Bureaus Raise Freight Rates

October 29, 1999 9:52 AM, EDT

Four motor carrier rate bureaus will implement general rate increases between 4.9% and 5.5% on Nov. 1, plus offer a 35% discount on class rates for any shipper who does not have an established discount with trucking companies.

The discount provision was added in response to objections raised by two shipper groups — the National Small Shipments Traffic Conference and the Health and Personal Care Distribution Conference — which argued that small and infrequent shippers are unable to negotiate discounts with carriers.

The Surface Transportation Board, acting on a petition by Nasstrac, voted to suspend and investigate the bureau rate increases that were originally slated to take effect Oct. 1. The investigation ended after the bureaus withdrew their original proposals (10-25, p. 3).

James T. Henry, president of the EC-MAC Motor Carriers Services Association, Arlington, Va., which files rates for scores of less-than-truckload general freight carriers in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, said the revised proposal “gives recognition to shipper concerns and reinforces the fact that these rate bureaus are sensitive to the needs of small shippers.”

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