Bill Mongelluzzo, Associate Editor | Aug 24, 2012 8:03AM EDT
APL Ltd. will discontinue its membership in the carrier discussion group in the westbound trade between the U.S. and Asia effective Sept. 1.
APL spokesman Mike Zampa said the carrier is leaving the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement because “APL customers and APL were not gaining enough benefit to warrant the cost of continuing membership” in the WTSA.
The move by APL leaves COSCO, Evergreen, Hanjin, Hapag Lloyd, HMM, K Line, NYK, OOCL and Yangming as the remaining members of WTSA. The WTSA establishes voluntary guidelines for freight rate increases, but it has no enforcement powers.
The WTSA this past year has announced several rate increases, but carriers have had difficulty implementing the rate hikes because capacity in the trade has exceeded demand.
Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @billmongelluzzo.
