TRANSPACIFIC CARRIERS REAFFIRM NEED FOR HIGHER WESTBOUND RATES

TRANSPACIFIC CARRIERS REAFFIRM NEED FOR HIGHER WESTBOUND RATES    Container shipping lines of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement reaffirmed plans to raise westbound dry cargo rates across the board by $200 per 40-foot container to stem what they described as “significant revenue losses” in that trade.
   An increase of $200 per 40-footer is scheduled by the shipping lines on Dec. 1 shipments of cotton, and on Jan. 1 for hay shipments.
   Also on Jan. 1, the carrier group plans to raise rates for all other non-refrigerated commodities by $200 per 40-foot container and $160 per 20-foot container from U.S. West Coast and East Coast ports. On the same date, westbound shipments moving intermodally from inland U.S. points, as well as minilandbridge cargo, would see increases of $400 per 40-foot container and $320 per 20-foot box.
   “Member carriers in the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement stress that the planned increases are not related to recent costs incurred by labor difficulties on the West Coast, but rather reflect sharp declines in westbound transpacific freight rates during the past year or more,” a spokesman for the carrier group said.
   According to the transpacific carriers, current revenues “do not remotely address” the significant investment made in recent years to provide shipping services to shippers.
   WTSA members are APL, 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
   Maersk Sealand recently left the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement.