Please find attached, at  Annex A, the monthly report prepared by the Chamber of Shipping of America (CSA) for September 2022. 

The report (inter alia):

1. Updates on the status of the Clean Shipping Act (HR 8336), which reportedly has no hearings scheduled and is therefore unlikely to be enacted this session; 

2. Advises that the FMC has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (under the premise of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act) entitled ‘Definition of Unreasonable Refusal to Deal or Negotiate with Respect to Vessel Space Accommodations Provided by an Ocean    Common Carrier’ on which comments must be submitted by 21 October; 

3. Updates on the progress of the American Offshore Workers’ Fairness Act (AOWFA) through Congress, noting that the version of the bill presented to the Senate differs from that considered by the House, requiring the final text to be agreed by a Conferencing  Committee; 

4. Advises that the comment period on the proposed North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule has been extended to October 31, 2022 – interested parties are invited to send comments to CSA directly to the docket; 

5. Notes that the US Coast Guard is currently clarifying the application of amendments to MARPOL Annex VI, Chapter 4 (which entered into force into November). While US flagged vessels operating internationally must show compliance, this does not currently  apply to US flagged vessels operating only in US waters or solely in the Great Lakes; and 

6. Provides a meeting report on the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Marine Transportation, which held a hearing on Cargo Preference: Compliance with and Enforcement of Maritime’s Buy American Laws.