The U.S. Senate passed a bill to enhance oversight of ocean shipping, a step that supporters claim will help ease export backlogs.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act, led by Senators John Thune and Amy Klobuchar, aims to strengthen the investigatory authority of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).
According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the legislation “will reduce costs for the American people, by reforming unfair shipping practices hurting exports and consumers alike.”
Supply chain backlogs have made it harder for goods to leave these ports and get to their international destination. Every single day that goods lie idle on our ports, it costs producers more and more money
According to Reuters, the legislation would also ban ocean carriers from unreasonably declining opportunities for U.S. exports that would be determined by the FMC, which would write new rules.
Furthermore, it would require ocean common carriers to report to the FMC each calendar quarter “on total import/export tonnage” making port in the United States, while FMC will be able to begin investigations of ocean common carrier’s business practices and apply enforcement measures.
As Amy Klobuchar said, “congestion at ports and increased shipping costs pose unique challenges for U.S. exporters, who have seen the price of shipping containers increase four-fold in just two years, raising costs for consumers and hurting our businesses.”
The other Senator, John Thune, added that the legislation would make “it harder for ocean carriers to unreasonably refuse goods that are ready to export at U.S. ports.”
Earlier, on March 15, the White House presented a pilot information sharing effort to help clear supply chain bottlenecks at congested U.S. ports.
