The State of Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission is holding hearings around the neighbor islands where the public can weigh in on a proposed temporary rate increase and tariff changes by the shipping company Young Brothers.
In February, the carrier company sought an order granting it a temporary rate increase to be implemented in two steps – a first-step increase of 20% by April and a second-step increase of 5% by July.
These temporary rate increases would be applied evenly across all regulated cargo rates. For more efficient service lines requiring less cargo handling, rates would increase by 20% to 35%. Services requiring additional or special handling will increase by 35% to 45%.
Examples include:
- Less-than-container-load would increase 35% and less-than-pallet rates would go up 45%.
- Cost to ship a container would go up 20%, with the exception of containers shipped to and from Hilo, which would increase 35%.
- Price to ship a car and roll-on-roll-off cargo would increase 30%.
- Palletized cargo rates would increase 30% for dry and 40% for refrigerated freight.
According to the limited liability company’s application, the increase is intended to help mitigate rising operation costs.
An in-person meeting is scheduled for April 14 at 5:30 p.m. at the Līhu‘e State Office Building in Conference Rooms 209 A, B and C, located at 3060 Eiwa St.
Young Brothers first filed its intent to raise rates with the commission on Oct. 15, 2024, requesting the body approve a total revenue increase of $26,368,923 (27.06%) over revenues at current effective rates.
For more details on Young Brothers and the rate increase application, click here.
