Using its new found powers granted by president Joe Biden, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has taken aim at the world’s largest containerline, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).
The FMC is questioning a congestion fee MSC charged SOFi Paper Products in a first case of its kind since the passing last year of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA).
MSC has until the end of the month to explain why it should not pay a refund to SOFi.
The FMC said MSC never provided “justification” to SOFi stemming from a $1,000 “congestion surcharge” levied against SOFi in July.
The FMC in Washington DC is sorting through a host of cases brought by irate shippers against global liners in recent months, including a few involving MSC.
OSRA was signed into law last June on the back of exporters lobbying politicians to intervene during the supply chain crunch seen in the US during the pandemic. The law allows the FMC, the US shipping regulator, to launch probes of containerlines’ business practices and to apply enforcement measures.
