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March 21, 2025 42 mins

Topic of the Week (3/21/25):

Does the FMC really have the authority to review global maritime chokepoints? Yes! And even more significantly, they can turn away foreign vessels from U.S. ports or assess $1M per voyage penalties if they find unfavorable shipping conditions. Now that the FMC investigation has been released, let’s dive in! 

Want to know more? - register for our live webinar on March 27 (www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com)

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®)

Let’s dive in...


🔹 Top Three Stories of the Week:


1️⃣ Trump’s “Make Shipbuilding Great Again” Initiative

🚢 President Trump’s joint address to Congress highlighted the need to rebuild U.S. shipbuilding to counter China’s dominance. 

📖 Read more from USNI News: www.usni.org


2️⃣ AAPA Legislative Summit – Ports & Policy at the Forefront

⚓ The largest-ever AAPA Legislative Summit brought together industry leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders in Washington, D.C. Topics included:

 ✔️ Kellyanne Conway’s keynote on ports & national security

 ✔️ Tariffs & infrastructure discussions on balancing trade policy with economic growth

 ✔️ The urgent need for modernizing port infrastructure

📖 Learn more at: www.aapa-ports.org


3️⃣ FMC Launches Fact-Finding Investigation into Global Maritime Chokepoints

🌍 The FMC is investigating whether transit constraints at key maritime chokepoints are creating unfair conditions for U.S. trade. If so, major penalties or port access restrictions could follow.


🔹 The Maritime Professor® provides training and education for global supply chain professionals. Learn more: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com

🔹 Sign up for updates: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/


❗ This content is for educational purposes only and not legal advice. If you need an attorney, contact one.


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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I got soul coming through, flying free.
Skies are blue, all the wavesit makes a room.

(00:23):
I got soul coming through,won't stop in the beat and on
top of the world, can't walk tothe beat when you see me coming,
mix and boom.
Everywhere I go, I'm in thespotlight.
This is a good life.
I'm living bold.

(00:43):
This is what good life oh, I'mliving bold.
This is what it looks like.
I'm addicted to the world.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
The Federal Maritime Commissionlaunched an investigation into
global maritime choke points.

(01:05):
Through this investigation,they're going to be looking at
all of the different areasaround the world that they've
identified and whether there'sany unfavorable conditions to
shipping.
If there are, the FMC has somepretty significant remedies
available to them to correct theunfavorable shipping conditions
.
Stick around, we're going totalk about that today.
To correct the unfavorableshipping conditions Stick around

(01:31):
, we're going to talk about thattoday.
Hi, welcome to, by Land and bySea, an attorney breaking down
the weakened supply chainpresented by the Maritime
Professor.
Me, I'm Lauren Began, founderof the Maritime Professor and
Squall Strategies.
I'm your favorite maritimeattorney.
Join me every week as we walkthrough both ocean transport and
surface transport topics in thewild world supply chain.
As always, the guidance isgeneral and for educational
purposes only.
It should not be construed tobe legal advice and there is no

(01:53):
attorney-client privilegecreated by this video or this
podcast.
If you need an attorney,contact an attorney.
So before we get into thediscussion of the day, let's go
through my top three stories ofthe week.
Before we begin, one I justwant to say did you like that
little on site right in front ofthe Capitol video feed, trying

(02:14):
or playing around a little bitwith some video editing?
But also before we begin, Iwanted to say truly a heartfelt
thank you to FMC CommissionerRebecca Dye for joining our
broadcast last week.
If you missed that episode, besure to go check it out.
We talked about some reallycool behind the scenes type
stuff of the supply chaininnovation teams, her fact

(02:34):
findings, of fact finding 28 and29,.
The rationale for the incentiveprinciple we really did.
It was a.
It was a wonderful casualconversation.
We really did.

(02:58):
It was a wonderful casualconversation and there was some
really interesting informationjust behind the scenes.
Right Like her TPM, I was busyout in Long Beach with with
ocean shipping nerd camp guys.
It is the most fantastic thing.
Uh, I, I highly, highly, highlyencourage everybody to go to
TPM.
If it's been on your maybe list, put it in your definitely

(03:18):
going list, because it isfantastic.
You can get years worth ofnetworking done in three, four
short days.
It's worth it, but OK, so, oh,my goodness, shipbuilding and
maritime made it into PresidentTrump's joint address to
Congress.
Did you see that?
I'm sure you did.
I'm sure you did.

(03:39):
Everybody's talked about it,but it happened just this month,
just a few weeks ago.
It feels like every week isanother year in terms of time.
Everything is happening so fast.
But it happened right, I'm sureyou saw it.
But let's talk about it briefly.
So I'm actually going to bepulling from the US Naval
Institute's coverage.
It's written by MalloryShelburne.

(03:59):
I thought that she did a reallygood job of kind of
highlighting what it is,explaining what he said, what
his intentions are.
So the article's titled Trump'sMake Shipbuilding Great Again
Order Calls for WholesaleOverhaul of US Maritime Industry
.
She does talk about anunpublished draft of the
executive order.
There's an executive orderthat's essentially Make

(04:21):
shipbuilding great again.
That kind of follows on to theannouncement I am going to be
reading from her encapsulationof that draft order.
Admittedly, I also have a draftorder.
I've heard that it hasn'tchanged much, but I only pull
from public information when Ireport out on by land and by sea

(04:44):
.
Changed much, but I only pullfrom public information when I
report out on by land and by sea.
So this is public informationthat I am pulling from from the
US Naval Institute, so let's getinto it.
So what she says and I'm justgoing to read right off of her
article here she says the Trumpadministration wants a sweeping
government-wide overhaul of theUS commercial and military
maritime sectors in an effort tocatch up to China's unrivaled

(05:07):
shipbuilding capacity, accordingto draft documents obtained by
USNI News.
I'll stop there.
That's true, right, unrivaledshipbuilding capacity.
As it exists right now, the UShas fallen far, far, far behind,
and so he intends to overhaulthe US commercial and military
maritime sectors.
We still build naval maritime,naval military vessels and

(05:33):
support systems, but it's thecommercial side that really is a
big deal here.
But all of it is right, all ofit is right.
So, continuing on with MalloryShelburne's article, here again,
I only pull from publicinformation, and so this is my
reading of her public news onthe draft executive order.
So it says the draft of anexecutive order dated February

(05:54):
27th calls on administrationofficials to create a maritime
action plan over the next sixmonths to revamp the American
maritime industry.
She now is quoting from thedraft order.
Again, this is not me quotingfrom it.
This is her quoting from herdraft, her copy of the draft
order.
So it says the United Stateshas always been a maritime
nation, but today China'sshipbuilding sector has

(06:16):
established a position ofdominance in the global market
through unfair, non-marketpractices, creating over 200
times the capacity of the USshipbuilding industry.
Reads the draft White Housefact sheet accompanying the
draft order.
Again, right, further emphasison how much dominance China has
in the shipbuilding sector.
Continuing on with the articlehere says the order will create

(06:39):
a new maritime industrial baseoffice within the White House's
National Security Council.
To lead the effort.
Trump announced the new officeon Tuesday during the joint
address to Congress.
So that Tuesday was Tuesday,march 3rd, 4th earlier in the
month.
Continuing on, and she's nowquoting the joint address where
he made his announcement, hesaid to boost our defense

(07:01):
industrial base, we are alsogoing to resurrect the American
shipbuilding industry, includingcommercial shipbuilding and
military shipbuilding, and forthat purpose I am announcing
tonight that we will create anew office of shipbuilding in
the White House and offerspecial tax incentives to bring
this industry home to Americawhere it belongs, trump said I

(07:30):
can imagine I mean, if youlistened out your window real
close, you could probably hearevery maritime person, whether
they had anything to do withshipbuilding or not.
Every maritime person acrossAmerica go oh what?
And kind of with resoundingapplause afterwards Right, we
often joke, sal Mercogliano andI, that this is the most
maritime that I think thisindustry has ever seen.
We are so maritime focusedright now and you know we

(07:52):
thought it was a big deal whenmaritime generally found even a
little smidge.
The supply chain found a littlesmidge in the joint address to
Congress, the State of theNation, state of the Union
address from former PresidentBiden, where he talked about
foreign ocean carriers andbopping them in the nose.

(08:12):
Admittedly, it was not exactlyaccurate.
It was more of a it felt likemaybe a political statement than
it did, rooted in for reasonswe've talked about when he said
that way back when, but at thesame time it made it into the
State of the Union at the time.
Now, not only is it notnecessarily inaccurate?

(08:36):
This is exciting, right, thisis exciting.
This is shipbuilding in theWhite House and offering special
tax incentives.
I think how this happens iswhere the work begins now, right
, the work, I'm sure, hasalready begun.
Well, it's been years and yearsand years, but now we have the
same goal and we're all, as anindustry, excited and pushing
forward toward it.
So, I don't know, this was anexciting time.

(08:59):
And then you know, here's whathappened.
This happened during TPM thevery next day.
Everybody walked into theconference and saying oh my gosh
, oh my gosh, did you hear that?
Did you hear we're going tohave shipbuilding in the US
again, or we do haveshipbuilding?
I want to be clear we do haveshipbuilding, but he's saying to
have a resurrection of theAmerican shipbuilding industry.

(09:20):
We are nowhere near where weused to be, and so that's what
this is.
It's a celebration of theresurrection of the shipbuilding
industry, for both commercialshipbuilding and military
shipbuilding.
It's a commercial side.
That's really exciting,complicated, but exciting, all
right.
And where the article continueson and she quotes President
Trump again, she says we used tomake so many ships.

(09:41):
We don't make them anymore verymuch.
Okay, sorry, this is PresidentTrump saying we used to make so
many ships, we don't make themanymore very much.
Okay, sorry, this is PresidentTrump saying we used to make so
many ships, we don't make themanymore very much, but we're
going to make them very fast,very soon.
It will have a huge impact.
A little complicated Ships takea long time to build and I

(10:06):
completely appreciate PresidentTrump saying that he wants to
make them very fast.
But the reality is right now,very fast is likely years and
like at least five to 10,probably before we start seeing
any real movement there or anykind of significant movement and
build.
And that's not even for thetotal goal being achieved right
For us having a true presenceand competitive presence in

(10:29):
commercial shipbuilding andcommercial shipping generally.
But look, I don't want to focuson the negative here.
I'm an optimist and I thinklook like let's get this done
right, let's do this.
So you know I've been kind ofmulling this over between CPM
and now the APA LegislativeSummit, which we're going to
talk about in a minute.
What a fantastic conference tospeak to.

(10:50):
This month of March has justbeen.
I mean ocean shipping nerdspeak month, it feels like Also
there's been I don't want to sayit's all been positive, because
there have been some verystressful moments.
There have been some verycomplicated suggestions that
require deep thought, reallykind of problem solving

(11:11):
attitudes.
But, look, I can't say anytimemaritime is being talked about,
I'm so excited, this is so great, so all right.
So, being that I'm a kind ofget things done kind of person,
I've been mulling this about,like, how do we get there, how
do we get ships going, how do wefocus on the shipbuilding?
And I love that one.

(11:31):
He sets the intention offocusing on shipbuilding, right,
military and commercial,because that's going to be
imperative, right?
This is not a cheap industry.
This is an expensive industrywith a lot of uncertainty,
especially right now, and wehave to have commitments of

(11:51):
cargo movement to make thecommercial justification for the
build of the vessel.
And we've seen that actually inthe offshore wind side of
things, in commercial cablelaying vessels and just
different areas of supportvessels that might have
supported this offshore windindustry.
So this is nothing new, right?
This is nothing new that itrequires a lot of money, and so

(12:14):
the financial incentives is agood idea, and shipbuilding as
an intention is a good idea too.
But look, we got to get creativein the interim, because we are
not going to have these ships atour ready right off the bat.
So in the interim, let's getcreative.
Perhaps we're going to see anincrease in waivers, maybe,

(12:34):
right, there are vessels outthere, there are foreign flagged
vessels out there and maybe,until we can get the
shipbuilding facilities fullystood up and I understand that
this is kind of complicated andperhaps maybe even a little bit,
I don't even know, likecontroversial to say this but
look, we're not going to havenew US commercial vessels in

(12:57):
2026.
That's just the reality, unlesssomething fantastic happens and
we get a lot faster.
But right now we're not goingto have it in the next two to
three years.
So how do we kind of capturethat section?
Maybe we do more waivers, orwaivers to make reflagging of
vessels to the US companies, sowhile they might not be US built

(13:17):
ships right now, they couldpotentially be US flags, right,
and then that would step in thedirection of achieving the
ultimate goal of having a largerUS flag fleet and therefore
kind of having the baseline.
So you get maybe a commitmentof the cargo from a commercial
viability standpoint, or atleast you start building the

(13:39):
momentum in the baseline there.
And again, these are just ideasthat have been ruminating in my
head over the past month and soyou know who knows where they
might go.
But I have a microphone, I havethis podcast.
I thought maybe I might sharethem, just because I've been
exposed to all these differentthings and panels and you know
public news reports andeverything.

(14:00):
It's just all is.
Here's some random ideas that Ihave Also, I think,
simultaneously.
So perhaps maybe this waiveridea might start us out, maybe
we start looking and again,potentially controversial, but
let's just put all the ideas outthere Potentially there might
be an opportunity for anincreased coastwide barge

(14:23):
service.
And look, we're pretty fast atbuilding tugging barges in the
United States and it's a muchfaster process than a full, full
, full vessel and it's an areaof the industry that could
actually maybe absorb anincrease in use.
So, meaning, they have capacityfor this if they were to do
coastwide trade.
Look, and I don't want tosuggest that in any way we take

(14:45):
away from our drayage providers,because they are a key piece.
Right, this is a supply chainecosystem and similarly for our
rail operations, this has to bean and not an or.
Right, this has to be aninclusion of additional ideas so
that we can tackle the largergoal in kind of a thousand
different little good ideas allcoming together.

(15:07):
I'm just thinking if we'regoing to increase our cargo
movement and that seems to be inline with this goal and
certainly in line with cargoprojections generally I mean not
taking into account some of thepessimistic cargo projections
of slowed cargo movements andslower numbers for cargo trade
and all of that that go alongwith the trade tariffs.
We're not talking about tradetariffs today.
We're talking about let's justthrow some ideas out there on

(15:29):
how we can maybe reach this endgoal of US being a competitive
player in ocean shipping.
I don't know, maybe right,maybe there is something here
that you could do coastwidebarge trade and if we, you know
something to think about.
And then if we increase our tugand barge world, there's kind

(15:50):
of a knock on effect and a knockon benefit there.
We could be increasing ouravailable builds for mariners,
for US mariners to sail on,which would then increase their
opportunity for US-based jobsand potentially even increasing
their experience and trainingopportunities, so that by the
time we do get these big buildcommercial vessels out there and
on the water, we're going tohave a maritime workforce that's

(16:11):
ready for it, that's been doingcoast wide trade.
Granted, it's barge and that'sgoing to be different than large
commercial vessels, but it'ssea time right, it's being out
there.
It's seeing differentconditions.
It's seeing what it looks likewhen you pull up to the
different ports differentconditions.
It's seeing what it looks likewhen you pull up to the
different ports.
There's some benefits there.

(16:31):
All right, stay with me here.
Right, these are all justhypotheticals.
We're all just kind of throwingthings out there, seeing just
random ideas.
But while we're doing this,right, so we have the barge.
We have the increasedavailability for experience for
the mariners.
You know, we have the financialincentives that have already
been suggested, potentially thewaivers, right, I don't know.
But look, one thing that was inthe Ships for America Act.

(16:53):
This is that Kelly Waltz bill.
We covered it in a previousepisode when it was first
released.
Go check that out, the oldepisode on that, if you want to
learn more about the Ships forAmerica Act.
But another thing that was inthat Ships for America Act was
an intention to have increasedresearch and development for
tech onboard vessels and justkind of an increased R&D for

(17:17):
tech generally for vessels so wecan make the coolest ships.
We're not just going to makeships.
Maybe we could make the coolestships and people're not just
going to make ships.
Maybe we could make the coolestships and people want the ships
because they're just super cool.
And so when I start to thinkabout that, I kind of think
about okay, so perhaps maybethere's like like, if a
commercial vessel is like anF-150, a Ford F-150, reliable,

(17:41):
great design, always going to bea sought after 150, reliable,
great design, always going to bea sought after kind of gets
done, what you need to get done.
But maybe there is anopportunity for like something
kind of cool and fancy and fun.
And then it gets me thinkingright, elon's been in the news a
lot.
He makes ships, he makesspaceships.
He makes ships, spaceships goup.

(18:04):
Right, spacex makes spaceshipsthat go up.
What if that spaceship was laidon its side and it was floated
and granted?
Right, that's obviously not.
You're not going to float aspaceship on its side and call
it a commercial vessel, butmaybe there's something there.
Right, it's being said thatthese SpaceX ships can be
generated, built, so much fasterthan kind of conventional

(18:26):
thought that maybe we could have, and I don't know, right.
I mean, maybe it's Elon, maybeit's a scientist, maybe it's
just this intention ofconventional thinking being
thrown out and all of a suddenwe might, as the United States,
have a Cybertruck of oceanshipping Again.
Right, kind of the parallel.
The F-150 is the traditionalmodel, it's the commercial

(18:49):
vessel going ocean-borne transit.
Maybe there's a Cybertruck thatcould look different, it could
be.
Remember when O&E came out withtheir pink ships.
They literally, if you've neverseen an actual ocean-going
vessel from O&E, from one, theyare bright pink ships.
I mean, if you've never seen anactual ocean going vessel from
ONE, they are bright pink ships.
I mean, they are so cool andthat's just a paint change.
What if we actually were ableto create just a really cool

(19:14):
looking commercial ocean goingvessel?
I mean it would have to carrycargo or bulk or something, I
don't know, but it's worth kindof ruminating on this idea.
The other thing is it doesn'teven have to be that cool, it
doesn't even have to be like aflashy new look.
Maybe we could even just getWi-Fi on board, and I'm telling
you I've mentioned this beforethat's a novelty in the industry

(19:36):
.
It really having Wi-Fi on boardas a mariner really isn't an
available option and so itdisincentivized, or could be one
of the disincentivizing thingsthat mariners have for not
wanting to go out to sea.
They unfortunately lose a lotof that regular contact with

(19:57):
their family at home, and so Ithink that's why we see a lot of
kind of young families,mariners of young families not
able to go back to sea or notwanting to go back to sea
because they don't want to bemissing out on that daily
interaction with their kids.
Maybe if we had Wi-Fi theycould have a daily interaction.
They could FaceTime I don'tknow, I write Starlink, maybe on

(20:19):
there, maybe there's just a wayof connecting those dots and
that's just baseline tech andmaybe even making it even cooler
.
Maybe we could have app-basedtemp logs or overall conditions,
or if the vessel really gotjostled in a storm and you
needed to know that if therewere chemicals being moved,
maybe if we Wi-Fi enable thesevessels through US-built ships,

(20:43):
like really cool US-built shipsthat have this tech on it, that
could probably be something thatyou know, I don't know,
probably like an upcharge forthe company who's sailing it,
but it's available, and maybeit's like app based and it's
direct, the same way that youmight get the weather where you
are.
You get the weather on thevessel, I don't know.
Right, these are just ways thatvessels could be cool and maybe

(21:07):
it's make shipbuilding greatagain, but maybe it's make
vessels cool again or just coolfor the first time.
They are cool.
Obviously I love them.
Just some thoughts, right, justsome thoughts from all the
different things that have beenhappening and this new intention
for shipbuilding.
I mean, why not break theconventional mold of thinking?

(21:28):
There's a lot of efficienciesthat are kind of from the design
, not changing much, right?
If it's not broke, don't fix it.
Or if it ain't broke, don't fixit.
Maybe we should fix it even ifit's not broke.
Maybe we should just haveanother non-conventional
thinking to create somethingjust really cool.
All right, off my soapbox, justsome thoughts, like I said,

(21:51):
just some thoughts that I wantto throw out there in the world.
All right.
Story number two.
The first story, story numbertwo.
This week the port world cametogether in Washington DC to
participate in the AmericanAssociation of Port Authorities
Legislative Summit.
This is the AAPA's LegislativeSummit.
This year's summit was justreally cool.
It was probably the largest todate.

(22:12):
It brought together industryleaders, policymakers,
stakeholders, the ports,obviously, to address really
pressing issues in the port andmaritime sectors.
I can't say it enough, thismonth of March has been so
interesting and so many thingshappening.
We had kind of the news of newintentions at the beginning of
the month.
This summit felt like it wasthe second step.

(22:36):
The first step was, okay, makethe intention of the goal.
The second step, it felt like,was this conference, right in
the middle of it, having thoselet's roll up our sleeves
moments of, well, how do we, howdo we figure all this out?
And it's ports, right, but it'sstill infrastructure in the
maritime industry and that'salso a key piece.
So we have keynote address byKellyanne Conway and that was

(22:57):
one of the summit highlights.
Was this keynote address byKellyanne?
As you probably know, she's aformer counselor to President
Donald Trump.
She was his campaign managerfor his first run.
Trump won.
She emphasized the critical roleof ports in national economic
security and it was importantthat she did that, because
that's something that I've kindof been saying over and over

(23:17):
again on here is that I'm seeinga theme of maritime security as
national security.
We saw that with Mike Waltz ofthe Kelly Waltz bill, former
congressman being elevated tonational security advisor under
the Trump administration.
That was one of the firstappointments way back when.
So, with his maritime mind asbeing part of that ships for
America act, and then beingelevated to the national

(23:39):
security advisor, to me itsignaled okay, maritime security
is national security.
And then that's what Kellyannesaid here Ports play a critical
role in national economicsecurity.
She yeah, she highlighted howport infrastructure underpins
trade and commerce.
She also discussed theimportance of strategic
communication between thegovernment and private sectors

(24:01):
to really bolster the maritimeindustry's resilience against
global challenges.
And, of course, you know theemphasis there is okay.
So we want a collective voice,maritime industry's resilience
against global challenges andall the different wild things
that are happening out there.
But I also took it as theimportance of strategic
communication between thegovernment and private sector.

(24:23):
This was important because itchanged the tone.
It felt like one of doom andgloom because of a lot of the
kind of significant analysissometimes pessimistic but
significant analysis of thetariff discussion.
It kind of shifted it to one ofokay, look, the administration

(24:45):
wants to hear from you and theywant to hear from this industry.
And she really emphasized theimportance of not just bemoaning
the ideas presented.
So perhaps there's an ideathat's just oh, that'll never
work.
She said rather, instead ofjust saying that'll never work,
spin it and get your ideastogether and submit concrete
alternatives, say why it won'twork and what you could do

(25:08):
instead.
Because she kind of made itclear that the administration
has set the goals of where theyneed to go and they've outlined
a runway of how to get there.
If the runway isn't good, letthem know.
They want to know, they want tohave that runway shifted and
changed and maybe it should havea different astroturf and maybe
it needs to have differentlights.
I mean on the analysis, on themetaphor here, but really what

(25:30):
they're saying is look, they'veset the goal, the goal will stay
, but the runway can change, andthey want that engagement from
the industry and especially inmaritime and shipbuilding and
maritime infrastructure.
It's a high enough issue thatit made it into this joint
address to Congress, whichreinforces that this is a major

(25:51):
issue for this administration,which is wild, which is awesome,
but wild, look, it's important.
I think I've said that quiteoften too.
It's important to take a stepback when some of these big
ideas come out and not to bedistracted by the chaos right.
Find the opportunities withinthe chaos.
Don't be too distracted by thedoom.
Find a way to make it not sodoom-filled, if that makes sense

(26:16):
.
And that was kind of the it wasa similar thing that I believe
Kellyanne Conway was saying inher remarks because the doom is
eliminated, because there's anopportunity for continued
discussion, and that's great.
Roll up your sleeves and getgoing.
Maritime industry becausethey're saying there's a door.
There's a door We'd like you towalk through.

(26:36):
We'd like to have thisconversation.
Please come see us, but onlywalk through that door.
If you're going to be concretein your solutions and not
necessarily just tell us whatwe're doing wrong, it's
important to point out thingsthat don't work, but come with
the concrete solutions is what Itook from that.
So the rest of the summit wasgreat.
There were some reallyinsightful panel discussions.

(26:56):
There was a tariffs or taxespanel, which was right after
Kelly and Conway's remarks.
It was actually kind ofwell-timed because we went from
Conway's tariffs Conway kind ofbranding the tariffs as the
rebalancing of trade andpotentially being used for
leverage points, whereas theperhaps industry and shippers
perspective of tariffs beingpotentially taxes and having a

(27:20):
disruptive effect on trade flowsand increased cost to consumers
.
So that was a nice balance ofconversation.
There's also a panel oninfrastructure development.
Discussion centered on theurgent need for modernizing port
infrastructure to accommodatelarger vessels and increasing
cargo volumes, and the panel'sreally advocated for
public-private partnerships as ameans to fund and expedite

(27:43):
these critical infrastructureprojects.
And again there were calls tofind opportunities in the chaos
and to find ways of helping tobenefit the overall maritime
industry.
So the 2025 AAPA LegislativeSummit underscored the pivotal
role ports play in the globaleconomy and the continuous

(28:04):
efforts required to addresschallenges.
Kerry Davis, the CEO of AAPA,and his team did a phenomenal
job of providing engagingdiscussions that therefore
created sidebar conversationsthat it felt like were concrete,
essential building blocks andbuilding discussions to shape

(28:25):
the future of the maritimeindustry.
I left so hopeful from thislegislative summit that, like I
said, I really felt like thiswas the 2.0 let's get to work of
the month of March Story numberthree, and I apologize we are
running so late on these stories, but we're going to keep it
moving.
We're going to go quick here.
Story number three last week,the FMC launched a fact-finding
investigation to examine whethertransit constraints at some of

(28:48):
the world's most criticalshipping passages were creating
unfair or unfavorable conditionsfor US trade.
These constraints can arisefrom foreign government
regulations, vessel operatorpractices or other external
factors impacting globalshipping efficiency.
This investigation isundertaken by the FMC and by the
authority granted to the FMC byCongress in the Foreign

(29:09):
Shipping Practices Act andSection 19 of the Merchant
Marine Act.
They have some significantremedies available and so, with
that, let's get right into it,let's get into the meat and
potatoes of the day.
We're going to be diving intothis global maritime choke
points investigation.
We didn't talk about thisspecifically, but a few weeks

(29:29):
ago I said that the FMC was thebackup quarterback.
I did a whole episode, a backupquarterback to the Panama Canal
discussion, where we weretalking about the neutrality
agreement and I said everybodywho listens talking about the
neutrality agreement, and I saideverybody who listens, there
are these authorities that theFMC has.
That makes them the backupquarterback and very important

(29:51):
to this Panama Canal discussion.
What I didn't see coming wasall of the other choke points
that got included and you know,at first I thought, okay, well,
maybe this is still a PanamaCanal discussion and these are
just kind of additional areas,but really the focus remains on
Panama.
I'm telling you I don't.
I don't think that's true, Ithink each one, the more that

(30:13):
I've given dope, the more thatI've dove into each one of these
choke points and identifiedchoke points, the more that I've
seen that they stand alone onthings that are worthy of an
investigation.
And I shouldn't say this is nota presumption of guilt, this is
not a presumption of intentionfor unfavorable shipping
conditions.

(30:34):
Chairman Sola did a presentationor did a address to the AAPA
Legislative Summit Right Again,perfectly timed this week he
gave the presentation.
Last week was the release ofthis investigation, and in that
he talked about this being aninvestigation of areas of the
world that probably just neededa good look.

(30:56):
So, all right.
The major development, what isit?
The FMC investigation intotransit constraints, a key
international maritime chokepoint.
The investigation is all about.
It's essentially a fact-findinginvestigation to examine
whether transit constraints atsome of the world's most
critical shipping passages arecreating unfair or unfavorable
conditions for US trade.

(31:17):
These constraints can arisefrom, like we said earlier, a
litany of different things,including foreign government
regulations, vessel operatorpractices and really other
external factors not listedAnything that might impact
global shipping efficiency.
And so the areas that are underreview.
These are high traffic maritimechoke points and they each

(31:38):
present unique challenges.
So I'm going to go through eachone of them with kind of a
little briefer, I guess, alittle sentence on what each one
of them, a little overview.
So the English Channel wasincluded, and at first I was
like the English Channel.
So it's a narrow, congestedpassage with heavy traffic.
Chairman Sola, during hisremarks at the AAPA, said that

(31:59):
there are some fairly strictenvironmental regulations and
that perhaps it's worth lookingat, and so that, again, this is
a heavy traffic congestedpassage.
There are strict environmentalregulations and some
geopolitical tensions between UKand France Um, certainly not as
as large as some of the otherareas that we're going to talk

(32:20):
about, but, um, so worthy of alook.
And that's what I want you tokind of approach all of these
areas, these passages andstraights with.
Worthy of a look.
Is there an opportunity to takeadvantage of any of these
situations't over, pollute ordisrupt the environmental areas,
while also allowing for thecommercial heavy traffic that

(32:42):
needs to come through here?
So I'm going to continue on theMalacca Strait.
This is one of the busieststraits in the world.
This has some piracy risks andcongestion, limited

(33:05):
infrastructure around the area,the Northern Sea passage.
It's an emerging trade routeimpacted by geopolitical
competition, ice coverage andmilitary activity from Russia
and China.
Also, there's been I've I'veheard, I've read that there's
some talk of requirements oficebreakers through the area,
which, on its face, fine RightIcebreakers if it's ice laden,

(33:26):
of course you might requireicebreakers.
The simple investigation mightbe is there an overly
restrictive application orrequirement of those icebreakers
?
Is it just a sure you can havean icebreaker?
We require them, make sure yougo get one.
Or is it you need to have a$10,000 icebreaker come with you
?
And I don't even know if that'stoo much.

(33:46):
Right, I don't know the scopeof how much money it might be,
but is there an opportunity fortaking advantage of the
situation?
That's where it might just beworthy of an investigation.
The Singapore Strait's also onthere, a high traffic area with
navigational challenges.
Piracy concerns strictregulatory oversight.
The Panama Canal as, as we know,crucial trade gateway

(34:08):
experiencing congestion over thepast few years, mostly due to
water level issues and vesselcapacity limitations.
But also there's beendiscussion of surcharges and and
rebates, and and again worthyof an investigation to see if
there are unfavorable shippingconditions in any of these choke
points, but straight passages,canals.

(34:31):
It's also including the Straitof Gibraltar, a narrow passage
with security concerns, heavymaritime traffic and complex
geopolitical considerations.
And the last one was the SuezCanal, a critical route handling
10 to 12% of global trade,prone to disruptions like the
ever given.
And I guess, like I say, it'snot necessarily prone to
disruptions like the ever given.
And I guess, like I say, it'snot necessarily prone to
disruptions, but when there is adisruption, it can be major,

(34:53):
like the ever given.
Incident Also has geopoliticaltensions and environmental
challenges.
So, like I said, chairman Solaspoke at the APA Legislative
Summit briefly about the impetusfor the investigation and
highlighted that thesesurcharges and environmental
regulations simply needed to bereviewed to see if they rose to
the level of unfavorableshipping conditions.
And that's exactly what this is.

(35:14):
Is it worthy of aninvestigation?
Is it something that we shouldlook into?
Many of these choke points havenuances to them that require
special circumstances Perhaps anicebreaker, like I mentioned,
in the Northern Sea Passage, ora pilot in the Suez, or
surcharges that offsetgeopolitical or environmental
drought conditions.
Right On its face, thisinvestigation is not inherently

(35:36):
accusatory.
Just the opposite, actually, Ikind of look at this as quite
benign.
Sure, it's obvious to make thegeopolitical connection here,
but I look at it as being quitebenign.
It's simply looking at theseidentified areas to see if the
nuances that require specialcircumstances are being taken
advantage of and if so, this iswhere it can be significant.

(36:01):
So just investigating doesn'tnecessarily mean that they are
compelled.
They don't have toautomatically do anything, they
being the FMC.
But if they do findunreasonable or unfair or
shipping conditions that are notfavoring fair and efficient
movement of goods, the FMC isempowered, through their

(36:24):
statutory authority, to takecorrective actions.
The FMC is empowered, throughtheir statutory authority, to
take corrective actions, to takecorrective actions to do
something to correct the unfair,unfavorable shipping conditions
, and that could include amillion dollars per voyage,
which I'm going to stop rightthere.
I mentioned this a couple ofweeks ago.
Doesn't that sound familiar?
The section the three, the USTR, section 301, all penalties

(36:47):
also have a million dollars pervoyage.
Chairman Sola said that's not acoincidence.
Ok, but this is a one milliondollar per voyage.
In his public remarks he saidthat.
But they could also take actionto block access to US ports by
certain flag vessels, and Italked about this the other day
when the other episode.
We were talking about thePanama Canal and FMC being the

(37:08):
backup quarterback.
Roughly 18 to 20% of theworld's flagged fleet is
Panamanian flagged.
So if there is unfavorableshipping conditions found in the
Panama area that perhaps linkit back to Panama itself, the
FMC, as a corrective action,could block access to all
Panamanian flagged vessels.

(37:28):
That's a big deal.
That's a big deal.
Perhaps they could reflag, butI'm pretty certain Panama
wouldn't want 20% of the world'sfleet to be reflagged under
other flags of convenience.
They make money on the canal,for sure, but they also make
money on these flags ofconvenience.
So these are just possibleremedies that the FMC could take

(37:49):
.
These aren't guaranteed actionsthat the FMC would take, but
they're available.
There's also a piece that wetalked about a few weeks ago, or
any other action the FMC deemsnecessary to correct the unfair
or unfavorable shippingconditions.
I mean right, that's oranything else they might want to

(38:10):
do.
Why does this matter?
Why should you pay attention?
This could directly impactglobal trade.
This could lead to potentiallywell, or even if there are
unfavorable shipping conditions.
The unfavorable shippingconditions could lead to higher
shipping costs, or they might beleading to currently higher
shipping costs.
They might be increasingtransit times if they're found

(38:34):
to be unfavorable shippingconditions, that basically
somebody taking advantage of thesituation of a nuance of the
area, they could be leading tosupply chain bottlenecks
unnecessarily.
Should the unfavorable shippingcondition change, maybe those
bottlenecks wouldn't be thereand it could potentially lead to
these regulatory actions, thesedifferent things that the FMC

(38:56):
could do to correct the action.
The FMC is looking for publicinput here.
This is going to be open untilMay 14th.
It's open for 60 days, and sohere's my call to action to you.
I do this every time the FMCopens for comments.
This is your opportunity tohave a conversation with the FMC
.
Put your thoughts together, putit into some comments, maybe

(39:18):
start working with a globalocean shipping expert or an
attorney or somebody in theindustry to make sure that your
comments make sense and theykind of they go along with what
you're trying to do here.
You know, seek legal advice onthis, because this is going to
be important to be part of thisconversation.
This is the opportunity to bepart of this conversation

(39:40):
they're requesting from industryprofessionals, shipping
companies, trade organizationsand really any stakeholder in
the supply chain.
They want to hear from you.
They have six outlinedquestions that they would like
addressed.
But you don't have to stopthere.
If you have something reallypertinent to this conversation,
it's going to be important toget your thoughts into a comment
, submit it to the FMC, make itpart of the docket here.

(40:02):
This is, I can only imagine,likely to have maybe an
in-person hearing as well, butthis is the time.
This is huge, even if you don'thear it talked about a lot yet.
This is huge.
You need to pay attention tothis.
You need to know what's goingon here, because this will
become a larger issue issue.

(40:28):
Even if they don't find fullunfavorable shipping conditions,
there's at least a fewquestionable areas that there
will likely be something thathappens here.
So potential for majorimplications is high here.
Pay attention.
If you're in the industry, thisis your chance to have a voice
and look if you want to learnmore about this.
Like I said, I've been workingon new live webinars.
We're going to be having a livewebinar.

(40:48):
The Maritime Professor ishosting a live webinar on this,
with a live Q&A non-legal advice, but a live Q&A on March 27th
at 1 pm, us Eastern Time.
If you're interested inlearning more about the
investigation, we're going todeep, dive it a little bit more
so that you can reallyunderstand.
And if you have questions aboutthe investigation again,
non-legal of course register,join us.
We'd love to have you there.

(41:10):
We're really going to.
If you've been meaning to takesome time to look into this, let
me do the work for you.
Come join our live webinar.
So that's it again.
That's it again for this week.
Keep here for all the updates onwhat you need to know about the
global supply chain.
And, as always, the guidancehere is general, for educational
purposes only.
It should not be construed tobe legal advice directly related
to your matter.
If you need an attorney,contact an attorney, but if you

(41:32):
have specific legal questions,feel free to reach out to me at
my legal company, skollStrategies.
Otherwise, for the non-legalquestions, the e-learning and
general industry information andinsights, the corporate
trainings come find me at theMaritime Professor.
If you like these videos, let meknow, comment, like and share.
If you want to listen to theseepisodes on demand or if you
missed any previous episodes,like the Commissioner Dye
conversation, check out thepodcast by Land and by Sea and

(41:53):
if you prefer to see the video,they live on my YouTube page by
Land and by Sea presented by theMaritime Professor.
While you're at it, check outthe website MaritimeProfessorcom
.
Got a couple live webinarshappening soon.
Join us for the Global MaritimeChoke Points webinar.
So until next week.
This is Lauren Began, theMaritime Professor and you've
just listened to by Land and bySea.
See you next time.
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