The Ocean Shipping Reform Act passed the U.S. House Monday and now awaits the President’s signature.
The bill passed the House on a 369-42 margin and would require ocean carriers to certify the detention and demurrage charges comply with federal regulations. The bill also shifts the burden of proof for unreasonable detention and demurrage from the invoiced party to the ocean carriers and prohibits the carriers from unreasonably declining to accept U.S. exports. The legislation would also require ocean carriers to report quarterly on total import and export tonnage and authorize the Federal Maritime Commission to self-initiate investigations into a carrier’s business practices. The Federal Maritime Commission will be writing the specific rules once signed into law.
Representative Ron Kind of Wisconsin says ocean carriers have reported record profits while rising shipping costs and bottlenecks at our ports are creating challenges for American businesses and farmers. Kind says this bipartisan bill will help level the playing field for American exporters and consumers.
President Biden has said he will sign the bill.
Agricultural organizations including the American Farm Bureau Federation are applauding the bill’s passage. AFBF President Zippy Duvall says an estimated $25 billion in agricultural exports have been lost in the past six months because of ocean shipping restraints.
The North American Meat Institute’s President and CEO Julie Anna Potts applauds the passage saying, “The problems at our ports include delays of shipments of American-made goods to overseas trading partners due to the unreasonable practices of foreign-owned ocean carriers, and these delays are a huge cost to meat and poultry companies as their perishable products await transport.”
U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Hallstrom says, “In these times of rising input costs, it has never been more important to maximize the value of our agricultural products, and the best way to do that is to ensure access to the international marketplace. This legislation takes important steps forward in improving the shipping services available to U.S. exporters.”
Editor’s Take:
If the bill is signed into law and implemented in a timely manner, it could help relieve the log jam at our ports, particularly on the west coast. Everyone has likely seen pictures or videos of ships lined up as far as the eye can see, just waiting to make their way to a dock for unloading. But what the bill really attempts to address is the serious problem of ships leaving our shores with an empty cargo hull so they can return to countries like China and bring us more imported goods. Let’s hope the legislation does level the playing field and U.S. agricultural products can be on board when they make the return trip and do so at a reasonable cost. This has the potential to really help American Agriculture if implemented and regulated properly!
