DEBATES ON THE REFORM OF US SHIPPING ACT TO START SOON
On 13 September, Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) announced that the U.S Congress would not begin work on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 (OSRA 2021) until after November, and once the House has addressed other major legislative files such as the infrastructure package, voting rights reform, and legislation to bolster Roe v. Wade. Introduced in August by two members of Congress, John Garamendi (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD), the bipartisan bill would impose minimum requirements on ocean carrier service contracts and shifts the burden of proof in regulatory proceedings from shippers to the container lines.
Congress, as well as the Biden administration, are under renewed pressure to address rising ocean shipping costs and the difficulties that both US importers and exporters are facing in securing container capacity amid a historic disruption of container shipping flows. A group of 152 companies and trade associations sent a letter Monday urging Congress to act on the OSRA 2021, which would strengthen legal pressure on carriers to provide containers and space on ships and to accept export bookings. The group, led by the National Retail Federation and the National Industrial Transportation League, said that the legislation introduced in August would address “longstanding, systemic supply chain and port disruption issues, which have been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
US agricultural shippers also call on the Biden administration to act urgently securing export capacity and reducing shipping costs. In another letter, the associations welcomed the initiatives already taken such as the executive order urging the FMC and the Department of Justice to investigate possible anticompetitive behaviour among ocean carriers. Nevertheless, they considered that the administration could do more, including sponsoring an interagency group that would focus on agriculture exports, push US ports and related transportation providers to become more efficient, and provide federal support for data-sharing portals similar to the Port of Los Angeles’ Port Optimizer.
Source: JOC, The Loadstar