Caribbean carriers set peak fee

Caribbean carriers set peak fee    Member lines of the Caribbean Shipowners Association reiterated this week they will begin assessing a peak season surcharge fee on southbound shipments from the United States to Caribbean destinations from Oct. 9.
   The announcement was first made on Jan. 13 to allow exporters and importers time to include the surcharge in their 2011 business plans, CSA said.
   The peak season surcharge will remain in effect through Dec. 11, and is a temporary surcharge of $150 per TEU. It will be applied without exception southbound to all CSA Caribbean basin service destinations.
   'Stress on availability of containers and space to serve exports from United States may be expected to last through the 2011 peak season,' CSA warned. 'The surcharge will enable carriers to recover the higher costs caused by projected increased volumes, including equipment positioning, labor overtime, port congestion, cruise liners and extra loaders.'
   The surcharge will be assessed as follows:
   ' Twenty-foot container, $150.
   ' Forty-foot container, $300.
   ' More than 40 feet, $338.
   ' Vehicles up to 700 cubic feet, $88 each.
   ' Vehicles exceeding 700 cubic feet, $7 weight/measure (40 cubic feet or 2,000 pounds).
   ' Breakbulk or less than containerload, $7 weight/measure (40 cubic feet or 2,000 pounds).
   ' LCL (1 cubic foot), 17 cents per cubic foot.
   ' LCL (100 pounds), 34 cents per cubic weight,
   CSA members are Bernuth, CMA CGM, Crowley, Seaboard, SeaFreight, and Zim. These carriers serve trade lanes between the United States and the Caribbean destinations of Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saba, St Barths, St Eustatius, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Maarten, St Vincent, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname.