Shippers: Liner alliances must be “balanced”

Shippers: Liner alliances must be “balanced”

Shippers: Liner alliances must be “balanced”

   Members of the Global Shippers' Forum (GSF) say there needs to be “balance between efficiency and competition in liner shipping rules on alliances.”
   The forum, whose member include shippers organizations from North America, Europe and Asia, offered comments on a November 2008 study on non-ratemaking liner shipping agreements produced by the consultants Meyrick and Associates for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. The APEC countries are holding their summit in Singapore this week and the Meyrick study is being considered by APEC's Maritime Experts Group.
   The GSF said it agreed with the report’s observation that “many shippers and their representative groups are concerned that some alliances may be getting too big; yet there is equal recognition that the lines need to find greater economies and efficiency gains.
   “While the shipper organization recognizes the current financial problems of the lines in this current recession, governments cannot ignore the longer term picture or the principles of competition policy. The GSF believes in promoting efficiencies and customized services for their customers. Working together GSF believes that shippers and carriers can achieve competitive and efficient relationships,” the group said.

Gatti

   Peter Gatti, executive vice president of the National Industrial Transportation League representing U.S. shippers, said, 'In the current economic climate it is all too clear to users just how important it is that the shipping lines are able to cut costs just to stay in business. Non-ratemaking agreements such as alliances, vessel sharing, vessel space charters and vessel space swaps can be excellent tools for sharing costs and extending the range of services they can offer to shippers.'

van der Jagt

   Nicolette van der Jagt, secretary general of the European Shippers’ Council, supported the GSF recommendations saying that, “while consortia agreements, alliances and other non-ratemaking agreements can promote carrier efficiencies, the end result must not hinder the economies of the marketplace.” The bottom line she said is to, “delicately balance the operational efficiencies of the ship owners by permitting them to work directly with their customers.”

Lu

   John Lu, chairman of the Asian Shippers' Council, added, 'Such support for non-ratemaking agreements should be conditioned on governments being able to examine these agreements and that they serve to promote efficiency as well as competition in the marketplace.'
   Robert Ballantyne, president of the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association, remarked that many of his members, shippers from Canada, need to be certain about the degree of transparency in the carrier agreements.
   'A number of shippers and shippers' councils involved in the study — including Japanese and Korean shippers — had expressed concern about the concentration of major shipping lines in alliances or as a consequence of mergers and acquisitions, and their governments should be able to examine them and make a determination as to how they could impact competition,' Ballantyne said.
   GSF said they endorsed the use of non-ratemaking liner shipping agreements that do not significantly reduce, limit or remove competition from any identified trade or group of trade lanes