[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 19, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E329-E330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCTION OF THE OCEAN SHIPPING COMPETITION ENFORCEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 19, 2023

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the ``Ocean Shipping 
Competition Enforcement Act,'' which would allow the Federal Maritime 
Commission to block any agreements among ocean carriers and marine 
terminal operators determined to be unreasonably anticompetitive 
without having to first obtain a federal court order.
  Current federal law requires the Commission, which is an independent 
federal regulatory agency, to review proposed agreements to ensure they 
are not unreasonably anticompetitive. However, the Commission cannot 
block anticompetitive agreements without first obtaining a federal 
court order concurring with the Commission's internal determination 
that the proposed agreement would unduly reduce ocean shipping service 
to ports or substantially increase shipping rates. If the U.S. District 
Court for the District of Columbia fails to act in time, then the 
agreement takes effect automatically, allowing ocean liners and marine 
terminals to collude openly. To the best of my knowledge, no other 
independent federal regulatory agency is required to obtain court 
orders to enforce similar regulations.
  The ocean shipping industry was the last transportation sector 
deregulated by Congress in 1984 and again with the Ocean Shipping 
Reform Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-258). Before the Shipping Act of 
1984 (Public Law 98-237), the Commission could block anticompetitive 
agreements among ocean carriers and marine terminal operators without a 
federal court order. In December 2022, Federal Maritime Commissioners 
Max Vekich and Carl W. Bentzel requested that the U.S. House

[[Page E330]]

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on which I serve, make 
this critical change in federal law.
  The ocean shipping industry is now dominated by nine foreign-flagged 
ocean liners that collude openly under three carrier alliances, 
handling some 80 percent of cargo globally. Last June, President Biden 
signed my bicameral, bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act (Public Law 
117-146) updating our nation's laws for the ocean cargo market for the 
first time in nearly a quarter century. Congress must now finish the 
job by restoring the Federal Maritime Commission's ability to ensure 
competitive ocean shipping markets by blocking illegal agreements to 
collude. We must ensure that the Commission can do its job and fully 
enforce the law.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been working over the past two years to reform 
the ocean shipping industry to better protect American businesses and 
consumers from price gouging by foreign-flagged ocean liners. I urge 
all Members of the House to join me in cosponsoring the ``Ocean 
Shipping Competition Enforcement Act.'' As the top Democrat on the 
House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation from 2013 
to 2018, I plan to make this new bill a top priority in my ongoing work 
to help fix the global supply chain crunch.

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