Terminal Operator Accused of Restricting Stevedore Access, Charging $1.2 M in 'Baseless' Fees

Marine terminal operator APS East Coast (Amports) engaged in "a series of schemes and efforts to unlawfully restrict stevedoring services" and charged $1.2 million in "baseless" fees, Ports America Chesapeake (PAC) and Marine Terminals Corporation-East (MTCE), said in a June 2 complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. PAC and MTCE, which provide stevedoring services in Baltimore, also accused Amports of subjecting them to "prejudicial treatment" compared with other stevedores "without legitimate transportation justifications," interfering with their stevedoring business and contracts and "unreasonably refusing to deal" with them.

The companies said Amports' "brazen" violations of the Shipping Act began last year, when it said it would begin using a "sole stevedoring provider" in Baltimore beginning Jan. 1. The terminal operator said customers that would like to continue using a contracted stevedoring company after Jan. 1 would have to pay a "$25.00 per unit fee," and all stevedoring actives performed by another company "must be approved by AMPORTS COO 14 days before vessel activities.”

In a Dec. 6 letter to Amports, PAC and MTCE asked the terminal operator to "reverse its position," saying it was giving unfair preferential treatment to its sole stevedoring provider. Amports on March 31 said its preferred stevedore system and the fees were justified under the Shipping Act, telling PAC and MTCE that they had accrued about $1.2 million in access fees since Jan. 1.

PAC and MTCE asked the FMC to order Amports to stop its "unlawful conduct," pay reparations and order "such other and further relief that the FMC deems is just and proper." Amports did not immediately respond to a request for comment.