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I supported Toymods
Location:
Perth, Western Australia
Registered:
December 2002
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Cheap Freight?!?
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Thu, 04 December 2003 13:39
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My girlfriend, who works in the freight forwarding industry, forwarded this email to me, and seeing as the forums seem to be full of people importing stuff - I thought it might make for some interesting/worrying reading!!! I've abridged the atricle to try and keep it consise, if any one wants the full article, email me?! As a guide it costs around $3000Aus to freight a 20ft sea container from Japan to Australia at the moment
Subject: An article on freight rate increases in today's Age
Doubled fees chew up import advantage
By Leonie Wood
December 4, 2003
Forget talk of cheaper shelf prices for imported goods. Importers believe that
much of the price benefit Australian consumers may have derived from the rising
dollar has been erased by extraordinary increases in shipping freight rates.
Prices for container shipments to Australia have jumped by as much as 100 per
cent in the past few months and shipping industry sources say charges will rise
further in the new year - possibly forcing up shelf prices.
The freight charges are worrying Harvey Norman's executive chairman, Gerry
Harvey, who says he cannot find a straight answer to why shipping rates have
doubled since June.
"It's like all the shipping people have got together and are lifting prices," Mr
Harvey said.
The fee increases, which began around July and gained pace in the past eight
weeks, have alarmed importers and regulatory authorities and triggered an
investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Importers say that even after deducting the surcharge usually applied by
shipping lines at this time of year - the peak season for imports in the Western
world - freight rates appear to have escalated much faster than shipping lines'
operating costs.
...
The big shipping companies on Asia-Australia routes include ANL, China Shipping,
Columbus Line, COSCO, FESCO, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Maersk, Mitsui OSK, NYK
and P&O.
They blame ship owners for the rate rises. Like airlines, shipping lines usually
lease about 70 per cent of their fleet. Ship owners have warned shipping lines
that charter rates will jump 70-80 per cent next year.
Those costs certainly will be passed on to importers and exporters through
further rounds of freight rate increases.
"The vessel owners are seeking 70-80 per cent increases, and they can, because
there's a big shortage of decent container vessels," a senior executive at an
international shipping line said.
"There's a boom on cargo volumes globally, but there's a shortage of shipping
space."
...
But shipping companies freely admit that after years of losses, they and the
ship owners are trying to restore profits.
"Finally, rather than continue to cut each other's throats, and probably also
instigated by certain cost increases that were so considerable they could no
longer be ignored, they are saying 'sorry, these are the increases'," the local
head of another shipping line said.
"But just because rates have gone up by so much this year does not necessarily
mean the carriers are creaming it off the top. It does not mean we are making
more profits."
On October 1, the 14 carriers in the Asia Australia Discussion Agreement, a
forum of freight operators, lifted prices for all Australia-bound shipments out
of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan by $US250 per container.
The ACCC launched its investigation after complaints from importers, freight
forwarders and business groups. While international carriers are exempt from
anti-competitive conduct laws usually covered by the Trade Practices Act, the
ACCC noted it "has a responsibility to investigate situations where that special
treatment may have been used to unreasonably raise prices".
[Updated on: Thu, 04 December 2003 13:41]
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| | Subject | Poster | Date |
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Cheap Freight?!?
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CLG | Thu, 04 December 2003 13:39 |
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Re: Cheap Freight?!?
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Conquest | Thu, 04 December 2003 14:17 |
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Re: Cheap Freight?!?
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Shraka | Thu, 04 December 2003 15:37 |
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Re: Cheap Freight?!?
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Stumbles | Mon, 08 December 2003 22:11 |
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Re: Cheap Freight?!?
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ae86drift | Tue, 09 December 2003 07:50 |
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