FMC Issues Annual Report for FY 2003
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued its 42nd Annual Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003. The FMC states that its report is structured on an office-by-office basis and contains a synopsis of each unit's activities and accomplishments during the past fiscal year, with special sections devoted to areas of particular interest.
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The following are highlights of the FMC's report:
Task Force on foreign practices that might adversely impact U.S. shipping. The FMC states that a permanent International Task Force, established in 2000 and chaired by the General Counsel and made up of key personnel in that office, the Bureaus of Enforcement, Trade Analysis, and Consumer Complaints and Licensing, was regularly convened in 2003. According to the FMC, the Task Force identifies, evaluates and attempts to anticipate foreign practices which might have adverse impacts on U.S. shipping interests.
Over $3 million collected in civil penalties in FY 2003. During FY 2003, the FMC states that it collected $3,135,000 in civil penalties. Settlements were reached with many different segments of the industry (e.g., carriers, agreements, shippers, forwarders, and non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs)) operating in the U.S. foreign trades.
Top twenty U.S. liner cargo trading partners. The following is a list of the twenty foreign countries that generated the largest volume of oceanborne liner cargo in bilateral trade with the U.S. in 2002:
| Total U.S. liner imports and | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Country | exports in thousands of TEUs1 |
| 1 | China | 5,005 |
| 2 | Japan | 1,616 |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 1,591 |
| 4 | South Korea | 948 |
| 5 | Taiwan | 917 |
| 6 | Germany | 627 |
| 7 | Italy | 614 |
| 8 | Thailand | 519 |
| 9 | Brazil | 476 |
| 10 | United Kingdom (including N. Ireland) | 457 |
| 11 | The Netherlands | 419 |
| 12 | Indonesia | 417 |
| 13 | Belgium & Luxembourg | 414 |
| 14 | India | 338 |
| 15 | Malaysia | 317 |
| 16 | France | 283 |
| 17 | Guatemala | 251 |
| 18 | Spain | 242 |
| 19 | Honduras | 234 |
| 20 | Dominican Republic | 234 |
1 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units
OTI licenses. During FY 2003, the FMC states that it received 296 new ocean transportation intermediary (OTI) applications and 252 amended applications, issued 345 OTI licenses, revoked 360 licenses, and reissued approximately 90 licenses. At the end of FY 2003, 1,262 freight forwarders (FFs), 1,317 U.S. NVOCCs, 900 joint NVOCC/ocean FFs, and 40 foreign NVOCCs held active OTI licenses, and an additional 721 foreign NVOCCs maintained proof of financial responsibility on file with the FMC but chose not to be licensed.
Furthermore, during FY 2003, the FMC's Bureau of Consumer Complaints and Licensing (Bureau) began to post on the FMC website a list, updated weekly, of licensed and bonded OTIs, which assists carriers in complying with their statutory mandate to do business only with those licensed by the FMC.
Also during this fiscal year, the Bureau developed an internal database of OTIs to facilitate compliance and enforcement activities, and revised the OTI license application form to collect additional information, streamline the application, and clarify some of the questions asked of the applicants.
Bureau of Enforcement plans for FY 2004. The FMC states that in FY 2004, the Bureau of Enforcement will continue to pursue market-distorting, fraudulent and anticompetitive practices and will continue to monitor U.S. trades and the implementation of the changes and regulations resulting from the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 (OSRA), to the extent that resources permit.
The Bureau of Enforcement will also pursue initiatives aimed at entities not in compliance with the FMC's regulations for OTI participation in transportation, and its definition of a vessel operating common carrier (VOCC), as well as instances of noncompliance with statutory requirements for service contracting.
FMC Annual Report for FY 2003 (dated 03/31/04) available at http://www.fmc.gov/Dockets/FY03%20Annual%20Report%20Homepage.htm