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Fears rise of coming unseasonable peak season surcharges

HONG KONG forwarders are expressing fears that as capacity tightens at China ports, carriers are ready to levy peak season surcharges on the transpacific well ahead of the usual starting date in August.

A number of carriers are reportedly about to pre-empt the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement's guideline start date of August 1 for the introduction of peak season surcharges of US$400.



Cargo is fast accumulating at ports along the China coast due to a lack of ship space, according to Paul Tsui, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics (HAFFA),



Mr Tsui said most sailings to the US were hugely overbooked, resulting in the constant rollover of consignments.



Richard Owens, Asia Pacific CEO for DHL's global customer solutions unit, told London's International Freighting Weekly (IFW) that even "a company with DHL's clout" was being forced to fight for space.



"Space is going to the highest bidder," he said. "Volumes have been increasing dramatically. We're among the biggest in the business, so we have the leverage to get capacity. But we're finding it difficult to get all the capacity we need."
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