WTSA lines raise rates on forest products

WTSA lines raise rates on forest products    Shipping lines in the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement have agreed on the need for a $100-per-FEU and $80-per-TEU increase in U.S.-Asia forest products rates, WTSA said Tuesday.
   The rate increases will be effective Oct. 1.
   WTSA carriers said the increase is intended to reverse a trend of declining rates over the past year, and to address equipment handling and repositioning costs in Asia, as well as rising rail and truck intermodal costs in the United States.
   “Forest products are delivered not only to urban centers and retail outlets in Asia, but also to rural and industrial construction sites,” WTSA said in a statement. “Getting those containers back to port areas for maintenance and repositioning entails added time and costs, carriers point out. In the U.S., as traditional rail forest products business moves to containers, railroads have raised their rates to retain revenue levels.”
   WTSA members moved nearly 225,000 FEUs of U.S. forest products to Asia in 2005, including wood pulp, lumber and logs, paperboard, plywood, newsprint and paper products. China and Southeast Asia were the principal destinations, due in large part to thriving construction markets and furniture production for export.