WTSA flags box supply shortfall

摘要

The Oakland (CA)-based Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA) has announced that its ocean carrier members are working closely with US exporters, to address what it claims are continuing vessel space and equipment shortages to the Far East. WTSA added that sorting out the complex operational and cost factors behind the shortages is providing both carriers and shippers with difficult challenges. This situation has arisen due to what WTSA describes as an 'explosion in containerised export cargo' from the US to the Far East. The organisation stated that the weak US dollar and buoyant Asian demand for agricultural products, industrial raw materials, machinery, and other commodities, led to westbound transpacific growth of nearly 17% in 2007, with a further 12-13% growth forecast over 2008-9.