THE INTERNATIONAL Forwarders and Customs Brokers Association of Australia has joined other peak industry bodies in calling for mandatory regulation of container stevedores’ landside charges.
As with other sector representatives including FTA/ASPA and CTAA, the IFCBAA has welcomed changes to Melbourne’s Voluntary Pricing Protocol announced by the Victorian Government last week but is clear they don’t go far enough.
“This change to the existing VPP initiative is admirable in concept, with IFCBAA acknowledging the intent involved with this development which, essentially through changes in the existing VPP, aims to further restrict the frequency of terminal access charges and changes for the participating stevedore terminals at the Port of Melbourne, with more detailed justification than that previously required,” CEO Scott Carson said.
“However the VPP process is still voluntary, with Australia’s sea (and also air) cargo interfaces requiring the adherence to at least a new mandatory industry code, or better still through the powers of a new regulatory body, called the Australian Maritime and Aviation Commission (or the like).”
In early September, IFCBAA partnered with industry consulting firm Nine Squared to update its members in detail of the evolution of stevedore based landside charges, with the results providing “a clear and alarming picture of this significant issue that continues to be forced onto industry operators and our members, which unfortunately needs to in turn, be passed onto Australia’s importers and exporters,” Mr Carson said.
Of the more damning findings contained in Nine Squared’s analysis, IFCBAA says, was the following national average annual increases, in what is referred to as the Landside Port Charges Index:
21% for the Access Index
37% for the Penalty Index
26% for the Ancillary Charges Index
“On behalf of our members, we continue to push for regulatory forums that will see these charges and their associated access conditions, independently and transparently controlled,” Mr Carson said.
“IFCBAA again calls for the Federal Government to formally adopt the recommendations contained within the Productivity Commission Report of 2022, a number of which were directly provided in IFCBAA’s submission.
This report was the result of the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Lifting Productivity at Australia’s Container Ports: Between Water, Wharf and Warehouse”.
