There has been considerable media commentary focussed on the 8% workers' claim, year on year for three years, as a key component of the ongoing industrial dispute between DP World and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).
While leaving any commentary about the appropriateness of this increase to others, Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) have taken the opportunity to expose a much higher percentage increase - notably the DP World landside charge increases from 1 February 2024, with Terminal Access Charges (TACs) increasing by amounts of up to 52%.
FTA and APSA will continue to expose the DP World refusal of our request to waive TACs as a form of compensation until the Protected Industrial Action is resolved, noting that our plea made last week was also declined where we called for at least a deferment of the exorbitant increases.
Thank you to the The Australian Financial Review for exposing this unfair practice.
Australian Financial Review - PM should 'pick the phone up' to fix ports dispute: Dutton [13 January 2024]
EXTRACT:
Meanwhile, exporters and importers have accused DP World of unfairly targeting them with fee increases of up to 50 per cent from February 1, adding to goods prices and inflation, and hurting local firms.
The Freight & Trade Alliance – the peak association for importers and exporters and the freight forwarding sector – accused the company of unfairly pushing costs onto local traders via big increases in how much port users must pay to access facilities, known as a terminal access charge.
... Citing DP World's claim its industrial dispute with the MUA was costing the economy $84 million a week FTA director Paul Zalai said the fee increases were "rubbing salt into the wound"."The magnitude of the increases are staggering, and in what is a real kick in the guts, they inexplicably have targeted Australian exporters with the largest increase," he said.
"We have pleaded with DP World to waive these charges as a form of relief until the industrial action is resolved – this was declined, as too was a request to at least consider a deferment of the increase to a later date."
... The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last year found that "industry profit margins remained near historical highs in 2022–23", and there was a "lack of predictability" around charge changes, prompting Mr Zalai to call on the government to intervene and better regulate the sector.
The Productivity Commission, which released a report reviewing Australia's maritime logistics in January last year, recommended Treasury regulate fees and call in the ACCC to enforce them, a move backed by the alliance.
"We now more than ever need a level of well-considered regulation to safeguard the commercial viability of our exporters and to control spiralling costs of imports," Mr Zalai said.
While it was reasonable for stevedore firms to recover costs, that was increasingly being done through uncontestable land-side charges, rather than being imposed on the large multinational shipping companies.