The Federal Maritime Commission recently issued an industry advisory reminding common carriers, including vessel-operating common carriers, that they must meet their compliance obligations when doing business with non-vessel-operating common carriers and ocean freight forwarders. Failure to meet these obligations, which have been in place for some time, could result in fines or other penalties.
According to the FMC, carriers must verify that NVOCCs and OFFs are compliant with all applicable regulatory and statutory requirements related to licensing, registration, tariffs, and financial responsibility before accepting or transporting cargo for the account of an NVOCC or OFF. In addition, VOCCs must verify NVOCCs’ compliance with all applicable regulatory and statutory requirements related to licensing, registration, tariffs, and financial responsibility before signing a service contract with them.
For their part, NVOCCs are prohibited from knowingly and willfully entering into an NVOCC service arrangement with another NVOCC if the second NVOCC does not meet all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements related to licensing, registration, tariffs, and financial responsibility.
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