Ocean Contract Season

[rsaunders]

Do we have others responsible for ocean carrier contract negotiations ?

Some vessel owners (TSA members) are not in touch with reality and are way off base in their expectation for Transpacific rates.

Thankfully:: some carriers are more realistic given the economic environment.
A couple have backed off floating BAF. I suspect we'll see rates at the same level as last year, with small differences up or down.

Love to hear (generally) how others are coming along.

[luxin119]

our company deals with freight forwarders due to small quantities of shipments (around 25 ocean+20 air in 2007, expecting a 200% increase this year). Mainly coming from HKG to NYC. Will have more updates on carriers and new rates in couple of weeks as peak season starts, BAF (EFS) & PSS are the most concerned issues this year.
Also if anyone is importing to USA, there's a new ISF (Importer Security Filing), commonly referred to as 10+2 program is about to apply possibly in a month or two. Therefore we will expect an extra 24 hour for processing before goods actually laden on boats...and an extra $70-120 on entry fee (custom clearance)...