Ocean carriers are being asked by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to offer more details on how they serve U.S. exporters as the federal agency expands the scope of an audit that began last summer.
The FMC’s Monday announcement comes amid increasing concern that carriers are bypassing exports in favor of expediting empty containers back to Asia for importers.
“Our industry has been hit hard by the shipping crisis. Long delays, contract breaches, price gouging and excessive and unjust fees by carriers and lack of access to equipment to move our product have resulted in huge delays and exorbitant costs that have translated into surging inflation that threatens our economic recovery,” American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) president and CEO Steve Lamar said in a statement.