An informative piece referencing the cost of privatising port and airport assets and seeking opinions industry commentators - extracts below:
Former ACCC Chair Graeme Samuels quoted… "In the case of the stevedores it's easy to say 'oh it's the bloody unions' that are the problem. Well, it's not," says Samuel. "We need to be looking at the charges the ports are imposing because they flow through in terms of the costs of the goods that are in those containers, which flows through to the consumers."
Patrick and DP World - the two biggest stevedore operators - increased their land-based charges at East Coast ports by about 26 per cent for imports and up to 50 per cent for exports, according to the Freight Trade Alliance (FTA). Fremantle is still owned by the state government and has caps on price rises stevedores can charge. Director of the Freight & Trade Alliance Paul Zalai says that these charges are then passed on to the transport operators. "While not privy to the commercial rents charged by privatised ports, stevedores claim this as a part of their justification for exorbitantly high Terminal Access Charges (TACs) administered against transport operators – a sector of commerce that has no ability to influence service or price and must pay whatever is demanded to pick up and deliver sea freight containers to our international gateways"
READ MORE
|
|