FMC rules rates of return in Guam trade were excessive
The Federal Maritime Commission has determined that rates of return earned by APL in the Guam trade during the years 1988-1990 exceeded “allowable (benchmark) rates of return.” The FMC regulates the Guam trade.
The commission also determined that rates of return earned by Sea-Land Service Inc., in the Guam trade during 1988 and the first six months of 1989 exceeded allowable rates of return.
The FMC remanded the case involving the rates (Government of the Territory of Guam, et al., v. Sea-Land Service, Inc and American President Lines Ltd.”, Docket No. 89-26) to an administrative law judge “to determine the amount of reparations which may be awarded to complainants.”
The commission denied a request for an award of reparations by the government of Guam, saying Guam’s “methodology fails to demonstrate a requisite causal link between the excess revenues earned by respondents and the ‘just and reasonable’ rate for any of the shipments in issue.”