Leadership, enforcement, investment, data, and training all hit the throttle this week—and the supply chain is going to feel it. We kick off with Commissioner Dabella’s rapid move to FMC chair and why that shift matters: the chair sets priorities, drives enforcement tempo, and shapes the agency’s posture on competition and fairness. Pair that with an expanded ALJ bench and shippers, truckers, and carriers can expect faster case movement and clearer guidance that reduces uncertainty in contracts and operations.

We then unpack the FMC’s targeted investigation into chassis choice. After a landmark ruling against exclusive chassis designations in key markets, the commission is probing whether similar restrictions have crept into private service contracts. If you operate in LA–Long Beach, Savannah, Chicago, or Memphis—or if you’re a BCO, trucker, or chassis provider affected by split moves and availability—this is your moment to weigh in with specifics before the March 27 deadline. Real-world detail will shape real-world rules.

Data takes center stage as DOT’s FLOW initiative names a new executive board spanning ports, ocean carriers, retailers, and logistics pros. FLOW’s edge is early signal detection: anonymized purchase order visibility that helps stakeholders spot congestion and rebalance capacity before the pain shows up at the gate. On the infrastructure front, CMA CGM and Stonepeak launch United Ports LLC, a $2.4B joint venture that injects capital into ten terminals, including LA’s Phoenix Marine Services and Port Liberty terminals in New York and New Jersey—translating boardroom commitments into yard upgrades, better rail, and more predictable turns.

We also celebrate grit and readiness. The Coast Guard cutter Polar Star marked 50 years by breaking ice to free a luxury ship near Antarctica, underscoring the urgent need to recapitalize America’s icebreaking capability. Mariners get a long-overdue win with the NMC’s ASAP portal, bringing digital submissions and status tracking to credentialing. And talent takes a leap forward as Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s NEXIES program builds a training pipeline with Finland’s leaders in modular shipbuilding and robotics—knowledge that will flow straight into U.S. yards.

To cap it off, Michigan reveals a thoughtful, actionable maritime strategy that treats the Great Lakes as a modern marine highway. Intermodal investments, clean-energy ferries, workforce growth, innovation zones, and a smart balance with recreation form a roadmap other states can adapt. If momentum had a sound, it’s this week’s episode. If it had a purpose, it’s making the system fairer, faster, and future-proof. Enjoyed the breakdown? Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to help more maritime pros find the show.

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📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

Cargo shouldn’t pick ports based on loopholes. We unpack why a long-ignored gap in the harbor maintenance fee has pushed high-value containers toward Canada and Mexico, and how a renewed push from the Federal Maritime Commission is putting Section 6 of last year’s executive order back on the table. You’ll hear a clear breakdown of what the proposal aims to do—require foreign-origin cargo that first hits North America by vessel to pay applicable duties and fees even when it crosses the U.S. border by land, plus a 10% service fee—and why that could realign incentives back to U.S. gateways.

We also celebrate a milestone that puts maritime education front and center. The Patriot State, a new National Security Multi-Mission Vessel, is making its first Panama Canal transit, giving cadets a rare, hands-on training experience while showcasing the promise of the vessel construction management model. By leveraging commercial best practices and a single construction manager, the NSMV program is delivering ships faster and closer to budget, with each sister ship improving on the last. That matters for readiness, disaster response capability, and the pipeline of skilled mariners who keep the supply chain moving.

Rounding it out, we break down a fresh court ruling upholding the Jones Act against a port preference challenge. The decision underscores that cabotage rules apply uniformly and support national security, workforce preservation, and commercial resilience. Taken together, these moves signal a shift from policy talk to action: leadership is in place, stakeholder engagement is ramping up, and legislative follow-through could lock in lasting change. If the loophole closes and SHIPS Act elements advance, expect meaningful impacts on port calls, jobs, and inland networks.

If you enjoyed this deep dive, follow the show, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review. Your feedback helps more maritime pros and curious listeners find us and join the conversation.

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🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

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Headlines move cargo now. The FMC has reopened its probe into Spain’s reported port access denials and just raised MSC’s civil penalties to $22.6M, calling months of reefer overcharges a “practice,” not a glitch. We break down what this data‑driven era means for ocean carriers, BCOs, and anyone auditing detention and demurrage, then shift to the Pacific Northwest’s shipbuilding playbook, where serial production, robotics, and grid upgrades could reset costs and timelines—if financing and talent keep pace.

Then we sit down with Manifest founder and conference chair Pam Simon for a ground‑level look at how an end‑to‑end supply chain summit can actually move the needle. Pam shares why maritime sits at the center this year—ports from Miami to Singapore, DCSA, alliances, and BCOs on stage to tackle standards, transparency, cold chain performance, and intermodal handoffs. Expect real talk on compliance, carbon reporting, and safety rules that are becoming board‑level priorities. It’s not theory; it’s where pilots turn into contracts, demos turn into deployments, and LinkedIn connections turn into partnerships.

We also explore the looming workforce cliff and a simple idea with outsized potential: a maritime industry merit badge through Scouting America to build awareness and a talent pipeline from curiosity to credential. With leadership seats filling at the FMC and MARAD, and environmental policies tightening in the EU and beyond, coordination between policy, capital, and technology has never mattered more.

Heading to Vegas? Treat Manifest like a business development sprint: set targets, book meetings in the app, show up early to sessions, and get hands‑on with the tech. Not attending? Follow the headlines—deals and announcements from the floor will shape procurement, network design, and emissions strategies across 2026. If this conversation helped you see the moving pieces more clearly, subscribe, share with a colleague who lives in spreadsheets and vessel schedules, and leave a review so others can find the show.

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

Ocean shipping conversations often blur the line between alliances and consolidation. This episode breaks down how carrier alliances function in practice, why vessel sharing can improve routing and efficiency, and how ownership changes raise very different competition concerns. Using the ongoing discussion around ZIM as context, we connect market structure, port leadership transitions, and regulatory timing to real-world supply-chain resilience.

Expanded Summary

Ocean shipping conversations often lump alliances and consolidation together—but doing so misses how the market actually functions.

In this episode of By Land and By Sea, we take a closer look at ocean carrier alliances and make a clear distinction between cooperation and ownership. Using a plain-language aviation analogy, we explain how vessel sharing can increase routing options, enable more direct services, and improve equipment utilization—sometimes benefiting shippers through better network design and operational efficiency. Alliances, when properly structured, allow carriers to share assets while still competing for cargo.

We then use the ongoing discussion around ZIM as a case study—not as breaking news, but as a lens into how ownership changes differ from alliances and why acquisitions raise fundamentally different competition concerns. Consolidation permanently reduces the number of independent decision-makers in the market, which is why these conversations draw sustained attention from regulators, ports, labor, and governments.

From there, the episode widens the aperture to leadership and governance shaping the supply chain this week:
⚓ The official announcement of Dr. Noel Hacegaba as the next CEO of the Port of Long Beach
⚓ A reflection on last week’s personal conversation with outgoing CEO Mario Cordero, and why leadership stories matter
⚓ A brief update on Senate procedural movement affecting pending FMC and MARAD nominations, and why we’re “oh so close”

Taken together, this episode is about structure—how alliances, ownership, leadership, and regulatory timing interact to shape competition and resilience across global supply chains.

🎧 Episode: A Positive Case for Ocean Alliances
👉 Listen: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

🚢 A special By Land and By Sea Podcast episode — and a bittersweet moment in maritime leadership

This week, I had the privilege of sitting down with MARIO CORDERO, who will be retiring this month after leading the Port of Long Beach through some of the most consequential years in supply chain history.

And just this week, the Port announced that Dr. Noel Hacegaba will step in as the next CEO — marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for one of America’s most important gateways.

This interview is unique because it wasn’t just a formal conversation — it was a personal one.

Mario and I worked together more than 10 years ago at the Federal Maritime Commission, and it is genuinely bittersweet to see him step away from this role. Not because he hasn’t earned a well-deserved breather — he has — but because this moment represents the closing of a major arc in his long, impactful career.

Mario has never been someone who “just sits around,” and I have no doubt he will continue contributing to the industry in new and meaningful ways. After a bit of travel, as he told me with a smile.

We talked about his earliest days, his years at the FMC, his role shaping the 2015 congestion report, global regulatory conversations, and what it was really like to lead Long Beach through the surge years.

It was thoughtful, candid, and truly special.

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⚓ JUST-IN-TIME LEARNING™ SPOTLIGHT

Curious about how FMC and MARAD divide responsibilities?

Or how their authorities connect to the issues Mario discusses in this episode?

Check out our Just-in-Time Learning™ micro-course:

👉 “FMC vs. MARAD: Who Does What in U.S. Maritime Policy?”

https://www.themaritimeprofessor.com/challenge-page/maritime-fmc-marad?programId=97f199ca-340b-4517-b03b-90d93a3aafcf

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

Big policy moves rarely arrive one at a time. We dig into a trio of shifts changing how shippers, carriers, and NVOCCs plan: the FMC’s latest civil penalty settlements, early signs of a safer Suez Canal, and a targeted court decision that trims—but doesn’t topple—the detention and demurrage billing rule. Each story stands on its own, but together they point to a strategic truth: regulatory literacy is becoming a real advantage.

We start with the $1.35M in FMC civil penalties and why that matters beyond headlines. These compromise agreements—without admissions—highlight where enforcement is focused: operating in line with published tariffs and making sure rates and charges are actually on the books. We also clarify a crucial detail that shapes incentives: penalty money goes to the U.S. general fund, not to the FMC. That keeps enforcement about standards, not collections, and it nudges everyone toward cleaner documentation, clearer contracts, and fewer “exceptions” that don’t survive scrutiny.

From there, we pivot to routing strategy. After years of detours around the Horn of Africa, some carriers are testing a return to the Suez Canal. The upside is real—shorter transit times, better schedule reliability, improved equipment balance—but risk remains dynamic. We walk through how to scenario-plan Suez vs. Cape, protect mariner safety, and reset inventory buffers without overpromising to customers.

We also break down the pause on Section 301 China port fees. Even with limited pass-through to shippers, the policy signaled that vessel build origin and control can carry costs on U.S. trades. That’s already influencing fleet allocation and future order books. Treat the pause as a lever that can move again. Build contracts that define surcharge handling, give yourself alternatives, and keep a live read on carrier exposure.

Finally, we unpack the DC Circuit’s narrow ruling on the FMC billing rule. The court vacated the “who may be billed” section for lack of clarity, but left the rest intact: the 20 data fields, timing rules, and documentation guardrails still apply. The result is better invoices, simpler disputes, and fewer black-box charges—if you use the framework. We outline what to validate before paying, how to challenge errors, and where the FMC may go next.

If this helped you see the road ahead more clearly, follow the show, share it with your team, and leave a review. Got a question or a topic you want us to tackle next? Send it our way and let’s dig in together.

🎧 Listen to this week’s episode:
👉 www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

💡 Have a question or a topic you want us to tackle next? Send it our way.

#maritime #shipping #FMC #Suez #OSRA #detention #demurrage #tradepolicy #supplychain #ByLandAndBySea #TheMaritimeProfessor

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

From Buzzards Bay to Beijing — this week was all about maritime strategy in motion.

Lauren recaps highlights from the Second Annual Massachusetts Maritime Strategy Conference, where federal and state leaders worked to align the Commonwealth with other states developing maritime strategies. From workforce pipelines to new ideas like a State House Office of Maritime Affairs, momentum is building.

She also breaks down today’s USTR deadline on suspending the Section 301 China vessel and port fees — explaining who actually paid (hint: not shippers), why the pause matters, and what to watch next.

⚓ Long Summary

This week, strategy met reality — in two different arenas.

Lauren dives into the Second Annual Massachusetts Maritime Strategy Conference, where state and federal leaders gathered at Massachusetts Maritime Academy to chart the next chapter of the Commonwealth’s maritime future.
From the federal panel featuring Bill Doyle, USCG Rear Adm. (ret.) John Mauger, and Bill Golden to the brainstorming session that generated bold ideas — a possible YouTube campaign to promote the industry, a dedicated Office of Maritime Affairs, and ideas for incentives for ship repair jobs — the day’s energy was unmistakable.

And the conversation hit home when Boston Ship Repair posted a photo of its idle dry dock and tagged MARAD, MSC, and NAVSEA — a reminder of why state-based maritime strategies matter. As Lauren puts it: “We need quick, clear menus of what each state can offer — because when federal funding is ready, it needs a place to go.”

Then she turns to Washington, where the U.S. Trade Representative is closing public comments today on the Section 301 suspension — pausing the China-built and China-operated vessel fees for one year.

Lauren explains why shippers largely avoided the cost (as carriers like COSCO and OOCL absorbed it), how the policy became a targeted pressure point, and why this “pause” is really a strategic timeout.

🎓 Just-in-Time Learning™

If this episode has you wanting to get back to the basics of “Who actually handles what in maritime?” check out “FMC vs. MARAD – Who Does What?”, available now at TheMaritimeProfessor.com
.

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Join 7,000+ industry leaders and innovators — and save $200 with our link:
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.

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Support the show

🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

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Fresh off the Senate’s Sea Change: Reviving Commercial Shipbuilding hearing this week, Dr. Sal Mercogliano joins us to share everything he didn’t get to say on the record. We unpack his “Ships for America” warning, his proposal for a Maritime Reserves program, and what he hopes to see in the upcoming Maritime Action Plan due November 5. Then we turn to China’s unexpected restraint and what the one-year pause on Section 301 port fees really signals for global shipping strategy.

⚓ Expanded Summary

When a congressional hearing earns praise instead of eye-rolls, you know something’s changing. The Senate’s Sea Change: Reviving Commercial Shipbuilding brought together voices from across the industry — Matt Paxton (Shipbuilders Council of America), Jeff Vogel (TOTE Services), Tuuli Snow (Snow & Company), and Dr. Sal Mercogliano (Campbell University) — for one of the most substantive maritime policy discussions in years.

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Sal Mercogliano fresh off the hearing to capture everything that didn’t fit into his five-minute testimony. He expands on his call for a Maritime Reserves program — a proposal Senator Cantwell immediately engaged on — and explains why rebuilding America’s maritime strength means focusing on both ships and sailors. We also dive into his “Ships for America” warning, the lessons of the 1920 and 1936 Maritime Acts, and why the timing of the Maritime Action Plan could mark the start of a genuine U.S. maritime strategy revival.

Highlights from the hearing:
🔹 How Sal’s “Ships for America” message reframed U.S. industrial strategy
🔹 His proposal for a Maritime Reserves program — and how Sen. Cantwell immediately engaged on it
🔹 Why bipartisan momentum is building around the upcoming Maritime Action Plan (due Nov 5)
🔹 And what all this means for shipbuilders, mariners, and shippers watching U.S.–China trade signals after the temporary pause on Section 301 port fees

We also zoom out to the global picture — where a tentative U.S.–China deal has paused both U.S. and mirrored Chinese port fees for one year. Instead of escalating, Beijing matched Washington’s structure and quietly absorbed the costs through COSCO and OOCL. The result? Stability over spectacle — and a sign that both sides are managing leverage, not launching a trade war.

If you’ve been waiting for proof that Washington is serious about maritime again — this is the episode.

🎓 Just-in-Time Learning™ Course Spotlight
Wondering where FMC ends and MARAD begins?
👉 Check out our micro-course “FMC vs. MARAD: Who Does What?” — available now at TheMaritimeProfessor.com
.

🤝 Partner Promo – Manifest Vegas 2026
The Maritime Professor® is thrilled to partner with @ManifestFOL Vegas, February 9 – 11, 2026 at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
Join over 7,000 leader

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Support the show

🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast