JOC 2/5/07

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Shipping lines that carry U.S. exports to Asia intend to increase their Panama Canal surcharge to $212 per container effective June 1, up from $115, to reflect toll hikes by waterway management over the past two years.
The fee is per container, regardless of size.
The Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a discussion agreement that represents 10 carriers in the trade from the United States to Asia, recommended the non-binding guideline to its members. It is the group's first proposed Panama Canal surcharge increase since 2005.

The group noted that the Panama Canal Authority in 2005 changed its fee structure and the carrier discussion group likewise changed its surcharge guideline that year to reflect the increased cost of transiting the waterway. The authority since then increased its fee to $165 per container and then $192, but the WTSA did not recommend surcharge increases in either case.
  
Ocean carriers pay the Panama Canal surcharge when transiting the canal in either direction, even though the ships traveling westbound carry a high percentage of empty containers being repositioned in Asia.

For non-containerized cargo, the lines recommended new canal surcharges of $11.50 per metric ton or $4.5 per cubic meter for cargo rated by weight or measure.
  
The authority recently announced additional 10-percent annual increases in the surcharge through 2009 in line with a costly project to build a new set of locks that will be able to accommodate vessels with capacity up to 10,000 TEUs.