Mixed carrier response to antitrust bill

Mixed carrier response to antitrust bill    Brian M. Conrad, executive administrator of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement and Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, said, “we don't believe a sweeping overhaul of U.S. shipping law is necessary or advisable,”
   Meanwhile, Maersk Line Chief Executive Officer Eivind Kolding said, “it is reasonable to expect that antitrust immunity in the U.S. will go.”

Conrad

   Conrad, responding to last week’s introduction of H.R. 6167, the Shipping Act of 2010, Rep. Oberstar, D-Minn., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said the bill “at minimum, it's premature if done in response to an unprecedented, temporary set of market conditions that appear to be correcting themselves, and if done without giving remedies under existing law a chance to work as they've been set up to do.”
   But at the same time, Kolding said in an interview with Lloyd's List that he thought “shipping lines would be happy to see a solution like the one we have in Europe.”

Kolding

   Asked for a comment on the proposed law, a Maersk spokesman said the company had nothing to say beyond the Lloyd’s article in which Kolding said he believes the antitrust immunity enjoyed by shipping lines works well, but strains customer relationships. He also is reported as saying he would like to see an end to required tariff filing by the carriers with the Federal Maritime Commission.
   Conrad argued eliminating carrier agreements like those he oversees, “will not address the temporary space and equipment shortages seen during the current global recession. If anything, the individual confidential contracting process established by the 1998 Ocean Shipping Reform Act, if fully utilized, provides individual carriers and shippers with more than adequate tools to address these and any other issues that arise.
   “Vessel and container capacity has re-entered the transpacific trade; cargo is moving with few interruptions; and government has applied existing regulatory tools to promptly and comprehensively address shipper and carrier concerns. It makes no sense to propose wholesale changes in the law before the dust has settled, the market has returned to normal business and seasonal cycles, and recent initiatives are given a proper chance to work,' Conrad said.