News / Shippers should be 'careful what they wish for' on block exemption regulations

Nederland, Rotterdam, 2008 Op de ECT terminal op de Maasvlakte worden containers door containerkranen en werknemers op en overgeslagen Foto; Freek van Arkel/Havenbedrijf Rotterdam

Shippers should think twice about lobbying the EU to lift the block exemption regulation (BER) for liner shipping, it was claimed yesterday.

Wading into the recent war of words between shippers and carriers, speakers at the TOC Asia Container Supply Chain conference in Singapore suggested removing the BER would yield no benefit to cargo owners.

“There was a lot of heated discussions at the recent OECD meeting in Paris,” revealed Sea-Intelligence chief executive Alan Murphy.

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“All the stakeholders are pissed off with the ...