The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed Australian port stevedores are enjoying record high prices despite holding significant spare capacity in ports.
The ACCC’s Container Stevedoring Monitoring Report 2024-25 reveals stevedoring profits rose for the fifth consecutive year to reach record highs, with stevedores charging a higher total price per container in real times than at any time since the ACCC began monitoring the industry 27 years ago.
In just five years, operating profits have surged by 130 per cent, reaching $808.6 million in 2024-25, with terminal access charges paid directly by trucking operators now generating nearly half of all industry revenue at $642 million last year.
The report says since 2017-18, stevedores have collected $3.19 billion in terminal access fees, with fees charged to trucking companies regularly being above $200 per container despite significant spare capacity.
The ACCC says a government policy or regulatory response is likely required to address “apparent market failures” and improve Australia’s container freight supply chain.
“These are very high short run returns for an industry with significant spare capacity at ports, stable costs and stable productivity,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey says.
“Typically, we would expect to see excess terminal capacity placing downward pressure on the stevedores’ prices and short run profits. The fact that stevedores are performing better than they were prior to entry of Hutchison, a time when the industry was operating as a capacity constrained duopoly, raises serious concern about how this market is operating.”
In recent years, the ACCC says stevedores have increased fees that transport companies have to pay to collect or drop off containers.
“Over the years, landside charges have gone from a relatively small part of revenue to a major driver of profit for the industry,” Brakey says.
“The stevedoring industry began to significantly increase terminal access charges in 2017 and since then they’ve collected over $3 billion in terminal access charges.
“We are concerned that stevedores can increase these charges, and thereby their profitability, independent of the underlying market conditions.
“These unavoidable costs land first on trucking companies, who then pass them on to importers and exporters, who have no real way to avoid or negotiate them. With similar charges across terminals and lack of ability or incentives for most importers and exporters to switch stevedores, they cannot influence these costs through competition.
“Targeted reform is likely needed to ensure there are effective competitive constraints on stevedores to support the supply chain. Without it, Australian businesses and households will ultimately pay the price through higher costs.”