GERMANY's largest ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd has become the latest container shipping line to introduce a cancellation/no-show fee in a move to penalise shippers and forwarders that book slots on services but don't arrive with the cargo on time.
The carrier announced a US$60 fee for all export shipments from Singapore to India from June 9 on "all bookings which are cancelled within three calendar days prior to vessel arrival".
It would appear carriers are increasingly "testing the water" with cancellation fees on selected, smaller-volume tradelanes, according to The Loadstar of London.
The fee follows a similar announcement from CMA CGM on shipments out of Europe to ports in the Indian subcontinent, Middle East Gulf and Red Sea.
"CMA CGM has been facing a large number of shortfalls due to late cancellations, preventing us from accepting bookings on behalf of other valued customers," the company said.
The line applied a $150 per TEU cancellation fee on all equipment types, except reefer containers, from June 1 on applications to cancel or transfer a booking made less than seven days before the sailing date.
In April, Maersk responded to the growing eastbound capacity crunch out of Europe by imposing a levy of EUR125 (US$141) per container on "all bookings cancelled seven calendar days or less prior to the estimated date time of departure", adding that reducing the number of containers in a booking would "be treated as booking cancellation and charged the same way".
