News

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, stevedores are using 22 June as their start date for PRA Receival, as a precaution against vessel sailing date roll overs. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has issued their final version of MO42, declaring that “Marine Order 42 (Carriage, stowage and securing of cargoes and containers) […]

The new Biosecurity Act starts on June 16, and while some goods now need an import permit others become exempt. From this month an import permit will no longer be required for used machinery, used equipment and used parts in accordance with the commencement of the new ‘Biosecurity Act 2015’. If you import these goods […]

The legislation actually commences on 1st July, however all containers loaded on that date must have the Verified Gross Mass (VGM), otherwise the stevedores can’t load. Hence the decision to start the process on 22nd June, as this will cover all containers held at terminals to be loaded from July 1st onwards. No container will […]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase that is literally translated as ‘Who will guard the guards themselves?’ The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 19th May 2016 that multiple cases of corruption have been uncovered which involve staff from the Australian Border Force and the Department of Agriculture, along with maritime industry employees with […]

After a recent flurry of container shipping-line alliances, those that weren’t involved in the recent waves of restructuring are discussing a vast new grouping with the US Federal Maritime Commission. Discussions between carriers have remained highly secretive, with those involved guarding their identity. The most recent deal to be struck was the “Ocean Alliance,” which […]

Much of the Federal Budget was focused on voters’ concerns for the upcoming elections, rather than specific import and border industry related issues. However, along with the imposition of GST on Low Value Imports, it notably  makes provision for additional funding of $69.9M over four years to advance the Australian Trusted Trader Program (ATTP), beyond […]

Commercial arrangements covering the sale and importation of goods are many and varied, with a lot of importers these days buying under ‘delivery duty paid’ (DDP) terms. The contract of sale will generally set out the responsibilities of each party to the commercial transaction, and usually identifies the person who is responsible for paying duties […]

Patrick has decided to take their enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) proposal to a ballot, directly to the employees, bypassing the Union. Ten months of negotiations with the Maritime Union of Australia over the EBA ground to a halt late last year, with the MUA demanding the company enshrine job security in its proposal, ahead of […]

Aspects and discussions on assembly orders, as they relate to cargo reporting, have been moved out of the Trusted Trader discussions and into the DIBP (Australian Customs) Compliance Advisory Group (CAG), which in turn reports to the National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF), who are responsible for industry policy and process implementation. As to the […]

The following are excerpts of an opinion piece posted by writer Kelvin King on March 18th at the website, impactpub.com.au, who says, “Give TPP a chance.  It might not gain ratification – that might swing on whether Donald Trump secures the US presidency – but fighting it with misinformation is against the national interest.” He […]