THE US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has demanded three
global carrier alliances provide trade data monthly that is usually supplied
quarterly, reports London's Container Management.
"The
time has come to resolve the most serious impediments to port performance. I
have all enforcement options at my disposal to address the crisis that exists
in our major port gateways," said Commissioner Rebecca Dye.
"Removing
the obstacles to port performance allows ocean carriers, ports and marine
terminals, drayage truckers, American importers and exporters, and every other
business engaged in freight delivery to grow and prosper," she said.
The
FMC has already commenced probes into alliance practices in Long Beach, Los
Angeles, New York and New Jersey after shippers complained of the lack
container availability, soaring transpacific rates and plunging service
quality.
Said
FMC chairman Michael Khouri: "If necessary, the FMC will go to
federal court to seek an injunction to enjoin further operation of the alliance
agreement.
"If
we detect any indication of carrier behaviour that may violate the Shipping
Act's section 6(g) competition standard, we will immediately seek to address
these concerns with direct carrier discussions," he said.
The Commission's Bureau of Trade Analysis
(BTA) has
determined that given recent fluctuations in the markets, it needs to receive
key trade data directly from alliance carriers on a more frequent basis.
This
will help it to better position staff economists to timely evaluate changes in
the transpacific and transatlantic trades and report findings to the
commission.
The
BTA has traditionally relied on a combination of individual vessel operator
confidentiallyprovided data and information from commercially available
industry data to monitor and analysecontainer carrier freight rates and service
market trends.
The
commission noted that the three major carrier alliances - 2M, the Ocean Alliance and THEAlliance - are the top
priority and receive highest scrutiny.
These
three agreements have the greatest potential to cause or facilitate adverse
market effects based on the agreement's authority and geographic scope in
combination with underlying market conditions, it pointed out.
The
FMC monitors key economic indicators and changes to underlying market
conditions for all global alliance agreements to detect any joint activity by
agreement members that might raise and maintain freight rates above competitive
levels, or unreasonably decrease services.
Last
week, the FMC approved a supplemental order to investigate ocean carriers
operating in alliances and calling the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los
Angeles, or the Port of New York and New Jersey.
The
expanded commission investigation will seek to determine if the policies and
practices of those shipping companies related to detention and demurrage,
container return, and container availabilityfor US export cargoes violate 46
USC 41102(c).
Source
: HKSG.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar