US-based pollock giant American Seafoods and other Alaska seafood suppliers are facing hundreds of millions in fines as part of a dispute with the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) related to how the companies move product from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, facilities to the United States.

The controversy stems from a provision in the US Jones Act that requires that cargo shipped between two US ports must be transported by so-called coastwise-qualified vessels, which are vessels built, owned and flagged in the United States.