MEDIA UPDATE 1 - Australian Financial Review - DP World begs for cool off as strikes cause more damage than hack

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) are ramping up media coverage with no end in sight of the ongoing Protected Industrial Action (PIA) affecting national operations at DP World container terminals.

While we have an excellent relationship with a wide cross-section of trade, agriculture and mainstream media, we need "real life" experiences from exporters, importers and logistics professionals explaining the impacts to business and the wider economy - this is essential to maintain the momentum and interest for what appears will be a long, drawn out campaign.

Should any member or industry participant be prepared to go on the public record, please contact me at pzalai@FTAlliance.com.au on 0408 280123.

As a a starting point, we are pleased to report on coverage in yesterday's Australian Financial Review DP World begs for 'cool off' as strikes cause more damage than hack [full article is available behind paywall]

EXTRACT BELOW :

Freight & Trade Alliance director Paul Zalai "conservatively" estimated the action was costing Australian trade more than $20 million a day, and that the backlog of 45,000 containers meant "we're in a worse situation now than the well-publicised cyber incident".

"The fact that the parties cannot settle their dispute is crippling our nation – the government cannot allow this to continue for the weeks and months ahead," he said.

He said ships were skipping ports due to the delays and forcing importers to pay more to transport containers left in other states as a result.

One exporter expecting a vessel in Port Botany on November 28 said the ship had yet to arrive two weeks later due to re-scheduling, while more cancelled sailings were expected in the next five weeks.

FTA / APSA will continue the lead on exposing this situation and will share ongoing media coverage with members to assist in spreading the word and our call for intervention to ensure business continuity at our container terminals.

Paul Zalai - Director FTA | Secretariat APSA | Director GSF