AS a body representing 75,000 cargo owners based in the European Union, the European Shippers Council (ESC) is demanding a repeal of the law that enables container shipping companies to share space on box ships.
The call comes amid a review by the European Commission into whether the existing consortia block exemption regulation (BER) ought to be renewed when it expires in April 2020.
The shippers' organisation says the present law 'has not contributed to better services in maritime transport for shippers as it aimed to' and says it is publishing a position paper outlining the main arguments of shippers, reported American Shipper.
'The objective of the Consortia BER since its first adoption in 1995 has been, while allowing shipping lines to form consortia, to bring shared benefits to consortia's clients - shippers, the owners of cargo - in terms of better services and higher productivity.
'However, with the schedule unreliability, blank sailings and a lack of transparency, shippers have not been experiencing any improvement in the service quality. No consortium is fully compliant with the BER criteria, exceeding the allowed market threshold, creating high concentration on main trade lanes and bringing service uniformity.
'Moreover, the present BER introduced an unbalanced legal treatment of consortia partners on the one hand and consortia customers, as well as the other stakeholders, on the other. The regulation in its current form accepts the lack of transparency in consortia compliance but shippers have no legal footing to defend their interests vis-a-vis consortia.
'Therefore, shippers would like to see a new BER that would clearly define a market share, make consortia partners accountable and provide a transparent mechanism of compliance procedures. The present regulation in its current form does not respond to the new market situation, does not fulfil its own objective and should be amended.'
WORLD SHIPPING
The call comes amid a review by the European Commission into whether the existing consortia block exemption regulation (BER) ought to be renewed when it expires in April 2020.
The shippers' organisation says the present law 'has not contributed to better services in maritime transport for shippers as it aimed to' and says it is publishing a position paper outlining the main arguments of shippers, reported American Shipper.
'The objective of the Consortia BER since its first adoption in 1995 has been, while allowing shipping lines to form consortia, to bring shared benefits to consortia's clients - shippers, the owners of cargo - in terms of better services and higher productivity.
'However, with the schedule unreliability, blank sailings and a lack of transparency, shippers have not been experiencing any improvement in the service quality. No consortium is fully compliant with the BER criteria, exceeding the allowed market threshold, creating high concentration on main trade lanes and bringing service uniformity.
'Moreover, the present BER introduced an unbalanced legal treatment of consortia partners on the one hand and consortia customers, as well as the other stakeholders, on the other. The regulation in its current form accepts the lack of transparency in consortia compliance but shippers have no legal footing to defend their interests vis-a-vis consortia.
'Therefore, shippers would like to see a new BER that would clearly define a market share, make consortia partners accountable and provide a transparent mechanism of compliance procedures. The present regulation in its current form does not respond to the new market situation, does not fulfil its own objective and should be amended.'
WORLD SHIPPING