Industry body objects to members being fined by those who cause the problem
Road Freight NSW (RFNSW) is calling on major shipping lines to provide truck operators with a ‘moratorium’ on detention charges for the drop-off and pick-up of containers at empty container parks (ECPs) around Sydney over the Easter holiday period.
RFNSW chief executive Simon O’Hara said the urgent request to extend detention-free days was warranted as the majority of ECP’s will be open for just three days over the extended Easter-Anzac Day holiday period.
Read how Sydney container logistics talks have seen progress, here
“This means that over the 11-day period from 19 April to 28 April, transport operators will only have three days to return their empties, given that most ECP’s will be shut due to public holidays and weekends,” O’Hara says.
“It’s extremely unfair and yet another cost impost on our members who continue to raise concerns about the current operational issues and other inefficiencies they experience at ECPs.
“As RNSW has previously highlighted, transport operators are facing constant redirections and lack of empty slots and then being hit with charges for turning up early or late, even though they’ve been queued outside.
“RFNSW has been engaging with ECPs on behalf of our members and we’ve now written to all major shipping lines asking for the extension of detention charges on the late return of empty containers over the Easter holiday period.
“A moratorium on detention charges is totally justified, given the shutdown of the ECP’s over the extended holiday period.
“We believe it’s time landside operators were given some relief from the ongoing series of charges levelled at them by the stevedores, ECPs and shipping lines.”
RFNSW had sought the support of other industry stakeholders in order to take a united approach to dealing with the detention charges, shutdowns and other serious issues stemming from ECP operations.