The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is looking into technology to help decongest the country's ports.

The panel's chairman Daniel Maffei tapped commissioner Carl Bentzel to look into how data constraints are impeding the flow of cargo from ships to ports and beyond while recommending common data standards in an effort to streamline information sharing.

"Events of the past year have proven the need for the United States to achieve more capacity from our cargo delivery system," Maffei said in a statement.