The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) voted on Sept. 26, 2019,
to eliminate the requirement for vessel operators to publish
essential terms of their service contracts. The decision is a
response to a petition from the World Shipping Council (WSC) to
eliminate this requirement. The WSC had also sought to eliminate
the requirement to file service contracts with the FMC, but the
Commission rejected that request.
FMC Commissioner Rebecca Dye dissented, stating that she would
have granted the petition in its entirety. According to American Shipper, Commissioner Dye stated that
"we [the FMC] don't rely on filed contracts in our
competition enforcement program" and that the decision to
continue the contract filing requirement "ignores the comments
and strong support of the petition by the nation's oldest and
most reliable transportation shippers' association, the
National Industrial Transportation League." She further added
that she would submit a more extensive written
