The United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is an independent federal agency based in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

that is responsible for the regulation of oceanborne international transportation of the U.S. It is chaired by Daniel B. Maffei.

History

The FMC was established as an independent regulatory agency by Reorganization Plan No. 7, effective August 12, 1961. Prior to that time, the

United States Federal Maritime Board The United States Federal Maritime Board was an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, responsible for certain aspects of merchant shipping between 1950 and 1961. History The agency was established in 1950 when the U.S. Maritime Commission ...

was responsible for both the regulation of ocean commerce and the promotion of the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

. Under the reorganization plan, the shipping laws of the U.S. were separated into two categories, regulatory and promotional. The newly created FMC was charged with the administration of the regulatory provisions of the shipping laws, while the promotional role was vested in the

Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issue ...

(now part of the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

). The passage of the

Shipping Act of 1984 The U.S. Shipping Act, was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on March 20, 1984. The purpose of the Act was to: (1) establish a nondiscriminatory regulatory process for the common carriage of goods by water in the foreign commerce of the ...

brought about a major deregulatory change in the regulatory regime facing shipping companies operating in the U.S. foreign commerce. The subsequent passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998, with its further deregulatory amendments and modifications to the Shipping Act of 1984, represented another pro-market shift in shipping regulation. The principle statutes or statutory provisions administered by the Commission are: the Shipping Act of 1984, the Foreign Shipping Practices Act of 1988, section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, and Public Law 89-777. Most of these statutes were amended by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) of 1998, which took effect on May 1, 1999.

Organization

Current commissioners

List of commissioners: * Chairman

Daniel B. Maffei Daniel Benjamin Maffei ( ; born July 4, 1968) is an American politician and professor who was the United States representative for from 2013 to 2015. Maffei previously represented the district, then numbered as , from 2009 to 2011. He has also ...

* Commissioner

Rebecca F. Dye Rebecca Feemster Dye is an American attorney who has served as a commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission since November 14, 2002. Early life and education Dye grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. She attended the University of North Caro ...

* Commissioner

Louis E. Sola Louis Ernest Sola (born January 8, 1968) is an American businessman and politician, who is currently Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission. Sola currently works under Chairman Daniel B. Maffei and alongside Commissioners Rebecca F. Dy ...

* Commissioner

Carl Bentzel Carl Whitney Bentzel is an American attorney and political advisor serving as a commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission. Nominated by President Donald Trump on November 21, 2019, he was sworn in on December 9, 2019. His term is set to e ...

* Commissioner

Max Vekich Max M. Vekich (born 1954 or 1955) is an American politician and labor leader who serves as a commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission. A member of the Democratic Party, Vekich previously served as a member of the Washington House of Repres ...

Bureaus and offices

List of bureaus and offices: * Office of Equal Employment Opportunity * Office of the Inspector General * Office of the Administrative Law Judges * Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services * Office of the General Counsel * Office of The Secretary * Office of the Managing Director ** Office of Budget and Finance ** Office of Human Resources ** Office of Information Technology ** Office of Management Services * Bureau of Enforcement * Bureau of Certification and Licensing * Bureau of Trade Analysis * Area Representatives

Regulations of the FMC

Regulations of the FMC are found a
46 C.F.R. Chapter IV.

Regulations concerning Ocean Transport Intermediaries

Definitions

The FMC regulations regulate the activities of Ocean Transport Intermediaries (OTIs) in the US. The FMC regulations define OTI to include two classes of logistics service providers: (1) ocean freight forwarders and (2) non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs). The FMC regulations define "ocean freight forwarder" as a person that (i) in the United States, dispatches shipments from the United States via a common carrier and books or otherwise arranges space for those shipments on behalf of shippers and (ii) processes the documentation or performs related activities incident to those shipments. The FMC regulations define "NVOCC" as a common carrier that does not operate the vessels by which the ocean transportation is provided, and is a shipper in its relationship with an ocean common carrier. Licensing requirements OTIs must be licensed by the FMC before they perform OTI services in the United States. Requirements for licensing are found a
46 CFR §§ 515.11-515.27.

Duties

The FMC regulations define duties with which OTIs must comply a
46 CFR §§ 515.31-515.34.

Fees and compensation

The FMC regulations set out certain rules regarding fees that freight forwarders may charge to their customers and compensation that freight forwarders may receive from carriers a
46 CFR §§ 515.41-515.91.

List of former commissioners

Responsibility for U.S. merchant shipping has been held by different federal agencies since 1917. For a history, see

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

References

External links

*
Federal Maritime Commission
in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on feder ...

{{Authority control Independent agencies of the United States government Government agencies established in 1961 Maritime transport authorities Organizations based in Washington, D.C.

Maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

1961 establishments in the United States