CONTAINER carriers in the Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (WTSA) has proposed a new round of rates increases for US to Asia services with effect from May 15.

For dry cargo, rates will increase US$50 per FEU from Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland to Asia. And for all other cargo, moving via all-water or intermodal service from Pacific Northwest ports, from inland US points and from the US east and Gulf coasts, the increase will be $100 per FEU, said a WTSA statement.

Additionally, a proposed increase of $200 per FEU will be applied to shipments for French fries, frozen vegetables and miscellaneous refrigerated cargo not covered under commodity-specific programmes, for all origins and Asian destinations.

WTSA executive administrator Brian Conrad said "successive rate adjustments taken in recent months have been modest and aimed at incrementally restoring rates in the trade to compensatory levels after a period of significant erosion."

"The diverse and often seasonal nature of westbound traffic makes it necessary to adopt multiple increases for cargo moving under contract throughout the year."

WTSA comprises 10 major container carriers, which include APL, Cosco, Evergreen Line, Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), "K" Line, NYK Line, OOCL and Yang Ming.