FCL Carriers enters Pacific trade, offers rate match system

FCL Carriers enters Pacific trade, offers rate match system    FCL Carrier, an Antwerp-based intermediary, has entered the transpacific trade, offering an Internet-based pricing system that tells shippers if it can match a freight rate the shipper is willing to pay.
   To offer a full containerload service in the Pacific, the company has entered into slot charter and volume contracts with various carriers. It provides access to the service through an online application, fclcarrier.com.
   Using a “rate matcher” program developed by the company, shippers can input a rate request, along with the rate they want to pay for their shipment. FCL Carrier then responds within 24 hours with a match or its “most competitive rate available” for that particular route, the company said.
   “We realize that some carriers show rates on their Web sites, but I am not aware of anyone else who shows, at one glance, all of the surcharges and terms and conditions associated with the shipment,” an FCL Carrier spokesman said.
   FCL Carrier said its system is aimed at small to medium-sized shippers. The intermediary said it provides a weekly service connecting New York, Norfolk, Charleston, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Seattle, Busan, Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore and other major Far East ports.
   FCL Carrier is based in Antwerp, Belgium, and has offices in Virginia Beach, Va.; Houston; Long Beach, Calif.; Mobile, Ala.; Seattle, Wash.; and Vancouver, British Columbia.