NOT all the problems affecting reefers are down to the shipping line: shippers, for example, don’t understand the cost of demurrage, delegates at both the Antwerp and London conferences were told. ‘Demurrage charges are higher for reefer containers,’ says Frank Baulme. But this can still be cheaper than coldstorage, adding to the problems of port congestion.
‘Too many shippers use terminals as free storage,’ says Peder Winther, CEO of Samskip Reefer Logistics, in London. ‘Often they even ship larger quantities than they need, knowing that demurrage will cost them less than coldstorage.
