TACA carriers plan more rate increases

TACA carriers plan more rate increases    Shipping lines of the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement are planning to introduce another round of freight rate increases July 1.
   In the westbound direction, the conference plans to raise tariff rates $280 per 20-foot container and $350 per 40- or 45-foot box.
   For eastbound cargoes, the planned price increase is $240 per 20-foot container and $300 per 40- or 45-foot box.
   TACA warned it plans to implement another rate increase Oct. 1, but did not specify its amount.
   According to forwarder sources, the previous eastbound rate increases planned by transatlantic carriers on April 1 have “stuck” in the marketplace, whereas westbound rate rises intended by carriers have been postponed. The lower U.S. dollar has boosted exports to Europe, but made imports of European goods to America less competitive.
   A senior official of a transatlantic shippers’ association, who asked not to be named, told American Shipper he expects 2004 eastbound rates to increase about 10 percent over 2003.
   “At this time, at the end of traditionally the slackest quarter of the year, westbound conference trade in volume and capacity utilization terms remains steady, whilst eastbound, volume and capacity utilization continue to recover,” TACA said in a statement.
   The conference argued that returns on investment for transatlantic carriers are “inadequate,” and that carriers are facing a sharp increase in vessel charter rates, as well as “an emergent worldwide shortage of containers.”
   “Given the mobility of assets (ships and equipment), which can be shifted to market segments yielding a better return on investment, it is becoming increasingly more significant, relative to the maintenance of transatlantic service levels, that the overall viability of conference ocean rates in the North Atlantic theatre must improve,” the TACA added.