Media Release
Revelations that an Australian exporter is paying almost three times as much in local port charges as it costs to ship a container overseas only serve to reinforce the Australian Peak Shippers Association's campaign for regulatory and government intervention.
Manufacturer Kingspan Insulation benchmarked Melbourne against ports in England, Dubai, Hong Kong and South Korea and found terminal handling charges and port service charges were amongst the most expensive in the world
Managing director Scott Gibson told The Australian that Kingspan's $40 million new factory could not compete against overseas rivals when it was paying $705 in THCs and PSCs to ship containers through Melbourne – containers that cost only $250 in freight rates all the way to South Korea.
Since stevedores DP World Australia, Patrick and more recently VICT introduced and increased landside infrastructure charges – payable on every loaded container entering or leaving port terminals - APSA has been warning rising costs will put exporters in an uncompetitive position. Kingspan's experience graphically underlines this.
APSA's Travis Brooks-Garrett describes the situation as completely unacceptable, especially as shippers have no direct or contractual relationship with the stevedores and no ability to influence the charges.
"It's now been over 12 months since DPWA imposed a 900% increase in its Melbourne terminal access fee and rivals then followed suit, with further increases during the year and more anticipated," Mr Brooks-Garrett said.
"The ACCC is scrutinising the charges, and we are pleased to see Victorian ports minister Luke Donnellan expressing the state government's concern. But APSA members constantly tell us a year of these unfair charges is having a disturbing cumulative effect.
"Exporters need action now, before markets are lost."
Further information:
Travis Brooks-Garrett
Secretariat | Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) - secretariat@auspsa.com Ph +61 3 9029 9935 Mob +61 434 105 145 www.FTAlliance.com.au
Director | Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) Pty Ltd - tbrooks-garrett@ftalliance.com.au