Logistics Firm Asks FMC to Dismiss Complaint
The Federal Maritime Commission should dismiss a complaint alleging U.S.-based Omni Logistics violated shipping regulations when it failed to include required information on demurrage invoices for more than 200 containers (see 2212020027), the company told the FMC this week. The complaint by Thompson Pipe Group Pressure, a U.S. supplier of construction equipment and services, “utterly fails to provide any factual detail” about how Omni violated the regulations violations, Omni said. The company also said FMC lacks jurisdiction over the dispute and the complaint alleges violations of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act despite the alleged violations occurring before OSRA was enacted.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
In its December complaint, TPG said it was forced to pay Omni more than $860,000 in unfair fees before the company released its cargo. Service quotes didn’t include information about demurrage fees, and the logistics company never informed TPG about its demurrage policies, the complaint said.
In its response, Omni said it isn’t the “proper party” to this dispute. The company said it’s the parent company of Epic Freight Solutions, the business with which TPG “actually contracted” and which Omni acquired in April 2021. “Omni itself merely performed various back-office services on Epic’s behalf, including the issuance of invoices for services rendered, and on a few occasions, arranged for domestic drayage services on behalf of Complainant,” Omni said.
Omni added it never “in any way act[ed] as ‘common carrier’ with respect to” TPG’s cargo, saying the FMC therefore lacks jurisdiction. TPG also never demonstrated a “link between Omni’s regulated status and the conduct that allegedly violates the Shipping Act.”
Even if Omni or Epic were common carriers, TPG’s allegations are based on conduct that predated the enactment of OSRA, Omni said. “OSRA-22 was signed into law on June 16, 2022 and contains no retroactivity provisions,” it said. “Yet, with the exception of just a few invoices, the Complainant alleges invoices that pre-date enactment of the statute should be found to violate OSRA-22.”
The logistics company listed several other reasons TPG’s complaint should be dismissed, including that TPG agreed in its contract to pay all demurrage and detention charges. TPG “counterintuitively alleges that it found the demurrage charges ‘to be excessive,’ despite having agreed to pay them on the face of the Contract,” Omni said. TPG also “failed to state a claim because it does not allege, with sufficient factual detail, how Omni failed to establish reasonable practices with respect to the handling of Complainant’s cargo.”