FMC: 80-90% of new carrier agreements will gain 45-day exemption

FMC: 80-90% of new carrier agreements will gain 45-day exemption    About 80 to 90 percent of new carrier agreements will qualify for a new waiver from the usual 45-day wait period, a senior Federal Maritime Commission official said.
   “Based on last year’s agreement filings, we expect that approximately 80 to 90 percent of new agreement filings would qualify for the ‘low market share’ exemption,” said Florence Carr, director of the bureau of agreements at the FMC.
   Last week, the FMC confirmed that certain joint agreements between ocean common carriers such as vessel-sharing agreements and slot-charter agreement will no longer be subject to the customary 45-day waiting period if they have a low market share, under a new rule that becomes effective Jan. 3.
   The exemption will not benefit carrier agreements deemed to be capacity rationalization agreements, nor those that have a market share of more than 35 percent. Agreements with a market share of more than 30 percent that include cooperation on pricing will also be excluded from the “low market share” waiver.
   “This past year there were 27 new agreements filed, 24 of which were vessel sharing agreements,” Carr told American Shipper. “Most of those VSAs filed would have qualified for the exemption.”
   Ocean carriers have welcomed the relaxation of the filing procedures.
   The full FMC ruling is published at https://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/06jun20041800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/04-24438.htm .