Transport, Trade and Regulation News

While it may be easy to understand the desire to fix container shipping’s perceived problems with government intervention, no amount of reform would have prevented the shortage of capacity or record freight rates during the pandemic disruption, writes analyst Lars Jensen.

NSAC says it supports reasonable detention and demurrage practices, but wants to correct “abuse” of the system by regulating that rail operators directly invoice ocean carriers for storage, not importers.

The pressure on regulators to put a price on carbon emissions is growing as carriers ramp up investments in zero-carbon ships, which make their brands appealing to environmentally conscious shippers but expose them to lower-cost competition.

Data from eBLs issued via GSBN’s infrastructure will also be used to electronically release SABIC cargo at Hutchison and PSA terminals in Asia.

The fast-moving developments around changes to detention and demurrage billing are happening amid an ongoing rulemaking process by the FMC around the assessment of such charges to consignees and their drayage representatives.

The legislation aims for faster development of uniform data-sharing standards, while the co-sponsors say they were also motivated to protect US shipping interests from what they view as China’s malign influence over the supply chain.

The testimony comes as two House members prepare legislation designed to update OSRA-22 and another congressman restarts an effort to remove the antitrust immunity of ocean carriers.

HMM’s decision to immediately cease charging demurrage fees at closed terminals comes as the US Federal Maritime Commission is finalizing rulemaking around free time billing practices.

The legislation also aims to provide a boost for US exporters by prioritizing getting their products into foreign markets and better defending them against container rate increases and detention and demurrage fees.

German unions demanding inflation-busting wage increases walked off the job Monday, bringing the country’s transport system to a halt.

US Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Daniel Maffei went before Congress Thursday to field questions about the agency’s budget, slow-going rulemaking, and whether new amendments are needed for shipping reform.

Ahead of a June deadline to issue new rulemaking on detention and demurrage billing, the Federal Maritime Commission is seeking clarity from carriers and terminals about billing shippers when container pickups and drop-offs are not possible.

Maersk in April will stop collecting detention and demurrage fees on days terminals are closed and shippers can’t pick up or drop off containers, a move yet to be followed by competing ocean carriers.

Breakbulk shippers and logistics providers have several proposals for changes to ISPM 15 mitigation and enforcement measures pending approval from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Breakbulk industry executives warn new rules aimed at reducing vessel emissions could incentivize vessel operators to implement measures that increase emissions in other areas of the supply chain.

The independent equipment providers say upending the current business model would create additional chassis shortages and invoicing problems that would inconvenience cargo owners.

The bill would heighten transparency into regulatory penalties levied against ocean carriers and marine terminal operators and draw a sharp line on the involvement of China-based entities in US shipping.

An advisory group created by the FMC two years ago is pushing the agency to act on several key issues, but some members have expressed frustration over the response from regulators.

In approving the $31 billion merger, the Surface Transportation Board rejected arguments from the FMC and competing railroads that the deal would harm US ports and shippers.

Wan Hai is now looking at a larger civil penalty than it faced nearly a year ago following an investigation into detention charges the carrier assessed in the spring of 2021.

The Federal Maritime Commission is preparing to ask for another big increase in its budget as it looks to increase market surveillance and enforce OSRA-22.

Stripped of antitrust protection that is under scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the legal certainty of being able to operate within alliances and perhaps even vessel-sharing agreements, ocean carriers could be all but forced to operate independently, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association says the FMC’s chief administrative judge erred in issuing a summary judgement against the group because key facts are still in dispute.

The move by the carrier comes as the FMC is in the midst of a rulemaking process around detention and demurrage billing mandated by the passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 last June.

The container shipping industry needs to collaborate in finding alternatives to fossil fuels rather than each player following their own path, ONE CEO Jeremy Nixon told TPM23.

MSC’s chief executive told TPM23 that the company’s hefty orderbook signals to customers that the carrier remains chiefly committed to ocean shipping, rather than selling an integrated supply chain service.

US shippers are entering an era of greater risk in China trade, retired Gen. David Petraeus warned, but the two largest global economies will remain linked despite moves to source goods elsewhere.

The container shipping market is quickly moving on from the pandemic period and into a phase that is at once familiar but also entirely new and unpredictable, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Major container lines have agreed to an ambitious 2030 deadline to migrate from paper bills of lading to digital versions as resistance to such initiatives weakens.

A decision by an FMC administrative judge on chassis usage will shake up the way chassis are provisioned for ocean containers, but there are several unknowns on what the future will look like at ports and rail hubs.

The US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration is on the hunt for port projects that mitigate climate change, among other aims, as it lays out grant funding opportunities for 2023.

The Federal Maritime Commission has exercised its first use of new legal authority under OSRA-22 requiring an ocean carrier to justify the reason behind levying a congestion surcharge against a shipper.

As the size of China’s workforce declines and production challenges increase, US retailers are shifting to global sourcing strategies, with each sector looking for the business model that meets its particular requirements.

The announced dissolution of the 2M Alliance raises the question of what additional large-scale dominoes might be toppling over in the next few years in the container shipping sector, writes analyst Lars Jensen.

A Federal Maritime Commission member’s attempt to force marine terminals and ocean carriers to share more data under OSRA-22 has ended with the normalization of the ocean freight market.

Last year’s container surge prompted a harder look at information sharing for container availability and port operations, which New York-New Jersey marine terminals are responding to with new data.

As federal and state laws aim to make per diem charges more transparent, California trucking groups say a unified appointment system across the Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex would go a long way toward that goal.

Pandemic-driven acceleration in the usage of its digital shipping document product is a sign that blockchain does work in niche applications in global logistics, according to CargoX.

Pressure on shippers to take a more active role in bringing down so-called Scope 3 emissions covering the activities of a company’s third-party vendors — including transportation — has increased in recent years.

Whether OSRA-22 — and increased FMC scrutiny — will produce tangible changes in how carriers and terminals calculate and convey detention and demurrage charges is still yet to be seen, as inaccurate invoices continue to plague shippers.