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Policy & Compliance


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What is the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) and what is its role in shipping?


An explanation of the role of the Federal Maritime Commission and what must be done to remain compliant with its regulations – as well as what constitutes non-compliance


Shipping conferences have been a part of the ocean shipping landscape since the first conference, the Calcutta Steam Traffic Conference, was set up by British cargo lines in 1875. Many liner shipping companies operated as part of these conferences and had the possibility to agree on, and set, freight rates across various shipping routes covering different


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regions of the world. They could implement several policies like allocation of space to certain customers, depending on their loyalty to the conference, and in some cases, open pricing contracts. The US Congress felt that this could lead to


collusion among shipping lines within the conference that would then impose


unreasonable increases in freight rates and create unfair trade practices of an anti- competitive nature. This led to the creation of a body that would monitor and control this practice. This body eventually became the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), which was set up in 1961 as an independent agency with the prime objective of regulating common carriers by water and other persons involved in the ocean-borne foreign commerce of the US.


What is an FMC tariff and who can file it? Anyone operating seaborne and associated services such as a VOCC or OTI must file a tariff with the FMC. VOCC stands for vessel operating common carrier. These are generally shipping


September 2017


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