Survey reveals shippers’ distrust of shipping lines

THE INTERIM results of a European survey appear to confirm the long-standing animosity between shippers and shipping lines – and shippers’ distrust of the proposed replacement of the soon-to-be banned conference system. The initial response to the survey by Dr Andrew Traill of SV2, released to FTW by UK-based Shippers’ Voice, suggested that most shippers entering into rate negotiations with shipping lines would not trust a price index created from data supplied by the lines themselves. “The poll shows that shippers are questioning the value of price indices for liner shipping services. “We are still collecting responses, but it seems to be revealing a degree of scepticism about the proposed development of price indices by the carriers’ group, the European Liner Affairs Association (ELAA). This supports very much what shippers’ representative groups are saying.” The suspicion amongst shippers is that lines might offer their highest, rather than average, rate increase for inclusion in the index – in order to raise the general benchmark for negotiations. “Much will depend of course on just how the ELAA proposals would work, but this highlights a level of distrust among shippers in the liner shipping industry, which will need to be addressed by the ELAA if its plans do come to be realised.” The poll results come at a time when tensions are already rising between shippers and the container shipping industry over the industry’s plans to replace the soon-to-be-banned conference system with an ‘information exchange’ – branded as anticompetitive by both the European forwarders’ association CLECAT and the European Shippers’ Council (ESC).