NIT LEAGUE AND TIA BACK FMC PROBE INTO TSA

NIT LEAGUE AND TIA BACK FMC PROBE INTO TSA       The National Industrial Transportation League and the Transportation Intermediaries Association have backed a request made by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association and the International Association of NVOCCs that the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission should investigate alleged anticompetitive practices by ocean carriers of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement.
   The NIT League and the Transportation Intermediaries Association have written to the FMC to express their concerns about alleged heavy-handed practices used by transpacific carriers, to the detriment of non-vessel-operating common carriers and other ocean transportation intermediaries, in this year’s service contract negotiations.
   The comments follow the FMC’s request for industry comments, after having received the petition from the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association and the International Association of NVOCCs.
   “If the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement has designed a scheme to enforce rigid adherence to supposedly ‘voluntary’ service contract guidelines to disadvantage independent NVOCCs and favor either proprietary shippers or the logistics companies created by the ocean carriers to compete with NVOCCs, then the FMC needs to ferret out the facts and put an immediate stop to such conduct,” the Transportation Intermediaries Association added.
   The NIT League’s attorneys wrote in their submission to the FMC that the League is “concerned about the state of affairs described in the petition.”
   “In a recent meeting of the League’s ocean transportation committee, several League members that are proprietary shippers reported that they had been told by ocean transportation intermediaries that Transpacific Stabilization Agreement carriers are imposing general rate increases and peak season surcharges on them without exception,” the NIT League told the FMC. Beyond such general information, the NIT League said that it could neither directly confirm nor deny the factual allegations made by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association and the International Association of NVOCCs.
   “However, the League believes that the factual allegations in the petition at least raise sufficient cause for the commission to promptly investigate the matter,” the shippers’ organization told the FMC.
   Both the Transportation Intermediaries Association and the NIT League raised the question of whether the voluntary guidelines adopted by the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement carriers are truly voluntary.
   The fact that four of the largest industry groups representing American intermediaries, forwarders, NVOCCs and shippers have formed a front to ask for an investigation will be seen as significant pressures for the FMC to act on the complaint.