WTSA hiking rates for scrap metal.

Container shipping lines operating from the United States to Asia have announced plans to increase freight rates for metal scrap shipments and to limit the "free time" allowed for delivery of cargo and return of container equipment in China.

Effective Feb. 15, member lines in the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WRSA) raised metal scrap rates to all Asian destinations by $150 per 40-foot container and by $120 per 20-foot container. Carriers also planned to limit free time at Chinese destination points to 12 calendar days, after which equipment detention charges will begin to accrue.

Scrap metal was the second largest containerized cargo moving from the United States to Asia last year, with more than 235,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) shipped during the first nine months of 2005.

WTSA carriers say their plans to limit free-time allowances are an effort to improve equipment availability and recover delay-related costs resulting from China's licensing regulations. Those rules cover overseas exporters of scrap material and shippers who send loads of material before lining up a buyer in China.