A recently signed California law will “significantly” limit the ability of marine container providers or terminals to impose detention and demurrage charges, law firm Cozen O’Connor said in an alert this month. The law, effective Jan. 1, outlines 10 situations in which container providers will not be able to begin or continue free time or impose fees on motor carriers and cargo owners “due to circumstances ostensibly beyond those parties’ control,” the firm said.

The Federal Maritime Commission this week officially sent its proposed rule on demurrage and detention billing requirements to the Federal Register (see 2210070079). Public comments on the rule are due Dec. 13.

CORONADO, Calif. – The Federal Maritime Commission needs industry input into key provisions of its newly announced detention and demurrage proposed rule (see 2210070079), and in particular on a provision limiting charges only to parties that have a contractual relationship, said Lucille Marvin, FMC managing director, during a panel discussion Oct. 8 at the Western Cargo Conference.

CORONADO, Calif. -- The Federal Maritime Commission is “carefully monitoring capacity” as the potential rises for economic troubles on the horizon, with some predictions calling for a repeat of 2009, FMC Commissioner Rebecca Dye said in remarks at the Western Cargo Conference Oct. 7.

The Federal Maritime Commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking further refining prohibited practices for demurrage and detention, which is required under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA).

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.”

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