The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has opened an investigation into the actions of the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association (OCEMA), following reports that the organization and its members are not complying with a ruling on rights of shippers and truckers on choosing chassis to move containers.
In February, an FMC administrative law judge ruled that OCEMA’s practice of requiring truckers to use specific intermodal chassis providers to move containers violates the U.S. Shipping Act and issued a cease-and-desist order to OCEMA and its members.
This was supposed to end a legal battle that had started in 2020 when the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference filed a complaint accusing OCEMA and its members of having denied carriers and cargo owners the ability to choose their provider when leasing chassis.
The FMC has decided to investigate after receiving complaints of chassis providers violating the ruling in four markets since the February ruling.
Read more in an article from The Loadstar.