The Samsung Electronics division in the United States has filed a complaint with the United States Federal Maritime Commission alleging that one of its contracted carriers has violated the Shipping Act for the second time in six months. Samsung Hardware America (Ocean) is looking for an order to shut everything down and compensations for wounds from SM Line following a comparative body of evidence documented in October 2022 against Zim.
Notice in the most recent case was served on Friday, April 21, with Ocean in its objection claiming "because of SM Line's nonsensical practices, Ocean has been compelled to pay unnecessary and unlawful charges brought about by SM Line and has been compelled to attempt and play out the sea transporter's inland transportation obligations to keep on bringing in its items offered to American buyers."
Samsung writes in the complaint that the detention and demurrage charges it has incurred are "staggering," but it does not specify the amount. Ocean says that it has supported serious and significant wounds and money related harms, including paying mistaken D&D charges. They estimate that the business has been hit with more than 4,500 individual charges similar to demurrage and 10,000 charges similar to detention since 2020.
SM Line promotes its focus on establishing a comprehensive logistics transportation network worldwide to create added value in logistics services by claiming to be "Korea's representative ocean-going shipping company in the Americas." Ocean says it has depended on SM Line for "store entryway transportation" to get its items from South Korea to inland areas in the US for retailers. They argue that SM Line has failed to fulfill its transportation obligations to inland destinations from late 2020 to mid-2021.
Samsung has been required to arrange for inland trucking and pay SM Line's inland terminal charges without being reimbursed, according to the manufacturer, who claims that SM Line has compelled them to pay D&D fees.
Shippers sought refunds when they objected to the charges and claimed that SM Line "proffered various excuses." These excuses included trucker and chassis shortages, inclement weather, and port and terminal congestion, all of which Samsung claims are outside of its control and are not its responsibility under the store door terms. They claim that their compartments were not mounted on frame upon appearance showing up at inland terminals, were mismounted, grounded, or not accessible for get. They also say that the invoices didn't have enough information to figure out why the charges were made.
Samsung in its protest features the more extensive nature of the D&D grumblings against transporters. " The filing states, "This exploitative behavior appears to be not limited to SEA." They cite President Biden's statements, the actions of the FMC chairman Daniel Maffei, and the statements and actions of the FMC regarding D&D charges.
The case is very similar to Samsung's previous filing against Zim, which also alleged D&D violations and store door delivery failure. By the middle of June, that case was supposed to have completed document production last week and discovery. Filings in the Zim case will be finished among July and September with a choice expected not long after that from the FMC's managerial regulation adjudicator.
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