NCBFAA Urges Federal Mediation in Congestion Crises In a letter to several federal government officials, NCBFAA President Geoffrey Powell has urged them to use their good offices to “appoint a mediator for the purpose of helping to resolve the outstanding issues that separate labor and the ocean carriers on the West Coast.” “Without your assistance, the unsettled ocean shipping situation together with its costly surcharges being imposed on US importers will be extraordinarily disruptive and result in significant economic damage to large and small companies alike,” he noted. The issue being confronted involves virtually all of the ocean carriers servicing the West Coast imposing “congestion surcharges” on cargo headed to these ports. “With one exception, each of these ocean carriers are foreign owned and in each case the surcharge, which has been uniformly established by those carriers at the level of $1,000 per 40-foot container (with some adjustments for differing size containers) would be imposed on and collected from US importers and NVOCCs,” President Powell wrote. In his letter, President Powell cites inadequate notification in apparent violation of the US Shipping Act, possible collusive behavior in light of surcharge amount similarities, uncertainty created by the on again and off again imposition of the charges, and the possibility that much of the congestion is attributable to the carriers’ own conduct and inefficiencies. “For our part, the NCBFAA has brought these specific issues to the attention of the Federal Maritime Commission and we hope to work with that agency to address those issues that are within its jurisdiction,” he said.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:48:15 +0000
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