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

The May 15th GRI for Transpacific Eastbound shipping will be quickly followed by another GRI on June 1st. Several leading ocean carriers serving the Transpacific container trades have updated their tariffs to include new General Rate Increases (GRIs) effective June 1, 2021, including CMA CGM, COSCO, 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 June 1st GRIs will be the eleventh GRI of 2021 for the East Asia/USA trade lane.

NOTE 1: COSCO GRIs apply on all cargo moving under service contracts only.

The Federal Maritime Commission has granted temporary relief sought by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (K Line) from certain service contract and tariff filing requirements. The carrier recently submitted Petition P1-21 to request relief from Commission regulations as part of its efforts to respond to a malicious cyberattack it experienced in March 2021. The cyberattack impacted K Line’s ability to timely publish tariff rates and rules and to timely file service contracts and amendments with the Commission.

The temporary relief allows K Line to apply service contract rates agreed upon with customers and tariff terms offered to customers for shipments received before service contract filing or tariff publication was accomplished, rather than requiring customers to pay higher tariff rates in effect at time of shipment. FMC granted this request for exemption from relevant service contract filing requirements and relevant tariff publishing requirements, subject to certain conditions. The exemption from tariff publishing requirements applies only to cargo received on or after the date of the order and is limited to tariff changes effective on or before June 14, 2021. All service contracts and tariff changes subject to the exemption must be filed or published no later than May 16.

The Federal Maritime Commission has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking under Docket No. 21-03 seeking public comment to determine if changes are needed to existing regulations on carrier automated tariffs, which are publicly available online systems containing common carrier rates, charges, classifications, rules, and practices. The Commission is responsible for establishing requirements for accuracy and accessibility of these systems. Noting that tariff access fees vary widely, the Commission is asking for information on the reasonableness of charges for accessing tariffs.

Docket 21-03 also seeks comment on practices related to non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs) passing of carrier charges through to shippers. These charges are commonly referred to as “pass-through” charges. The Commission is concerned that inappropriate application of so-called pass-through charges by NVOCCs may result in harm to shippers. NVOCCs who utilize Negotiated Rate Arrangements (NRAs) are allowed under FMC’s regulations to invoice their shipper customers for third-party charges as incurred on a pass-through basis, including general rate increases (GRI), provided this is clearly indicated in NRAs or the NVOCC’s rules tariff. This pass-through option for GRIs is authorized under FMC’s NRA regulations provided in 46 CFR Part 532 and applies only to shipments moving under NRAs and not to shipments moving under tariff rates. Public comments on Docket 21-03 are to be submitted to secretary@fmc.gov by June 7, 2021.

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued its final rule in Docket 20-22. This final rule amends service contract filing requirements as provided in 46 CFR Part 530 to allow ocean common carriers to file new service contracts up to thirty (30) calendar days after the contract’s initial effective date, provided the effective date may not be earlier than the date on which all parties have signed the service contract.

By this rulemaking, the Commission will make permanent the temporary exemption it issued in April 2020 to allow ocean carriers up to thirty (30) days to file new service contracts with the Commission’s SERVCON database. In the interest of providing certainty and stability to supply chain stakeholders, this exemption was extended until June 1, 2021. The Commission received eight comments on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Docket 20-22 from a broad range of stakeholders and considered these carefully in its deliberations before finalizing this rulemaking. The final rule is effective June 2, 2021 and makes this change permanent.

The FMC’s decision to grant an extra thirty days to file new service contracts is similar to a decision it issued in 2017 that allows service contract amendments to be filed within thirty (30) calendar days after the effective date of the amendment as agreed by the contract parties. That decision covered only service contract amendments.