Hyundai announces first-ever variation of BAF on Asia/Europe Westbound trade

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. Ltd. has announced a new scheme into the market relating to bunker surcharge.

It said weak shipping demand, excessive shipping capacity, poor freight rates and high operating costs are some of the primary problem now placing greater financing pressure on container shipping.

One of the most critical ingredients for a shipping line, being vessel owner and operator, has traditionally been “oil price”. Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF) aims to reduce the risk exposure to oil price fluctuation.

But in reality, the BAF has invariably not been a separate surcharge from the ocean freight since the adoption of different BAF formula’s due to market environment changes.

The average yearly fuel oil price has risen from $ 492/ton to $ 651/ton from 2009 to 2011 respectively and reached $ 731/ton recently. Meanwhile, the all-in rate on the Asia/Europe westbound trade is now even lower than the amount of BAF announced. Furthermore, despite recent hikes in oil price there seems to be no firm momentum that the BAF will be on a floating basis in the near future.

Hyundai Merchant Marine said that together with the GRI of USD 700/Teu effective from 1 March 2012 for cargo moving into  North Europe and Mediterranean from all westbound origin countries (including Japan),  a new bunker-related surcharge will also be introduced in the name of VOB (Variation of BAF)  for the first time in the market.

The Methodology is that USD variances between current and coming month will be the quantum of the VOB and the new surcharge quantum will increase/decrease depending on HMM own BAF Tariff published through homepage www.hmm21.com every month without change in current formula.

The VOB will start at USD 80/Teu (e.g. the difference between USD 772/Teu in February and USD 852/Teu in March).

For illustration purposes, if, BAF tariff was then decreased to USD 800/Teu in the subsequent month, applicable VOB amount will be USD 28/Teu

For example:

$772/Teu (Feb actual) to $852/Teu (Mar actual) to $800 (Apr for illustration only)

= +$80 diff (Feb-Mar actual) then -$52 diff (Mar-Apr illustrated) = +$28 VOB for April.

The introduction of VOB enables HMM to maintain a high level of reliable scheduled liner services to facilitate customers supply chain management.