FMC dismisses complaint from Ceres

FMC dismisses complaint from Ceres    The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has determined that the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) is an arm of the state of Maryland and entitled to sovereign immunity from the regulatory adjudication of a privately-filed Shipping Act complaint.
   In reaching that conclusion, the FMC dismissed a complaint that was filed by Ceres Marine Terminals Inc. with the commission. The Ceres complaint alleged that MPA had violated provisions of the Shipping Act of 1984 by providing lease terms to other parties that were more favorable than the lease terms that were made available to Ceres.
   'The U.S. Supreme Court has concluded that the commission cannot adjudicate complaints filed against non-consenting state-run ports,' the FMC said in its decision.
   In determining whether the port administration was part of Maryland, the FMC observed that 'the State of Maryland exercises a significant degree of control over MPA, an entity that deals with statewide concerns and that has been treated as an arm of the state by at least one Maryland state court.'
   'Even though MPA is free to litigate on its own in the courts, to enter into contracts, and in other respects to conduct its business with little direct oversight by the state, we believe that MPA has provided proof that it is closely linked to the State of Maryland. A proceeding against MPA would therefore infringe upon Maryland's dignity by subjecting it to the coercive process of a commission adjudication,' the FMC explained.