Marine terminal operator APS East Coast (Amports) engaged in "a series of schemes and efforts to unlawfully restrict stevedoring services" and charged $1.2 million in "baseless" fees, Ports America Chesapeake (PAC) and Marine Terminals Corporation-East (MTCE), said in a June 2 complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. PAC and MTCE, which provide stevedoring services in Baltimore, also accused Amports of subjecting them to "prejudicial treatment" compared with other stevedores "without legitimate transportation justifications," interfering with their stevedoring business and contracts and "unreasonably refusing to deal" with them.

German container shipper Hamburg Sud must pay nearly $10 million to OJ Commerce, an American e-commerce business, after Hamburg retaliated against OJC for threatening to file a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission, the FMC’s administrative law judge ruled June 7. The massive fine came after the FMC said Hamburg Sud, owned by major shipping line Maersk, violated the Shipping Act’s anti-retaliation provision and refused to fulfill contract terms.

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Vessel-operating common carriers must file all service contracts and amendments to the Federal Maritime Commission's SERVCON system "no later than" 30 days "after the effective date," the FMC reminded industry June 2. A failure to file contracts could result in "fines or other penalties," the FMC said. Filers must make sure that they have the right effective date in SERVCON and that amendments to contracts have a "prospective effect," the FMC said. Contracts also cannot reference terms that are not "explicitly contained in the service contract, unless those terms are readily available to the parties and the Commission," the FMC said. The FMC also provided a link to a webpage for information on how to file service contracts.

Food importer Bakerly failed to establish that carrier Seafrigo USA violated shipping regulations in its complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission last year, Seafrigo told the FMC this week, adding that the importer's reasons for avoiding paying detention and demurrage charges "cannot withstand scrutiny." New Jersey-based Seafrigo asked the FMC to "reject" Bakerly's complaint and "hold that Bakerly is responsible" for more than $2 million in demurrage and detention charges that Seafrigo "paid on its behalf."

The Federal Maritime Commission last week approved a settlement agreement between U.S. metal trader CCMA and major ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The confidential settlement stems from a December CCMA complaint alleging MSC assessed it $114,000 in unfair detention and demurrage fees (see 2212080020). MSC denied those allegations, saying CCMA lacked "meritorious factual basis" for its claims (see 2301090017).

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is seeking comments by July 24 on a new data collection for "empty container volumes at intermodal locations," it said in a Federal Register notice. The data collection effort, which would implement certain parts of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, would allow the FMC to gather information on "vessel-level tonnage as well as full and empty containers entering and leaving U.S. ports." It would also allow the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to collect "operational data on intermodal equipment and dwell times."

Orient Overseas Container Line denied allegations that it violated U.S. shipping regulations, saying a complaint filed by Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) in April (see 2305010049 and 2305020019) was "an unfortunate campaign to distort and obfuscate the relevant facts, contracts and law, in order to secure an unwarranted return." The container line said neither the statements in BBBY's complaint "nor the text of the contracts themselves" support claims that OOCL breached its contracts.

The Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act, a follow-up bill to OSRA from original co-sponsors Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., passed 58-1 out of the House Transportation Committee May 23.

Two ocean carriers recently paid a combined total of $2.65 million in civil penalties, the Federal Maritime Commission announced May 18. The penalties, assessed to Ocean Network Express Ptd. Ltd. (ONE) and Wan Hai Lines, Ltd., were paid to “resolve allegations of misconduct," the FMC said.