MTMC RAISES SERVICE BAR ON OVERSEAS MOVING COMPANIES

MTMC RAISES SERVICE BAR ON OVERSEAS MOVING COMPANIES    The U.S. Military Traffic Management Command has imposed tougher standards on overseas moving companies to improve the handling of Defense Department household goods.
   During the past 18 months, MTMC has noticed an alarming trend of overseas moving companies going out of business.
   “This results in carriers not paying their agents, who in turn, hold shipments hostage because they have not been paid,” said Lt. Col. Nonie Cabana, MTMC’s deputy chief of staff for passenger and personal property. “This places unwarranted, unethical and unacceptable hardships on property owners who become victims of carriers who do not pay their bills.”
   Under MTMC’s new guidelines, overseas moving companies have 30 days to meet the following requirements:
   * Provide MTMC with an updated certified financial statements signed by the company official on the carrier’s Tender of Service Signature Sheet.
   * Acknowledge that the firm agrees to abide by appropriate U.S. law (37 U.S.C. 406(I)), which prohibits liens on Defense Department-sponsored household goods shipments.
   Moving companies that fail to meet these standards will not be used pending a Carrier Review Board action.
   MTMC has sent letters outlining its new standards to over 200 moving firms, including the Household Goods Forwarders Association of America conference in Anchorage.
   The agency is responsible for the move of about 646,000 service personnel a year.