Editorial No. 4 / 2008

“We should not be afraid to go into a new era, to leave the old beyond.”

- Zack Wamp -

This is definitely the end of an era and all of us should not be afraid to go into the new, post-liner-conference era and to leave the old one behind.

By mid-October the conference system will be abolished. And as we are getting closer to this date, we all are aware that there are many questions which still remain to be answered.

How will things stand after the abolition of the conferences? What will pricing methods look like and how will rates and surcharges finally be calculated? Will there be similar rate structures or will prices and additional fees differ, with each shipping line?

Even for us as a shipping line it will be a surprise. Each shipping line has been working on its own tariff and surcharge structure and we are curious to see how the different systems will work out at the end and whether the rates will be largely similar or quite different from each other.

Shippers have favoured and sometimes even pushed for the end of the conference system and for a more transparent tariff structure. Now, that the end of the era has arrived, they fear that the post-conference era will be even less transparent, or at least more diversified and that the different tariff systems will be confusing and even more time-consuming in the end.