Ocean Shipping Reform Passes House
The House of Representatives 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."
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The Federal Maritime Commission must initiate a rulemaking within 90 days of the law's passage to define the term "unreasonably decline," the language says.
It also says that a carrier or marine terminal operator shall not charge demurrage or detention charges "unless accompanied by an accurate certification that such charges comply with all rules and regulations concerning demurrage or detention issued by the Commission."
The World Shipping Council recently told Senate sponsors of a companion bill that the certification language is problematic.
The National Retail Federation hailed the bill's passage, saying, "These improvements could not come at a more critical time, as the amplification from the pandemic has been severe. We thank Reps. [John] Garamendi[, D-Calif.,] and [Dusty] Johnson[, R-S.D.,] for their leadership and the House for their swift vote to approve this measure. We encourage the Senate to follow suit.”