BIFA takes swing at FEFC

BIFA takes swing at FEFC

Related Stories •   British shippers blast FEFC charges •   FEFC adding United Kingdom congestion charge

The British International Freight Association has added its voice to growing condemnation among shipper bodies of the Far Eastern Freight Conference’s plans to introduce a $145 per TEU congestion surcharge on westbound cargo from Asia to the United Kingdom next month.
   'This industry anachronism is making the most of its current exemptions from aspects of competition law, hitting U.K. importers in the pocket at this, their busiest time, and doing nothing to remove the issues that the FEFC claims to want to resolve,” said Peter Quantrill, BIFA director general.
   BIFA said that based on the FEFC’s own volume figures alone, the surcharge will add costs of just over $70,300 per day, or $25.7 million per annum.
   'This charge is nothing more than a 'tax' on success. Our members and their clients are immensely successful in serving the needs of U.K. consumers and businesses. This cartel-type throwback to a bygone age is determined to wring yet more money out of our members' pockets, while it still has the chance, ahead of abolition next autumn.”
   Quantrill dismissed the FEFC's claims that the congestion charge was required to recover costs incurred by lines from chronic congestion at the U.K.'s major terminals and inland terminals.
   'They have imposed this charge yet have offered no solution to the problem. They claim their members have been forced to bypass U.K. ports and feed cargo to and from the U.K., in some cases being forced to divert to non-scheduled ports. This is a problem all over Europe yet the FEFC has singled out the U.K. Why? The congestion is nothing like it has been in previous years when they felt there was no need to impose surcharges.
   'If nothing else, next year's ending of the conferences' cartel-like arrangements holds out the best prospect in decades of a real shift in the balance of commercial power from carrier to customer.” ' Simon Heaney