Container lines in the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (TSA) are set to increase inland fuel surcharges (IFS) to better reflect the prices they pay for inland fuel in their intermodal operations, TSA announced.
TSA, whose members include CMA-CGM, Orient Overseas Container Line, Hapag-Lloyd and Cosco Container Lines amongst others, first introduced IFS in mid-2005, a result of rising surcharges from railroads and motor carriers.
TSA executive administrator Brian Conrad noted that ocean carriers are seeing the base rates of rail and trucking operations increase, and those rates increased yet again through fuel surcharges.
He further noted that costs are frequently compounded when carriers provide intermodal services using third-party transportation companies, and that container lines will return to a floating surcharge that is adjusted on a monthly basis to reflect highway diesel price fluctuations.
TSA lines are seeing slower year-to-date cargo volumes relative to 2007. Factors responsible include a slowdown in cargo exports from North China, a result of factories closing down around Beijing due to the Olympic Games. Dense fog conditions affecting vessels at Qingdao was also cited.
TSA members noted that there has been a shift in cargo to the US East Coast, in part due to uncertainly over West Coast longshore labour negotiations following the expiry of their six-year labour agreement on July 1.
CargonewsAsia
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