FEFC RAISES RATES FROM EUROPE TO ASIA

FEFC RAISES RATES FROM EUROPE TO ASIA    The Far Eastern Freight Conference announced a planned rate increase of $200 per container, effective April 1.
   Conference carriers may also introduce additional rate rises for particular cargoes “still subject to very low rates,” the conference said.
   The announcement of the freight rate hikes follows a meeting of the FEFC conference carriers in Tokyo last Wednesday (Jan. 26).
   The conference group said that eastbound rates to Asia had decreased by up to 70 percent in 1998, as the Asian economic crises put a brake on imports into Asia. However, traffic volumes from Europe to Asia have now recovered from the effect of the Asian crisis and volumes increased by over 20 percent last year, the conference said.
   For the year 2000, the FEFC carriers forecast that eastbound volumes will continue to grow, probably by about 7 percent, as compared to 1999.
   After the April 1 increases, the Europe/Asia conference said that there would not be any other rate increases before October.