"Carriers have been working co-operatively with the Federal Maritime Commission and with shipper representatives in efforts to discuss how current contracting processes can be improved for all parties," said the WSC.
The WSC's 29 members, which represent 90 per cent of the global liner tonnage and carry 130 million TEU a year, declared that they had returned from the brink of financial disaster in the 2009 global downturn and had made capital commitments that must be paid for.
The WSC added that two of the main liner discussion groups had offered an olive branch to shippers, with the Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement recently establishing an export shippers advisory panel, and the Transpacific Import Advisory Council beginning talks with shippers.
This comes after more than 30 shipper groups signed a letter to the US House transportation and infrastructure committee chairman, Democratic Congressman James Oberstar, pledging their "cooperation and support" for new legislation to end what they describe as "antiquated and inappropriate exemption from our antitrust laws".
Said the shipper lobby: "Congress must end the legalised cartels which are specifically allowed to engage in price fixing, cargo allocation among the carriers and even agreements to restrict capacity." Shippers of the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) and the Freight Forwarders' Association, told Mr Oberstar:
"This extraordinary privilege may have made sense 100 years ago, but in today's fully integrated global marketplace, competition rather than joint carrier discussions should be the determining factor which governs the price for moving freight," reported London's International Freighting Weekly.
Source : HKSG, 23.09.10.
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