Flexport violated the Shipping Act when it failed to include required information on more than $100,000 worth of detention and demurrage charge invoices, Indiana-based Philip Reinisch Co. said in a recent complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. Philip Reinisch said the FMC should order Flexport to refund more than $55,000 in paid invoices, award it damages for the “wrongful withholding” of containers and nullify nearly $50,000 in outstanding charges.
The Federal Maritime Commission awarded a $500,000 contract to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study intermodal chassis pools and whether they can be made more efficient. The study, mandated by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, also will look at the advantages and disadvantages of current chassis pool models and whether the models “have aligned incentives in ownership, management, repair, and provisioning that lead to supply chain efficiency,” the FMC said. The study may result in suggestions to improve “communications, information sharing, and knowledge management practices across chassis pool models,” the commission said.
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Linda Harris Crovella will serve as an administrative law judge of the Federal Maritime Commission, the FMC said this week. She previously served as an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration. “The caseload of our Office of the Administrative Law Judge has sharply increased over the past two years resulting from more parties seeking relief to shipping disputes by using the formal complaints process,” FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said. “Expanding the capabilities and resources of this critical function supports my priority that the Commission emphasize its enforcement work.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Federal Maritime Commission has received nearly 100 charge complaints and numerous questions related to the Ocean Shipping Reform Act since its enactment earlier this year, FMC official Lucille Marvin said during a Sept. 21 FMC meeting. She also said the agency is making progress on a range of OSRA provisions and other agency priorities, including one that will result in a set of best practices for chassis pools and another that will formally propose new demurrage and detention billing requirements.
The Federal Maritime Commission this week issued a notice that seeks public comments on the set of factors it should consider when determining whether an ocean carrier is violating shipping regulations by refusing vessel space to shippers. The FMC also seeks comments on how it should define “unreasonable” conduct by ocean carriers, specifically their “unreasonable refusal to deal or negotiate with respect to vessel space accommodation.” Comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking, which the FMC previewed last week (see 2209130040), are due Oct. 21.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) will take time to implement, and the Federal Maritime Commission still needs companies to bring cases so it can effectively regulate ocean traffic, FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said Sept. 19 during a panel discussion at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual Government Affairs Conference.
The Federal Maritime Commission will soon seek public comments on the set of factors it should consider when determining whether an ocean carrier is violating shipping regulations by refusing vessel space to shippers. The effort, outlined in a notice of proposed rulemaking required by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, also seeks to define certain “unreasonable” conduct by ocean carriers, specifically their “unreasonable refusal to deal or negotiate with respect to vessel space accommodation,” FMC said. The commission will accept comments up to 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.
The Federal Maritime Commission should issue an emergency order requiring carriers and terminal operators to share more information on cargo availability with shippers and other carriers, more than a dozen motor carriers and logistics companies said. The companies, most of which move freight at the Port of New York and New Jersey, said inadequate information sharing has created an emergency that is hurting their operations and restricting cargo from moving efficiently.