MISC to raise Asia/Europe rates

MISC to raise Asia/Europe rates    Another carrier has announced rate hikes on the Far East/Europe lane, according to AXS Alphaliner.
   Malaysia’s MISC Berhad will raise rates $175 per TEU beginning April 1, the maritime news service said in its newsletter Monday. It became the eighth line to publicly announce it was increasing rates between Asia and Europe as carriers signal to shippers and rivals that rates on the trade are too low.
   AXS, in comments accompanying the news, seemed to concur with analysis by American Shipper Monday that the announced rate hikes are a de facto way of raising rates in an environment where lines can’t collectively meet.
   “It appears that the extent of increase is not so critical — as both the carriers and their shippers know that rates will eventually be subject to negotiations in any case,” AXS said. “What is more important is that carriers which announce rate hikes succeed in persuading others to join and in turn announce similar ‘unilateral’ rate increases, in order to keep up the momentum. There should be no doubt that a few more carriers will soon publicize their intentions to raise rates on the Asia to Europe trade, citing the same reasons of rates being unsustainably low. All of them will without doubt take place on April 1.
   “With carriers no longer able to act together within conference frameworks that were abolished on (Oct. 18), this will represent the first time that shipping lines attempt to raise rates on the trade on an individual basis. It remains to be seen if the carriers will be successful in their attempts this time. With the latest throughput figures from main ports showing significant declines in January, demand remains sluggish and is unlikely to recover before April to drive the rate increases. What the carriers must be hoping for is, that the capacity reductions and service withdrawals that they have put together since October, will be sufficient to bring on the trade back to equilibrium,” AXS said.