FMC Commissioner Rebecca F. Dye released her Final Report on “The Effects of COVID-19 on the U.S. International Ocean Transportation Supply Chain.”
This is a two-year investigation involving hundreds of Commission stakeholders participating through Team meetings, phone conversations, emails, and presentations to various groups.
DuringFact Finding 29, importers and exporters highlighted two recurring pandemic-related concerns: the high cost of shipping cargo, and excessive demurrage and detention charges.
As Commissioner Dye stated:
The historically high freight rates experienced recently by U.S. exporters and importers have been devastating to many, but I want to emphasize that the Commission has done its job during the COVID-19 pandemic to enforce our competition authority
She also added that US markets are competitive and the high ocean freight rates have been determined by “unprecedented consumer demand, primarily in the United States, that overwhelmed the supply of vessel capacity. Congestion further constrained available capacity.”
Commission Dye also noted that during the pandemic the Commission has moved forward on enforcement of the Interpretive Rule on Detention and Demurrage and ensuring compliance by carriers with the “incentive principle” embodied in the Rule.
I look forward to implementation by the Commission of my Final Recommendations, which I believe will provide badly needed clarity and consistency in certain port and supply chain operations, especially involving “earliest return dates” and “empty container return.”
