Update on Ocean Freight Rate Charges - BAR March 2022

The British Association of Removers (BAR) have issued an update on ocean freight rate charges and the current shipping market for how it will affect removal companies like ours here in Stafford.

One of the changes is that over the last 12 months, some shipping lines have increased their freight costs while others haven’t. This, coupled with the global increase in freight cost has meant that the difference between the costs of different shipping lines now runs into thousands of dollars. So, if a moving company was unable to get space with the cheaper shipping line, the next option may have cost the customer thousands of dollars more.

Global freight rates have been increasing significantly over the past 12 months, but previously where shipping lines have honoured these agreements MTC member companies and their customers were not exposed to any increases. However, this has meant that when the new agreements were recently negotiated, freight rates were aligned with the current market levels, and moving companies have received these increases all in one go. This is why rates from the 1st of March are so much greater than they were prior to the end of February and why customer may see an increase in cost.

In terms of the 2022/2023 space, moving people and their personal effects is now a different proposition to moving regular freight. Regular freight is usually moved on a consistent basis between known locations. Moving people is different as there is little advance notice of who will be moving, to where and when. This makes it very difficult for the Movers Trading Club Ltd (MTC), an association that provides moving companies their ocean freight services, and its members to accurately advise the shipping lines as to how much space they will require to each destination and when it will be needed.

Shipping line haulage availability also remains difficult and costs have increased for the new agreement period. Driver shortages are also still an issue, with carriers applying driver retention surcharges, and local government schemes such as the ULEZ forcing price increases.

As haulage reliability remains low, it’s still strongly recommended for customers to move via a warehouse, where possible, to avoid the issues that arise if a container is a no-show.

The MTC will shortly be rolling out a Merchant haulage tariff which will be available to members who wish to utilise it. This will give members an alternative and hopefully more reliable option than the lottery of carrier haulage, however there is a cost premium compared to the less reliable carrier options.