FMC collects $549,000 in civil penalties

FMC collects $549,000 in civil penalties    The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has collected $549,000 in civil penalties from nine ocean shipping companies that allegedly violated the 1984 Shipping Act.
   The largest individual penalty collected by the agency was $180,000 and involved Houston-based shippers Cap Barbell and Body O. and their licensed ocean transportation intermediary Hepta Run. According to the FMC, Hepta allegedly accessed service contracts to which it was not a signatory and provided transportation services to OTIs without tariffs, bonds and licenses.
   The FMC collected $85,000 in civil penalties from Star Trans Container Line of Hong Kong, Star Trans-Pacific International Forwarding Co. of Shanghai, and Star Airfreight Co. Ltd. in New York for obtaining ocean transportation at less than otherwise applicable rates by “false weighing, false measurement, and/or commodity misdescription and/or by permitting other shippers to unlawfully access their service contracts.”
   The agency also collected a $79,000 civil penalty from Paramount, Calif.-based Zen Continental for unlawfully collecting freight forwarder compensation on shipments booked on behalf of its related non-vessel-operating common carrier, Sunway Line, and for its alleged failure to seek prior FMC approval of changes in the licensees’ organization and qualifying individuals.
   Other civil penalties collected by the agency for alleged Shipping Act violations include:
   * Antillean Marine Shipping Corp., a Miami-based vessel-operating common carrier (VOCC) — $60,000.
   * MP Lines De Mexico S.A., a Mexico City-based VOCC — $45,000.
   * Hub Shipping Co. and Hub Forwarding Co., an NVOCC and forwarder operation based in Cohasset, Mass. — $35,000.
   * Sea-Line-Cargo, a New York-based NVOCC — $25,000.
   * Atallah Business Group, a Miami-based NVOCC — $20,000.
   * Margaret J. Zimmer, a Houston-based OTI — $20,000.
   The FMC discovered the wrongdoing through its investigation, but said none of the penalized companies admitted they violated the Shipping Act or commission’s rules. Staff attorneys with the FMC’s Bureau of Enforcement in Washington negotiated the compromise agreements.