A bill to amend the Shipping Act, 1916, to provide for jurisdiction over common carriers by water engaging in foreign commerce to and from the United States utilizing ports in nations contiguous to the United States.
Key claim: Ocean shipping companies that advertise or arrange cargo moves in the United States and carry goods between a U.S. point and a port in a neighboring country would have to file their rates with the Federal Maritime Commission, without giving the Commission power over railroads or inland transportation.
Abstract
(S205 · 98th Congress) Amends the Shipping Act, 1916, to redefine the term “common carrier by water in foreign commerce” to include persons engaged as common carriers in specified ocean transportation of property who: (1) advertise, solicit, or arrange, within the United States, for such transportation; and (2) transport such property between a point within the United States and a port in a nation contiguous to the United States. Directs such common carriers to file their tariffs with the Federal Maritime Commission within 90 days of enactment of this Act. Sets forth the effective dates of such tariffs. Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to: (1) require such common carriers to reveal, in tariffs filed with the Commission, the portion of such tariffs attributable to inland transportation; (2) require such common carriers to reveal any information with regard to such inland transportation; or (3) extend to the Commission any jurisdiction over or authority to regulate rail carriers. Latest action (1983-01-26): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
Why this matters
The proposal would close a jurisdictional gap in which ocean carriers routed U.S. cargo through Canadian or Mexican ports to avoid FMC tariff-filing obligations that applied to direct U.S. port calls. By limiting the reach to the ocean leg only, it preserves the traditional split between maritime rate regulation and surface transportation oversight. As a 1983 measure it is largely of historical interest, since subsequent laws (notably the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 and the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022) restructured how tariffs and service contracts are handled.