Full Volume 19 - Federal Maritime Commission

CONSOLIDATED ALLOWANCE RULES 737
On December 27 1976 the Presiding Officer issued his Order
Granting Motion to Discontinue Thereafter pursuant to Commission
procedures Hearing Counsel fJIed an Appeal from that Order and the
Carriers and Consolidators fIled Replies to the Appeal
In his Order granting the motion to discontinue this proceeding the
Presiding Officer grounded his discontinuance on the Commission s own
Order of Investigation and Hearing with respect to all issues raised In so
doing he made the following points
Conference Respondents point out that the Commission s September 24 Order was
directed to the consolidation rules presently in effect in the trade referring to the
September 20 amendments to the consolidation allowance rules Indeed the Commis
sion s factual and historical preamble leading up to its Order specifying the eight issues
to be heard is filled with repeated references to the September 20 amendments to the
consolidation allowance rules the amended rules the revised rules see p 24 of
Commission s Order and the apparent evils inequities and mischief the September 20
amendments would create On page 5 of the Commission s Order the statement is
made Further the subject rules bring into focus several relationships which are of
interest to the Commission On page 6 the Commission concludes Upon consideration
of the above matters the Commission is of the opinion that the consolidation rules
presently in effect in the trade and the industry practices which have arisen in
conjunction with such rules should be made the subject of a public investigation and
hearing to determine among other things whether these rules make or give any undue
or unreasonable advantage Emphasis original
Taking the Commission s September 24 Order as a whole and attempting to avoid
giving undue importance to any small portion taken out of context I fmd that the only
reasonable interpretation yields the conclusion that the Commission was primarily if not
totally concerned with the effects ramifications and inequities posed by the September
20 amendments to the Conference Respondents consolidation allowance rules and not
to a broad study of consolidation rules in general 7
Emphasis original
Hearing Counsel s position on appeal is essentially that 1 The
Presiding Officer correctly ruled as to issues 1 4 5 and 6 of the
original Order of Investigation because these issues dealt with allegations
of violations of sections 16 First 18b 3 18b 5 and 17 of the Shipping
Act by virtue of implementation of the amended consolidation allowance
rules and 2 The Presiding Officer erred however in permitting the
discontinuance ofthe proceeding with respect to issues 2 3 7 and 8
of the Order of Investigation because these issues allegedly address
possible statutory violations resulting from implementation of consolida
tion allowance rules generally and are issues which involved
regulatory considerations which transcend any of the changes to the tariff
provisions
The Consolidators and the Carriers oppose Hearing Counsel s appeal
essentially on the grounds relied upon by the Presiding Officer in his
discontinuance order
We concur in the fmdings and conclusions ofthe Presiding Officer The
further prosecution of the issues involved under the terms of the original
Order does not appear to be warranted We take no position at this time
1 Order Granting MOlion to Discontinue December 27 1976 pp 56
19 F M C