Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has filed a complaint against Orient Overseas Container Line Limited and OOCL (Europe) Limited with the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).
The company is seeking reparations for injuries it alleges resulted from the shipping companies’ violations of the Shipping Act of 1984 by unjustly exploiting the price inflation that occurred in container shipping during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The complaint says service contracts weren’t adhered to as reserved space was allocated to higher paying contracts. “As a result, Complainant was forced to obtain space on the spot market at enormous expense during a period of unprecedented high spot prices.”
Bed Bath and Beyond Inc. also complained that demurrage and detention charges resulted from its inability to pick up containers and return empty containers due to circumstances beyond its control, including congestion at ports, OOCL policies, bad weather delays, labor disputes, and quarantine/social distancing orders in terminals, depots, yards, and for vessel crew.
It noted that OOCL’s Container Transport and Logistics business recorded an operating profit of $7,369,807,000.00 in 2021, an increase of 642% from the previous year.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. cites a parallel case between MCS Industries and COSCO Shipping Lines. The FMC’s Chief Administrative Law Judge found that the Shipping Act violations alleged in that case, were “of national significance.”
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. announced in April that it and certain of its subsidiaries had filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code ("Chapter 11") in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.