FMA continues its outreach to various government departments and agencies with regard to the container service issues that importers and exporters have been experiencing since mid 2020.
These issues have included blanked sailings, the “rolling” i.e. delaying the carriage of containers, inflated pricing, and actions by the shipping lines to expedite the return empty containers to Asian loading ports creating container shortages for Canadian exporters, particularly for the specialty crop and forest product industries.
The FMA outreach has included discussions with Transport Canada Marine Policy, the Canadian Transportation Agency, and the Office of the Commissioner of Competition.
Today, March 26, John Corey, FMA President, has written to the Hon. Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, requesting his assistance in addressing these issues. The FMA letter can be found at the link below.
These same issues are being experienced by U.S. importers and exporters and the U.S. regulator, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has been taking action requiring specific information from shipping lines and terminal operators at several U.S. Ports. A recent report by FMC Commissioner, Rebecca Dye, can be found at the following link.
Information Demand on Detention & Demurrage Practices to Be Issued
FMA will keep the membership informed as new information becomes available.
Any specific company experience with these problems that can be shared with FMA would be very helpful in our outreach. All individual information will be kept confidential and only aggregated information will be used in any outreach.
