Hapag-Lloyd America said the Federal Maritime Commission should dismiss a complaint that alleged the company violated U.S. shipping regulations (see 2212280026), saying the FMC “lacks personal jurisdiction” in the matter. Hapag said Jan. 17 that Wisconsin-based logistics company M.E. Dey “incorrectly” asserted that Hapag is an ocean common carrier -- the company said it doesn’t meet the definition of a carrier.
The Federal Maritime Commission should amend its proposed rule on unreasonable carrier conduct to better address carriers that refuse to carry exports in favor of imports (see 2209130040), USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said. In a letter released by the FMC this week, Vilsack said the commission should broaden the proposed definition for unreasonable refusal to negotiate or deal, “significantly narrow” its guidance on reasonable refusals and better “encourage specific actions by carriers to guard against unreasonable refusals.”
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The Federal Maritime Commission published its fall 2022 regulatory agenda, including mentions of several rules surrounding carrier practices, billing requirements and discriminatory shipping practices that it had hoped to issue in December. At least one of the rules was governed by a statutory deadline set for last month under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.
The Federal Maritime Commission denied a Chinese freight forwarder’s motion to dismiss a complaint that said the forwarder delayed 20 container shipments in order to submit higher detention and demurrage invoices (see 2210250021). The FMC’s chief administrative law judge Jan. 4 ordered China-based Shenzhen Unifelix to submit a response to the complaint by Jan. 20, requiring the company to also answer charges levied by U.S.-based Way Interglobal Network that Unifelix tried to change the terms of a signed service contract.
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Hong Kong-based Sterling Container Line denied allegations by U.S. logistics company SeaFair that it refused to pay for certain shipping services, saying SeaFair at times submitted inaccurate invoices and couldn’t prove they were correct. In a Dec. 26 response to the Federal Maritime Commission, Sterling said the FMC should dismiss SeaFair’s complaint for a range of reasons, including that the commission lacks the authority to award damages for a breach of contract claim.
Hapag-Lloyd violated U.S. shipping regulations when it failed to make containers available for pickup, causing demurrage charges for Wisconsin-based logistics company M.E. Dey to exceed more than $136,000, the company said in a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission released last week. Dey said Hapag-Lloyd’s demurrage charges were “unreasonable,” and the FMC should require the ocean carrier to pay Dey reparations.
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Shippers mostly supported the Federal Maritime Commission’s proposal for demurrage and detention billing requirements (see 2210070079 and 2203250028), saying in comments this month the new invoice requirements will bring more transparency to the industry. But at least two carriers continued to lobby for revisions to the proposed requirements, saying they could lead to burdensome new rules and wouldn’t result in more efficient container pickups and returns.