[ FEFC to Hike Rates Twice in 2000 to Close Japan/Other A..]

FEFC to Hike Rates Twice in 2000 to Close Japan/Other Asia Gap.
JEFC on November 11 decide to provide for rate restorations for Europe
-bound shipments from Japan as of Apr.1 and Oct.1, 2000.
The decision was made in an effort to mitigate the differences in ocea
n freights between shipments from Japan and those from other Asian sou
rces. The margins of the planned rate restorations are to be decided
at a principals’ meeting which the JEFC’s upper echelon FEFC will ho
ld in London today. Backed up by the recent favorable cargo traffic fr
om Asia to Europe, AWRA successfully implemented rate restorations in
January, April and July this year, and in light of this, the agreement
has already decided to carry out rate restorations of US$150 per 20fo
ot container as of Apr.1 and $250/20foot box as of Aug.1,2000. The rat
es of success of the JEFC’s April and October freight rate restoratio
ns of this year are each considered to have been lower than expected,
compared to the successful rate restorations implemented for shipments
from Asian sources other than Japan, expanding, as a result, the exis
ting freight gap between the two sources. It is with such a circumstan
ce in mind that the call to reduce the gap has been raised and that a
decision has been made to carry out a rate restoration on a twostage b
asis next year.