Several leading carriers serving the Transpacific container trades have recently updated their respective tariffs to include new General Rate Increases (GRIs) effective April 15, 2021, including CMA CGM, Evergreen, Hapag Lloyd, HMM Company Limited, Ocean Network Express (ONE), Yang Ming, and ZIM. COSCO postponed its March 15 GRI to effective April 15, 2021. See table below for GRI amounts per 40ft container; GRI amounts for all other container sizes are as per formula. The April 15th GRIs will be the eighth GRI of 2021 for the East Asia/USA trade lane.

NOTE 1: COSCO GRIs apply on all cargo moving under service contracts only. The GRIs had been previously postponed from the initial filing effective February 15, 2021 to effective March 15, 2021.

Some carriers updated their tariffs to include new General Rate Increases (GRIs) effective May 1, 2021, including CMA CGM, Evergreen, Hapag Lloyd, HMM Company Limited, Ocean Network Express (ONE), Yang Ming, and ZIM. See table below for GRI amounts per 40ft container; GRI amounts for all other container sizes are as per formula. The May 1st GRIs will be the ninth GRI of 2021 for the East Asia/USA trade lane.

Commissioner Daniel Maffei has been designated as Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission. The designation was made by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on March 29, 2021. Chairman Maffei is a sitting member of the FMC and replaces Michael A. Khouri in the role of Chairman.

Chairman Maffei was first nominated to serve on the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate on June 29, 2016. He left the FMC on June 30, 2018 when the term he was serving expired. Shortly thereafter he was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate and rejoined the Commission on January 15, 2019. As a Commissioner, Mr. Maffei has shown a particular interest in addressing the vulnerability of the global transportation system to industry-wide financial and security risks. He has spoken at national and international conferences on the changing nature of the economics of international shipping due to technological advances and the pressures that newer and larger carriers have placed on U.S. transportation infrastructure. In October 2019, Commissioner Maffei traveled to Singapore to participate in the Global Maritime Forum 2019 Annual Summit and visited the Port of Singapore.

A native of Syracuse, New York, Chairman Maffei was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms representing New York’s 25th congressional district from 2009 to 2011 and New York’s 24th congressional district from 2013 to 2015. His previous professional experience includes serving in the Department of Commerce during the Obama Administration, and earlier in his career serving as aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and master’s degrees from Columbia and Harvard Universities.

Asked to comment on his new role, Chairman Maffei said, “I am grateful and humbled by the confidence President Biden has placed in me by appointing me Chairman at such a critical time for our Nation’s supply chain. Due to the effects of COVID-19 and an unprecedented import boom, we are dealing with serious challenges to America’s international ocean transportation system – challenges that the FMC has a vital role in addressing, both on its own as an independent agency and in cooperation with other agencies.”

Chairman Maffei will preside for the first time as Commission Chair on April 07, 2021 at a closed session of the Commission. The meeting agenda is limited to two topics: a staff briefing on U.S. economic conditions and ocean carrier alliances, and a review of the Commission’s Fact Finding 29 investigation.