Congressmen John Garamendi and Dusty Johnson introduced legislation on August 11th, 2021, in the House of Representatives that would reform the Shipping Act. Shippers and U.S. exporters, specifically, called for the legislation to be reviewed and updated to help protect them from fees and to help ensure capacity. Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Daniel Maffei, a former lawmaker himself, has been open about his willingness to work with legislators to update the Shipping Act. However, while shippers and regulators see potential to improve the Shipping Act, carriers feel it is an effort to solely blame them for the current state of the ocean market. The World Shipping Council insisted that the government didn’t need to intervene, citing that, “commercial solutions and market forces,” are the solutions needed to fix port congestion and other related issues. U.S. exporters disagree with this assessment, and many of them voiced support for the legislation. A letter from the Agriculture Transportation Coalition noted dozes of associations voicing support for the proposed updates to the Shipping Act. An article published by Supply Chain Dive examines the discussion in depth.

To read the article, click here.