Europe liner group to be wound up

The European Liner Affairs Association (ELAA) is to be closed as its responsibilities transfer to the World Shipping Council (WSC) as of July 1, 2010.

ELAA members at their meeting in Taipei, Taiwan on March 17, 2010 agreed that the ELAA had successfully completed the tasks for which it was set up, and therefore should be closed.

The ELAA was set up in 2003 to discuss with the European Union's Directorate General for Competition the replacement of the Liner Conference regime in the EU.

This was completed with the publication of the Maritime Transport Guidelines in 2008. ELAA's work was later extended to encompass the forthcoming revision of the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation. The Members took the view that there was unlikely to be any new regulatory issues for the industry before the renewal of the EU's Guidelines, due to take place in 2013.

From July 1 2010, any regulatory issues will be handled by the World Shipping Council (WSC) who already have an office in Brussels. The effect of this is that all regulatory affairs worldwide for the liner industry will in future be handled by WSC.

(Source: Cargo News Asia)