New price hikes may slow ocean spot rate slide – but for how long?
Container spot freight rate indices showed some divergence this week, indicating that recent falls in ...
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By Mike Wackett
Ahead of the fifth attempt this year by ocean carriers to implement a general rate increase (GRI) between Asia and North Europe, one analyst has called for the return of “sanity and consistency” in liner shipping, and advocated the return of the outlawed conference system.
The century-old Far Eastern Freight Conference (FEFC) ended in October 2008 with the repeal of the EU block exemption for liner shipping conferences.
However, Alphaliner claimed the objective of introducing more competition through abolishing the cartel has ...
Comment on this article
Chas Deller
March 24, 2015 at 8:29 pmHi guys , fascinating subject but what a horrendous thought, …not in my lifetime would FEFC return to ‘life’. Having lived thru the pre and post OSRA [Ocean Shipping Reform Act] for USA,and encountered the attitude of ‘conference vs independent carriers’ since the mid 70’s in Europe and Africa, I for one would not favor the resumption of conferences – especially now and for a multitude of reasons.
Mike Wackett
March 25, 2015 at 2:50 pmYes, indeed Chas.
I can well remember attending an FEFC meeting to be told that we (the carrier) must write a letter to shippers who dared to ship their cargo with a non-conference line that they would be stripped of their 9.5% immediate rebate.
Furthermore to warn them of the ‘serious’ consequences should they stray again!
That was the dark side of the conference system.
On the other hand services were maintained and ships were faster and on time!