AXS-Alphaliner: Surcharges might rise post-conference

AXS-Alphaliner: Surcharges might rise post-conference The latest AXS-Alphaliner newsletter indicated the post-conference world in Europe may not be all that shippers expected with regards to surcharges.
   Beginning Oct. 18, carriers can no longer collectively set surcharges, a move shippers longed for as a way to get around what they considered price-fixing.
   According to a new report from AXS-Alphaliner, excerpted in the weekly newsletter, “we find that the new tariff regime may not turn out to be what the shippers have hoped for. To take a single example, new terminal handling charges announced for European ports that will take effect from October are higher across the board compared to the tariffs (under the Far East Freight Conference, which governed trade between East Asia and Europe)
   “The average increase for main European ports ranges from 14 percent for the Netherlands to 47 percent for U.K. ports. The increases were as high as 71 percent depending on individual carriers surveyed.”
   Meanwhile, on the potential sale of German container carrier Hapag-Lloyd, the newsletter indicated there is debate over who has the deeper pockets among the two bidders — Singapore-based NOL and a consortium of Hamburg investors.
   “Opinion on this subject is divided,” the newsletter said. “Some sources claim that NOL — or respectively Temasek — will eventually have the deeper pockets. Unlike the Germans, NOL will have the advantage of being able to realize operational synergies should the two container carriers be merged. In the light of these expected savings, NOL might be willing to pay a premium for the acquisition. On the other hand, buying Hapag-Lloyd might come with a sting in its tail for the Singaporeans, since some of the carrier's German key accounts more or less openly threatened to switch Hapag volumes to competing lines, should the line be sold to NOL. A German takeover would not have to deal with this problem, since numerous large consignors hinted they would oppose a further consolidation of the liner business' supply side and thus favored the German-led bid.”