THE US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said it will proceed with a proposed rule to exempt ocean container carriers from an essential terms publication requirement in the Shipping Act, reports American Shipper.
Essential terms are currently provided to the FMC by the ocean container carriers in tariff format when they file their service contracts. They include the origin and destination port ranges, commodities involved, minimum volumes and the service contract duration.
During a September 26 meeting, the commission agreed with the World Shipping Council's September 2018 Petition P3-18 that publication of essential terms no longer serves a purpose in the competitiveness of ocean container shipping.
However, the commission rejected the petition's call to also eliminate the confidential service contract filing requirement of the Shipping Act.
The Washington-based World Shipping Council, which represents 20 container carriers or 90 per cent of global liner vessel capacity, argued in its petition that an exemption to the service contract filing 'has no bearing whatsoever on the functioning of the competitive marketplace'.
WORLD SHIPPING
Essential terms are currently provided to the FMC by the ocean container carriers in tariff format when they file their service contracts. They include the origin and destination port ranges, commodities involved, minimum volumes and the service contract duration.
During a September 26 meeting, the commission agreed with the World Shipping Council's September 2018 Petition P3-18 that publication of essential terms no longer serves a purpose in the competitiveness of ocean container shipping.
However, the commission rejected the petition's call to also eliminate the confidential service contract filing requirement of the Shipping Act.
The Washington-based World Shipping Council, which represents 20 container carriers or 90 per cent of global liner vessel capacity, argued in its petition that an exemption to the service contract filing 'has no bearing whatsoever on the functioning of the competitive marketplace'.
WORLD SHIPPING