5. Pricing

5.1 Fares for scheduled services

The shipper is faced with a shipowner and wants to negotiate his rates. If there is a conference on the destination he is interested in, he can ask for the conference rate, which will serve as a reference and a useful basis for discussion. These conference rates, which used to be commodity rates, are becoming simpler.

Freight is now negotiated on a TEU basis, known as FAK pricing, which is becoming more widespread, including within conferences, in place of ad valorem pricing based on what the product can bear, with richer products subsidizing poorer ones.

These rates specify only the type and size of container: 20 or 40 feet, dry (simplest container) or reefer (refrigerated container). A dry container...