NIT League opposes NVO tariff filing

NIT League opposes NVO tariff filing    The National Industrial Transportation League last week reiterated support for a petition by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America that seeks to exempt non-vessel-operating carriers from having to publish ocean transportation rate tariffs.
   The NCBFAA made the request to the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission in July 2008, and the NIT League had expressed support for the request in September of that year. It decided to send another letter of support last week to the FMC in response to a request by the commission seeking additional comments from interested parties.
   Peter Gatti, NIT League's executive vice president, said his group “remains concerned about the tens of thousands of dollars that must be expended by individual NVOCCs to establish and maintain tariffs, as well as by the marked increase in tariff maintenance costs.”

Gatti

   The cost of maintaining tariffs, he noted, “either must be passed on to shippers through less competitive freight rates or absorbed by the NVOCC, many of whom are small companies.
   “The primary purpose of tariff publication, which is to prevent discriminatory pricing among shippers, is no longer a protection that is required or desired by shippers,” Gatti said.
   Shippers receive little benefit from tariff publication and are able to obtain competitive pricing from shipping lines, intermediaries and shippers associations competing for cargo, he said. And he noted service contracts permit customized pricing.
   Tariffs “are rarely reviewed or consulted by shippers to determine transportation and, thus, function more as a costly regulatory after-thought,” he said.
   NIT League said the FMC should also apply the exemption to service terms negotiated with ocean rates, or, alternatively, require NVOs to include a disclosure statement in their written communications to shippers containing the exempt rates.