Thread by @mercoglianos

1/President Biden to Target Container Shipping Alliances in 'State of the Union' Address

This attack on the Container Companies tonight, @Maersk @MSCCargo @cmacgm @COSCOSHIPPING @HapagLloydAG @OceanNetworkExp #Evergreen #HMM #YangMing, could be trouble.

gcaptain.com/president-bide…

2/The statement by @TheJusticeDept and @FMC_gov to reaffirm and strengthen their partnership is targeted directly at the ocean carriers. I have been critical of them in the past. There is concern about future actions to keep rates high, as they are today.

justice.gov/opa/pr/justice…

3/The FMC has led a Fact Finding (#29) on this since March 2020 led by Commissioner Dye. It has uncovered several major issues including excessive detention & demurrage and difficulties carriers had with shippers.

fmc.gov/fact-finding-2…

4/At the same time @POTUS has supported the excessive and retaliatory demurrage charges threatened by @PortofLA & @portoflongbeach, known as Hyper-Demurrage. It has never been enacted but it is continually poised to drop.

5/The statement from @WhiteHouse on Lowering Prices and Leveling the Playing Field in Ocean Shipping lays out many of the issues that I have identified as concerns over the last year.

However, I fear that their conclusion is different than mine.

whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

6/It appears that the issue facing the nation right now - inflation - may be attributed to the ocean carriers, due to their record profits.

There are systematic issues, and while their are problems in shipping, it is not the root cause.

gcaptain.com/its-about-stim…

7/Biden Takes on Container Shipping Despite No Evidence of Wrongdoing

“Does it mean that the Justice Department is taking over the FMC? Over my dead body. Does it mean that the FMC will have the resources it needs...Yes, it does,”

gcaptain.com/biden-takes-on…