Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act of 2023
What changed between versions
The entire marine terminal and dwell time statistics provision (former Section 10) was removed. This had required the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to collect and publish monthly data on container dwell times, yard capacity, gate-in/gate-out volumes, and turn times at the top 25 ports.
The LOGINK prohibition (now Section 203) was broadened from applying only to 'covered port authorities' to any 'covered entity' receiving funding under the port infrastructure development program or maritime transportation system emergency relief program. The definition of prohibited software was also expanded to include any logistics software subject to foreign adversary control and any platform sharing data with such systems.
The shipping exchange complaint provision (now Section 103) was narrowed from covering alleged violations by shipping exchanges, violations of Commission regulations, and market manipulation to only covering 'alleged incidents of market manipulation or other anticompetitive practices by shipping exchanges registered under section 40504.'
A new National Ocean Carrier Advisory Committee (Section 42504) was established with 9 members representing ocean carriers, at least three of which must be ocean transportation intermediaries.
The service contracts amendment (former Section 4) that would have added 'and minimum contract requirements' to the essential terms of shipping contracts under Section 40502(c)(9) was dropped entirely.
The National Port Advisory Committee (renamed from Seaport) membership was reduced from 24 to 13 members: 5 marine terminal operators, 5 port authorities, and 3 longshore and maritime labor representatives (previously 8 terminal operators and 16 port authorities).
The data collection anti-duplication provision was changed from a flat 'prohibition' to a 'limitation' with an exception: the Commission may still collect duplicative data if the existing data is not available in a timely manner or in a usable form. A new category of excluded data (submitted to Department of Commerce under 13 U.S.C. 301) was also added.
A new Congressional reporting requirement was added: the Federal Maritime Commission must submit investigation results finding market manipulation or anticompetitive practices by shipping exchanges to the House Transportation Committee and Senate Commerce Committee.
A new repeal provision (Section 104) was added to repeal Section 40706 of title 46, United States Code.
A new deadline was added for containerized freight indexes: the Commission must publish a final rule within 3 years after enactment, in addition to the existing 1-year advance notice of proposed rulemaking requirement.
The definition of 'controlled carrier' was restructured into two parts: (A) an ocean common carrier, and (B) such a carrier owned or controlled by a foreign entity in a nonmarket economy, priority foreign country, or under USTR monitoring. The annual report provision now references 'controlled carriers' rather than 'ocean common carriers' when adding marine terminal operators to the scope of concerning practices reporting.