Intermediaries claim ocean carriers violated shipping law
Staff -- Logistics Management, 6/1/2002
Two trade groups representing transportation intermediaries have asked the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to determine whether ocean carriers in the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) have violated the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA).
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) and the International Association of NVOCCs have filed a petition asking the FMC to investigate whether the TSA and its 14 member carriers were intentionally discriminating against intermediaries in violation of OSRA. They also charged that the TSA and its member carriers violated the law by failing to file true agreements with the FMC and operating under unfiled agreements.
The complaint involves cargo moving inbound from Asia to the United States. In the filing, the intermediaries said that during this spring's service contract negotiating period, TSA carriers attempted to lock up contracts directly with shippers before beginning negotiations with the intermediaries, which compete for that same business. In addition, the groups charge, the carriers agreed to demand higher rates from intermediaries than from proprietary shippers for the same services. They did so by implementing rate increases and surcharges in the intermediaries' agreements that were waived in other contracts. The groups said the additional charges added about $400 to the cost of shipping a 40-foot container across the Pacific.
If the FMC does find violations of the law, the two groups want the agency to issue sanctions against the TSA and its members, require carriers to pay reparations to intermediaries that have been harmed by the carriers' practices and seek injunctions preventing carriers from continuing those practices.
Although the TSA had not formally replied to the complaint at press time, the group's executive director, Albert Pierce, did say TSA believed the complaint had no merit. "There is nothing in TSA's 2002 rate program and policies that in any way discriminates against ocean transportation intermediaries, either in terms of rate levels or the timing of contract negotiations," he said in a prepared statement. "OTIs [ocean transportation intermediaries] are valued customers, and TSA members seek to provide intermediaries with quality service and reasonable rates on the same basis as all other accounts. Beyond that, TSA's revenue-recovery programs are at all times voluntary and non-binding, and any member line is free to apply or depart from the program at any time in its individual service contracts."
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