Container lines serving the trade from Asia to the U.S. will implement a previously announced dry cargo general rate increase (GRI) on December 15, 2012 instead of December 1.
The postponement reconciles varying effective dates adopted on a voluntary basis by individual carriers to avoid confusion in the market, and more closely aligns the scheduled increase with yearend cargo trends, the association said in a statement.
Member carriers in the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) are recommending a dry cargo GRI of US$400 per 40-foot container (FEU) to the U.S. West Coast, and US$600 per FEU for all other destinations.
TSA initially announced the GRI in October, explaining at the time that revenue improvement is critical amid flat or declining rate levels in many commodity segments. This is especially true, the association said, as lines head into the winter season and begin laying a foundation for negotiation of compensatory 2013-14 service contracts essential to delivering sustained, quality services in the transpacific trade.
TSA is a research and discussion forum of major container shipping lines serving the trade from Asia to ports and inland points in the U.S. TSA members include APL Ltd, CMA-CGM, COSCO Container Lines, China Shipping Container Lines, Evergreen Line, Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, K Line, Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co, NYK Line, Orient Overseas Container Line, Yangming Marine Transport Corp, and Zim Integrated Shipping Services.
