Companies that offer ocean freight services to or from the US via vessels must register with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).

Before you may begin VOCC operations you must provide the FMC with proof that your company is the owner or has control over at least one of the vessels which will call on U.S. ports.

You must also publish an FMC tariff and advise the FMC of all U.S. ports that your vessels intend to call on.

DPI will help prepare your registration application and submit all required supporting documentation to the FMC. With DPI’s assistance you can be sure that all is in order for your company to begin VOCC operations as soon as your registration is processed. We charge US $150 for registration handling. 

Read on for information about DPI’s FMC Tariff Publication services for VOCCs.

U.S. Federal Maritime Commission regulations require that Vessel-Operating Common Carriers (VOCCs) publish and maintain tariffs listing all charges, classifications, rules, and practices applicable to their ocean freight services.

FMC tariff regulations require that all tariffs meet detailed formatting, record-keeping, and access requirements.

DPI has published thousands of tariffs for clients all over the world. When you publish your tariff with DPI, we ensure more than just basic compliance with FMC regulations. Our multilingual staff will recommend cost-effective tariff filing strategies and will be available to answer all your FMC-related questions.

Our secure cloud database provides 24/7 access to your FMC tariff and makes requesting updates easy and efficient.

For new VOCC clients, we will provide a draft tariff for you to review that includes all FMC required rules, the full text of your bill of lading, and commonly used commercial regulations. Once you have reviewed and approved the draft, we will publish the tariff.

If you have an existing tariff and would like to switch to our services, we can also assist.

Our fees for initial tariff rules publication and annual tariff database maintenance are very reasonable. We charge nominal filing fees per new or revised filing. For our full price list, click here.

If you’re ready to get started, contact us or view our Getting Started page for more details on how DPI can assist your organization.