The 15 international shipping lines which are signatories to the Europe Middle East Rate Agreement (EMERA) announced on 21 February a 0.5 per cent cut in the currency differential on the Europe-Gulf route. The new rate of 1.5 per cent was scheduled to come into force on vessels departing from European ports on 1 March.

In a statement, the EMERA members said that the reduction in the currency adjustment factor (CAF) was the result of a recent rise in the value of the US dollar against other currencies (MEED 10:9:93).