A decline in container volumes and the high cost of business has prompted Stevedoring Services to ask for a rise in the rates that it charges customers next year.

There has not been an increase in the $214 per container rate charged by the company for the past three years.

But challenging times in the shipping industry could mean a significant increase in the cost of shipping containers to Bermuda if the request is granted.

This week the parent company of dock services firm Stevedoring Services Ltd reported an annual loss of $1.8 million for the year ended March 31, 2014.

Warren Jones, CEO of Polaris Holding Company, told The Royal Gazette that container volumes were down across the board in the 2014-15 financial year.

“There was an upswing in container numbers in April, May and June, but then we have seen another dive since then,” Mr Jones said.

“We are now hoping that October shows a bottoming-out for the year, otherwise it will be another year of container volumes dropping.

“August and September were the lowest numbers we had seen for those months in a long time. But that is because there is nothing happening in Bermuda. There is no construction; something needs to be moving for the docks to be moving.

“I don’t think retailers are bringing in much more than they can sell.”

Mr Jones said that the docks was a good indicator for the overall health of the island’s economy.

“The docks are very much a barometer for what is going on in Bermuda and at the moment the only area we are seeing a slight increase is in cars,” he added.

“Our container volume across the board is down, but it does not take a whole lot to start to move things.

“A major construction project that goes on for a couple of years would provide the ideal boost to shipping imports.

“One of the major positives on the horizon is the potential of the America’s Cup. It could be a huge game changer for us. Our revenue depends on container moves. We are at the end of six months of the financial year now and we are down on last year. I think everyone hopes that this will be a flat year on last year — that would be a success. For 2015, we have a proposal forward to the Corporation and the Port Authority for our rates to go up significantly.

“We hope that it will be successful and will go into place at the beginning of 2015.

“We have already consulted with the shipping lines and we are waiting to hear back from the Corporation and the Port Authority.”