Furious shipper organisations in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Macau have called on their members to reject an "emergency bunker surcharge" that will be imposed by carriers on the Taiwan and Hong Kong/South China trades from July 1.
"South China shippers are very angry with shipping lines' action, which is totally unjust," said Toland Lam, executive chairman of the Shenzhen Shippers' Association. "Shippers will reject the charge."
Hong Kong Shippers' Council chairman Willy Lin said the emergency bunker surcharge "violated international shipping practices" and would not be accepted.
"There is no way that Hong Kong and South China shippers will accept this requirement of collecting the new charge from them only," Lim said.
"Bunker and fuel surcharges are always part of freight payment and should be collected from the party that pays freight."
Shipping lines running the Taiwan - Hong Kong/South China trade announced that from July 1 they would levy a new surcharge of HK$440/RMB400 per TEU to be collected only from consignees in Hong Kong and South China, regardless of whether the freight had already been prepaid in Taiwan.
The shipping lines involved comprise most of the carriers on the trade, leaving shippers with no choice of taking their business elsewhere.
CargonewAsia
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