The Federal Maritime Commission said Wednesday it would orchestrate an ocean carrier-shipper working group to address container-shipping woes experienced by U.S. exporters and importers.
"The most effective long-term solutions to the commercial problems experienced by U.S. exporters and importers this year will be developed by ocean carriers working closely with their customers within a framework organized by the commission" the FMC said.
The commission's statement came as it accepted a final report and recommendations growing out of a fact-finding investigation into Vessel Capacity and Equipment Availability in the United States Export and Import Trades.

The investigation, headed by Commissioner Rebecca F. Dye, was launched last March after growing numbers of complaints by importers and exporters about issues such as the unavailability of containers, cargo being rolled from one voyage to another, and demands for higher payments by carriers for cargo to be deemed "loadable."
The FMC called the year following the global recession "one of the worst years in the 50-year history of international containerized shipping," a year in which some analysts estimated that liner companies lost $20 billion.
Because information collected during the investigation was confidential, the entire report was not released. It included 170 interviews with what the agency said were "best-practices discussion pairs" between shippers and carriers, and Internet-based collaborative efforts concerning solutions to container availability.