An administrative law judge this month denied Illinois importer MSRF’s complaint against South Korean cargo carrier HMM, saying the importer didn’t prove HMM violated the two companies’ service contract. The judge said none of MSRF’s claims before the Federal Maritime Commission were successful, partly because they were based on the terms of the original service contract, which had been amended multiple times mostly “for the benefit” of MSRF.

The Transportation Department this week unveiled a final rule that will place new financial security requirements on forwarders and freight brokers that fail to pay for services provided by a motor carrier. The new measures, first released as a proposed rule in January by the agency’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, are meant to address freight brokers and forwarders that purposely default on payments, triggering what can be a “costly and time consuming” process in a claims court that “generally results in motor carrier claims being paid pro rata.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety is "at this time" conducting "enhanced commercial vehicle safety inspections at the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, Tornillo Port of Entry (POE) in El Paso County, Ysleta-Zaragoza Bridge in El Paso and the Colombia Bridge in Laredo, as those vehicles cross into Texas, theTexas DPS said in an emailed statement on Oct. 13.

CBP's Office of Field Operations resumed railway bridge operations at the Port of Eagle Pass, the agency said in a news release Sept. 23. The reopening comes three days after CBP suspended railroad operations at Eagle Pass on Sept. 20 (see 2309210005) because of an influx of migrants at that port of entry.

Texas Department of Public Safety inspections are causing delays at the ports of Eagle Pass and El Paso/Ysleta Bridge, but Southern border ports remain open for commercial processing despite an influx of migrants (see 2109200028), with the exception of rail at Eagle Pass, according to an email from a CBP official sent out by the Laredo Licensed U.S. Customs Broker Association.

A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry characterized CBP's recent check and boarding of a Hong Kong-registered Chinese cargo ship, Zhenhua 28, as "unreasonable." The search amounted to "harassment by US law enforcement in Jacksonville, Florida," the spokesperson said, alleging that some crew members' personal electronic devices were seized. The U.S. has "harassed Chinese nationals" due to their Communist Party membership -- a "stark manifestation" of a Cold War mentality that the spokesperson condemned. The ministry called for the checks, done in the name of national security, to stop being used "as a pretext to thwart and undermine people-to-people and cultural exchange and economic and trade cooperation between our two countries." CBP didn't comment.

Hapag-Lloyd violated U.S. shipping regulations by failing to establish adequate facilities to return empty containers to the Port of New York and New Jersey and unfairly charging detention and demurrage for containers caught in the "logistical paralysis" of its own making, Rahal International said in a June 30 complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. Rahal, an Illinois-based importer and distributor of fruit and vegetable juices, said backlogs and delays created by the shipping line damaged some of its juice shipments, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

The American Cotton Shippers Association asked the Federal Maritime Commission to uphold a recent summary decision that ordered carriers to stop adopting, maintaining and enforcing regulations or practices that "limit the ability of a motor carrier to select the chassis provider." In an amicus brief filed to the FMC May 8, ACSA said it supports the decision because agreements between ocean carriers and non-party Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs) place limits on the “choice in chassis provisioning for U.S. cotton exporters, thereby causing delays in the movement of cotton, creating avoidably inefficiencies, imposing needless costs, and ultimately undermining the competitiveness of U.S. cotton shipments in the global marketplace."

The Federal Maritime Commission hired John Crews as the first director of its Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance, the commission said May 8. He will “supervise and coordinate the personnel and activities” of the FMC enforcement program's three offices that were consolidated to form BEIC.

CertiFit, a Utah-based auto parts importer, on May 4 filed a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission against Evergreen Line, accusing the ocean carrier of violating shipping regulations. CertiFit accused Evergreen of "systematically failing to meet its commitments" under a service contract, "refusing tendered cargo, refusing to provide empty containers, failing to provide necessary information concerning booking issues, and a refusal to deal," the complaint said. CertiFit is seeking reparations for Evergreen's alleged violations of the Shipping Act.