ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(82)784
Vol.1982/0237

Disclaimer
Conformément aurèglement(CEE,Euratom)n°354/83duConseildu1erfévrier1983
concernantl'ouvertureaupublicdesarchiveshistoriquesdelaCommunauté économique
européenne etdelaCommunauté européenne del'énergieatomique(JOL43du15.2.1983,
p.1),telquemodifiéparlerèglement(CE,Euratom)n°1700/2003du22septembre2003
(JOL243du27.9.2003,p.1),cedossierestouvertaupublic.Lecaséchéant,lesdocuments
classifiésprésentsdanscedossierontétédéclassifiés conformément àl'article5dudit
règlement.
Inaccordance withCouncilRegulation(EEC,Euratom)No354/83of1February1983
concerningtheopeningtothepublicofthehistoricalarchivesoftheEuropeanEconomic
Community andtheEuropeanAtomicEnergyCommunity (OJL43,15.2.1983,p.1),as
amendedbyRegulation(EC,Euratom)No1700/2003of22September2003(OJL243,
27.9.2003,p.1),thisfileisopentothepublic.Wherenecessary,classifieddocuments inthis
filehavebeendeclassified inconformitywithArticle5oftheaforementioned regulation.
InÜbereinstimmung mitderVerordnung(EWG,Euratom)Nr.354/83desRatesvom1.
Februar1983überdieFreigabederhistorischen ArchivederEuropäischen
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft undderEuropäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI.L43vom15.2.1983,
S.1),geändertdurchdieVerordnung (EG,Euratom)Nr.1700/2003vom22.September2003
(ABI.L243vom27.9.2003,S.1),istdieseDateiderÖffentlichkeit zugänglich.Soweit
erforderlich,wurdendieVerschlusssachen indieserDateiinÜbereinstimmung mitArtikel5
dergenanntenVerordnungfreigegeben.

COMMISSION
OFTHE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
GeneralSecretariatCOM(82)784 final
Brussels.2December 1982
FOROFFICIAL USEONLY
THIRDREPORTBYTHECOMMISSION TOTHECOUNCIL
ONTHECOLLECTION BYMEMBERSTATES,UNDERCOUNCILDECISION79/4/EEC,
OFINFORMATION CONCERNING THEACTIVITIES OFCARRIERS
PARTICIPATING INCARGOLINERTRAFFICINCERTAIN
AREASOFOPERATION
C0M(82)784final

SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
1.Thisreportdescribestheeventsin1980and,as
faraspermittedbyMemberStates'returns ,also1981.Recent
information fromothersourcesmadeitpossibletosupplement
thesurveillance andmakeituptodateatthetimeofwriting.
2.MemberStates'returnsshowed,byandlarge,aconsiderable
improvementinthequantityandqualityofthedata,althoughitis
stillnotpossibleinallinstancestopin-pointthecarryingsby
lineroperator,ratherthanbyflag.
3.Thefigureswhichwereobtainedinthemonitoringexercise
formedthebackgroundtoanundertakinggiveninJanuarytocertain
MemberStatesbytheRussianauthorities andSovietshipping
lines.Thesefigureswerenotonlynotcontestedbuttheydidform
thelevelatwhichtheSovietsagreedtoconsiderably reducetheir
carryingsintheCentralAmericatradeandtostabilisetheircarryings
intheEastAfricatrade.
EASTAFRICA
4.TheaverageshareoftheSovietlineHESTA,operatinginthis
trade(fromandtoBelgium,Germany,theNetherlandsandtheU.K.)
doesnotdiffermuchfromthatmentionedinthesecondreportfor
1979.
InI98Othesharewas6fointhefirsthalfandnearly10%
inthesecondhalfSouthboundandabout5l/2$Northbound.The
conferencecalculatedthattheaverageshareofBESTAinthe
SouthboundtradewiththeUK,NorthWestContinentandScandinavia
wasabout

5. Itisunderstood that theSoviets agreed inprinciple to
carry ashare which ismore orless theonereached bythem now .
However ,their capacity deployed inthis trade isstill considerable
and must represent alatent threat .Inthis trade itwould be
essential towatch thetrend incarryings especially inview of
the experience inrespect ofthe coffee intheCentral America
trade ,asdescribed inthesubsequent paragraphs .
CENTRAL AMERICA TRABE
6. Itappears from thefigures presented inthis report that
the Soviet carries have continued their inroads inthe Central
America Eastbound trade ,particularly asfarasthecarriage of
coffee (aprime liner cargo )isconcerned andofcotton inthe
Mediterranean .Owing toapurer interpretation ofdata theaverage
share oftheSoviet line toBelgium ,Germany ,theNetherlands and
theU.K. (which hadbeen incorrectly underdeclared as1.5%)in­
creased from 15%to18fointhefirst andsecond halves of1980 .
Inclusion ofFrench and Italian statistics concerning thecarriage
ofcotton andcoffee lead topercentages (bycountry ),inI98O and
thefirst half of1981 ,which goasfaras62%fortheSoviet lines .
7. Information obtained from the conference also shows the
trend made visible under themonitoring system ,particularly if
thepicture islimited tothecarriage ofcotton andcoffee from
theWest Coast ofCentral America tothe LeHavre-Hamburg range .
Theconsiderable quantities ofcoffee which were reportedly carried
bytheSoviet line Baltcapas inearly 1982 raised doubts about the
Soviet implementation oftheundsrtaking referred toinparagraph 3*
FAR EAST
8. Since only sixMember States were able ,atthetime of
writing ,tosend their returns ,thepresent report does notyetcontain
achapter ontheevents inthis trade .

CONCLUSION
9.InviewofthefigurescollectedfortheCentralAmerica
andEastAfricatradeunderthemonitoringsystem,thereis
sufficientreasontoextentthemonitoringsystembyanother
twoyears.
Owingtoinsufficient datatomakeananalysisatthis
stageofthecompetitionintheFarEasttrade,extensionofthe
monitoringsystemappearsself-evident ,themoresosincethere
arenoindications thattheactivities oftheSovietcarriersin
thistradehavemeanwhiledecreased.

INTRODUCTION
10.Thefirstandsecondreportsonthissubjectwerepublished
on23October1980^and27July1981^^respectively.Thesetwo
reportswhichcovertradesbetweentheCommunityandCentralAmerica
andbetweentheCommunityandEastAfricaexplainedthefindingsof
themonitoringsystemin1979andalsoattemptedtogive,wherever
possible,morerecentinformation.ThiswasgatheredfromMemberStates
whichwereabletosupplyitandfromothersourcessuchasthe
conferences involved.Information fromtheseconferences wasonly
acceptedafterithadbeencheckedfromdocumentary evidence.This
reportdescribesthecourseofeventsinI98Oand1981,although
itwasnotpossibletoobtainfulldetailsfor1981fromallMember
States.Ontheotherhandwewereabletoobtainrecent
informationatthetimeofwriting.
11.TheCommissionreceivedreturnsoncarryingsforI98Ofrom:
Isthalf 2ndhalf
M.St.:East-Africa Central-America East-Africa Central-America
B:O7.O7.i98l O7.O7.i98l 24.03.1982 24.O3.i982
ITs09.12.1981 09.12.1981 O9.i2.i98l 09.12.1981
FR:1.1982 1.1982 1.1982 1.1982
P.R.Gs25.11.1980 25.11.1980 •16.06.198116.06.1981
m
NL
IRL
GR
UK29.09.1981 29.09.1981 29.09.1981 29.09.1981
08.10.1980 O8.lO.i98O 11.05.1981ll.O5.i98l
05.10.1981 05.10.1981 ll.O3.i982 ll.O3.i982
^'COM(80)645final(Confidential)
^COM(8l)399final(Confidential)
(^)twokindsofdatahavebeenreceived?statisticsbasedontrade
statisticsandinformationbasedontheso–called"generalde­
clarations"

-5-
ReturnsforI98Iwerereceivedfroms
1sthalf 2ndhalf
M.St.xEast–AfricaCentral–AmerioaEast–AfricaCentral–Amer.Far–East
B'01.07.1982Ol.O7.i982 17.03.198217.03.198217.3.1982
IT:30.12.198130.12.1981 13.05.198213.05.198213.5.1982
FR«1.19821.1982
F.R.G»27.10.198127.10.1981 29.O3.i98227.05.198201.7.1982
DK*–30.04.1982 ....31.3.1982
NLt02.03.198202.03.1982 02.08.198202.08.1982O3.9.I982
IRL:•.. .. ». •• ••
GR:.. •• .« •• ••
UKs07.05.198207.05.1982 03.08.198203.08.198218.8.82
v'Owingtotechnicalproblemsnostatisticsofcarryingsareyet
available.
12.Ashasalreadybeenpointedoutinthepreviousreports,
thecarryingsofparticularoperatorshavesometimestobeestimated
asthemonitoringsystemcallsonlyforreturnsforeachflag.If
ashippinglinechartersvesselsflyingdifferentflags,asomewhat
arbitraryestimatehastobemadeofwhatthesevesselscarriedfor
theshippingline.Itisalsopossiblethatoneflagisusedbymore
thanoneshippingcompanyandanelementofguessworkalsocomes
ininmakinganallocationofcargoesbetweenoperators.Finally,
inherentintheuseofreturnsperflagistheriskthatvessels
willbecountedwhichdonotreallyparticipateinlinershippingin
thetrafficinquestion.
13.PerhapsbecausetheCommissionhascontinuallystressed
itsneoessity,mostoftheMemberStateshaveendeavouredtoprovide
increasinglybetterreturnswithintherealmsofwhatisstatistically
possible.TheCommissionispleasedthatthisthirdreportishereby
basedonmoreaccuratedatathanthefirsttworeportsandisalso
moreuptodate.

-6-
14.AnotherfactoristheundertakinggiveninJanuary1982
inthecourseofdiscussions betweenfiveMemberStatesandthe
RussianauthoritiesandSovietshippingLinesconcernedona
significantreductioninSovietactivitiesinthetwotradescovered
bytheMonitoringSystem.Forthispurpose,thestatisticalinformation
gatheredsofarundertheMonitoringSystemwasamongtherelevantdata
usedbytheauthoritiesoftheMemberStatesconcerned.
SincethefigureswerenotdisputedlaytheSovietsor
onlyslightly,itcanbeconcludedthatthemonitoringsystemis
functioningwell.TheCommissionisconvincedthatthesystemwill
proveusefulintheinterimnotonlyiftheMemberStatesinquestion
consideritusefulas
ameansofmonitoringimplementation oftheundortddngbutalso
becauseitwillbeofbenefittootherMemberStatesasitwill
givethemagreaterinsistintocompetitioninthesetradesfrom
EastBlooshippinglinesorothercarriers.
EAST-AFRICA
15*MemberStatereturnsrevealedthat,incomparisonwithall
flagsinthetrade,theSovietflaghadthefollowingproportionof
thetradet
TABLEI:EASTAFRICA
Returns
t>7
MemberSouthbound
loadinginEECports(WT)Northbound
DischargeinEECports(WT)
State
AllflagsUSSRflag$
USSRflagAllflagsUSSRflags*
USSRflgg
Belgium(D
19792103,16116,250 15.833,1254,51113.6
1980170,0082,187 3.127,080 - -
2111,9155,176 4*611,020- -
1981161,3243,854 6.314,072 IO90.8
2 •· •· •·e •· •· •·
·/··•

Returns
MemberSouthbound
loadinginEECports(WT)Northbound
DischargeinEECports(WT)
State
AllflagsUSSRflag%
USSRflagAllflagsUSSRflags%
USSRflag
P.R.G/1)
1979286,4447,993 9.274,1043,341 4.5
1980166,4915,707 8.664,4662,473 3.8
271,43010,596 14.856,682- -
19811
253,468
•·4,966
•·9.3
•·56,274
•·1,981
•·3.5
•·
Netherlajnds
1979274,7196,6788.948,4625,167 10.7
1980180,8326,060 7.5108,64710,880 10.0
2105,99915,106 I9.294,0898,294 8.8
1981188,7108,6869.855,8229,014 16.0
292,63712,473 13.596,78414,319 14.8
UK
1979297,8009,473 9.7100,000 3,975 4.0
1980196,6605,918 6.1100,962 2,063 2.0
287,1066,137 7.0109,3377,268 6.6
19811- - - - - -
2 – – *- – – –
EUR3sCB
1979,F.R.G.,
264,324TL)
30,921 11.7155,69113,019 8.4
19801217,39113,954 6.4200,19313,353 6.7
2289,34430,878 10.7167,7918,294 4.9
19811
2203,502
•·17,497
•·8.6
•·126,168
•·11,104
•·8.8
•·
EURAs(EUR3+UKÌI
I9792362,12440,394 11.2255,69116,994 6.6
19801313,99119,872 6.3301,15515,416 5.1
2376,45037,015 9.8271,12815,562 5.7
19811 •· •· •· •· •· •·
2•· •· •· •· '·· •·
(l)figuresfor1979(2ndhalf)arenotfollycomparablewiththoseof
thesubsequentperiods. ,

-8-
TheshareoftheSovietflagcaninpracticebeidentifiedwith
thesharewhichtheSovietcarrierBESTAhasobtainedinthetrade.
16.Asinthepreviousreport,theCommissiongivesbelowinformationon
trafficsuppliedbytheconference,butonlyforthetrafficfromthe
U.K.andNorthWestContinenttoEastAfrica,i.e.theSouthboundtraffic.
Thefiguresgivenhereunderreflectweighttonsandpercentages:
TABLEII:EastAfrica:Southbound
12S1
U.K. N.W.CONT.SCANDINAVIA TOTAL
W.T.1oW.T..%W.T.%W.T. %
Confe­
rence73,20063.5500,75779.713,100 3O.O587,05774.5
BESTA11,4009.931,2005.031,2007O.O73,3009.4
MSC16,80014.676,44012.1 - -93,24011.8
others14,0009.019,7002.2 - -33,7004.3
Total115,400100.0628,097100.044,300100.0787,797100.0
17.TheleveloffreightratesofferedbyBESTAisestimatedat
+35i°belowthatoftheconference.TheCommissionwasshowndocumentary
evidenceofratereductionsupto50$.
Duringthediscussions ,heldwiththeSovietauthorities ,the
5MemberStatesreferredtoinparagraph14ofthisreport,reachedan
agreementonthemaximumshareBESTAlinecouldcarryinthistradeasan
outsider.Itisunderstoodthatthisshareismoreorlesstheonereached
bythemnow,equaltothepercentages produoedbythemonitoringsystemand
bytheconference.Itwouldseem,however,thatBESTA,withitsconsiderable
numberofsailingswouldhavethecapacitytoincreaseitsshareasit
pleasesandthisleadstotheconclusionthatthemonitoringsystemwill
beusefultowatchwhetherthepromisedself-restraint willbefulfilled.
•/•••

-9-
18.Itistruethattheothermajoroutsider,M.S.C.(Mediterranean
ShippingCompany)seemstobestillasactiveasBESTA.Thepotentialof
BESTA,however,andthusitspossibleharmtotheinterestsofEEClines
isbigger,sincethenumberofMSCsailingswasmuchless,Southbound,in
1981thanthatofBESTA(informationprovidedbytheconference)s
M.S.C. BESTA CONFERENCE
M 19811280 1981
fromU.K. 19 25 27 25
fromNW.Continent 21 3134 82
ItisunderstoodthatBESTAoffered13sailingsfromtheU.K.
and16fromtheN.W.Continentinthefirsthalfof1982,sothatits
schedulehasapparentlynotbeentoneddown.
19.IntheNorthboundtrade,however,theactivitiesofM.S.C.seem
definitelygreaterthanthoseofBESTA.M.S.C.hasapparentlyobtainedsome
oftheconferencecontractsanditssharehasincreasedaccordingly :
TABLEIIIEast-Africa!Northbound
1981
U.K. Ν.W.ContinentScandinavia TOTAL
W.T.* W.T.iW.T.1oW.T.*
Confe-120,37981.2210,32174.210,71036.8341,41074.1
rence
BESTA – 14,5005.12,4008.216,9003.7
MSC19,00012.841,90014.8 4OO1.461,300I3.3
SEAL*– 12,1004.212,0004I.224,1005.2
others8,8006.04,8001.73,60012.417,2003.7
TOTAL148,179
,100.0283,621100,029,110100.0460,910100.0
*SEAL»SwedishEastAfricaLine,hasmeanwhilewithdrawnfromthetrade.
ThedifferenceincarryingsofBESTAandMSCintheNorthbound
tradeisalsoreflectedintheirrespectivenumberofsailings:BESTAoffered
in1980andI98InosailingstotheU.K.andonly12totheContinent.MSC,on
thecontrary,offered21sailingstotheU.K.and29totheNorthContinent.

-10-
20.BESTA,therefore,putstheemphasisofitsaotivitiesinthe
Southboundtradeanditisinthattradethatanagreementwassought
lesttheconferencemembers,whichalreadyincludeotherEasternBloc
lines(fromPolandandtheDDR),wouldsuffertoomuchlossofrevenue.
Underthecircumstances itwouldseemlogicaltocontinuethe
monitoringsystemintheEastAfricatrade.
CENTRALAMERICATRADE
21.TheSovietflagascomparedwithallflagsinthetradecameout
asfollowsfromtheMemberStates'returns:
TABLErv:CentralAmerica
ReturnbyMemberWestbound
EECLoading(WT)Eastbound
EECunloading(WT)
OTcLT©
AllflagsUSSRfla*(2VAllflagsUSSRfla**
Belgium^^
19792 94,435 3900.411,224 9678.6
19801 125,981 8480.79,582 380.4
2 95,846 3,5113.714,730- -
19811
2132,422
•·1,698
•·1.3
•·7,573
•·1
•·0.0
•·
F.R.O.^
19792 59,355 4,4207.480,931 r­ -
19801 18,017 1,1076.1129,575 28,22121.8
2 16,003 2,441I5.261,190 19,3703I.7
19811
219,616
•é*1,191
•·6.1
•·125,411
•·18,096
•·I4.4
•·
Netherlands
19792 33,017 1,0213.126,607 1,3965.2
19801 33,606 6491.936,730 2,7877.5
2 43,833 1170.319,490 3,11616.0
19811 48,256 1050.236,753 240.1
2 51,923 1,8363-525,548 120.1
./...

-11-
Westbound Eastbound
ReturnbyMember EECLoading(WT) EECunloading (WT)^
StateAllflagsUSSRfla*v'1oAllflagsUSSRflagi
U.K.
19792 24,424 – –34,082 – –
19801 22,619 – –26,125 – –
2 25,159 – –27,204 – –
19811
2•ft
•·ftft
•·•·
•·•ft
•ft«·
•ft•·
•·
EUR3:(B,P.R.G.,KL)(1)
19792186,807 313.1118,7622,3632.0
19801177,604 2,6041.5175,88731,046I7.7
2155,718 6,0693.995,41022,48623.6
19811
2352,332
•·2,994
•·0.8
ft·169,737
•·18,121
•·10.7
•·
EUR4:(EUR3+tî.K./1)
19792211,231 5,8312.8152,8442,3631.5
19801200,223 2,6044.3202,01231,046I5.4
2180,877 6,0693.0122,61422,48618.3
19811 •· •· •· •ft •· •ft
2 •ft •· •· ftft •· ftft
figuresfor1979(2ndhalf)arenotfullycomparablewiththoseofthesub­
sequentperiods.
2
v'"USSRflag"willincludeSovietflagunderSeanPacificLinemanagement.
22.Detailsofcarriersinvolvedinthistradeandtheflagsreported
andabreakdownoftheservicesaregiveninSections28,29and30ofthe
secondreport.Sincethepatternofservicesisvitalforanaccurateoverall
viewinthistrade,abreakdownbysub-routesisgivenbelow:
•/•••

-12-
a)N.W. Europe -Central America East Coast andvice-versa ,aspart ofa
servioe which ,atleast fortheconference (l),oovers Beveral ports
intheCaribbean sea ;
b)N.W. Europe -Central America West Coast andvice-versa ,which is
covered bytwogroups ofliner operators (2)within theconference ;the
main outsiders areScan Pacific Line (Finnish-Russian ),Westbound only ,
andBSC (Baltic Shipping Company ),theSoviet carrier based inLeningrad ;
c)Central America West Coast -Italy (aseparate conference (3));
d)Europe -South America West Coast (another conference (4)viaPanama )*
23. Traffic under theSoviet flag onroute (a)wasalso small in
I98O andI98I .Theactivities ofScan Pacific Line ,however ,increased ,
according toinformation received from theConference ,considerably ,in
particular intheWestbound trade .While itcarried 4737 WTin1979 »
this volume was35»872 WTinI.98I .Theships which ithaschartered from
BSCaresometimes seen again inthehomebound trade ,butthen managed bythe
latter company itself .Besides ,Scan Pacific bills oflading are
sometimes used forhomebound traffic (coffee ,cotton )onboard of
BSCvessels ,whereby BSCacts asagents forScan Pacific Line .
Eastbound traffic
24. Asreported earlier ,oneofthetrades inwhich BSC ,with its
Baltcapas Line ,isreally active istheonementioned under b)inpara­
graph 22andparticularly theEastbound leg (frewithe Westcoast ofCentral
America to N.W.Europe ). Theother trade istheone
mentioned under c),theCentral America-Italy Service ,where theBSC
hasobtained avery considerable share .
(l)TheAssociation ofWest India Trans-Atlantic Steam Ship Lines
(2)Central America Servioe andServicio Alemania Centroamerica ,forming
apool .
(3)Conferenza Centro America
(4)European /South Pacific Magellan Conference .
#/•••

23*DespitethefactthatMemberStates'returnsdonotusuallymake
adistinction betweentraffiofromtheEastCoastandWestCoast,it
ispossibletogainsomeideaofcompetitiononsub-route(b)(i.e.traffio
fromtheWestCoastalone)sincetheproductsconcerned(coffeeandootton)
areusuallyoarriedfromthiscoast.Coffeeandoottonformthemajor
partoflinercarryingsinthistrade.Recently,however,theBaltcapasline
hadalargequantityofcargooarriedoverlandtotheEastCoasttobe
loadedthereononeoftheirvessels.
26.Competition fromtheBaltcapaslinewouldappearfromMember
States'returnstobecomparatively veryhigh.
TABLEV
COTTONAHDCOPPEE CENTRALAMERICA VEastboundfeubrouteaa)andb)\Eastbound i
MemberStatereturn*Allfla#s USSRflå«<
Belgium198019,457 38 0.4
5,134- -
198117,460 1 0.0
P.R.G.19801128,478 28,221 21.9
59,811 19,370 32.4
19811124,279 18,096 14.6
PranceI98O118,700 4,674 25.0
2,065 - -
1981112,385 2,910 23.5
Ü.K.198014,857 - -
19811 •·' •· •·
TOTALI98O1161,492 32,933 20.4
67,010 19,370 28.9
19811 •· •· •·
*Netherlands !fulltotal,nocommoditybreakdown

-14-
27.ReturnsfromtheFederalRepublicofGermanycallforthe
followingcomments:
CarryingsinthistradewerenotreportedbeforeI98Osince
theoperatorinquestionfounduptothenthatcoffeeandcotton
(themajorproducts)werecarriedbytrampvesselsratherthanliner.
SincetheCommissionhaddocumentary evidencetoshowthatthese
goodshadbeencarriedagainstlinerbillsoflading,thisinformation
hasbeenincludedsinceitconcernslargequantities.Forthesame
reasontheCommissiondecidedtoalsoincludeinthereport(thelarge
quantitiesof)coffee"andcottonwhicharealsocarriedbytrampvessels
undertheSovietflag.EvenifBSChadusedanextravesselwitha
fullloadofcoffeeorcottonitwouldhavebeeninthelinerservice
itmaintainsinthisareaandwouldthushaveconstituted competition
withCommunitycarriers.
TABLEVI:FederalRepublicofGermany-Eastbound-CottonandCoffee
TEARHALFSERVICE ALLFLAGS USSRFLAG*
19801Liner116,090 16,726 14.1
Tramp12,388 11,495 92.8
All128,478 28,221 22.0
2Liner57,111 16,770 29.4
Tramp 2.700 2.600 96.3
All59,811 19,370 32.4
I98I1Liner111,927 13,180 11.8
Tramp 12.352 4.916 .39.8
All124,279 18,096 14.6
/.

-15-
28.Also,inthiscasetheCommissionobtainedinformation fromthe
Conference.ForthetraficCentral-Amerioa WestCoasttothe
LeHavre-Hamburgrangethefollowinginformation wassupplied.
TABLEVII:CoffeeandCottontrafficfromCentralAmericaWestCoast
totheLeHavre-Hamburgrange.(SubrcuteB)
1979 1980*
Conference BSC Conference BSC
Commodity Tons TonsfoTons Tonsi
Cotton 14»7003625,9006420,9305914,77041
Coffee 116,2008618,5501470,1766047,76140
Total 130,9007544,4502591,1065962,53141
*adjustedfiguressincethesecondreport
1981 1982(5months)
Conference BSC Conference BSC
Commodity Tons*Tons1"Tonsf°Tons?»
Cotton 10,971626,715389,976763,15524
Coffee 79,4486543,0043519,0003240,00068
Total 90,4196549,7193528,9794043,15560
29•Aswasexplainedinparagraph14fanundertaking wasgiven
inJanuary1982bytheSovietauthorities andcarriers
toreducethelatters*shareoftradescoveredbythemonitoringsystem.
Althoughtheimplementation ofthisundertakingis
stillclearlyamatterofdiscussionbetweenthecarriersconcerned,itdoes
seemthattheSovietswiththeirdisproportionately highshare-they
arecompetingagainstsevenconferenceshippingcompaniesincludingfive
fromtheCommunity-didnot,tosaytheleast,keeptothespiritofthe
agreementduringthefirstfewmonthsofthisyear.Bytheendofthe
firstfivemonthstheyhadalreadyexceededtheirentitlementforcoffee
whichhadbeenagreedforthewholeyear.Theexactvolumeofthisentitlement
wassomewhatambiguous•
•/•••

16-
Oneproblem indetermining this over-carriage ,does ,however ,appear to
bethat some BSCships issue Soan Pacific Line "bills oflading ;the
quantities inquestion ,however ,arecounted "bytheconference as
consignments oarried byBSC .
-30. Theother trade ,inwhich Baltcapas Line isreally active istheone
mentioned under c)Central -America -Italy Service (Eastbound ).Thefollowing
factors emerged from Italy 'sreturns ,also showing ahigh degree of
penetration ,particularly inthecarriage ofcotton totheMediterranean .
TABLE Villi ITALY (Eastbound ) Cotton andCoffee
YEAR HALF ALL FLAGS USSR *
I98O 1 38,681 24,034 62,2
2 6,532 2,093 32.0
I98I 1 15,790 7,639 48,3
2- 4,542– -
31• Asregards Central-America freif&t rates ,theagreement made inthe
beginning oftheyear envisaged anarrowing ofthegapbetween therates
offered bytheconference andthose quoted byBSC .
Thus ,forcotton ,theconference rate forwhich wasincreased to
0117*50 (or$130.55 including surcharges butless rebate ),the
conference hadhoped that BSCwould follow atacloser distance than inthe
year before .Afarther rate warwould have more negative effects onthe
economic viability oftheconference lines since thecotton exports of
Central America andMexico have dramatically decreased inthe past years .
Infact ,in1982 nomore than 30%ofthe1974 export potential remained .
•/••a

-17»
Nevertheless ,asitappeared from Soviet shipping documents ,
B.S.C. still offers arate which isatleast 10$less andwhich is,
therefore ,sufficient topursue their inroads intheootton trade inspite
oftheir promise ofself-restriction .
32. Thesame isvalid forooffee .Early this year theconference
hadallbutlost itsgrip onthecarriage ofthis commodity ,itsrate
"being areportedly unrealistic $85,–(allin)against theSoviet
rate of 78.After thediscussions with theSoviets itwasagreed
that thelatter would increase their rate to$90andtheconference
lines theirs tof>95.Nevertheless ,itisstill tooearly tosay
whether this will reverse thetrend incarryings .
33* Onevery clear conclusion canbedrawn from theinformation
received !onsub–routes (b)and (c)Soviet carriers arestill
extremely active despite thefact that anundertaking torestrict their
activities have been concluded foroneoftheroutes inquestion .
There does seem tobeevery justification forcontinuing themonitoring
system .
FAR EAST
34- Inview oftheincompleteness oftheinformation available
totheCommission ,some ofwhich hasbeen received only recently ,it
isnotpossible toinclude inthis report thedetails forthePAREAST .