THE Eastbound Management Agreement (EMA) governing trade from Europe to Asia will implement a rate restoration of US$150 per 20-foot container and $225 per 40-foot container with effect from January 1.
Cargo traffic to Hong Kong and other parts of Asia from Europe has shown an increase of more than 20 per cent.
Eastbound vessels have continued to be fully loaded, and there are cases in which carriers find themselves unable to accept cargo.
The scheduled rate restoration is intended not only to cope with this steep rise in cargo traffic, but also to improve the profitability of the eastbound trade, with freight rates remaining at a below-cost level.
Since the turn of the year, eastbound cargo on the European route has been on a sharp upswing.
In particular, Japanese lumber importers, now suffering from a drop in imports from the tropical areas and the United States because of a drive for environmental protection, are rapidly boosting purchases from northern Europe.
This is giving added impetus to the growth of eastbound cargo traffic. Also, the strong yen against the European currencies is contributing to the growth of cargo from Europe to Japan.