ELAA to cease operations

ELAA to cease operations

Bourne

   The European Liner Affairs Association board, which met in Taipei this week, approved the closure of the Brussels-based organization by July 1.
   Container carriers established the ELAA in 2003 to persuade the European Commission of the value for maintaining the ocean carrier conference system. While the ELAA failed in this effort, the association helped smooth the transition of the industry's carriers engaged in the world's first complete deregulated liner trade.
   'When you negotiate, it's always the case that you'll never get everything you want,' said Chris Bourne, the ELAA's executive director, in a recent interview with American Shipper in Brussels. 'I think we served our purpose well. I feel satisfied.'
   Since October 2008, the ELAA has developed an EC-approved trade statistics database that allows lines to deposit monthly TEU figures for the seven European trades, either on a port-to-port or country-to-country basis, into a 'black box.' The association posts the headline aggregated trade figures free of charge on its Web site and will e-mail this data to anyone in the industry who wants it on a monthly basis.
   The database is managed by ELAA subsidiary Container Trade Statistics (CTS), a 10-person team based in the United Kingdom and Singapore, and covers all the European liner trades today.
   'This is the first time the liner industry has had an accurate database, and you can't do business today without proper data,' Bourne said.
   The ELAA's membership comprises APL, ANL, CCNI, China Shipping, CMA CGM, COSCO, CSAV, Evergreen, Hamburg S'd, Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai, Independent Container Line, Maersk, MISC, OOCL, Safmarine, SCI, Turkon, United Arab Shipping Co., Yang Ming and Zim. The three Japanese lines — MOL, NYK and 'K' Line — left the group during the past 18 months, citing costs and concerns over breach of competition rules.
   Once the ELAA closes its doors, liner carrier lobbying functions in Brussels are expected to be carried out by the World Shipping Council, which already has an office in the European city. The council is the liner industry's leading advocate on legislative and regulatory affairs in Washington and worldwide.
   CTS will likely remain a separate company. 'We expect CTS to continue to manage the database started by the ELAA and extend its coverage globally,' Bourne said.
   For more details, read the April American Shipper, page 51. The April issue will be available online in PDF on March 23. ' Chris Gillis