{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D1D03FDA-7AC9-4DB9-AE3E-4F77C3057D85", "Thune, Klobuchar, Hoeven, Baldwin Urge Federal Maritime Commission to Carefully Implement Key Ocean Shipping Reform Act Rule", "2022-12-09", "2022", "2022-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) today urged Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Chairman Daniel Maffei to provide additional clarity on the definition of \u201cunreasonable\u201d as it relates to refusal by ocean carriers to provide vessel space accommodations.\n\n\u201cIn order to ensure the law is faithfully implemented in a manner consistent with congressional intent, the definition of \u2018unreasonable\u2019 must adequately take into account both transportation and commercial-related factors when evaluating the behavior of an ocean carrier,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cWe agree with the Commission\u2019s view that \u2018commercial convenience alone is not a reasonable basis\u2019 for refusal by an ocean carrier to deal or negotiate. However, we have questions about the breadth of the \u2018transportation factors\u2019 under the proposed rule. In particular, an ocean carrier might point to the \u2018existence\u2019 of \u2018scheduling considerations\u2019 as a basis for refusing to negotiate with a would-be exporter. We urge you to consider whether additional clarifying language about the magnitude of the \u2018transportation factors\u2019 might provide useful guidance to industry and align with the goal of promoting an efficient, competitive, accessible, and affordable global shipping market, consistent with congressional intent.\u201d\n\nIn June, Thune\u2019s Ocean Shipping Reform Act was signed into law. The bill strengthens the authority of the FMC by providing it with new tools to help level the playing field for American exporters and counteract anticompetitive behavior. The bill would also help FMC more efficiently resolve disputes between ocean carriers and shippers, while also taking actions at the U.S. Department of Transportation to alleviate strain across the supply chain.\n\nFull letter below:\n\nThe Honorable Daniel B. Maffei\n\nChairman\n\nFederal Maritime Commission\n\n800 North Capitol Street, NW\n\nWashington, DC 20573\n\nDear Chairman Maffei:\n\nWe write regarding the Federal Maritime Commission\u2019s recent notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) establishing a definition of unreasonable refusal by an ocean common carrier to deal or negotiate with respect to vessel space accommodations, consistent with the requirement established in section 7 of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022. The Commission\u2019s implementation of this requirement is crucial to ensuring American exporters and importers alike have fair and competitive access to the global shipping market.\n\nCongress passed this landmark legislation, signed into law in June, to make it easier for American farmers and manufacturers to ship ready-to-export goods left waiting at our ports and to limit foreign ocean carriers\u2019 ability to impose added fees on container handling. Section 7 of the Act sought to clarify that an \u201cunreasonable\u201d refusal by an ocean carrier to provide vessel space accommodations should constitute a prohibited practice under the Shipping Act of 1984. The need to require such a clarification arose specifically from reports of ocean carriers refusing certain export cargo \u2013 particularly agricultural cargo \u2013 even when vessel space was readily available, often opting to carry empty containers instead.\n\nIn order to ensure the law is faithfully implemented in a manner consistent with congressional intent, the definition of \u201cunreasonable\u201d must adequately take into account both transportation and commercial-related factors when evaluating the behavior of an ocean carrier. We agree with the Commission\u2019s view that \u201ccommercial convenience alone is not a reasonable basis\u201d for refusal by an ocean carrier to deal or negotiate. However, we have questions about the breadth of the \u201ctransportation factors\u201d under the proposed rule. In particular, an ocean carrier might point to the \u201cexistence\u201d of \u201cscheduling considerations\u201d as a basis for refusing to negotiate with a would-be exporter. We urge you to consider whether additional clarifying language about the magnitude of the \u201ctransportation factors\u201d might provide useful guidance to industry and align with the goal of promoting an efficient, competitive, accessible, and affordable global shipping market, consistent with congressional intent.\n\nThoroughly defining what constitutes the \u2018unreasonable\u2019 refusal to deal with or negotiate as it relates to vessel space accommodations is a crucial component of our landmark shipping reform law. We greatly appreciate your attention to this issue and applaud your continued work to speedily implement the provisions of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our staff.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D1D03FDA-7AC9-4DB9-AE3E-4F77C3057D85"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6156339552253485, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}