ELAA members agreed at their meeting in Taipei, Taiwan on March 17th that the ELAA had successfully completed the tasks for which it was set up, and should therefore be closed.
The ELAA was set up in 2003 to discuss with the EU's Directorate General for Competition (DG Comp) the replacement of the Liner Conference regime in the EU. This was completed with the publication of the Maritime Transport Guidelines in 2008.
The ELAA's work was later extended to encompass the forthcoming revision of the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation.
The ELAA members believe that there was unlikely to be any new regulatory issues for the industry before the renewal of the EU's Guidelines, due to take place in 2013.
According to ELAA executive director Chris Bourne, the industry always intended to close the ELAA once the work it was set up to do was completed.
Consequently, from July 1st, any regulatory issues will be handled by the WSC, which already has an office in Brussels.
However, the WSC's responsibilities will not be extended to the ELAA database, which was set up to report on European trades, following the abolition of the conference system in Europe.
The ELAA members agreed that this system, organised by ELAA subsidiary CTS, should now be extended to non-European trades. This will be implemented over the next year and will result in the liner industry being supplied - for the first time - with an accurate volume and rate database.
Chris Bourne commented: "This reporting system and database is the true legacy of ELAA as the liner industry needs accurate data to manage its business in future years."
How the database activities will be organised in future is still under discussion. The industry is working towards a structure whereby CTS will become an independent stand-alone company that will work with and for the lines.
Source : EFT, 19.03.10.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar