Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) at Webb Dock in the Port of Melbourne has remained closed since Friday evening, 19 January 2024, as protesters block the Terminal entry gates.
Victoria Police have made at least one arrest and deployed pepper spray when protesters became aggressive. However, the protest has continued throughout the weekend, meaning no cargo has been able to move in or out of the Terminal.
Watch Channel 7News story: HERE
In the latest update from VICT, all slot appointments were cancelled over the weekend through to 8am tomorrow morning (Monday, 22 Jan), while vessel scheduling has been thrown into disarray and export cut-off times are being reassessed, including for CMA CGM SEMARANG.
This situation comes on top of the continued disruptions at DP World's West Swanson Terminal (WST) due to industrial action, and the significant delays to the road network caused by the West Gate Tunnel Project construction works.
All of these issues combined, stretching into next week, will have a very debilitating impact on the landside movement of container freight in and out of the Port of Melbourne.
In the case of the protest blockage at VICT, CTAA would agree with the statement from the Victorian Shadow Attorney-General, Michael O'Brien, quoted in the news story highlighted above, that legislation should be enacted to reinstate move-on powers for Victoria Police in circumstances were a person is impeding another person from lawfully entering or leaving a premises.
What's the Victorian Government doing about it?
At least four container vessels are impacted by this Terminal shutdown, including APL DETROIT and ZIM GANGES which are in Port Phillip Bay. The latter vessel is the target of the Pro-Palestinian protesters.
This disruption comes at a time of increased trade volumes through VICT with the additional of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) services to North East Asia and South East Asia, and vessels being sub-contracted to VICT due to the DP World industrial dispute.
Even if VICT manages to reopen from tomorrow (Monday, 22 Jan), expect landside logistics delays throughout this coming week as container transport operators try to work with the Terminal to clear the backlog of imports and reschedule export receivals.