Far Eastern Freight Conference closes

Midnight tonight sees the end of the Asia-Europe box cartel known as the Far Eastern Freight Conference. The FEFC was banned by the EU. Its departure comes as Asia Europe suffers historically low freight rates. Some players are charging as little as $250 on the route, while the average is below $400. Asian shippers worry that in the post-FEFC it will be them not their European counterparts that are faced with an array of new charges to help the boxlines through this difficult period.