The Federal Maritime Commission is launching an investigation to determine whether a Canadian law violates U.S. shipping codes and have a "disparate effect" on American vessels
When bulk carriers are traveling across the Great Lakes, they take in and release ballast water to account for shifting cargo. A new Canadian regulation requires ships to upgrade the systems onboard that filter the uptake of this water on vessels.
Canadian regulators say this will help reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species, but American carriers say the policy puts U.S. shippers at a disadvantage.
Jim Weakley is president of the Lake Carriers' Association, a group that represents the interest of commercials shippers in the U.S., which filed the petition with the FMC against the law in 2020. He said the regulation aims to give Canadian industries a monopoly on trade in the Great Lakes.
"We believe this is a trade issue, not an environmental issue, and that the purpose is to take American exports off American ships and put them on Canadian ships," Weakley said.
Weakley said the law oversteps the authority of the U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency to regulate ballast water within its own waters.
Under the law, Great Lakes carriers are required to have upgraded ballast water management systems by Sept. 8 in order to access Canadian ports. Only Canadian vessels are able to apply for an extension or exemption, according to the ballast rule.
Unless Canada reverses the policy, Weakley estimates it could result in more than a billion-dollar loss of business for American carriers over the next two decades.
The FMC investigation could lead to counter measures like limiting or imposing fees on Canadian-flagged vessels at U.S. ports.
Officials at Transport Canada, the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation, did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
