Notice2025-16283
Notice of Revocation of Exemptions Granted to Certain Controlled Carriers
Primary source
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Published
August 26, 2025
Issuing agencies
Federal Maritime Commission
Abstract
The Federal Maritime Commission ("Commission") is revoking certain exemptions that allow for rates, charges, classifications, rules or regulations to become effective with less than thirty (30) days' notice. These exemptions have been granted to some controlled carriers. This revocation will apply to exemptions that were granted to entities that have since been removed from the Commission's list of controlled carriers. Exemptions that have been granted to controlled carriers that remain on this list will continue to be valid but may be reviewed in the future. No comments were received from the notice of intent to revoke, and no changes have been made in this final notice. Commission Orders to the individual carriers whose exemptions are revoked are available in the Commission's electronic Reading Room at https://www2.fmc.gov/readingroom/ under Docket Numbers 25-17 through 25-23.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 163 (Tuesday, August 26, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 26, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41562-41563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16283]
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FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION
[Docket No. FMC-2025-0010]
Notice of Revocation of Exemptions Granted to Certain Controlled
Carriers
AGENCY: Federal Maritime Commission.
ACTION: Notice and notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Maritime Commission (``Commission'') is revoking
certain exemptions that allow for rates, charges, classifications,
rules or regulations to become effective with less than thirty (30)
days' notice. These exemptions have been granted to some controlled
carriers. This revocation will apply to exemptions that were granted to
entities that have since been removed from the Commission's list of
controlled carriers. Exemptions that have been granted to controlled
carriers that remain on this list will continue to be valid but may be
reviewed in the future. No comments were received from the notice of
intent to revoke, and no changes have been made in this final notice.
Commission Orders to the individual carriers whose exemptions are
revoked are available in the Commission's electronic Reading Room at
<a href="https://www2.fmc.gov/readingroom/">https://www2.fmc.gov/readingroom/</a> under Docket Numbers 25-17 through
25-23.
DATES: This notice of availability is published in the Federal Register
on August 26, 2025.
ADDRESSES: To view background documents, you may use the Federal
[[Page 41563]]
eRulemaking Portal at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> under Docket No. FMC-2025-
0010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Eng, Secretary; Phone: (202)
523-5725; Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4714222435223326353e07212a2469202831"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4f1c2a2c3d2a3b2e3d360f29222c61282039">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A controlled carrier is a vessel-operating common carrier that is
owned or controlled by a foreign government.\1\ Controlled carriers are
subject to enhanced regulatory oversight to ensure that they do not
abuse their subsidized position in the marketplace.\2\ One of the
provisions of 46 U.S.C. chapter 407 stipulates that the tariff rates or
charges of controlled carriers cannot become effective until the 30th
day after their publication.\3\
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\1\ 46 U.S.C. 40102(9).
\2\ See 46 U.S.C. chapter 407.
\3\ 46 U.S.C. 40703.
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The Commission has previously granted exemptions to certain
controlled carriers from the requirements of 46 U.S.C. 40703, pursuant
to the administrative exemption authority found at 46 U.S.C. 40103.
Such exemptions allowed these controlled carriers' rates, charges,
classifications, rules and regulations to become effective less than 30
days after publication. These exemptions did not change the status of
any of these carriers as controlled carriers; they were limited to
allowing the carrier's rates, charges, classifications, rules or
regulations to become effective in less than 30 days' notice.\4\ The
Commission also has the authority to revoke previously granted
administrative exemptions.\5\ In granting exemptions from section
40703, the Commission has declined to grant permanent exemptions
because doing so would impinge on the Commission's authority to revoke
them.\6\
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\4\ Id.
\5\ 46 U.S.C. 40103(a).
\6\ See, e.g., Petition of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company
for a Partial Exemption from the Controlled Carrier Act, Docket No.
P3-99, Order Granting Petition in Part (April 1, 2004) (``The
Commission declines to make this exemption permanent, as the
Petition requests . . . a specific provision for `permanence' of
this Order would abrogate the Commission's authority under section
16 and its obligations under section 9 [of the Shipping Act of 1984]
. . . The Commission retains its full authority to revoke the
instant exemption subject to the requirements of section 16 of the
Shipping Act of 1984, 46 U.S.C. app. [sec.] 1715.'')
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In 2004, sections of the Shipping Act of 1984 were rearranged and
renumbered. Exemptions under section 9(c) of the Shipping Act that had
been codified at 46 U.S.C. app. 1708, allowing changes to controlled
carriers' rates, charges, classifications, rules or regulations to
become effective more quickly than 30 days after publication with
Commission permission, were moved to 46 U.S.C. 40703. The statutory
language of the two sections is nearly identical. In addition,
Commission explanations suggest that the Commission did not view
exemptions from section 40703 differently than exemptions from section
1708. For example, in granting section 40703 exemptions to United Arab
Shipping Company (S.A.G.) and Hainan P O Shipping Co., Ltd., the
Commission stated that it ``has previously granted exemptions from
[section] 40703,'' and cited to some exemptions that were granted from
section 40703 and to others that were granted from section 1708.\7\ As
such, it is the Commission's position that historically, it has viewed
the exemptions granted from section 1708 to be equivalent to the
exemptions granted from section 40703.
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\7\ See Petition of United Arab Shipping Company (S.A.G.) for an
Exemption from the Controlled Carrier Act, Docket No. P1-14, Order
Granting Petition (July 16, 2015); Petition of Hainan P O Shipping
Co., Ltd. for an Exemption from the Controlled Carrier Act, Docket
No. P1-10, Order Granting Petition (December 9, 2010).
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On May 30, 2025, the Commission published a Notice of Intent to
Revoke Exemptions Granted to Certain Controlled Carriers that were no
longer on the Commission's list of controlled carriers.\8\ No comments
were received in response to this notice.
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\8\ 90 FR 23052.
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II. Revocation of Certain Exemptions From 46 U.S.C. 40703
Many of the entities to which the Commission granted exemptions
from 46 U.S.C. 40703 have since been removed from the Commission's list
of controlled carriers for various reasons, such as no longer offering
carriage in the U.S. trades or having been bought by private companies.
Because the Commission has declined to grant permanent exemptions,\9\
there should not be any expectations that these exemptions are
permanent. However, until now, the Commission has not revoked any
exemptions, even when an entity's circumstances have changed, such as
having been removed from the list of controlled carriers. Rather than
allowing that to create an expectation that an exemption remains valid
through such changes in circumstances, the Commission is taking this
action to give notice that these exemptions are, in fact, terminated.
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\9\ See, e.g., Petition of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company
for a Partial Exemption from the Controlled Carrier Act, Docket No.
P3-99, Order Granting Petition in Part (April 1, 2004).
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The revocation of these exemptions does not prevent an entity from
petitioning for an exemption again, if its status changes such that it
again becomes classified as a controlled carrier. The Commission is
hereby revoking the section 40703 exemptions of the following entities:
1. Sinotrans Container Lines Co., Ltd., Docket No. 25-17;
2. Hainan P O Shipping Co., Ltd., Docket No. 25-18;
3. United Arab Shipping Company (S.A.G.), Docket No. 25-19;
4. China Shipping (Hong Kong) Container Lines Co., Ltd., Docket No.
25-20;
5. China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd., Docket No. 25-21;
6. American President Lines, Ltd. and APL Co., Pte. Ltd., Docket
No. 25-22; and
7. COSCO Container Lines Europe GmbH, Docket No. 25-23.
These entities were removed from the list of controlled carriers
over the years. As such, they are no longer controlled carriers under
46 U.S.C. 40102(9), 46 U.S.C. chapter 407, and 46 CFR part 565. As a
result, the Commission finds that there is good cause to revoke their
exemptions. Therefore, the Commission issues this final notice of
revocation. The Commission Orders to each of these carriers,
effectuating this revocation, are available on the Commission's
electronic Reading Room at <a href="https://www2.fmc.gov/readingroom/">https://www2.fmc.gov/readingroom/</a> under
Docket Numbers 25-17 through 25-23.
The exemptions that the Commission has granted to Orient Overseas
Container Line Limited,\10\ OOCL (Europe) Limited,\11\ and COSCO
SHIPPING Lines Co., Ltd.,\12\ and the Chinese-Polish Joint Stock
Shipping Company (``Chipolbrok'') \13\ remain in place because these
companies are still on the Commission's list of controlled carriers.
However, the Commission may review these exemptions in the future.
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\10\ Docket No. P2-18.
\11\ Id.
\12\ Docket No. P3-99.
\13\ Docket No. P1-25.
By the Commission.
David Eng,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-16283 Filed 8-25-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6730-02-P
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