Senate Confirms Robert Harvey to Fill Last Vacant FMC Commissioner Postion
Eight months after being nominated by the White House to fill a vacancy on the Federal Maritime Commission, Robert Harvey, a lawyer by background and colleague of new Chairman Laura DiBella, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Monday. It fills the vacancy on the FMC since the June 30, 2025, departure of former chairman Louis Sola and commissioner Carl Bentzel.
Harvey was nominated last September for a three-year term expiring on June 30, 2029, along with Laura DiBella. The nomination of DiBella was confirmed in December, and in January, she was designated as the new chairman. Harvey’s confirmation was slower and had remained pending with many other White House nominees.
The Senate, on a party-line vote of 46 to 43, confirmed the en bloc of 49 nominations on May 18, with 11 senators not voting. Most of those confirmed were for attorney positions and ambassadors or assistant secretaries at various government departments. Harvey was also among the group, which also included Daniel Edwards of North Carolina, to be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation, and Richard Kloster to fill a vacancy on the Surface Transportation Board.
Harvey joins the FMC at a critical time with key issues at the forefront. Chairman DiBella in April attended the International Maritime Organization’s MEPC meeting, saying her role was to emphasize the “serious economic harm that would be caused by the Net Zero Framework and to foster discussions on alternatives.” She followed the administration's position that the Emission Trading Scheme would force American consumers to pay a carbon tax for shipments transiting international waters. She asserted the U.S. would “explore all potential remedial options” from a disputed and unneeded carbon tax. Furthermore, she said in her role as chairman, she would ensure the FMC’s role and statutory authorities, and include the FMC’s ability to monitor flag states that establish or follow laws or regulations that result in unfavorable shipping conditions in U.S. foreign trade.
The FMC has already announced investigations into the flagging practices of various countries. DiBella also recently emphasized they would be relaunching the National Shipper Advisory Committee, making it bigger and better for the FMC.
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Harvey, a lawyer who concentrated his practice in securities litigation, arbitration, and regulation, was in the position of President & Executive Director of the Florida Opportunity Fund, a private, not-for-profit corporation with a mission of mobilizing investments in a broad variety of Florida-based new technology companies, when he was nominated to the FMC. He was also Executive Director of the Florida Development Finance Corporation. Robert Harvey and Laura DiBella worked together at Enterprise Florida, where he was General Counsel when DiBella led the state’s economic development arm.
Harvey began his career with the United States Navy, where he served on active duty from 1987 to 1990 as a Navy Judge Advocate and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney.