News
U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Federal Maritime Commission Authorization Act of 2017 on December 4, which urges the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to address antitrust issues arising from recent consolidation in ocean the global container shipping industry and the resulting emergence of mega-ocean carrier alliances.
Under the act, the FMC is required to conduct "an analysis of the impacts on competition for the purchase of certain covered services by alliances of ocean common carriers" on an annual basis and oversight the ocean carrier alliances to ensure that U.S.-based infrastructure interests are not unfairly disadvantaged.
It also amends Shipping Act provisions on the licensing requirements of ocean transportation intermediaries and allows the FMC to monitoring OTI activities more comprehensively.
