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Hong Kong shippers demand congestion surcharge be dropped

2014-10-27 11:31:23 China ShippingRen Click:

The Hong Kong Shippers' Council (HKSC) is urging container shipping lines to scrap a US$50 per TEU congestion surcharge and also that carriers compensate customers for the losses incurred through delays caused by congestion.

"Shippers fail to see any justification for the charge," said the HKSC statement. "The unilateral action of shipping lines seriously hampers their relationship with their customers and disrupts order in the market.

"If the charge is caused by port congestion in Hong Kong, it is necessary to point out that shippers actually [already] suffer substantially from the consequences; such as schedule delays and the skipping of sailings."

The shipper group said it had written to the shipping lines individually to ask them to drop the charge.

The HKSC will also appeal to the Hong Kong Government and the competition commission to investigate into the collective pricing action and also for the establishment of a mechanism of compensating shippers for their losses caused by "shipping lines" failure to provide basic service. Last week, Singapore's MCC Transport said that congestion at Hong Kong had left vessels waiting for a day before being handled.

The problem was worse in mid-September when they were had to wait for up to four days in Hong Kong.

MCC, a Maersk unit, said that the Hong Kong congestion was partly caused by the complicated nature of vessel sharing agreements.

It suggested that cargo for several shipping lines on a single ship then needs to be transferred to each of the carrier's individual feeders, barges and other intermodal service providers.

This has greatly increased the number of inter-terminal transfers.


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