USDA Grain Transportation Report: FMC Seeks Comments on Potential Mandatory Information Sharing

According to the USDA's Grain Transportation report, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) seeks public comment by September 14 on whether supply chain congestion is dire enough to warrant an emergency order requiring information sharing to resolve the issue.

The FMC emergency order under consideration would require common carriers and marine terminal operators to share key information with shippers, truckers, and railroads.

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 authorizes FMC to issue such an emergency order after seeking input on three questions, as follows: whether congestion has substantially impaired the competitiveness and reliability of the ocean transportation system; whether an FMC emergency order would alleviate the situation; and what the appropriate scope of an FMC emergency order would be.