The Surface Transportation Board recently voted to issue a proposed rule intended to ease the process for shippers to request emergency intervention when facing supply chain delays on rail lines. The proposed rule, adopted April 22, would shorten the process for petitions for STB emergency service orders, under which the STB directs railroads to divert cargo onto other lines or railroads. It also would remove the process that a shipper secure an alternative carrier in advance, instead only requiring a list of potential alternative carriers.
Carriers believe Congress’ ocean shipping legislation may lead to too much oversight and result in an overcorrection of a temporary problem caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said John Butler, CEO of the World Shipping Council. Before the pandemic, Butler said, rising and falling export and import seasons “helped carriers and exporters work together to move product,” partly because ports weren’t congested with record amounts of cargo. But because of the “huge influx of imports, for which there’s been no seasonality,” the system has been thrown off balance, Butler said.
A White House task force recently created to examine supply chain disruptions (see 2106090021) should not ignore problems with air freight caused in part by surging demand brought on by delays and congestion at ports, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a March 4 letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Major steamship lines and express couriers suspended Russia service in recent days in response to the war in Ukraine. Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM announced March 1 they are suspending bookings to and from all Russian ports, following Hapag Lloyd’s similar announcement Feb. 24 and Ocean Network Express’ partial suspension Feb. 28. UPS confirmed a total stop in service March 1, and FedEx on Feb. 28 stopped inbound service to Russia.
Global shipper Maersk says it is "monitoring and preparing to comply with the ever-evolving sanctions and restrictions imposed against Russia while we safeguard our operations and our people in consideration of the constant developing situation." The company said Feb. 28 it may suspend bookings, both on ocean and inland, to and from Russia. "For cargo already on the water we will do our utmost to deliver it to its intended destination," it said. "We have a sharp focus on safeguarding reefer containers and keeping cold chain operations as stable as possible, as the commodities include important goods such as groceries and pharmaceuticals. We are doing everything possible to prevent risk to the above cargo and in turn risk to the end-users in need of these commodities. It’s also worth noting that air space is also gradually being restricted and our air services will be impacted," the company said.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced Feb. 18. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15 but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until Feb. 25.
The Federal Maritime Commission is seeking additional comments on a petition filed by the Lake Carriers’ Association, which said the Canadian government is imposing “unfavorable” conditions on U.S.-Canada shipping and trade. The FMC initially requested comments after receiving the association’s petition in 2020 but announced a new comment period this week because of recent “developments which impact the Commission’s consideration” of the petition. Comments are due March 7.
The House of Representatives on Dec. 8 passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act 364-60, though the text of the bill changed from its introduction in August. The bill prohibits ocean carriers from unreasonably reducing "shipper accessibility to equipment necessary for the loading or unloading of cargo," and tells them they must furnish containers needed and allocate "vessel space accommodations, in consideration of reasonably foreseeable import and export demands." They cannot "unreasonably decline export cargo bookings if such cargo can be loaded safely and timely, as determined by the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and carried on a vessel scheduled for the immediate destination of such cargo."
The Federal Maritime Commission met virtually with the European Union and China this week to discuss competition issues affecting the shipping industry, including disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials discussed bottlenecks in the ocean-linked supply chain, how they each have responded to those challenges and “possible actions” to help the shipping industry. “Today’s session of the Global Regulatory Summit provided key competition authorities responsible for the oversight of the container shipping industry the opportunity to share information about what their respective monitoring and enforcement regimes are observing in the marketplace and compare conclusions about carrier behavior,” FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said.
The Federal Maritime Commission will begin issuing information demand orders to ocean carriers and terminal operators to determine if they are violating detention and demurrage practices, the FMC said Feb. 17. The orders will be sent to ocean carriers operating in an alliance and calling at the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach or the Port of New York and New Jersey, and will require them to provide information on how they impose detention and demurrage charges, and their policies related to container returns and container availability for exporters (see 2012090009), the commission said.