IN D U ST RY N EW S US court rejects military moves contract protests The US Court of Federal Claims has rejected protests over the award of US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)s billiondollar, single-move-manager Global Household Goods Contract (GHC) to HomeSafe Alliance. Two of the losing bidders Connected Global Solutions, LLC (CGSL) and American Roll-on-Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC) had contested the award decision, which was announced at the beginning of November 2021. An initial transition period began on 3 March 2022 but was paused on March 20 after the court filings it can resume as the result of this ruling. USTRANSCOM is fully committed to our mission, and our success is underpinned by our Total Force team. Our families deserve a safe and quality moving experience, and with this ruling, we move closer to that goal, said Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost, Commander, USTRANSCOM. The wellbeing of every one of our teammates, not just professionally, but personally, is the key to our accomplishments. The DoD business is reportedly worth an estimated US$7.2 billion during the transition period and its first three years; and nearly US$20 billion throughout its longest possible nine-year duration. According to USTRANSCOM, the move to a single move manager is part of its broader plan to improve the relocation process for service members, civilians, and their families, and integrates functions currently performed by more than 900 commercial entities. USTRANSCOM said the transition period will be followed by a measured phase-in of domestic shipments, which will begin after the 2023 peak moving season. All domestic and international household goods and unaccompanied baggage shipments will be moved under GHC by the 2024 peak moving season at the earliest. FMC receives further shipping complaints The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has received complaints against Israeli shipping carrier ZIM and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), the latest in a series of cases involving companies including CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Maersk, Ocean Network Express, Wan Hai and Yang Ming. According to industry news sources, Samsung Electronics America (SEA) filed against ZIM for more than 2,000 demurrage charges and more than 7,000 detention charges it had received from the company since 2020. Meanwhile, a California-based logistics business (since dissolved) MVM said MSC levied US$800,000 in charges and then prohibited it from entering its terminal, costing it 95 per cent of its business. The FMC has warned carriers and terminal operators about excessive detention and demurrage (D&D) charges, as a post-lockdown boom in container shipping caused reservation and capacity issues. As well as D&D, the latest round of complaints cite failure to complete delivery services, threats and failure to deal, which are all breaches of the 2022 Ocean Shipping Reform Act. Alfa Quality Moving rebrands to Alfa Mobility Alfa Quality Moving has changed its name to Alfa Mobility, which the company says more accurately reflects its range of services. The company new branding includes Polaris, the North Star, also known as Alpha Ursea Minoris. The parent brand will include three operational brands Alfa Moving, Alfa Relocation and Alfa Immigration. Annika Roup, CEO, said: We are very proud of our mobility services with a solid, local Nordic presence in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. We have always looked after our customers and our staff, but we havent always been so good at telling the world about it. We now need to build on that legacy to create a much more holistic organisation that can guide our customers, their assignees and our own people towards their physical, personal and professional goals. OMNI tackles zero-emission and sustainability culture OMNI (Overseas Network Moving International) has held the fourth and fifth in its series of sustainability workshops. Its September workshop focused on Developing low carbon companies and looked at the steps participants already taken towards reducing the environmental impact of their operations and plan for what might be possible in the future. The discussion focused mainly on the impact of transportation as this is the greatest producer of greenhouse gasses. Topics included the use of alternative fuels in vehicles, the availability of infrastructure and the options for alternative, less polluting modes of transport. The fifth workshop covered Organisation culture and sustainability. It examined how to embed sustainability issues into company culture and how to use this as a tool for overall sustainability of organisations. All workshops throughout 2022 have been open to both OMNI and FIDI members. 14 FF308 Dec-Jan 23 pp10-17 News.indd 14 06/12/2022 11:16