FOUR CARRIERS RESIGN FROM TWRA
Four long-standing members of the Transpacific Westbound Rate Agreement
have resigned from the the agreement.
Sea-Land Service, Maersk Line, OOCL and "K" Line are moving
outside the westbound conference on May 1, leaving only two conference members — NYK Line
and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.
A spokesman for TWRA said that the departure of the four lines was caused
by different factors, including the introduction of shipping deregulation on May 1, the
depressed state of the transpacific market and the difficulty of dealing with large
shippers of commodities within a conference.
The departure of the four major conference lines, following the earlier
resignation of APL and other carriers from the conference, raises serious questions about
the ability of TWRA to continue to operate.
Sea-Land Service, Maersk Line, OOCL and "K" Line remain in the
Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, alongside most of the other transpacific
carriers. A spokesman for the agreement, which has no authority to agree on rates, said
that WTSA may become the main forum for information-gathering in the trade.