Dependable Highway Express charged an importer detention and demurrage on behalf of Mediterranean Shipping Co. after the ocean carrier had waived the charge, importer ICL USA said in a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. DHE also assessed ICL a 10% surcharge on the fees, in violation of its contractual role as a trucker.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is asking members to comment on Red Sea shipping experiences ahead of a Federal Maritime Commission meeting on Feb. 7 (see 2401120057). A Jan. 17 email sent by the NCBFAA asked members to share their experiences in the Red Sea and how diversions due to Houthi missile attacks have affected maritime shipping in the region. The association said it plans to compile the responses into an "industry-specific impact statement" that it plans to present at the FMC meeting.

The Federal Maritime Commission will host a public hearing Feb. 7 to look at how conditions in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are "impacting commercial shipping and global supply chains," the commission said Jan. 12. The FMC said the hearing will allow the shipping industry to share with the commission "how operations have been disrupted by attacks on commercial shipping emanating" from Houthi rebels in Yemen (see 2312200045).

The Federal Maritime Commission opened a proceeding against attorney Marcus Nussbaum pertaining to alleged professional misconduct, in which Nussbaum will have a chance to show cause why he should not be hit with a penalty or suspension of his ability to practice before the comission.

International shipping companies are being forced to "reroute their vessels" around the Cape of Good Hope amid a rise in attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group on ships transiting the Red Sea, "adding significant cost and weeks of delay to the delivery of goods," the U.S. and 12 other countries said in a joint statement Jan. 3 (see 2312200045). They said the Houthi attacks on ships are "jeopardizing the movement of critical food, fuel, and humanitarian assistance throughout the world."

The Border Trade Alliance requested a meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas to discuss the "quickly deteriorating situation at the Texas-Mexico border," according to a BTA letter dated Dec. 29. The business group called the Texas Department of Public Safety’s inspections of commercial vehicles entering the state from Mexico "duplicative and costly" due to CBP being assigned to the same task.

U.S. terminal operator SSA violated the Shipping Act by imposing “unjust and unreasonable” fees on Bal Container Line Co. Ltd., the Hong Kong carrier alleged in a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission.

CBP resumed operation of the Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, rail crossings at 2 p.m. EST on Dec. 22 after it temporarily suspended operations earlier this month to help the U.S. Border Patrol address an influx of migrants (see 2312180023).

An administrative law judge this month denied Illinois importer MSRF’s complaint against South Korean cargo carrier HMM, saying the importer didn’t prove HMM violated the two companies’ service contract. The judge said none of MSRF’s claims before the Federal Maritime Commission were successful, partly because they were based on the terms of the original service contract, which had been amended multiple times mostly “for the benefit” of MSRF.

The Transportation Department this week unveiled a final rule that will place new financial security requirements on forwarders and freight brokers that fail to pay for services provided by a motor carrier. The new measures, first released as a proposed rule in January by the agency’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, are meant to address freight brokers and forwarders that purposely default on payments, triggering what can be a “costly and time consuming” process in a claims court that “generally results in motor carrier claims being paid pro rata.”