FMC Planning Proceeding on Port Congestion, Says Lidinsky
NEWPORT, R.I. -- The Federal Maritime Commission is planning to launch a proceeding to look into the issue of port congestion and shipping alliances, said FMC Commissioner Richard Lidinsky while speaking on April 1 at the Northeast Trade and Transportation conference hosted by the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade. “Within a few weeks, we’re going to launch a proceeding, an investigation, an activity that’s going to get to the root of the port congestion issue,” he said. The agency will need evidence and complaints from industry “in order to justify what we’re going to do,” said Lidinsky.
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The proceeding may include several pieces, he said. “Parties can file complaints, parties can go through [Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services], there’s a potential petition to the commission for full investigation in this matter,” or there could be a “fact finding,” a rarely used agency procedure, he said. “We’re not on a witch hunt, we are just trying to get to the bottom of this,” he said. During the West Coast port labor fight, industry asked that the FMC take a broader approach addressing congestion and the related carrier surcharges, he said.
There are several possible outcomes, said Lidinsky. “If we can connect certain impacts to the alliance” the FMC “has the authority to prescribe a rulemaking to put in place new rules prohibiting certain practices, requiring certain practices in terms of how the alliance serves the port,” he said.