LINER CARRIERS SET UP EU REGULATORY LOBBY GROUP

LINER CARRIERS SET UP EU REGULATORY LOBBY GROUP    Container shipping lines have set up a joint representative and lobbying organization in Europe, called the European Liner Affairs Association.
   Expected to be backed by many European and Asian liner carriers, the association will be managed by Ken Soerensen, the former European region head of APL.
   “The Box Club has decided to form an association similar to the World Shipping Council,” said Gunther Casjens, chief executive officer of Hapag-Lloyd Container Line. The World Shipping Council represents container-shipping lines in Washington, D.C.
   Casjens has acted as the coordinator between container carriers in the formation of the new European body. He said a chairman of the association has not been appointed.
   The future carrier members of the European body are not yet known.
   Formation of the association coincides with the launch of a review of EC Regulation 4056/86, the European antitrust shipping regulation, by the European Commission.
   Casjens said the European Liner Affairs Association would reply to the antitrust review consultation paper issued by the regulator by the June 3 deadline set by the EC.
   “The review of (regulation) 4056 is another reason — not the only reason — to form the association,” he said.
   Many European shipowners already belong to the Brussels-based European Community Shipowners’ Association, an organization that covers a broad range of regulatory issues. The European Liner Affairs Association will deal only with liner shipping issues and represent both European and non-European carriers involved in European trades.
   “One of the reasons of this organization is to find what (shipping) lines really want,” Casjens said. He suggested that different carriers have different views on regulatory issues in Europe, and that they should speak with a single voice.
   Asked whether Hapag-Lloyd would fight to retain the antitrust immunity of conferences in Europe, Casjens replied: “This question is too simple.” He said Hapag-Lloyd does not support conferences if they decide rate levels for shippers’ contracts, but it favors the retention of antitrust immunity for a forum allowed to discuss capacity and rates.
   Casjens said Hapag-Lloyd also likes individual confidential service contracts.
   Moving from the current European antitrust immunity for conferences to a system of U.S.-style discussion agreements is “one option,” Casjens said. Current European conference immunity is “not very different” from the U.S. regime under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, he added.