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Arbitrary and unilateral imposition of a wide
variety of surcharges by shipping lines
dominated the discussion at the one-day World
Shippers’ Conference held in Kuala Lumpur last
week.
Shippers from several countries who were
gathered for the World Shippers Forum voiced
their concerns at the conference (held in
conjunction with the Forum) over the
indiscriminate imposition of surcharges which,
according to them, have since proliferated to
well over 30 surcharges and give a totally
distorted picture of the freight charges.
According to the vice president of China
Shippers Association, Cai Jiaxiang, carriers
have benefited from the rapid growth of the
global economy from greater cargo volumes.
“Unfortunately, shippers suffered a great deal
from the waves of freight rate increases and
longer list of unreasonably surcharges,” he said
in his presentation on how Chinese government
intervened on the contentious Terminal Handling
Charges (THCs).
The growing list of surcharges include, apart
from the THC, Bill of Lading Fee, Peak Season
Fee, Currency Adjustment Factor, Bunker
Adjustment Factor, Heavy/Over Weight Charges,
Security Charge, Delivery Order fee, Container
Cleaning Fee, Congestion Surcharge, Equipment
Management Fee and so on.
According to Cai THC, which he said is the most
important source of additional revenue outside
the freight rate for carriers, has been a long
standing thorn and has been a great burden on
shippers.
By imposing the creative surcharges, shipping
lines tend to isolate their costs elements and
charge separately for each the items as if there
are not part of the freight rates paid for the
ocean carriage of goods.
Shippers in China alone pay about US$4.5 billion
on THC, said Cai, adding the China has since
March this year mandated shipping lines to
negotiate with shippers any surcharges before
imposing them.
He said some of the surcharges, such as the fee
for issuing a bill of lading or any changes or
amendments to it, sealing of the containers are
part of the service or obligation of the
shipping line.
“Paying separately for issuing the bill of
lading is like being asked to pay (separately)
for the receipt issued by the supermarket for
items paid for,” said Raj Sativale, a legal
practitioner who spoke on the creeping
surcharges at the same conference.
Sativale suggested in countries like Malaysia
where there are no specific provision to bring
shipping lines to negotiating table before
surcharges or freight rates are imposed
unilaterally, some licensing conditions could be
imposed on shipping agents in Malaysia who act
for the foreign shipping lines.
Shipping agents could be tasked (by the Customs
Department which licences the agents) to ensure
that freight rates and surcharges are negotiated
with shippers and hold the agents responsible
for any breaches.
Indonesian National Shippers Council also
related its experiences in requiring shipping
lines to negotiate surcharges and its success in
getting lines to lower the THC recently. |
