S4.E24 - Advisory Committees, Tariff Whiplash, and Harbor Safety Committees

🚢 By Land and By Sea Podcast – an attorney breaking down the week in supply chain
🎙️ Captain’s Log – “Advisory Power, Tariff Whiplash, and Harbor Safety”
🗓️ May 30, 2025

The Maritime Professor® presents By Land and By Sea Podcast – an attorney breaking down the week in supply chain
with Lauren Beagen (Founder of The Maritime Professor® and Squall Strategies®)

This week, I’m unpacking three major developments shaping the regulatory landscape in ocean shipping:

🔹 National Shipper Advisory Committee: The FMC’s federal advisory committee is heading to Georgia for its June 4 meeting—where members will discuss port efficiency, data visibility, refusal-to-deal concerns, and a proposal to establish an Ocean Carrier Advisory Committee.

🔹 Tariff Whiplash: In a 24-hour legal flip, a federal appeals court reinstated Trump-era 10% tariffs after they were struck down the day prior—leaving importers unsure what they owe heading into peak season.
📖 Read the JOC report here: https://www.joc.com/article/appeals-court-temporarily-restores-us-tariffs-6013879

🔹 Harbor Safety Committee Launch: The newly formed Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts Harbor Safety Committee held its first meeting this week, strengthening regional coordination on maritime safety and port operations.

🎧 Tune in to hear the full breakdown in plain language: https://www.themaritimeprofessor.com/podcast
Want to bring this kind of insight to your team? Explore corporate trainings and webinars with The Maritime Professor® at https://www.themaritimeprofessor.com.

⚠️ This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice.

#maritime #shipping #FMC #supplychain #maritimepolicy #ByLandAndBySea #TheMaritimeProfessor

Chapters

• 0:00 Episode Introduction
• 2:11 National Shipper Advisory Committee Meeting
• 9:00 Tariff Whiplash for US Importers
• 13:05 New Harbor Safety Committee Launch
• 16:11 Episode Wrap-up and Resources

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

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Speaker 1: 0:31

Come Make some room this Week in Maritime. An advisory committee heads down to Georgia, a court ruling pair of of court rulings whiplashes US importers overnight and a new Harbor Safety Committee drops anchor in southern New England. From legal limbo to local leadership, let's break it all down. Hi, welcome back to by Land and by Sea, an attorney breaking down the weakened supply chain presented by the Maritime Professor me. I'm Lauren Began, founder of the Maritime Professor, former FMC International Affairs Attorney and also founder of Squall Strategies. By Landed, by Sea is your go-to resource for navigating the regulatory side of global ocean shipping. Me well, I'm your favorite maritime attorney. I'm here to walk you through both ocean transport and surface transport topics and the wild world of supply chain. As always, this guidance here is general and for educational purposes only. It should not be construed to be legal advice and there is no attorney-client privilege created by this podcast or by this video. If you need an attorney, contact an attorney. This is Planned Language Maritime created so that anybody, not just lawyers or industry insiders, can understand what's happening in the world of shipping. So let's dive into this week's episode because, as you know, ocean shipping rules the world.

Speaker 1: 2:11

All right, story number one National Shipper Advisory Committee is heading to Georgia. Let's begin with the look ahead. So next week the National Shipper Advisory Committee, or NSAC, is meeting June 4th in Garden City, georgia. They've been meeting kind of around the country, different corners. Last meeting, I believe it was in March during TPM JOC's fantastic ocean shipping nerd camp is what I was calling it, but it is one of, if not the best, ocean shipping conferences in the world, certainly in the US. So that was the last time National Shipper Advisory Committee met. Now they're going to be meeting in Georgia, just outside of the Port of Savannah. There will be a YouTube feed for this that they're going to be feeding out, so go to the YouTube page. If you are not familiar with FMC's YouTube page, go check it out. They have some pretty great recordings both from the MTDI but also the NSAC their own hearings. So just a little refresher right?

Speaker 1: 3:10

Nsac is the Federal Advisory Committee to the Federal Maritime Commission, the FMC. Its creation was a major step. It really created a way for US importers and exporters to have a formal, sustained voice in ocean shipping policy and, as a collective group, these US importers and exporters, a way to inform the FMC right, inform the FMC of current, real-time things happening. So currently it's 22 members on the committee. It's most evenly split between importers and exporters and includes representatives from across the supply chain. They have agriculture, they have chemicals, they have retail manufacturing. These are all industry players who face supply chain pressures firsthand and through this platform can shape federal oversight in current events. So the FMC doesn't have to take their recommendations or doesn't have to take their input, but certainly it's a fantastic way to engage in that conversation, to have the industry have an available resource or an available open line of communication through this Federal Advisory Committee.

Speaker 1: 4:13

A quick note on Federal Advisory Committee. So the Federal Advisory Committees exist across government and play a crucial role in shaping public policy. These are formal bodies established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. You'll often hear of these called FACAs. That's the Federal Advisory Committee Act. That's kind of a general way of calling Federal Advisory Committees FACAs Committee Act. That's kind of a general way of calling federal advisory committees, facas. They provide structured, ongoing advice from outside experts, industry leaders, academics, labor representatives and community stakeholders in general across the federal government. These federal advisory committees in general do not make laws or regulations but are designed to kind of inject frontline expertise into the federal decision-making process. They help ensure that the people affected by the policy are part of that conversation and most times, hopefully in an early stage of those discussions.

Speaker 1: 5:02

So, whether it's port operations, safety planning, environmental regulation, trade, logistics, advisory committees across all areas of federal government, but certainly those are probably the areas that affect us the most. Like NSAC, like the National Shipper Advisory Committees, these advisory committees create and provide credibility, accountability and real-world grounding to federal agencies that otherwise operate at more of a distance. Right, having these open lines of communication is so fantastic for any industry, but especially the shipper group. Right? I mean we have importers, exporters, on this National Shipper Advisory. So what's happening? At NSAC's meeting on June 4th the committee is going to recognize newly appointed member representatives, but they're also going to be hearing updates from three of their key subcommittees, which include Data Visibility, where they've been focusing on cargo tracking system, interoperability and transparency. The Fees and Surcharges Subcommittee, which addresses detention, demerge and related commercial charges. And the best practices committee, which is sharing operational strategies to improve flow, reduce delays and build resilience. The overall committee is also going to be reviewing findings from a refusal to deal working group, which is analyzing market access concerns, particularly for smaller exporters who have struggled to get space on vessels or to receive responses from carriers. That's what that refusal to deal working group is. They're also going to be looking at delivering industry updates from both the import and the export communities. And this one's kind of interesting they're going to be discussing a recommendation to establish an ocean carrier advisory committee.

Speaker 1: 6:31

Now, this last item is something that's been talked about for years. It was first proposed formally by Commissioner Rebecca Dye when she was working on her fact findings. I believe it was in both fact finding 29 and 30, certainly in 29. Yeah, go take a look. But that's where this idea, I think, first came up, this Ocean Carrier Advisory Committee. So the idea is to create a structured forum for ocean carriers parallel to the NSAC. Right, if we have the shippers, we probably should have the carriers also part of those discussions. It would allow carriers to engage with the FMC in a more formalized, transparent way. There certainly is engagement now between FMC and the ocean carriers, but this would create kind of that you can peek behind the curtain thing, right, but this would create kind of that you can peek behind the curtain thing right that anytime you get this advisory committee, their full meetings are public and streamed out. So that would be a really wonderful way to see a little bit more of the discussion, the conversation between ocean carrier side of things and the FMC. So why this matters this committee is sharing real-time concerns from the industry. Like I said, that's kind of what FACAs do, but this is great that it's now available under the FMC because the NSAC is new. They talk about topics that fall squarely within the FMC's jurisdiction, like detention and demurrage, data visibility and carrier conduct. It's a fantastic way for the industry to engage directly with the agency, bringing operational issues and policy recommendations to the surface early, right Early, that we want to make sure that these conversations are being had early as the FMC navigates their decisions, ultimately in any of the dockets that they have in front of them all the lawsuits that are kind of currently pending, but also regulations. We're in a deregulatory period, right, we've talked about this before.

Speaker 1: 8:15

Under the new Trump administration Former Trump Trump 1, had a for every one new regulation, you had to repeal two government actions or regulations. Now, the current advice is for every one new, you have to repeal 10. So we're not going to be seeing a lot of new regulations coming out from really any agency. But, as they are discussing guidance, there are certainly a few regs that they do have to get out, like the charge complaints formal process. But it's so important to have these FACAs and especially the National Shipper Advisory Committee. This meeting, and really all their meetings, can help lay the groundwork for where the FMC goes by having this ongoing dialogue with the industry. All right.

Speaker 1: 8:59

Story number two this one I'm not going to talk too much about. It is still very fresh. I wanted to bring it to your attention but I didn't want to go too far into it. So in basically the span of 24 hours, us importers are getting whiplash right. So an appeals court temporarily reinstates tariffs amid ongoing legal uncertainty. So on May 29th, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reinstated Trump-era tariffs that had just been struck down the day before. The day before. So, on the 28th, was a ruling issued by the US Court of International Trade and they had declared these tariffs unconstitutional under the International Emergency Economics Powers Act. So the IEEPA you might be seeing that kind of floating around LinkedIn in the past 48 hours, really but IEPA, the International Emergency Economics Powers Act that these tariffs were squarely situated on, or the justification provided for the tariffs. So now, with the appeal in motion, right, so we had the US Court of International Trade saying unconstitutional and then we had a US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit saying it's back. So that's where we're at.

Speaker 1: 10:20

It looks like, as of right now, the tariffs are back on temporarily, and I say all of this with caution because I'm not really sure where it's all going, right? Here's the thing. From what I understand and I have to dive into these a little bit further it looks like the appeals court didn't fully explain the stay, the reinstated Trump tariffs so we're a little bit in legal limbo, and what this basically means is the importers are stuck waiting for the answers. Right, so a 10% across the board tariff and elevated rates on certain countries are back in effect. That's what is at issue here, as I understand it. Again, very fluid stuff. Importers don't know if they'll have to pay retroactively or whether refunds might follow right, because these have been already in effect and now the court is saying the US Court of International Trade said unconstitutional, but now the federal court for US Court of Appeals is saying it's fine, it's back in.

Speaker 1: 11:16

There's a lot of questions on what this means and that's why, like I said, I don't want to go too far into the specifics. I highly recommend that you consult an attorney specifically on your specific issue. There are trade tariff attorneys out there. Just like I'm an ocean shipping, global ocean shipping attorney. There are trade and tariff attorneys out there that are fantastic.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Look, it looks like we're not going to get much clarity until June 9th. Unfortunately, a full decision won't come until after a briefing schedule that runs through June 9th. So it's going to move quickly. I mean, that's light speed. 10 days from now is light speed. No-transcript Business obviously likes certainty. We're also up against remember the 90-day pause on. At least part of them is supposed to be around early July. So I think that we're going to see a very active June with respect to the tariffs. We'll see.

Speaker 1: 12:29

I'm going to keep watching it. I'm not going to dive too far into it until we get more certainty, but I'll still bring things to your attention, as I always do. I don't want to get ahead of anything and I certainly don't have a crystal ball. So nobody does so if you are following all of this, people can have educated guesses, but that's kind of what it is. Until we get a little bit more clarity from the courts, we're stuck. So make educated guesses, make educated decisions yourself. Stay informed on what's going on in the industry generally. All right. Story. Number three this one's kind of fun Harbor Safety Committee sets sail in southern New England.

Speaker 1: 13:04

So this is some good news. Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts Harbor Safety Committee I have no idea what the acronym is going to be the RISM Harbor Safety Committee. The Rhode Island and Southern Mass held its first meeting this week in Bristol, rhode Island. This is fantastic. The newly formed group brings together port authorities, pilots, tug companies, environmental voices, coast Guard. Coast Guard stays closely engaged with Harbor Safety Committees, so their mission is to improve safety coordination and environmental practices in regional harbors.

Speaker 1: 13:41

Harbor safety committees are something that are across the country. They're fantastic opportunities for regional engagement with Coast Guard entities, for aids to navigation, for safety and security of the local regional areas. Look, so harbor safety committees were actually formally recognized in the Coast Guard NAVIC. So these are the NVIC. This is the 0100. It was issued in 2000. So actually I think it was right before 9-11. I want to say it was right around that time. So Harbor Safety Committees formally recognized and created. It was actually the same year and the same NAVIC that the Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Committee was created. So that's the MTSNAC that I talk about. That's where I proudly serve as the vice chair of that federal committee. But we're not talking about MTSNAC, we're talking about Harbor Safety Committees. Harbor Safety Committees are practical local partnerships. Like I said, they solve regional specific problems like anchorage, conflicts, incident response. That's a huge one. So you get the engagement of the private area, industry stakeholders engaging with the Coast Guard. They also talk about harbor access planning.

Speaker 1: 14:46

In the Massachusetts area we see a lot of designated port area discussion, but also safety and security right. That's going to be the biggest issue. They are active all over the country. Lone Star down in Texas is one of the most active. We also have the Mass Bay Harbor Safety Committee. I'm on the board there. But this new Rhode Island Southern Mass Harbor Safety Committee is covering an area that was previously not quite covered and really needed it right. I mean you have Narragansett Bay that does have commercial traffic and some large vessels coming through there, right alongside some of the fantastic sailing world's best sailing and just consistent winds coming into Narragansett Bay. So these are all wonderful things moving forward to help with the overall safety of areas like this. Like I said, they solve these regional problems and they ensure local voices are part of that.

Speaker 1: 15:40

National Maritime Safety Goals in the regional area. They can be certainly taken up from the sectors and the districts of the different Coast Guard areas. But a big congratulations to the Rhode Island and Southern Mass Harbor Safety Committee on their successful launch. This kind of local coordination is essential for safe, efficient and sustained port operations. If you are not already part of a Harbor Safety Committee in your area, I really highly suggest you look one up. They really are fantastic. That's it for today. It was a quick one right. So we covered the National Shipper Advisory Committee heading to Georgia next week for June 4th meeting. We're still waiting to hear what's going on with these 10% tariffs, kind of all the other tariffs associated with it. And again, a great congratulations to the Rhode Island and Southern Mass Harbor Safety Committee officially launching this week strengthening local coordination on safety import practices.

Speaker 1: 16:31

If you liked this episode, be sure to follow, subscribe and leave a review. Want to go deeper on these topics or bring this kind of insight to your team? Visit themaritimeprofessorcom to explore corporate trainings, tailored briefings and on-demand webinars, all designed to make complex maritime regulations practical and easy to understand. And if your organization needs help navigating the legal or strategic side of ocean shipping regulations, head over to Squall Strategies. That's where I provide consulting services, regulatory guidance, policy support for clients working directly with the FMC and really across the global supply chain. We take the specific nuances of your problems and turn them into guidance. As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. This is not considered legal advice. If you need an attorney, contact an attorney. Until next time, I'm Lauren Beacon, the Maritime Professor and you've just listened to by Land and by Sea. We'll see you next time.