NVOs, NIT League fight attempt to postpone new NVO contract rule

NVOs, NIT League fight attempt to postpone new NVO contract rule    Major non-vessel-operating common carriers and the National Industrial Transportation League have urged the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission to reject petitions from the International Shippers’ Association and the American Institute of Shippers’ Associations that called for the newly implemented rule allowing NVOCC service agreements (NSAs) to be reconsidered and postponed.
   The latest twist in the NSA battle is a reaction to criticism made by organizations representing shippers’ associations of the FMC’s rule on NSAs, implemented Jan. 19. The International Shippers’ Association and the American Institute of Shippers’ Associations complained to the FMC that its rule on NSAs does not allow shippers’ associations with NVOCC members from participating in an NSA. An NSA can only be signed between an NVOCC and a direct shipper customer.
   In response to the petitions of the shippers’ associations, the NIT League, UPS, FedEx Trade Networks, BAX Global, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, BDP International and the Transportation Intermediaries Association issued a joint request Jan 19 to the FMC, urging the agency to keep the rule as it is.
   In the reply, the NVO groups and the NIT League, who had lobbied hard for the right of NVOCCs to sign confidential agreement with shippers, strongly opposed the requested suspension of the final rule on NSAs. They told the FMC that the shippers associations “made no factual presentation” backing their claim that the FMC final rule would place small NVOCCs and shippers’ associations at a competitive disadvantage to larger NVOCCs.
   “The facts do not support the theory that petitioners assert regarding the existence of competitive injury,” the industry groups said in their joint reply.
   In a notice to its members, the NIT League also said the International Shippers’ Association has filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals a “petition for review of the final rule.”
   The joint submission opposing the shippers associations’ petitions to stay the final rule is online at https://www.nitl.org/FMCFiling011905.pdf.
   The introduction of NSAs has been welcomed by most sectors of the shipping and NVOCC industries, with the notable exceptions of shippers’ associations and neutral NVOCCs, who are effectively excluded from the benefit of confidential contracts with their customers under the FMC’s rule.