increase monitoring of the container shipping industry.

After three years of appeals failed to stop AB5, California legislators are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to take any action he can to further delay the worker classification law or exempt truckers from it.

Competition watchdogs in key Asian jurisdictions are extending antitrust exemptions for the vessel-sharing agreements of ocean carriers, but trimming the validity period of those exemptions.

Hot on the heels of major shipping reform signed into law, two California Congressmen have introduced a bill that would incentivize vessels to carry US ag exports or call multiple US ports.

Amid ongoing complaints that shippers can’t move cargo or return empties, new US shipping rules are enforcing when carriers can levy detention and demurrage fees.

The next logical step in reforming US shipping law – the elimination of ocean carriers’ antitrust immunity – was briefly proposed earlier this year, but shot down due to its potential impact on carriers’ ability to operate within alliances.

The head of the Federal Maritime Commission said his agency is ready to enforce new US shipping reform aimed at monitoring carrier behavior around container use charges and export slots.

The White House says US shipping reform will help corral inflation by easing port congestion and more closely monitoring ocean carriers, claims disputed by OSRA-22 opponents.

President Joe Biden has promised to sign ocean shipping reform legislation, but the bill won’t do anything to address US port and inland congestion or the record freight rates he’s railed against.

President Joe Biden visited the Port of Los Angeles to take ocean carriers to task while stumping for final Congressional approval of major US shipping law reform.

US container shipping regulators are signaling measured moves aimed at providing more structure to commercial exchanges without stepping directly into them, writes JOC Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The Federal Maritime Commission hopes to increase its team to 160 full-time staff to boost enforcement capabilities and deepen its monitoring of shipping alliances.

For the second time in two weeks, a container line has been assessed a US civil penalty for collecting detention fees last year when it allegedly did not provide drayage providers with a means to return empty containers.

Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel wants the agency to regulate rail storage fees in certain cases when ocean containers cannot be picked up from an intermodal terminal through no fault of the cargo owner.

The ruling against Hapag-Lloyd could well be a bellwether for future actions against shipping lines relating to what shippers and drayage providers consider unfair assessment of demurrage and detention fees.

The matter of empty containers highlights the dizzying complexity of the modern supply chain, wherein gains for drayage truckers and marine terminals can be interpreted as a loss for exporters.

Two members of the Federal Maritime Commission say ocean carriers need to tread lightly when assessing per diem container fees that are related to the cyber-attack on forwarder Expeditors.