Congress should abandon the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which will not address the “root causes” of the nation’s port congestion and shipping issues, the World Shipping Council said. After the Senate Commerce Committee passed the bill March 22 (see 2203220033), the WSC, which represents many of the world's major ocean carriers, said the legislation doesn't do “anything to fix the landside logistics breakdowns that are at the heart of America’s supply chain problems.”

The Federal Maritime Commission is expanding its Vessel-Operating Common Carrier Audit Program to analyze how shipping lines are serving U.S. exporters, the agency said March 21. As part of the audit program, the FMC will ask ocean carriers to share information about the export services they offer and potential opportunities to “increase access to service offerings.”

The State Department approved a potential $700 million sale of military equipment to the U.K., the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said March 17. The sale includes “Ballistic Missile Defense Radar (BMDR) and Command and Control Battle Management and Communications” and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin.

The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed by a week a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced March 18. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee in November last year, but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until March 25.

China recently updated the list of products whose foreign production facilities are required to register under Decree 248, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a March 15 report. The list's 42 new products include meat, seafood and certain beverages. China also removed eight products from the list. Under Decree 248, certain U.S. production facilities may be subject to revised customs and registration procedures before their products can enter China (see 2111040018 and 2110130022).

The Federal Maritime Commission will adopt a proposed rule to modernize and clarify some requirements associated with the filing of marine terminal operator schedules, the commission said in a final rule issued this week. The rule, originally proposed in September (see 2109210014), is intended to update “outdated” requirements and clarify existing definitions, such as “bulk cargo” and “marine terminal operator.” The changes, which don’t affect policy, take effect April 18.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is beginning a “comprehensive update” to its website to improve its readability, structure and align it with “best practices of modern website design,” the agency said this week. DDTC will roll out the update in a phased approach over the “coming months,” starting with the highest-traffic pages first. Feedback or concerns can be sent to PM_DDTCProjectTeam@state.gov.

The State Department approved a potential $950 million sale to Spain of military equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said March 15. The sale includes “MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopters” with support and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems.

The White House launched a pilot for a new supply chain information sharing system to allow for better exchange of freight data between U.S. ports, ocean carriers, terminals, logistics companies and other businesses. The Freight Logistics Optimization Works, announced March 15, will help provide companies and other supply chain actors with important information about the movement of cargo by helping to ensure more consistent early return dates for containers, more accurate chassis availability and estimates of “aggregate dwell time throughout the supply chain,” the White House said. The system, led by the Department of Transportation, will feature an initial set of 18 industry participants, including FedEx, UPS, Target, the ports at Long Beach, Los Angeles and Georgia, as well as terminal operators, trucking companies and chassis providers.

The Federal Maritime Commission this week extended the public comment deadline for its pre-rule on new demurrage and detention billing requirements (see 2202070026 and 2202140002) by 30 days. Comments were originally due March 17, but industry will now have until April 16 to submit feedback. More than 30 trade groups had asked FMC earlier this month to extend the deadline (see 2203070006).