We regret the decision of the Hong Kong Container Depot and Repair Association, Ltd. to go ahead with the new charge of In/Out Depot Management Fee on April 1st. The new charge is going to be collected without any justification nor any obvious value adding service. The shippers are already paying Terminal Handling Charges (THC) and Documentation Fee to shipping lines which should cover the collection and delivery of empty containers.
However, the shipping lines' nominated depots have collectively set up the new charge, a move which is blatantly anti-competitive and in breach of the spirit of any of the Competition Laws being imposed in all the major economies in the world. As some shipping lines have said in correspondence with the Shippers' Council, the lines can tell the depot whether to charge the fee or not, since they are essentially service agents of the shipping lines.
The anti-competitive manner in which the HK Container Depot & Repair Association has gone about imposing the collection of the fee should be denounced by the shipping lines. The Association put up notices at the depot gates that the In/Out Depot Management Fee would be collected starting April 1st.
The Shippers' Council has written to them twice and they have not responded. The shippers technically deal with the lines and the depots are the lines' service agents, so we clearly see no justification for the collection of the new fee from the shippers.
We believe it falls on the shipping lines not to sanction this new fee as shippers already pay THC and Documentation Fee and moreover, the depots are their chosen facilities.
We strongly recommend that shippers choose shipping lines that use depots with no management fees, or demand that shipping lines release and receive empty containers only at Kwai Chung-Tsing Yi container terminals. Please refer to the Council's website www.hkshippers.org.hk to view the SHIPPING LINE LETTERS to see the lines that use depots with no management fee.
