Archive, Industry News

Constance makes more time for surcharge opponents

Second industry alliance meets with NSW transport minister

 

New South Wales transport and roads minister Andrew Constance has fielded an approach from another set of opponents of stevedore infrastructure surcharges.

This time it was representatives and business members from peak industry organisations Road Freight NSW (RFNSW), the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), Western Roads Federation (WRF) and the Customs Brokers and Forwarders Council of Australia (CBFCA).

This second approach comes after it was recently revealed a separate alliance spoke to Constance and state Productivity Commission staff on the issue.

The alliance provided Constance with a presentation on the history, method of charging  for access to shipping container terminals and recent developments in relation to the ‘infrastructure surcharges’ that continue to be applied by each of the stevedores that are based in Australia’s main ports.


Read about the initial alliance’s talks with Constance, here


“Industry’s concerns were outlined, with port charges now comprising between 12- 20 per cent of total average stevedore revenue – funded by the forcing of these charges onto the Australian economy, in an uncontrolled and unregulated manner,” the alliance says.

“These charges alone generated a total of $167 million in revenue for these stevedores, up 63 per cent from 2017-18.”

It says total landside charges levied onto Australian based industry operators, of which infrastructure surcharge forms part of, now make up close to 29 per cent on average, of revenue for these stevedores, with these costs now spiralling out of control on what appears to be an endless upwards race to prop-up stevedore revenue lost to overseas shipping lines, to the direct detriment of the Australian economy.

Alliance spokesperson Simon O’Hara, of RFNSW, says the alliance is “thankful that the minister and his advisors had listened to the concerns of industry about the spiralling charges” and it is now hopeful of a “positive outcome” for transport operators, customs brokers, international freight forwarders, importers and exporters and their clients, in the lead-up to Christmas.

 

Previous ArticleNext Article
Send this to a friend