US maritime chief Sola steps down

Trump appointee served FMC since 2018

Louis Sola. (Photo: FMC)

Key Takeaways:

  • Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Louis Sola resigned from his position, effective June 30th, after a five-year term and a planned two-year carryover period.
  • Sola's departure leaves the five-member agency with two vacancies and a partisan split of two Democrats and one Republican.
  • During his tenure, Sola oversaw investigations into flags of convenience, resulting in the de-flagging of 140 sanctioned vessels.
  • His resignation occurs amidst the Trump administration's efforts to bolster American shipping and shipbuilding, including measures aimed at countering China's maritime influence.

Less than six months after being appointed by President Trump, Federal Maritime Commission chairman Louis Sola said he is stepping down.

Sola, who was originally appointed to the international shipping regulator by Trump in 2018, announced he was leaving at the end of a holdover period from his 2018 five-year appointment in a letter posted Tuesday to the agency’s website.

“Serving our nation in this capacity has been the honor of a lifetime,” Sola wrote. “I have had the privilege of helping safeguard the integrity of the U.S. maritime industry, bringing greater transparency to port operations, and overseeing a supply chain that moves more than $5 trillion in goods annually.

“I am sincerely grateful for the trust [President Trump] placed in me and for his steadfast commitment to the America First agenda.”

Sola’s departure comes at an historic inflection point as the Trump administration deploys an array of measures designed to elevate American shipping and shipbuilding. Those measures include controversial port fees and other charges aimed at blunting China’s maritime dominance.

Sola’s original term was five years and expired in 2023, but included two years of “carryover” in the event he wasn’t re-nominated, and that carryover period expires on June 30.

“It was always planned this way,” Sola told FreightWaves. “No surprises.”

After Sola’s departure, the five-member agency will comprise Democrats Dan Maffei and Max Vekich, and Republican Rebecca Dye, with two vacancies. It is not known who would be appointed as the next chairman.

Sola, an Indiana native and Army veteran, worked in military intelligence and later built a successful mega-yacht brokerage business in Florida. Sola in 2016 mounted an unsuccessful campaign to win a seat in Congress, a controversial election that saw both he and Democratic candidate Frederica Wilson removed from the ballot.

President Joe Biden re-nominated Sola to the agency in 2024.

As chairman, Sola led an FMC investigation into flags of convenience, the sometimes-sketchy commercial vessel registries, which resulted in the de-flagging of 140 sanctioned vessels. 

— with reporting by John Gallagher in Washington

This article was updated June 24 to include details of Sola’s term limits, and comments from the chairman.

Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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Stuart Chirls

Stuart Chirls is a journalist who has covered the full breadth of railroads, intermodal, container shipping, ports, supply chain and logistics for Railway Age, the Journal of Commerce and IANA. He has also staffed at S&P, McGraw-Hill, United Business Media, Advance Media, Tribune Co., The New York Times Co., and worked in supply chain with BASF, the world's largest chemical producer. Reach him at stuartchirls@firecrown.com.