Newcastle Herald - Calls for governments to do more to help repatriate ships crews trapped at sea by border closures and other COVID restrictions

Freight & Trade Alliance director Paul Zalai said the massive reductions in air travel meant cargo normally carried on passenger planes was going by sea, adding to the strain.

Mr Zalai said airlines were charging "five or six times" their normal rates for cargo, and he congratulated the federal government for its "International Freight Assistance Mechanism" or IFAM, which was subsidising air freight costs and received another $317 million in the budget.

He said the cost of sea freight had also risen substantially, and shippers had responded to delays at Port Botany by introducing "surcharges" of about $300 a standard container, meaning ships were being diverted to Brisbane and Melbourne and the cargo trucked back.