WTSA to raise wastepaper shipping rates
Cosco Container Lines Ltd, Asia's largest container transporter, and nine other shipping companies plan to raise rates to move wastepaper from the US to Asia as they seek to recover increased costs.
A group comprising 10 of the world's top 20 shipping lines plans to charge US$100 more per 40-foot container for the truck and rail portions of shipments starting May 1, and US$100 more from Sept 1, the group said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. It plans to lift the price of shipments by sea some time after May 1.
The increase for land-based transport is four times more than the US$50 price gain in 2006, as shipping companies seek to stem a decline in rates since the second half of 2005. Wastepaper transport accounts for about 20 per cent of the volume of goods moved from the US to Asia, the group said.
'Wastepaper rates are among the lowest in the trade,' the Oakland, California-based Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement, as the group is known, said.
'Carriers are under growing pressure to reposition containers quickly with Asian manufacturers, as well as recover full operating costs over the round trip sailing. This has place sustained upward pressures on wastepaper rates.'
Economic growth in China and other Asian countries has increased the demand for wastepaper from manufacturers in the region.
A group comprising 10 of the world's top 20 shipping lines plans to charge US$100 more per 40-foot container for the truck and rail portions of shipments starting May 1, and US$100 more from Sept 1, the group said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. It plans to lift the price of shipments by sea some time after May 1.
The increase for land-based transport is four times more than the US$50 price gain in 2006, as shipping companies seek to stem a decline in rates since the second half of 2005. Wastepaper transport accounts for about 20 per cent of the volume of goods moved from the US to Asia, the group said.
'Wastepaper rates are among the lowest in the trade,' the Oakland, California-based Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement, as the group is known, said.
'Carriers are under growing pressure to reposition containers quickly with Asian manufacturers, as well as recover full operating costs over the round trip sailing. This has place sustained upward pressures on wastepaper rates.'
Economic growth in China and other Asian countries has increased the demand for wastepaper from manufacturers in the region.