On December 4, President Trump signed the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act into law. This milestone achievement is the result of an intensive, years-long advocacy effort led by AWO and its members to reform a broken system of overlapping and conflicting federal and state regulations for ballast water and other vessel discharges. Now that VIDA has been enacted, how will the law change the status quo, and what should AWO members expect as implementation proceeds?
In a recent article on WorkBoat, AWO’s Executive Vice President & COO Jennifer Carpenter explains the significance of the newly enacted Federal Maritime Commission Authorization Act of 2017. The new law mandates Federal Maritime Commission oversight of ocean carrier alliances, and bars ocean carriers from jointly negotiating towing vessel rates and services provided within U.S. ports, ensuring balance and fairness to the commercial relationship between harbor service providers and their ocean carrier customers.
