Federal Maritime Commissioner Chairman Steven R. Blust honored Maritime Day, May 19, by offering his
appreciation and thanks to all those in the maritime industry who help support and defend our nation.
Blust made his remarks at a
joint luncheon
held by The Propeller Club of Washington, D.C. and The Kings Point Club of Washington, D.C.
Chairman Blust, a graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy, spoke at length of the important role played
by merchant mariners in World War II. Illustrating his point with a “few sea stories” of brave and
daring merchant mariners of World War II, who put their lives in harms way to help ultimately win the war.

Fast-forwarding to today, Blust remarked that merchant mariners have played an important role in the war
in Iraq and are still working hard to keep American troops supplied all over the world. He noted that
since Sept 2001, 101,000 containers and 6.5 million tons of break bulk cargo have been transported for
the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command to the mid east region. The vast majority of which was
transported by U.S. merchant mariners aboard U.S.-flag ships.

In recent weeks carriers serving the transpacific eastbound trades from Asia to the USA have begun
preparations for the 2005 peak season. For most carriers these preparations have included filing Peak
Season Surcharges (PSS) in their FMC tariffs. Generally speaking, carriers have filed the PSS for
2005 of US$ 300/400/450/510 per 20’/40’/40’high cube/45′ container. PSS levels for LCL cargo vary.
The PSS will apply in addition to ocean rates and all other surcharges, effective from June 15
thru November 30, 2005.

Rising bunker fuel costs have prompted increases to bunker surcharges on the Trans-Pacific
trades. Both
the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) and the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization
Agreement
(WTSA) have announced increases for the third quarter, effective July 1 thru Sept 30, 2005:

The following carriers are members of both TSA and WTSA: American President Lines, COSCO Container
Lines, Evergreen Marine Corp., Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd Container Line, Hyundai
Merchant Marine, K Line, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, NYK Line, OOCL, P&O Nedlloyd and Yangming
Marine.
CMA-CGM is a member of the TSA. China Shipping Container Lines is a member
of the WTSA. Additional info on surcharges applied by the TSA Carriers can be viewed at
http://www.tsacarriers.org/. WTSA members provide info at
http://www.wtsacarriers.org.

The Federal Maritime Commission has updated its listing of ocean common carriers operating in the
US-foreign
trades that are owned or controlled by foreign governments. These controlled carriers are subject to
special regulatory oversight by the Commission under Section 9 of the Shipping Act. These regulations
ensure that controlled carriers do not engage in unreasonable below-market pricing practices which
could disrupt trade or harm privately-owned shipping companies.

Since the last publication of this list on June 3, 2003 the FMC has added two newly classified
controlled carriers, New American President Lines, Ltd and APL Co., Pte. (APL) and New China
Shipping Container Lines (Hong Kong) Company, Ltd. (CSHK) On Sept 27, 2004, APL was classified
as a carrier controlled by the government of Singapore due to the purchase by Singapore’s
state owned investment company, Temasek Holding, of APL’s parent company, Neptune Orient
Lines. Also, in Sept 2004 APL filed for an exemption to the rule requiring controlled carriers
to give 30 days notice for filings of new or reduced rates. FMC granted the exemption in
Oct 2004. FMC previously granted this same exemption to controlled carriers COSCO Container
Lines Company, Ltd., China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd., and Sinotrans Container Lines
Co., Ltd. in April 2004. China Shipping (Hong Kong), Ltd., a new entrant in the
U.S.-foreign
trades, was also classified as a carrier controlled by the Government of the People’s
Republic of China in Nov 2004. Neither APL nor CSHK raised objections to the FMC classification.
The updated
list of controlled carriers as of May 5, 2005 is as follows:

The carrier members of the United States South Europe Conference (USSEC)
FMC Agreement No. 202-011587, serving the trades between US Atlantic/Gulf Ports
and South European ports of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Crete
have recently announced General Rate Increases. The USSEC also extended its current Bunker
Adjustment Factor of US$260/20ft, US$520/40′ and 22 percent for cargo rated on a per unit, per
weight ton,
or WM basis. The Currency Adjustment Factor charged by USSEC members of 11 percent will also
remain unchanged through
July 31. Due to FMC regulations these increases must be filed in FMC tariffs at least 30 days
before their effective dates.

USSEC member carriers are A.P.Moller-Maersk Sealand, Hapag Lloyd Container Line
GmbH and
P&O Nedlloyd Ltd. Additional information on surcharges applied by the USSEC carriers is
available at
http://www.ussec.com/press.htm.