INCOMPENTENT GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO CONTAINER STEVEDORE CHARGES FUELS INFLATIONARY PRESSURES

Friday 1 April 2022, Owners and shareholders of container stevedore operations have been

handed a licence to print money with the National Transport Commission giving them the green

light to hold third-party transport operators to ransom that have no influence over service or price despite witnessing the failings of the Voluntary Port Performance Model (VPPM).

Leveraging from these arrangements, Hutchison hit a new high in Terminal Access Charges this weekend as they announced the latest increase in Terminal Access Charge (TAC) which they often refer to as an "Infrastructure Surcharge" reaching $162.10 payable by transport operators for all containers received or delivered via their Brisbane terminal, a new national high being recorded.

Fundamentally, Australian supply chain participants are currently paying an additional $500M+ per year directly to stevedores and empty container parks with these rapidly increasing costs having devastating impacts on exporters and importers with downstream crippling financial impacts on manufacturers, farmers and regional communities. Despite receiving warnings from industry over many years, this outcome exposes the incompetency of both state and federal governments by refusing to take serious action, leaving a legacy of an ineffectual bureaucratic process that offers no meaningful protection.

All of this is on top of severe capacity constraints, record high freight rates, container detention penalties, depot congestion and shipping line surcharges.

Meanwhile, our government representatives are left scratching their heads unable to answer why supply chain costs continue to spiral out of control fuelling inflationary pressures across our economy.

Further to the testimonials and extensive evidence raised in our formal submission to the review of the Australian Maritime Logistics System, Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) will escalate a call on the Productivity Commission to lead away for regulation to end the scourge of Terminal Access Charges.