FMC formally closes case on TSA contract practices

FMC formally closes case on TSA contract practices    The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has formally closed its investigation into the contract practices of carriers of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement in the eastbound transpacic trade during the 2002-2003 service contract season.
   Following a compromise settlement announced on Sept. 11 between TSA carriers and the FMC, the agency said that it has now closed the fact-finding investigation headed by commissioner Joseph E. Brennan.
   The FMC has also closed the original petition P1-02 lodged last year by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. and the International Association of NVOCCs, Inc. This joint petition had triggered the FMC’s investigation of carrier practices.
   The associations of intermediaries alleged at the time that carriers of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement had engaged in a concerted practice of discrimination against non-vessel-operating common carriers during the 2002-2003 contracting season.
   “In view of the thorough investigation conducted by the commission into the matters raised in the joint petition and the disposition of those issues by means of the settlement executed on Sept.11, 2003, the commission has, in effect, granted the relief sought in the subject petition,” the agency said.
   According to the FMC, the immediate changes brought about through the settlement should create a more competitive and market-driven atmosphere in the transpacific trades as intended by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998, to the benefit of all participants in these trades.
   The FMC/TSA settlement commits the TSA shipping lines to remove the Indian Subcontinent from the scope of their agreement, refrain from agreeing on contractual guidelines that discriminate between NVOCCs and direct shippers or deal exclusively with NVOCCs, and remove the right of TSA to agree on capacity rationalization for a period of three years.