MarAd chief chief urges “favorable consideration” of Chinese carrier petitions

MarAd chief chief urges “favorable consideration” of Chinese carrier petitions

MarAd chief chief urges “favorable consideration” of Chinese carrier petitions

   U.S. Maritime Administrator William G. Schubert urged the Federal Maritime Commission’s “favorable consideration” of petitions from three Chinese state-owned shipping lines seeking the ability to make tariff rate reductions without a 30-day advance notice.
   The Chinese carriers — China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. (COSCO), China Shipping Container Lines, and Sinotrans Container Lines — are regulated under the U.S. Controlled Carrier Act. With the exception of COSCO, which has a partial tariff rate reduction exemption under the Act, the Chinese carriers must wait 30 days to make rate changes in response to competitors.
   The U.S. and Chinese governments signed a new five-year bilateral maritime agreement on Dec. 8. Key to enacting the agreement will be the U.S. government’s willingness to liberalize the Controlled Carrier Act’s advance notice requirements for tariff rate reductions for China’s three liner carriers. The FMC is the only federal agency that has the authority to grant this status to the Chinese carriers.
   “Because of the dramatic improvement in business operations that will come about for U.S. carriers as a result of this new agreement, we are hopeful that the FMC will respond positively to the petitions of the Chinese carriers,” Schubert said in a Dec. 31 letter to the commission. “Similarly, we will urge U.S. carriers and shippers to support positive action by the FMC on the Chinese carriers’ petitions for relief.”
   The FMC agreed to hold a closed session in Washington Jan. 21 to review the three Chinese carrier petitions.