AGTC’s Friedmann lauds FMC investigation into detention & demurrage

Peter Friedmann, executive director, Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AGTC) praised the decision of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) on November 18th to open an investigation into detention and demurrage and related issues that have exacerbated problems for U.S. agricultural since the Covid-19 outbreak began earlier this year.

Friedmann told AJOT that he was pleased to announce: “Terrific news for AgTC members and all US exporters, importers, forwarders, truckers: yesterday the Federal Maritime Commission decided to open a formal investigation on our long-sought objective: meaningful enforcement of fair and reasonable ocean carrier and marine terminal practices.”

Friedmann said the FMC investigation focuses on these 3 areas:

• Detention and Demurrage
  
• Export Container Availability
  
• Container Return Practices
  

Friedmann and AGTC members have been complaining for months about carrier and terminal practices at U.S. ports that have unfairly delayed shipments that they say have cost exporters millions of dollars:

“AgTC members have continuously provided information on carrier and terminals practices, which has greatly served to inform the Commissioners. This includes refusal to carry export cargo, cancelling export bookings/refusing new bookings, lack of appointments, changing ERD’s, lack of free time, lack of notice, all which contribute to current supply chain dysfunction.”

Friedmann alleges that carriers and terminals ignored FMC guidance on addressing practices that disrupted the export supply chain with the result that:

“Clearly the Commissioners have lost patience. The carriers and terminals were poorly advised to ignore the FMC’s Guidance on Detention and Demurrage, Commissioners are hearing from members of Congress about the export bookings being cancelled and denied…It was not lost on the Commissioners that no carrier or terminal implemented any of the measures in the Guidelines, nor any others.”

Friedmann said that agricultural exporters have lost hundreds of millions of dollars:

“We continue to brief Commissioners (and members of Congress) on the injury to our exporters (and importers) of rejected export cargo, and of (cumulatively) hundreds of millions of dollars of demurrage and detention charges, in addition to all other costs of the supply chain disruption.”