President Joe Biden has signed into place the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, a bill that aims to drive down the costs of shipping goods overseas, alleviating supply-chain bottlenecks that were challenged by increased demand during the pandemic.
Last week, Biden said there are nine major ocean line shipping companies that ship from Asia to the U.S. and that these companies have raised their prices by as much as 1,000 percent.
Ocean-freight carriers’ profits jumped nine-fold to an estimated $150 billion in 2021.
The bill directs the Federal Maritime Commission to prevent ocean carriers from unreasonably refusing to fill open cargo space with U.S. exports and investigate late fees charged by shippers.Â
