A Federal Maritime Commission administrative law judge has approved a confidential agreement to settle allegations by Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. that ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) violated the terms of a service contract and unjustly assessed millions of dollars in demurrage and detention fees, according to an FMC notice released March 21.
A Federal Maritime Commission administrative law judge on March 13 ordered Florida-based ocean carrier Crowley Logistics to pay Ian Mills $8,500 plus interest as reparation for a clip-on generator that went missing in late 2021 and was never found.
The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating how transit constraints at several “maritime chokepoints” around the world may be affecting ocean shipping and whether those constraints have been caused by foreign governments or foreign-flagged ships. The commission is specifically looking into constraints on ships traveling through the English Channel, the Malacca Strait, the Northern Sea Passage, the Singapore Strait, the Panama Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, it said in a Federal Register notice released March 13. It said it may hold hearings, issue subpoenas or order testimony through depositions.
A Federal Maritime Commission administrative law judge ordered Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Feb. 25 to pay about $16 million in civil penalties for violating U.S. shipping laws.
The U.S. government is considering requiring a small proportion of exported goods, both containerized and not, and including liquified natural gas, to be carried on U.S.-flagged ships by U.S. operators, with the proportion climbing over time, and, eventually, with U.S.-built ships also required.
The U.S. should encourage Latin American countries to stop using Chinese-made surveillance equipment at their ports, a lawmaker and a researcher said during a congressional hearing Feb. 11.
A Federal Maritime Commission administrative law judge on Feb. 6 dismissed U.S. importer CertiFit’s complaint against New Jersey-based Evergreen Shipping Agency, saying Evergreen Shipping is not an ocean carrier regulated by the FMC. Evergreen Shipping is instead an agent for carrier Evergreen Line, which is not a party in the case, the judge said. CertiFit had accused Evergreen Shipping of failing to meet its commitments in violation of the Shipping Act (see 2401230051). Evergreen Shipping denied the allegations.
Double Ace Cargo, a Florida-based non-vessel-operating common carrier (NVOCC), has paid $165,000 in civil penalties and is paying for an independent monitoring of its business practices under two compromise agreements it reached with the Federal Maritime Commission over the past nearly two years, the FMC announced Feb. 7.
A new vessel sharing agreement between Japanese carrier Ocean Network Express, South Korea-based Hyundai Merchant Marine and Taiwan-based Yang Ming Marine Transportation (see 2411070005) will take effect Feb. 9, the Federal Maritime Commission said Feb. 6 after completing its review. The commission said it carried out an “economic analysis of the competitive effects of the” arrangement, called the Premier Alliance Agreement, adding that all agreements “are subject to the strictest standards for ongoing monitoring by the Commission.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Panamanian officials Feb. 2 that President Donald Trump has made a preliminary determination that China’s influence and control over the Panama Canal area threatens the waterway and violates the 1977 agreement that transferred U.S. control of the canal to Panama, according to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.