46th president biden sitting and ready to sign a bill

President Biden signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) 2022 into law on Thursday, June 16th. It is the first major overhaul of the act in two decades and had tremendous support in both the US Senate, who approved unanimously, and the House, who passed on a 369-42 vote.

OSRA prohibits ocean carriers from “unreasonably” refusing export cargo as well as assessing “unreasonable” demurrage and detention (D&D) fees. What is “unreasonable” D&D? It is fees that are assessed in circumstances that are beyond the control of the cargo owner.

OSRA puts teeth behind the Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) interpretive rule on D&D which was established in May of 2020 and empowers the FMC to be the watchdog and enforcement arm of OSRA.

Since the FMC had a rule in place covering the assessment of D&D, OSRA grants its immediate enforcement. Therefore, should an ocean carrier not abide by the interpretative rule, a complaint can be filed with the FMC and, should the ocean carrier be found in violation, penalties and reimbursements will be imposed.

Additionally, demurrage and detention invoices much include specific information and provide assurances the charges were not the result of the carrier’s action…rolled bookings, change to receiving dates, no empty return locations, etc.

Latest News

CARB WITHDRAWS WAIVER REQUEST

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) withdrew its request with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a waiver to implement its Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) rule. ACF had been "on hold" for the past year because CARB realized in November 2023 they did not...

GUNG HEI FAT CHOI

Happy Chinese New Year and welcome to the Year of the Snake, more specifically, the Wood Snake. You can see your horoscope for the New Year here. In the meantime, some interesting facts about Chinese New Year. More fireworks are set off on Chinese New Year Eve than...

STRIKE AVERTED

The International Longshore Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) came to a tentative agreement on January 8th, before the January 15th deadline. The agreement staved off a waterfront strike that would have stopped the flow of goods on the...

CLEANER AIR

Despite an uptick in economic activity, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States dropped for the second year in a row. Traditionally, the two benchmarks rise together. This divergence demonstrates the push towards natural gas and renewable diesel is...

WASTED TIME

The cost of congestion on the nation's highways represented $108.8B to the truck industry in 2022. In California alone, the cost of congestion was a whopping $8.77B. That equates to about $8,000/truck. Additionally, it is akin to removing 22% of truck capacity from...

Share This