(CIFFA)
The Canadian North Atlantic
Westbound Freight Conference and the Continental Canadian Westbound Freight Conference have announced new changes to demurrage and detention free time and rates, after discharge in Canada.
They
maintain that equipment issues continue to pose problems for both carriers and customers. In addition the claim that steel shortages in Asia have resulted in a scaled back production of equipment and
availability of containers. In an effort to address these issues, they now want to implement demurrage and detention measures to ensure the availability of containers in the trade lane.
That is, as we all know, the easy way out! There is more than enough equipment available in Canada, if it could be repositioned in an effective and efficient manner . But rather than tackling the
cause of the problem -- namely CN in particular and the railroads in general -- they try to treat the symptom by punishing the trade again!! Ah, it is so simple, "let's make the importer/exporter pay
more -- and let the forwarder wrestle with the fall out!" Take, for example, the issue of reefer containers. You take delivery on Mondays and cannot reposition the "empty" before Friday of
that week. Regular empties are treated in a similar and arbitrary manner, albeit with a twice weekly frequency!
Why then, does the Conference not tackle the cause rather than the symptom and deal with
the short-comings of our railroads and the issue of repositioning of empties? In this context, one member aptly commented..... "here we go again...and if you can't get your container out of CN
(reservation system)....and then you can't get it back again (reservation system) ...all in the allotted time ...it's another US$350..."
Be that as it may, here are the new free times and charges...
Dry Containers 3 working days
Upon Expiration of Free Time -$ 75.00 per 20ft - $ 75.00 per 40ft container
Refrigerated Containers 2 (!!) working days
$175.00 per refrigerated container
Notice the 2 days free time for
reefer containers and the fact that repositioning is possible once
a week only! Talking about thinking in solitudes... "Let us be compensated for all the inefficiencies and to heck with finding a solution!"
2. Container weight restrictions in South American trade
Member lines of the
Canadian Pacific / Latin America Freight Association have now announced as well that effective June 1, 2005, the Canadian railroads will introduce new weight restrictions and overweight surcharges for cargo
moving in 20' containers within Canada. As such, the member lines will need to apply these restrictions to agricultural product shipments, including peas, beans, lentils and oats moving via the port of
Vancouver.
To note, the new weight restrictions, heavy weight surcharges and when they will be applicable are as follows:
Current Restrictions / Charges:
Gross cargo weight up to 48,000 lbs: No surcharge
Gross cargo weight exceeding 48,000 lbs up to a maximum of 55,000 lbs: US$100.00 heavy weight surcharge
Effective June 1, 2005:
Gross cargo weight up to 50,000 lbs: No surcharge
Gross cargo weight exceeding 50,000 lbs up to
a maximum of 55,000 lbs: US$275.00 heavy weight surcharge
Base ocean freight rates as well as base inland arbitraries will remain unchanged.
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