PACIFIC CARRIERS CONFIRM PLAN TO RAISE WESTBOUND REEFER RATES

PACIFIC CARRIERS CONFIRM PLAN TO RAISE WESTBOUND REEFER RATES    The shipping lines of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement have reaffirmed a plan to increase westbound rates from the U.S. to Asia for refrigerated beef, pork and poultry, effective July 1.
   “The adjustments are intended to reverse a steady decline in base rates since early 2001,” a spokesman for the carrier group said.
   The Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement said that beef, pork and poultry rates are currently “well below those of other refrigerated cargoes.”
   Member lines in the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA) announced plans last December to raise rates on frozen and chilled beef and pork by $800 per 40-foot container for all-water port-to-port shipments from all U.S. coasts, and by $1,000 per 40-foot container for intermodal shipments, effective July 1.
   The carriers also want to push rates up by the same amounts on July 1 for frozen poultry shipments.
   The carrier group warned that, effective July 1, carriers no longer plan to provide transfers of refrigerated beef, pork and poultry free of charge at West Coast container freight stations. WTSA lines now plan to charge separate container freight station costs.
   WTSA carriers have announced their intention to include clauses in new 2003 service contracts “that allow for future implementation, at any time over the contract term, of charges aimed at recovering extraordinary security-related costs as they arise,” the carrier group said.
   WTSA members are APL, China Shipping Group, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Marine Corp., Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, “K” Line, MOL, NYK, Orient Overseas Container Line, P&O Nedlloyd and Yang Ming