FMC’s enforcement arm looks into co-loaded cargo

A counsel for the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association said the Federal Maritime Commission’s Bureau of Enforcement has been scrutinizing NVOs tendering co-loaded cargo for rate violations, but doesn’t have clarity as to why.    A counsel for the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) indicated Monday that the association is trying to determine why the Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) Bureau of Enforcement (BOE) is initiating investigations into certain non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) for unlawful access to service contracts.
   Ed Greenberg, an attorney with the trade and transportation law firm GKG Law and NCBFAA’s transportation counsel, said he’s been unable to “get clarity” on the BOE’s scrutiny of certain NVOs tendering co-loaded freight to consolidators.
   “These are not against the master NVOs but with the tendering NVOs who are co-loading,” he said. “It seems to be a new campaign by BOE.”
   The BOE is the prosecutorial arm of the FMC that investigates potential violations of the Shipping Act and Commission regulations.
   Greenberg, speaking at the NCBFAA’s Government Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. Monday, said the association is trying to determine what the penalties are related to. In the meantime, he advised NVOs tendering co-loaded shipments to book through the master NVO, and not directly with vessel operators.