FMC LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO $100 CARRIER SED CHARGE

FMC LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO $100 CARRIER SED CHARGE    The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has launched an investigation into the ocean carrier industry’s $100 charge to handle paper shipper’s export declarations for exporters and freight forwarders.      
   Carriers set the charge in their tariffs last year after they
negotiated an agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau to encourage exporters and freight forwarders to file their export declarations through the government’s Automated Export System. The fee went into effect Nov. 1.
   FMC Commissioner Antony M. Merck announced the investigation at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America’s annual conference in San Francisco Monday. “You complained about it, so we’re doing something about it,” he told executives. The “uniform surcharge” by the carriers “bothered me,” he said.
   Prior to the implementation of the fee, the NCBFAA held numerous meetings with Capitol Hill staffers and Census officials to explain why they felt the fee is unfair to the shipping industry. “We told them this was highly inappropriate,” said Edward Greenberg, transportation council for the NCBFAA.
   Census officials say they had no role in setting the $100 carrier charge. However, the agency believes carriers have been put in an awkward position with respect to SED filing. Carriers are legally responsible to collect SEDs for the government, but have no authority to enforce the collection of these documents.
   “The option for the carriers has been to either turn down the cargo or risk being penalized,” said C. Harvey Monk Jr., Census’ chief of the Foreign Trade Division.
   The FMC wants to determine whether the charge has been reasonably imposed on the industry, Merck said.
   Many forwarders believe the FMC’s investigation comes too late. “The horse is already out of the barn,” Gary Klestadt, president of New York-based Trans-World Shipping Corp., told Merck. “I can’t wait for you to decide how to act.”
   Merck said the FMC hoped to complete its investigation promptly.