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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | August 12, 1961 |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Washington, DC, US |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | https://www.fmc.gov/ |
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates U.S. oceanborne transportation and the United States Merchant Marine. [1] It is chaired by Louis E. Sola
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 was responsible for both the regulation of ocean commerce and the promotion of the United States Merchant Marine. 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 (now part of the U.S. Department of Transportation). [2]
The passage of the Shipping Act of 1984 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, [3] which took effect on May 1, 1999, and the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022. [4] [5]
The commission is composed of five commissioners, appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. It is a bipartisan commission, so no more than three commissioners may be appointed from the same political party. The term of each commissioner is five years, with one term ending every year on June 30. When the term of a commissioner ends, the commissioner may continue to serve until a successor is appointed and qualified, but for a period not to exceed two years. Commissioners may serve a maximum of three terms. If they were initially appointed to fill a vacancy for an unexpired term, they may serve three terms in addition to that initial partial term. The President designates one of the commissioners as Chairman, who serves as the chief executive and administrative officer of the commission. [6]
List of commissioners as of January 20,2025 [update] : [7]
| Position | Name | Party | Took office | Term expires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chair | Louis E. Sola | Republican | January 23, 2019 (as commissioner) January 20, 2025 (as chair) | June 30, 2023 |
| Member | Rebecca F. Dye | Independent | November 14, 2002 | June 30, 2025 |
| Member | Dan Maffei | Democratic | June 30, 2016 | June 30, 2027 |
| Member | Max Vekich | Democratic | February 15, 2022 | June 30, 2026 |
| Member | Vacant | — | — | June 30, 2029 |
List of bureaus and offices: [7]
Regulations of the FMC are found at 46 C.F.R. Chapter IV.
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). [8]
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. [8]
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. [8]
Licensing requirements
OTIs must be licensed by the FMC before they perform OTI services in the United States. [9] Requirements for licensing are found at 46 CFR §§ 515.11-515.27.
The FMC regulations define duties with which OTIs must comply at 46 CFR §§ 515.31-515.34.
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 at 46 CFR §§ 515.41-515.91.
| Portrait | Commissioner [10] | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Harllee | August 1961 | June 1969 | |
| Ashton C. Barrett | February 1962 | June 1977 | |
| Thomas E. Stakem | February 1962 | June 1963 | |
| James V. Day | February 1962 | June 1984 | |
| John S. Patterson | February 1962 | September 1966 | |
| George H. Hearn | July 1964 | June 1978 | |
| James F. Fanseen | March 1967 | June 1971 | |
 | Helen Delich Bentley | June 1970 | June 1975 |
| Clarence G. Morse | October 1971 | June 1976 | |
| Karl E. Bakke | November 1975 | June 1977 | |
 | Robert R. Casey | January 1976 | September 1977 |
| Richard J. Daschbach | August 1977 | October 1982 | |
| Thomas F. Moakley | October 1977 | October 1988 | |
| Leslie Kanuk | June 1978 | June 1981 | |
| Peter N. Teige | June 1980 | September 1981 | |
| Alan Green Jr. | June 1981 | June 1985 | |
 | James J. Carey | October 1981 | June 1990 |
| Robert Setrakian | May 1983 | August 1985 | |
| Edward J. Philbin | March 1985 | December 1989 | |
 | Frank Ivancie | November 1985 | June 1992 |
| Edward Hickey Jr. | November 1985 | January 1988 | |
 | Elaine Chao | April 29, 1988 | April 19, 1989 |
 | William Hathaway | February 8, 1990 | November 11, 1999 |
| Rob Quartel | April 1990 | June 1994 | |
 | Ming C. Hsu | June 1990 | December 1999 |
| Chris Koch | October 1990 | March 1994 | |
| Joe Scroggins Jr. | June 1994 | June 2000 | |
 | Delmond J. H. Won | August 1994 | August 2003 |
 | Harold J. Creel Jr. | August 17, 1994 | June 30, 2009 |
 | John A. Moran | October 21, 1998 | April 2002 |
 | Joseph E. Brennan | November 10, 1999 | January 1, 2013 |
 | Antony M. Merck | January 2000 | December 2001 |
 | Steven R. Blust | August 12, 2002 | June 30, 2006 |
 | Rebecca F. Dye | November 14, 2002 | present |
 | A. Paul Anderson | August 22, 2003 | May 30, 2008 |
 | Richard A. Lidinsky Jr. | July 31, 2009 | April 1, 2013 |
 | Michael Khouri | December 2009 | February 15, 2022 |
 | Mario Cordero | June 3, 2011 | January 23, 2017 |
 | William P. Doyle | January 1, 2013 | January 2, 2018 |
 | Dan Maffei | June 30, 2016 | present |
 | Louis E. Sola | January 23, 2019 | present |
 | Carl Bentzel | December 9, 2019 | December 13, 2024 |
 | Max Vekich | February 15, 2022 | present |
Responsibility for U.S. merchant shipping has been held by different federal agencies since 1917. For a history, see United States Shipping Board.
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including interstate bus lines and telephone companies. Congress expanded ICC authority to regulate other modes of commerce beginning in 1906. Throughout the 20th century, several of ICC's authorities were transferred to other federal agencies. The ICC was abolished in 1995, and its remaining functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board.
The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 is a United States federal law that deregulated the American railroad industry to a significant extent, and it replaced the regulatory structure that had existed since the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887.
The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, often called the "4R Act," is a United States federal law that established the basic outlines of regulatory reform in the railroad industry and provided transitional operating funds following the 1970 bankruptcy of Penn Central Transportation Company. The law approved the "Final System Plan" for the newly created Conrail and authorized acquisition of Northeast Corridor tracks and facilities by Amtrak.
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a result of new trends in economic thinking about the inefficiencies of government regulation, and the risk that regulatory agencies would be controlled by the regulated industry to its benefit, and thereby hurt consumers and the wider economy. Economic regulations were promoted during the Gilded Age, in which progressive reforms were claimed as necessary to limit externalities like corporate abuse, unsafe child labor, monopolization, and pollution, and to mitigate boom and bust cycles. Around the late 1970s, such reforms were deemed burdensome on economic growth and many politicians espousing neoliberalism started promoting deregulation.
In the United States government, independent agencies are agencies that exist outside the federal executive departments and the Executive Office of the President. In a narrower sense, the term refers only to those independent agencies that, while considered part of the executive branch, have regulatory or rulemaking authority and are insulated from presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.
The United States Merchant Marine is an organization composed of 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, and engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine primarily transports domestic and international cargo and passengers during peacetime, and operate and maintain deep-sea merchant ships, tugboats, towboats, ferries, dredges, excursion vessels, charter boats and other waterborne craft on the oceans, the Great Lakes, rivers, canals, harbors, and other waterways. In times of war, the Merchant Marine can be an auxiliary to the United States Navy, and can be called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel for the military.
The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was a corporation established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act, on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War I efforts. The program ended on March 2, 1934.
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The commission replaced the United States Shipping Board which had existed since World War I. It was intended to formulate a merchant shipbuilding program to design and build five hundred modern merchant cargo ships to replace the World War I vintage vessels that comprised the bulk of the United States Merchant Marine, and to administer a subsidy system authorized by the Act to offset the cost differential between building in the U.S. and operating ships under the American flag. It also formed the United States Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ship's officers to man the new fleet.
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 is a United States federal statute that provides for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine. Among other purposes, the law regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and between U.S. ports. Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act is known as the Jones Act and deals with cabotage. It requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on ships that have been constructed in the United States and that fly the U.S. flag, are owned by U.S. citizens, and are crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents. The act was introduced by Senator Wesley Jones. The law also defines certain seaman's rights.
The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) are a set of United States export guidelines and prohibitions. They are administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security, which regulates the export restrictions of sensitive goods. The EAR apply to most U.S. origin items, foreign-produced items that incorporate controlled U.S. items, and certain "foreign-produced direct products" of U.S. items or technology,.
A freight rate is a price at which a certain cargo is delivered from one point to another. The price depends on the form of the cargo, the mode of transport, the weight of the cargo, and the distance to the delivery destination. Many shipping services, especially air carriers, use dimensional weight for calculating the price, which takes into account both weight and volume of the cargo.
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 is a United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just", but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. It also required that railroads publicize shipping rates and prohibited short haul or long haul fare discrimination, a form of price discrimination against smaller markets, particularly farmers in Western or Southern Territory compared to the official Eastern states. The Act created a federal regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which it charged with monitoring railroads to ensure that they complied with the new regulations.
A freight forwarder or forwarding agent is a person or a company who co-ordinates and organizes the movement of shipments on behalf of a shipper by liaising with carriers. The carriers may use a variety of shipping modes, including ships, airplanes, trucks, and railroads, and often use multiple modes for a single shipment. A freight forwarder does not move the goods but acts as an agent in the logistics network and will carry out freight consolidation, rate negotiations, shipment tracking, customs and other documentation, among other tasks. FIATA describes a freight forwarder as the "architect of transport".
An ocean transportation intermediary (OTI) is a company that is licensed by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to operate in the United States as an ocean freight forwarder, non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC), or both.
A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships.
Title 46 of the United States Code, titled "Shipping", outlines the federal laws contained within the United States Code that pertain to the shipping industry. It was gradually codified into the Positive Law of the United States, with partial codifications being enacted in the years 1988, 2002, and 2003. The title was fully codified into the Positive Law on October 6, 2006, when then-President George W. Bush signed Public Law 109-304 into law.
The Cargo Preference Act or Cargo Preference refers generally to legal requirements for the carriage of government-impelled cargoes on the vessels flagged within the registry of that government for the purpose of promoting a national merchant marine. Cargo Preference is commonplace among the world's seafaring nations, including Australia, Brazil, France, Japan, Taiwan.
The Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA), enacted in 1975, is the principal federal law in the United States regulating the transportation of hazardous materials. Its purpose is to "protect against the risks to life, property, and the environment that are inherent in the transportation of hazardous material in intrastate, interstate, and foreign commerce" under the authority of the United States Secretary of Transportation.
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 United States with a minimum of government intervention and regulatory costs; (2) provide an efficient and economic transportation system in the ocean commerce of the United States that is, insofar as possible, in harmony with, and responsive to, international shipping practices; (3) encourage the development of an economically sound and efficient liner fleet of vessels of the United States capable of meeting national security needs; and (4) promote the growth and development of United States exports through competitive and efficient ocean transportation and by placing a greater reliance on the marketplace.
Transportation in the United States is governed by laws and regulations of the federal government. The Department of Transportation is responsible for carrying out federal transportation policy, and the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for security in transportation.
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