There has been much discussion among logistics industry groups recently about the increased charges being levied by Australian stevedoring companies. Here we present a brief excerpt from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) ‘Container Stevedoring Monitoring Report 2016-17,’ just released on 1st November 2017. It is usually the case that such fees get passed along the line and are borne by the end user.
New infrastructure charges raise a number of issues for the port supply chain.
DP World and Patrick either introduced or substantially increased ‘infrastructure charges’ at
a number of container terminals this year. The charges apply to truck or rail operators dropping off or collecting laden containers.
There has been a lot of controversy with different views on whether the charges are justified and how they will impact on the sector. The stevedores have said that the charges are required in response to increasing costs and in order to fund investment in infrastructure. There is merit to the stevedores’ claims that property costs are increasing. However, overall unit costs for both stevedores remain stable. The ACCC will be interested to see what benefits will flow to truck and rail operators as a result of the associated investment.
It appears that a key reason for the charges is for the stevedores to restructure their revenues away from their shipping line customers, and towards the transport sector. It remains to be seen how this may impact transport operators, although it is concerning that the nature of the port supply chain means they are limited in being able to switch stevedores in response to higher prices
Landside productivity indicators show mixed outcomes.
The size of the landside freight task increased in 2016 – 17 in line with the increase in the volumes of containers handled. The number of trucks increased at container terminals, however truck productivity measures were mixed: average truck turnaround times improved by 30 seconds to 29.9 minutes, but the average number of containers per truck continued to decrease. The modal share of rail in transporting freight continued to increase at most ports.
Readers interested in seeing the full report may go to: https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/container-stevedoring-monitoring-report/container-stevedoring-monitoring-report-2016-17
