[120618.EN.SEA] ONE Levies Emergency Bunker Surcharges With Varying Rates

JAPANES liner company ONE is following in the footsteps of Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM by introducing an emergency bunker cost Recovery surcharge (BRS) ranging from US$20 to $60 per TEU starting from July 1.

"ONE has encountered progressive and significant inflation of fuel costs over recent months. Bunker fuel prices have increased by more than 25 per cent during 2018 and could escalate still further," it said in a letter to customers, reported Seatrade Maritime News, Colchester, UK.

ONE continued: "This sustained surge in fuel costs has greatly impacted our cost base. The escalating cost situation has now reached the point at which ONE are forced to respond by adjusting our approach to bunker related pricing components."

ONE's surcharge will be imposed on all trade lanes, barring cargo originating from Mainland China - the same as Maersk's surcharge policy. However, ONE is differentiating itself from its rivals by introducing varying charges for the different trade lanes as well as excluding customers that have agreed to a floating BAF mechanism in their contracts.

Transpacific, transatlantic, Asia-Europe and Asia-Med services will be subjected to surcharges of $50 per TEU for dry containers, while charges could go up to $110 per TEU for reefers on the European trades.

Latin America and Africa trades along with the Asia-Oceania routes will see the highest charges of $60 per TEU for dry containers, while Intra-Asia will have the lowest charge of $20 per TEU, and Asia-Middle East surcharges will be $40 per TEU for dry containers.

Maersk and CMA CGM have introduced surcharges of $90 and $85 per reefer TEU across the board, respectively.

"ONE continues to explore all avenues to mitigate fuel consumption and costs for the benefit of the environment and supply chain costs of our valued customers," ONE added.

According to Alphaliner, the move by Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM would have covered 45.1 per cent of capacity in the container shipping market. With ONE following suit, a further seven per cent of capacity will be affected, meaning 52.1 per cent of global container shipping capacity will be subject to the emergency bunker surcharges.

Source : HKSG.