should i have a special license for this type of business? If yes what is it?

Hamtramck, MI Viewed 26 times. Posted 2 months ago in Business

I have registered new business in MI and I got my Tax ID, my goal is to serve a person who wants to ship his car, furniture or products to overseas or to their countries, whoever our duty is to arrange the full process by calling Maritime Carriers to schedule & reserved a container then we call the transportation / moving companies to pickup and ship these items to one of the USA ports which has been scheduled.
All of the documents will be signed by our customers (Transportation/Maritime Carriers Documents).
The question should we have a special license for this type of business? If yes what is it?

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Answers (1)

Nicholas Evan Pantelopoulos

This attorney is licensed in Connecticut and 3 other states. Posted about 1 month ago.

Yes, you will require a federal license to legally operate this business. The business you are describing is classified by the Federal Maritime Commission ("FMC") as a non-vessel operating common carrier ("NVOCC") or ocean transportation intermediary ("OTI"). The FMC has very strict licensing requirements for this business if you intend to export or import from or to a United States maritime port. Also, there are various licenses issued by the FMC depending on the scope of your involvement. For example, a different license is issued depending on whether you simply want to act as a "broker" in arranging transportation or whether you actually want to issue "house bills of lading" where you can charge actual ocean carriage charges and then book the transportation with an actual shipowner/carrier. In any event, the FMC will conduct an investigation into your experience and knowledge of this industry and will require that you post a bond and publish a tariff setting forth your terms and conditions of service.