FMC Will Hold an Informational Hearing in February on Red Sea Related Surcharges
In an effort to provide more transparency, the FMC is electing to have a public hearing on February 7th in regards to the Red Sea surcharges. Specifically, the FMC is having this public forum to offer their insight on why they allowed ocean carriers to immediately implement surcharges due to the challenges in the Red Sea.
As the JOC notes, under the U.S. Shipping Act, carriers have to provide 30 days’ notice to customers before they implement special charges, but they can ask the FMC for a waiver of that rule.
“We want to make sure that everybody – the people who are asking questions but also the people who aren’t sure where to ask questions – have a forum that we can deal with those things in a public context,” FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei told the JOC.
For those wanting to be a part of the hearing or share comments, send a written submission to the FMC at Secretary@FMC.gov by January 31st.
U.S. West Coast Expected to See Some Increase in Import Volumes
The U.S. West Coast is prepared and ready to handle an “expected” increase in import volumes, largely due to Canal and Red Sea disruptions. While an “astronomical increase” in volume is not anticipated, there still are increases that are predicted to happen, the Loadstar reports.
In recent months the USWC has added increases in volume throughput at their ports, reclaiming some of the momentum and volume loss to ports on the East and Gulf Coasts. Additionally the port infrastructure out on the USWC is better equipped than it was even 2-3 years ago, with a lot of projects at the ports reaching completion, giving many in the industry confidence in the port.
Furthermore, to add to the USWC potentially seeing more volume increases, the East Coast ports have a labor contract with dockworkers set to expire on September 30th. Which could swing some additional traffic over to the West Coast.