Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Chairman Daniel B. Maffei visited the Port of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday to meet with trucking representatives and marine terminal operators about growing congestion at the nation’s number two port for containerized cargo.
His visit comes after the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) and Bi-State Motor Carriers Association (Bi-State) raised concerns with the FMC about equipment availability and demurrage and detention (D&D) charges, while also urging the FMC to suspend D&D at the port.
U.S. East Coast ports have gained this year due to a shift in container shipping capacity from the U.S. West Coast, where ongoing congestion and threats related to unsettled labor negotiations have caused shippers to look elsewhere for landing inbound cargo. The Port of New York and New Jersey has seen cargo volumes rise nearly 12% so far this year compared to 2021 and 34% compared to the same period in 2019 before the pandemic. This shift, unfortunately, has brought with it congestion issues.
As of Thursday, numbers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey showed 19 containerships at anchor awaiting berthing space. A glut of empty export containers awaiting pick-up by ocean carriers contributed to the problems, prompting the port authority to announce this week a new “container imbalance fee” for ocean carriers. Under the program, which will be effective as of September 1, 2022, ocean carriers’ total outgoing container volume must be 110% or more of their incoming container volume or face a $100 per container fee over the benchmark.
“When ocean carriers continue to bring thousands of containers per month to a port and only pick up a fraction of that number, it creates an untenable situation for terminals, importers and exporters, trucking companies, and the port itself,” said Chairman Maffei. “The Commission has already been investigating reports of carriers charging per diem container charges even when the shipper or trucker cannot possibly return the container due to terminal congestion. I will ask that this investigation be broadened and intensified to cover instances where shippers and truckers are being forced to store containers or move them without proper compensation.”
D&D charges are widely used in the container shipping industry and can be unclear or ambiguous in shipper contracts. The charges, levied by ocean carriers, cover the use of shipping containers beyond a time period and are applied to encourage timely pickup and return of cargo and equipment.
The recently enacted Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 included a provision related to requirements for D&D billing, while also giving the FMC greater authority over certain ocean carrier practices and rulemaking. Central to the FMC’s oversight of D&D practices is its Interpretive Rule on Demurrage and Detention, issued in May 2020, which provides guidance and clarity on how the FMC assesses the reasonableness of D&D charges under existing law. In essence, the interpretive rule prescribes that D&D charges must facilitate freight fluidity.
“The Commission will ask the carriers that have fallen the most behind in picking up their empties what their plan is to rectify the situation. Whatever their answers may be, I will do everything in my power to ensure that carriers do not receive involuntarily subsidized storage for empty containers that belong to them,” said Maffei. “If it can be shown that a shipper or a trucker is not allowed to return a container then – not only should they not be charged per diem but – the carrier should compensate that trucker for the space it takes up. This is completely in line with the incentive principle set forth by the Commission in its rules in that it would promote the movement of cargo since chassis and space would be freed up by carriers taking full responsibility for the empty containers resulting from the increased volumes of import cargo they bring in.”
With the FMC’s announcement last week that it was reorganizing its investigative and prosecution functions by consolidating them into a newly created Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations, and Compliance (BEIC), combined with the agency’s closer collaboration with the Department of Justice over the last year, ocean carriers have once again been put on notice that any type of anti-competitive behavior will not fly.
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The Port of Los Angeles reported its best single month in its history. In a media briefing, port executive director Gene Seroka announced the port processed 1,042,652 TEUs, 23k TEUs more than the July 2025 record.
U.S. container imports are finally beginning to slow after an unusually long peak shipping season that stretched through the summer and into early fall, according to the latest Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates. The slowdown comes after months of stronger-than-expected cargo volumes at major U.S. ports, as retailers continued bringing in merchandise despite tariffs, inflation and higher transportation costs. Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in August, up 0.4% from July but down 0.7% from a year earlier. August now appears to have been the busiest month of 2026, marking a shift from last month’s forecast that September would take the top spot. “Even with any fluctuations in final data, we’re likely past the busiest part of the year,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy. “The truth is that the peak season started early and was stretched out through the summer and early fall, with the difference from month to month often amounting to little more than a rounding error,” Gold said. The latest forecast puts September imports at 2.28 million TEUs, down from the 2.31 million TEUs projected a month ago. October is expected to ease further to 2.25 million TEUs before volumes fall to 2 million TEUs in November. Despite the expected slowdown, imports are still running well ahead of last year in some months. September volumes are forecast to rise 8.2% year over year, followed by an 8.5% increase in October. The revised outlook follows a peak season that has repeatedly defied expectations. Retailers moved merchandise into the country earlier this year to get ahead of tariff changes and supply chain uncertainty, initially raising expectations that imports would peak early and decline through the summer. Instead, volumes remained elevated, with shipping delays and resilient consumer demand helping extend the traditional peak season. The strength has been evident at individual ports. The Port of Los Angeles recorded its busiest three-month stretch on record during June, July and August, while the Port of Savannah reported a record September earlier this week, handling 504,015 TEUs, up 3.7% from a year earlier. Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said the economic outlook remains mixed, with consumers continuing to spend despite signs of weakening confidence. “Despite this, consumers appear to remain confident and cautious at the same time, with consumer confidence indexes sliding to multi-year lows while consumer spending continues to be robust in the face of increasing inflation,” Hackett said. For the full year, Global Port Tracker now expects imports at major U.S. container ports to reach 25.8 million TEUs, up 1.4% from 25.4 million TEUs in 2025. That is slightly above last month’s forecast of 25.7 million TEUs. Looking ahead, January 2027 imports are forecast at 2.07 million TEUs, down 1.9% year over year, followed by 1.92 million TEUs in February, up 1%. For retailers, the extended shipping season means much of the merchandise needed for the holidays is already in the country, reducing the need for another major import surge before year-end. “Most holiday merchandise has arrived, and the remainder of the year is just a matter of last-minute replenishment and preparation for early 2027,” Gold said.
The Port of Savannah handled a record 504,015 twenty-foot equivalent units in September, up 3.7% from a year earlier as strong imports and a later-than-usual peak season boosted volumes.
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