AlwaysFree: Hapag-Lloyd Delays Container Rate Rise Ahead Of Chinese Golden Week Holiday

German shipping and container transportation company Hapag-Lloyd said it would delay the General Rate Increase (GRI) for the East Asia to North America route from October 1 to November 1. The proposed increment for the trans-Pacific lane would be a $1200/forty-foot equivalent unit and a $960/twenty-foot equivalent unit. Container carriers usually implement price changes a month after the announcement, when they can decide to reduce or cancel the increase after negotiating with freight forwarders or shippers. Demand for container capacity usually reaches a seasonal peak ahead of the Golden Week Holiday in early October. However, shipping industry sources expected this year’s holiday to have limited impact as shippers were likely to continue meeting robust demand.