Taiwan’s Wan Hai Lines has become the latest carrier to feel the wrath of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in Washington DC, copping a $950,000 fine as well as agreeing to refund charges in a detention and demurrage case which dates back to 2021.
Wan Hai invoiced a customer at least 21 times in the spring of 2021 for detention charges when the carrier “either offered no return locations, the designated terminal was not accepting the containers’ chassis, or appointments were unavailable for the subject containers,” according to the FMC’s order of investigation and hearing. The customer provided Wan Hai with screenshots verifying these restrictions and requested a waiver. Wan Hai denied the request to waive the charges, because it does “not control the appointment system,” according to the FMC.
The FMC, emboldened by the passing of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) in June last year, has many other cases brought against carriers that it is sorting through at present.
