NCBFAA president: Eliminate published tariffs for NVOCCs

National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America Inc. has reiterated a call for the end to requiring non-vessel-operating common carriers to publish tariffs and terminating antitrust immunity for liner carriers.

NCBFAA President Mary Jo Muoio also questioned the FMC's recent action to allow the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach's Clean Truck Plan to take effect.

She made her remarks during a hearing on the management and role of the Federal Maritime Commission held by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation last week.

NVOCC published rate tariffs are anachronistic and almost never reviewed or used by customers, she said. They are almost uniformly negotiated individually with individual customers and only later published in tariff form, and that the cost of tariff publication needlessly increases NVOCC costs, reducing their flexibility and competitiveness.

She said her association in the near future will request the FMC to utilize the liberalized exemption authority Congress provided in the Shipping Act to exempt NVOCC rate tariffs from mandatory publication and enforcement.

Source: American Shipper