b'10American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comUS Imports - BL Houses by TEU bills now will have to be rec-onciledandthenpresentedOSRA Key Features30,000,000 tothePresidentJoeBiden for signing. The key features of the Senates version of OSRA include:27,500,000 The salient points of the Compel ocean carriers to certify detention and demur-SenatesversionofOSRArage fees comply with federal regulations with the threat 25,000,000 addressmanyofthecom- of penalties for non-compliance.plaintsthatshippershaveShiftburdenofproofregardingthereasonableness 22,500,000 voicedinrespecttocarrierof detention or demurrage charges from the invoiced performance and bolsters theparty to the ocean carrier.20,000,000 FMCs oversight. The SenateProhibitoceancarriersfromunreasonablydeclining 2018 2019 2020 2021 legislation does stay clear ofshipping opportunities for U.S. exports, as determined by someoftheregulatorystat- the FMC in new required rulemaking.ues that carriers feared after the House version passed.Require ocean common carriers to report to the FMC (PEAKcontinued fromenforceabilityintheseso- each calendar quarter on total import/export tonnage and page 8) called contracts may causeR ebalancing the 20-footequivalentunits(loaded/empty)pervesselthat shippingwildswingsinsevere consequences to ship- R elationShiP makes port in the United States.supplyanddemandcausedpersduringtimesofhighThe obvious intention of the Authorize the FMC to self-initiate investigations of ocean byclosuresfollowedbydemandforcargospaceSenates OSRA bill is to rebal- commoncarriersbusinesspracticesandapplyenforce-massiveattemptsatcargobecause they are not protectedancetherelationshipbetweenment measures, as appropriate.catch-up.Acatch-upthatwith binding contracts. carriers and shippers. Deten-Establish new authority for the FMC to register ship-oftenendswithshipssit- CommissionerDyestesti- tion and Demurrage fees wereping exchanges.ting at anchor and awaiting amony was a prelude to the U.S.high on the to do list as was berth in ports like Los Ange- Senate unanimously passingtheissueofrepositioningrageissuewerecriticaltowroteoftheSenatelegisla-les and Long Beach.their version of the OSRA oncontainersattheexpenseofimporters and as Peter Fried- tion,OSRAwillprovide Andtheportconges- March 31 st . With the Houseexportersparticularlyagri- mann, the Coalition of NewtheFMCwiththetoolsto tioneffectivelytakesshipshavingalreadypassedtheircultural exporters. England Companies For Trade(PEAKcontinued on andslotsoutofthevesselversionofOSRA,thetwoThe detention and demur- (CONECT) counsel, recentlypage 18)rotationsfurthersqueezing supply(ships)andpushing freight rates up even higher. AlphalinerintheirMarch newslettermadeatelling commentillustratingthe impacts of port congestion on vesselcapacity:Container trafficatthetwinportsof LosAngeles(10.70million TEU) and Long Beach (9.38 million TEU) increased by a more modest 13% and 15.7% respectively last year. Rather, thecapacityincreasewas neededtocompensatethe huge efficiency loss as many shipsfacedlongwaiting timesatanchorages.{Edi-tors Italics]Fromtheshippersper-spectiveincreaseddemand isunderstandable.Butfor shippersdemurrageand detentionbillsaddsinsult toinjurywhentheybelieve root cause for the delays lies with the ocean carriers. After all,globalschedulereliabil-ityinFebruarywas34.4% (although this is up 4% points over January). Further, when expeditingtherepositioning of the now empty containers back to Asia is a carriers pri-ority over U.S. export freight, shippersfeelthebasictenet ofcommoncarriagehas beenundercut.Theseand othershipperscomplaints were the groundswell moving theOSRA(OceanShipping Reform Act) legislation.oSRaando ceanc aRRieRSIntheMarchtestimony before the Senates Commit-teeonCommerce,Science andTransportation,Fed-eralMaritimeCommissioner RebeccaF.Dye,indiscuss-ing the relationship between oceancarriersremarked, For some time, I have been concernedthatmanyser-vice contracts for carriage of cargoenteredintobetween shippersandoceancarriers lackmutualcommitment. This ambiguity about mutual'