When I first heard of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a group of 15 big container shipping companies who get together to talk about rate issues on shipping from Asia to North America, I thought that it should run afoul of anti-trust laws. However, the TSA has an anti-trust immunity to “meet and discuss issues relating to freight rates and surcharges.” Thus, these seaborne freight carriers can agree to impose “voluntary” surcharges and steer clear of the anti-trust authorities.
The Federal Maritime Commission has now expanded what the TSA can powwow about, including pollution and fuel consumption issues. The hot-button issue on the fuel front is slow-steaming, where ships go at about 18 knots rather than the normal 25, cutting fuel costs in half. Setting up these slow boats to (and from) China will require longer supply lines and increased transit times; it also will tend to lower freight rates, as customers will expect that some of that savings will be passed on to them.
Freight customers will need to budget more time to get goods to US markets; any changes in the speed of the supply chain will have a ripple effect on other freight carriers.
Domestic container trucks will be getting their goods a week or so later under slow steaming, so their schedules will have to be modified. There may well be a lull in the number of shipments as slow steaming starts to become the norm, as ships that would have been pulling into port in the old days are still out at sea.
Source: http://www.joc.com/maritime/fmc-clears-tra…alk-environment
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