Revisions made to a proposed rule aimed at curbing the ability of container ship carriers to refuse to provide vessel space to their customers has delved into the dangerous area of price regulation, according to the carriers.
In a rulemaking proposed last year, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission attempted to define what is an “unreasonable refusal to deal or negotiate” the vessel space that carriers provide for their customers’ containers.
After both carriers and shippers took issue with the agency’s effort to modify the regulations – with carriers calling the proposal overly burdensome and their import and export customers contending it didn’t go far enough – the FMC revised the proposal through a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) issued in June.
But carriers say the revised proposal strays even further from what they consider to be reasonable modifications to improve customer protections.
Read more in an article from American Shipper.