New Senior Executive Staff Hired for Key FMC Leadership Roles

Three new Senior Executive Service career staff members have been hired in recent months for key management and leadership roles at the Federal Maritime Commission.

Lucille Marvin assumed the duties of Managing Director as of June 14, 2021. Ms. Marvin comes to the Commission from the Surface Transportation Board (STB) where she served as the Director of the Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance. Ms. Marvin was previously on the staff of the Federal Maritime Commission before joining the STB in 2008. Ms. Marvin began her career in government working for Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. She earned her J.D. in 2002 from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Earlier this spring, Patrick Moore was hired to serve as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Enterprise Services; and Kristen Monaco to serve as Director of the Bureau of Trade Analysis. All three individuals were hired to fill vacancies created by retirements.

Mr. Moore joins the Commission from the Department of Homeland Security where he held a variety of positions over the past 18 years, including serving 13 years as the Chief Financial Officer of the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office and its predecessor office. He also has 25 years of active duty and reserve service with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Ms. Monaco comes to the Commission from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Earlier in her career she was on the faculty of the Economics Department at California State University Long Beach, where her teaching and research focused on transportation economics. She earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee.

“The Commission is a small agency and yet we are fortunate to attract three leaders in their respective areas to serve in these key management functions. I have every confidence these senior executives will help the agency accomplish its mission,” said Chairman Daniel B. Maffei.

Commissioner Dye Pushes for a National Port Information System

A National Port Information System that was recommended back in 2017 is now in the spotlight again. FMC Commissioner Rebecca F. Dye, along with Chairman Daniel B. Maffei, testified last month before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation in Congress. She noted that the U.S. international ocean freight delivery system is unprepared to deal with growing volumes of cargo flowing through the major ports. "If we don’t change, we can’t grow. In 2017, our FMC Supply Chain Innovation Teams recommended a National Port Information System to provide end-to-end visibility in our international ocean freight delivery system. Now is the time to move forward with this recommendation, harmonize our supply chain, leap over existing problems, and boost American competitiveness and our economy," Commissioner Dye said. Chairman Maffei noted that the demand for imports will likely not diminish until 2022. "But the supply of space on ships has not increased enough to keep pace even though virtually every usable ship is in service." Chairman Maffei noted that because of the global nature of trade, the challenges throughout the supply chain, and the vast increase in demand for ocean transportation, the Federal government is limited in ways to help. "We can put in measures to improve the overall capacity of the system – increase the supply in the supply-demand chart – through infrastructure improvements and more data & information sharing. Shippers need more information than they currently get and providing it to them would greatly improve efficiency," he said. Chairman Maffei acknowledged that these are not immediate solutions. In the meantime, he said, the FMC will continue to help exporters and other U.S. shippers navigate the system and file complaints; will communicate with various stakeholders in the supply chain to help them work together to make the system more efficient and reliable; will keep in touch with other Federal agencies and Congress and stay open-minded to finding new ways of making the situation better; and will work hard to make sure nobody makes a profit from this current crisis in a way that violates the Shipping Act.

More Investigations Seen

Commissioner Dye identified three major obstacles to resolving major port congestion: the problems occur in every cargo “surge” or “peak season”; no supply chain actor alone, not ocean carriers or ports, can develop a solution without a coordinated approach; and the lack of mutual commitment between parties to freight delivery agreements keeps parties from achieving enforceable agreements. According to Commissioner Dye, FMC's Bureau of Enforcement staff are actively investigating cases of potential unreasonable demurrage and detention charges involving the most common situation affecting exporters, earliest return date. More investigations will follow, perhaps involving other potentially unreasonable practices.

FMC & DoJ Sign MoU on Antitrust Issues

Closer ties between the Federal Maritime Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division are expected as the agencies continue to discuss and review law enforcement and regulatory matters affecting competition in the shipping industry.

The FMC and the DoJ recently signed an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) to foster increased cooperation and communication in their respective oversight and enforcement responsibilities of the ocean liner shipping industry.

FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei and Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Powers signed the first-ever MOU between the two agencies on July 12. The MOU comes in succession to the Executive Order addressing competition issued Friday, July 9 by President Biden.

The MOU establishes a framework for the FMC and the Antitrust Division to continue regular discussions and review law enforcement and regulatory matters affecting competition in the shipping industry. The MOU also provides for information and expertise exchanges between the agencies that may be relevant and useful in meeting their oversight and enforcement responsibilities. Such exchanges would be conducted in a manner appropriate and consistent with applicable legal and confidentiality restrictions.

“The Federal Maritime Commission has an important enforcement role as an economic regulator of a vital industry. As such, we will continually assess how the agency can improve its capacity to protect the integrity of the marketplace. This memorandum between the Commission and the Department of Justice supplements and strengthens the FMC’s ability to detect, address, and pursue violations of the law or anticompetitive behavior by those we regulate,” said Chairman Maffei.

“Collaboration between the Antitrust Division and the FMC is important to ensuring healthy competition in the maritime industry,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Powers. “Our partnership with the FMC is one of the many ways in which the Antitrust Division is prepared to play its role in achieving the competition objectives of the President’s Competition Executive Order.”