The three global ocean carrier alliances (2M, OCEAN, and THE), and each of their affiliates, will now be required to provide more detailed information on their pricing and the operational capacity they deploy on major trade routes.
The Federal Maritime Commission announced this in a press release stressing the need to receive uniform data to allow it to assess whether the big carriers’ conduct is more or less anti-competitive.
The new information, to be reported to the FMC, will provide the Commission’s Bureau of Trade Analysis (BTA) with new insights into how carriers and big alliances manage their operational capacity.
The FMC points out that shipping companies are already subject to more stringent and frequent scrutiny than they used to be.
The Commission also announced that it had recently fined the Taiwanese company Wan Hai for improper conduct. The carrier is accused of having violated the Shipping Act in relation to its calculation of detention & demurrage payments.
Under an agreement signed with the FMC, Wan Hai reportedly agreed to settle an $850,000 civil penalty in exchange for the charge being dropped.
Translation by Giles Foster
