OSRA

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 ("OSRA") is the most significant legislative change to affect the United States containerized liner shipping industry in fourteen years. The new law permits confidential contracting in international ocean shipping; privatizes common carrier tariff publication; retains the antitrust exemption for the ocean liner industry; and eliminates many of the common carrier antidiscrimination provisions that smaller shippers have relied upon for much of this century to ensure non-discriminatory competitive access to international ocean carrier services and, correspondingly, access to overseas markets. The new law continues and enhances the protections afforded to shippers' associations in international trade and their favored position under the law.

OSRA took effect on May 1, 1999. In response to the new law, numerous shippers have either formed or joined shippers' associations in order to ensure that they can remain competitive in the global marketplace in ensuring access to competitive ocean transportation services. AISA will be listing on this page a variety of links and research tools to assist shippers in their efforts to learn more about the new law. In addition, AISA will be conducting seminars to educate shippers on how to conduct business in the new marketplace created by OSRA. In the interim, the following links provide further background on how OSRA will affect shippers' associations and the shippers they represent.

Ocean Shipping Reform: What It Means For Shippers' Associations
Presentation by Ronald N. Cobert, Esq., Grove, Jaskiewicz and Cobert,
Washington, D.C., before the Annual Meeting of the American Institute for Shippers' Associations, Inc., August 19, 1998

Testimony of Andrew M. Danas, Assistant General Counsel, American Institute for Shippers' Associations, Inc., before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States House of Representatives, Oversight Hearing on the Antitrust Aspects of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998, May 5, 1999

Federal Maritime Commission: Report on the Impact of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 (September, 2001) (Links to FMC website)