Strange goings-on at the US FMC – is it still fit for purpose?

Photo: © Homiel | Dreamstime.com

UPDATED: 18/07 – To add to the confusion, the docket is once again available in the FMC reading room.

Something strange appears to be going on at the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).

Suggestions are it may have fallen victim to the Trump administration’s DOGE-led efforts to cut government bureaucracy, raising questions over its recent successes against carrier corruption.

Earlier this week, the commission announced a non-adjudicatory investigation into a series of terminal service agreements (TSAs) held by the port of Houston with carriers including CMA CGM, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC, ONE, and Zim.

Ostensibly, the investigation would assess whether the TSAs obligated the carriers to route a minimum commitment of cargo through the Texas gateway at the expense of other ports in the region.

But the docket has been removed from the FMC reading room – that publicises the progress of its investigations – which may suggest the probe is no longer going ahead.

Reportedly, the docket appeared muddled in its composition, with one source familiar with FMC processes reporting struggling to make sense of both its ultimate aim and the logic behind its initiation.

“It’s a very strange docket, and you could look at it from a number of political angles – Trump does not like China, Denmark, or Europe, and this could be a way to dismantle their agreements and say they don’t have FMC protection,” the source told The Loadstar:

The docket’s removal raises more question marks, but had it gone ahead it would have been overseen by three commissioners instead of the usual four plus the chair, a seat left empty by Louis Sola’s departure at the end of June after just six months in the role.

Indeed it caps a strange start to life under the new Trump administration, the FMC not only having lost Trump-appointed Sola, but also having seen its west coast investigatory panel purportedly gutted, “I’m told the six investigators have been reduced to one”.

If true, that is likely the case for its investigatory panel on the east coast too, raising question marks over how the commission will contend with the steady stream of complaints of carrier malpractice during Covid, filed by shippers.

These followed the 2022 passage of the bipartisan Ocean and Shipping Reform Act, some 50 cases being filed against container lines and logistics companies accused of violating the act already heard and cumulative $100m-plus payments having been sought.

Most recently, ONE found itself on the hook for $18.1m after Cornerstone and QVC teamed up to challenge its failure to meet minimum agreed volume commitments, while Yang Ming is contending with a $14.7m claim from Dollar General for similar behaviour.

The ability to match this level of activity will be thrown into question by the departure, possible removal, of key members of the FMC team, all of whom may have fallen victim to the Elon Musk-led DOGE chainsaw approach to job cutting.

This would explain an apparent deterioration in the quality of correspondence those involved in the complaints have been receiving, “no educated attorney would write like this, it reads like it was written by someone while they were drunk”; or possibly AI – a favourite DOGE solution.

“Previously cases were incredibly well managed, but we’re now experiencing significant delays, then there is the language and the communication”, both how and with whom FMC officials are communicating being brought into question.

“I suppose one way of looking at the Texas docket [surrounding the port of Houston] would be to consider it as an act of the commission asserting its authority while the Trump administration is dismantling other agencies. It was saying ‘look, we’re useful’.”