Container liners to raise prices on Asia-US route

Container liners serving the busy Pacific route between Asia and North America will increase the price of shipments to ports in the United States to cover higher inland transportation costs.
The Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement carrier group said in a statement that its members would add at least $150 per 40-foot container for shipments to the US West Coast, $350 per container to inland destinations and $400 to East Coast ports.
The freight rate increases do not include fuel, terminal handling, Panama Canal transit and other costs covered by separate charges.
TSA said bookings indicated a strong demand in December and January ahead of the Chinese New Year, with carriers expecting continued strong traffic growth in 2006. Its lines will retain a $400 per container peak season surcharge next year, effective from mid-June to the end of November.
"A very large share of ocean-borne trade is now between the world's largest manufacturer, China, and the world's largest consumer market, the US There will always be ebbs and flows, but this shift reflects long-term investment that isn't going away anytime soon," TSA Executive Director Albert Pierce said.
TSA is a grouping of 12 liners in trans-Pacific trade. Its members include Taiwan's Evergreen Marine, Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines, Germany's Hapag-Lloyd and Nippon Yusen of Japan.
It predicted earlier this month that US inland rail and trucking costs could rise by 25 percent next year, while the cost of returning empty containers to ports could rise by 11 percent.
Organisations such as the TSA and its counterpart covering the Asia-Europe route, the Far Eastern Freight Conference, do not agree on container freight rates but look at factors such as economic conditions and fuel prices and then recommend price adjustments at regular intervals.
Container liners, which have ridden a three-year wave on surging Chinese trade with Europe and the US, are facing uncertain times as shipping capacity grows faster than demand.
Singapore stockbroker DBS Vickers Securities said in a recent research note that freight rates would probably decline for the rest of the year and should continue to drop until March as a large number of new ships entering the market loosens tight supply.