Maersk Failed to Maintain Online Tariff Platform, Shipper Says

Maersk violated the Shipping Act by failing to keep its "automated tariff system" open for public inspection, shipper OL USA said in a complaint filed with the Federal Maritime Commission on Feb. 14. The shipper accused Maersk of being "deceptive" and its tariff platform of lacking "functionality," adding that it was "unable to verify Maersk’s representations regarding the substance of its tariffs."

OL USA said it needed to access the tariff platform after a Maersk terminal at the Port of Savannah accidentally accepted five shipping containers owned by Honour Lanes Shipping (HLS) that were being leased to OL USA in November and December 2021. Maersk not only refused to return the containers but also began using them for its own shipments, OL USA said. The carrier said its tariff allowed it to use the leased containers, but the shipper wasn't able to find that provision because Maersk's online portal "does not work," OL USA said.

OL USA said it sent "communications" to Maersk about the error, but Maersk ignored OL USA and "made no effort to make the Shipping Containers available to HLS or OL USA," the shipper said. Meanwhile, HLS was charging OL USA per diem charges for those leased containers.

After three months of failing to obtain the containers from Maersk, OL USA bought the shipping containers at HLS' "insistence" in February 2022, the shipper said. OL USA said it "would never have" bought the containers "but for Maersk’s deliberate unwillingness to relinquish possession," the shipper said, and only did so to mitigate "its own damages."

Even after OL USA bought the containers, Maersk used them for its own shipments despite knowing it didn't own the containers and wasn't authorized to use them, OL USA said. The shipper said Maersk acknowledged this in a February 2023 email.

OL USA was eventually able to collect three of the five containers and sent a letter in March 2023 asking Maersk for the remaining two. It also asked for a refund of the detention and per diem charges for the returned containers. Maersk declined, saying it was allowed to use the containers under its tariff policy. But OL USA again aid it couldn't find this provision on Maersk's online tariff platform.

By Feb. 6, 2024, the shipper had taken back four out of the five containers, OL USA said. It's still seeking the return of the final container.

The carrier's failure to provide a tariff platform violates the Shipping Act, "which requires a carrier to keep open to public inspection, in an automated tariff system, tariffs showing all its rates, charges, classifications, rules, and practices between all points or ports on its own route and on any through transportation route that has been established," OL USA said.

In total, OL USA was charged over $500,000 in detention and demurrage fees by HLS because the containers weren't made available. It also said that the final container hasn't been found and Maersk has incurred over $260,000 in detention and per diem charges.

The shipper said it's requesting that the FMC issue an order to release the shipping container being "unlawfully held" by Maersk, an order to answer the charges made and schedule a hearing, an order finding that Maersk violated the Shipping Act, an order making the carrier "cease and desist" from the activities described, an order awarding OL USA damages, and anything else the FMC deems "just and proper."

OL USA also filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York to recover detention and per diem charges from Maersk to "compensate for the loss caused by Maersk’s wrongful retention" of the containers, the shipper said.

Maersk declined to comment. HLS didn't respond to our request for comment.