承运人发出求救信号

Carriers send distress signals

跨太平洋承运人希望通过提高运价来减少亏损,但托运人并不买账本月,承担东向跨太平洋业务的承运人称,他们计划将运价提高50%。对此,零售商和贷代做出了迅速而激烈的反应：这明显是走投无路时的孤注一掷,这样做根本行不通。 然而，奇怪的事情发生了。在亚洲至西海岸的航线上，承运人不再提供每40尺集装箱750美元的低廉运价。事实上，一些公司和代理协商，要求提价50到100美元。

Trans-Pacific lines look to stop the bleeding in a desperate attempt to raise rates,but shippers aren’t buying.When ocean carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific this month said they planned to raise rates by 50 percent,reaction from retailers and cargo consolidators was swift,if not sharp:It was obviously a desperate attempt during desperate times,and a move that had little chance of success.Then a strange thing happened.Carriers stopped offering spot rates as low as $750 per FEU from Asia to the West Coast.Some lines actually approached consolidators and demanded a $50 to $100 rate hike,their first increases in months.Now some carriers are publishing increases in their tariff rates,a sign perhaps that there is as much resolve as desperation.Orient Overseas Container Lines,one of the more financially stable carriers in the trade,last week filed a $500per-FEU increase in its published tariff.