President Joe Biden has put his name to a bill that aims to intensify federal power over the shipping container industry as part of an effort to reduce supply chain bottlenecks and lower the cost of cargo transport – and thereby the prices of products consumers and businesses buy.

After receiving broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act was signed into law by Biden on June 16. “This bill is going to help bring down inflation at least marginally for farmers and businesses all across America,” Biden said.

The vast majority of global ocean shipping is controlled by nine major companies.

Nine.

During the pandemic, these carriers increased their prices as much as 1,000% — the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 allows us to crack down on those excessive hikes.

— President Biden (@POTUS) June 16, 2022

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), which is charged with protecting the interests of U.S. businesses that rely on ocean transportation under the Shipping Act, will have enhanced powers of oversight and enforcement on shipping companies under the new law. “These oversight and enforcement tools will help the FMC eliminate unfair charges, prevent unreasonable denial of American exports, and crack down on other unfair practices harming American businesses and consumers,” read a statement from legislators that supported the act.

Among other measures, the law requires ocean carriers to certify that late fees — known in maritime parlance as “detention and demurrage” charges — comply with federal regulations, or else face penalties. It shifts the burden of proof regarding the reasonableness of detention or demurrage charges from the invoiced party to the ocean carrier, and prohibits ocean carriers from unreasonably declining shipping opportunities for U.S. exports, as determined by the FMC in new required rulemaking.

Meanwhile, the bill also authorizes the FMC to self-initiate investigations of ocean common carriers’ business practices and apply enforcement measures, and formally establishes the FMC Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services to improve the complaint and investigation process for American businesses seeking assistance from the FMC.

Could declining freight rates ease #promoproduct price pressure? And as retailers are dealing with overstock issues and demand drops, is the same starting to happen in promo? https://t.co/j3eV8kHYMI @ASI_MBell @Tim_Andrews_ASI @asicentral

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) June 16, 2022

Reforms in the law will “help address the longstanding, systemic supply chain and port disruption issues which have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a statement from the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

Like other industries, the promo products market has been beset by supply chain upheaval during the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes congestion at domestic ports that’s made it more difficult to restock product in an efficient manner, contributing to inventory shortfalls. It’s also included vastly more expensive shipping freight rates, which been a factor driving up prices on promo items. Measures that help alleviate some of those pressures would be widely welcomed in the industry, a reason why trade association Promotional Products Association International supported the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.