The White House applauded improvements in clogged U.S. supply chains, but said more work was needed to ensure fair competition.
Namely, the White House National Economic Council said the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) was already investigating excessive shipping fees, but should consider using other tools, including challenging carrier alliances if they resulted in unreasonable costs or delays.
According to Reuters, iIt also urged Congress to enact reforms to give the FMC more tools to oversee the global shipping sector, including boosting transparency about fees carriers charge their customers.
At the same time, the White House said more work was needed to improve exports out of U.S. ports, with rising shipping costs making it more profitable for carriers to load empty containers instead of waiting for loaded containers to get to ports.
However, new data showed continued improvements, with a record number of containers imported at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, from January to October, retail inventories increasing 4% from 2020, and on-the-shelf availability at 90%, just 1% below levels seen before the pandemic.
The good news is that we’re moving more goods than ever before, we’re seeing that retail is fully stocked, and we’re seeing that the ports are moving these goods more quickly. That means it’s going to be a normal holiday season for Americans
said a senior White House official.
The White House is also concerned by the alliances formed, which says are “legally immune from antitrust laws”, but the FMC can challenge them if they result in unreasonable delays, unreasonable increase in transportation costs or “substantially lessen competition”.
For this reason the U.S. Justice Department stands ready to help the FMC, adding that the agency needs a bigger budget than its current $30 million.
