FMC to hold NSA meeting on Aug. 3

FMC to hold NSA meeting on Aug. 3    The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission will hold a meeting Aug. 3 at its headquarters in Washington to consider ongoing matters with non-vessel-operating common carrier service arrangements.
   The agency’s NSA regulations are the subject of individual court appeals by the American Institute for Shippers’ Association and the International Shippers’ Association in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The two shippers’ associations question the legality of the FMC’s regulations prohibiting shippers’ associations with NVO members from entering into NSAs.
   The FMC is concerned that NVOs entering into NSAs with other NVOs directly or through shippers’ associations could be entitled to exemption from antitrust laws. A recent court decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, however, has rejected granting NVOs an antitrust exemption under similar circumstances.
   Proponents of the NSA regulations, namely the National Industrial Transportation League, Transportation Intermediaries Association, and NVOs UPS, FedEx Trade Networks Transport & Brokerage, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, BDP International, and BAX Global, urge the FMC to settle this matter outside the court.