The Asian Shippers' Council (ASC) has slammed the number of surcharges that Asian shippers have recently been forced to pay.

Following the Global Shippers' Forum convention of 2009, the ASC has released some of its thoughts on the discussions that took place and commented on the surcharge issue: 'Asian shippers' situation has worsened after the European Union outlawed conferences and cartels in October 2008. There are more surcharges and higher surcharges...no other industry has quite as many surcharges,' it protested.

Cai Jiaxiang, ASC's convenor for Greater China, said that in 2008 China paid USD7.3 billion in total on surcharges and terminal handling charges on merchandise exports totalling USD1.43 trillion.

He added: 'This will only increase. With its sizeable volume, every dollar increase in surcharges on Chinese shippers would translate into many more dollars for shipping lines then it would elsewhere.'

The ASC pointed out that the number of surcharges means that some shippers are being forced to pay over 20 in one go.

Some of the recent introductions include: container sealing fee, electronic release of cargo, late bill of lading pick up fee and late issuance of shipping instructions.

This latest protest comes on the back of a recent declaration by the shippers' associations in China that surcharges should be abolished and that instead all-in freight rates be applied. Shippers are trying to persuade liner companies by pushing to negotiate all in rates and to convince overseas consignees - who are mainly responsible for negotiating rates - that it would be better for them to have all-in freight rates instead of having to increase the cost to consumers.

Sunny Ho, executive director, Hong Kong Shippers' Council, told CI eXpress: 'Shippers should not have to pay these surcharges, it should be the companies that negotiate with the shipping lines direct [consignees] and it should be part of the all-in freight rates that they pay.

'...if there are surcharges they should only be short term charges to cater for unexpected situations, it is very unreasonable that they should be extended from peak seasons. '

He said that surcharges were particularly crucial to ocean carriers at the moment, because as freight rates had gone down so 'drastically', they formed a significant part of their income.