Federal Maritime Commission 2018 Chief FOIA Officer Report

Name and Title of Agency's Chief FOIA Officer: Karen V. Gregory

The Federal Maritime Commission (Commission or FMC) remains dedicated 

to responding to all FOIA requests with the presumption of openness and 

providing outstanding personalized customer service. 

The Commission is committed to proactively posting information online 

without waiting for individual requests to be received. On an ongoing basis, 

the Commission posts useful information to its website for the benefit of 

the public and the shipping community specifically.

During this reporting period, we created webpages to inform the public 

about a number of high profile events or initiatives having a significant 

impact on the industry such as, activities and accomplishments of the FMCfacilitated Supply Chain Innovation Teams and the bankruptcy and winding 

down of operations of a major ocean carrier serving the U.S.-foreign ocean 

trades. In its steady state activities, the Commission dedicated resources to 

provide public information in a timely, accurate, and user-friendly fashion 

on its website. 

One example is the listing of Ocean Transportation Intermediaries (OTI). 

This is a listing of searchable information pertaining to licensed entities and 

is available to the public as a downloadable spreadsheet from our website. 

This information has proven to be invaluable to the shipping public. OTI 

information is frequently the subject of FOIA requests received by the 

Commission. Because so much valuable information is available for 

download without need for a FOIA request, we believe we are receiving 

fewer of these types of requests. In March 2017, the Commission began the 

process of collecting updated information from OTIs on a triennial 

basis. The update process has improved the accuracy of 804 of the 4,839 

OTI records within the first six months of the program.

Also of interest to the shipping community and the public are carrier and 

marine terminal operator agreement filings under the Shipping Act. In 

March 2017, the Commission introduced a redesigned online agreement 

library which now provides real-time notice of recently filed agreements, 

synopses, and easy availability of the full text of nearly all agreements on 

file with the Commission. In 2018, the FMC intends to complete a full audit 

of all marine terminal operator agreements currently on file and to add 

those to the library providing 24/7 public access to these filings. Related, 

2017 was the first year that the Commission primarily utilized the new 

eAgreements electronic agreement filing and review system for filing of 

ocean common carrier agreements with the Commission. The new online 

system has streamlined FMC business processes by reducing initial 
agreement intake time resulting in faster public access to pending filed 

agreements.

During this reporting period, our internal systems have proven to be 

successful in the efficient processing of FOIA requests received by the 

Commission. We closed all pending FOIA requests from the previous years’ 

report and all FOIA reports to the Department of Justice were submitted 

timely. Requests for expedited processing were adjudicated within an

average of three days and simple requests were processed in less than ten 

days. 

The Commission takes pride in the personal customer service we extend to 

all FOIA requesters. Whenever necessary the FOIA professional reaches out 

to a requester to clarify what information they are seeking and to provide 

an explanation about the type of documents the Commission has available 

to best satisfy their request. An interim response(s) and/or status updates 

are provided to FOIA requesters whenever appropriate. All responses are 

provided electronically unless the requester specifically requests a hard 

copy of responsive documents. We release all documents unless disclosure 

would harm an interest protected by an exemption or disclosure is 

prohibited by law. The FMC did not receive any FOIA appeals this reporting 

period. All new Commission employees are trained on the importance of the 

FOIA, their obligations under the FOIA, and the FMC’s process for 

responding to requests. This training is also designed to focus on the 

specific program area where the employee will be working. During this 

reporting period, the FMC FOIA professional attended relevant FOIA training 

and continues to keep abreast of any new FOIA requirements. 

The success of the Commission’s FOIA program relies in part on the 

continued dedication of FMC management to encourage employees to be 

transparent and always consider ways to proactively provide relevant 

information to the shipping community, and general public. The 

Commission will continue to strive to maintain an efficient FOIA program, 

proactively post relevant information to our website, and provide 

personalized customer service to our FOIA requesters.