WALLENIUS Wilhelmsen, the ro-ro specialist carrier, has temporarily modified its Oceania service to stabilise and continue to maintain schedule integrity in the global network”, the company said.
“Despite this service adjustment, we continue to maintain full port rotation around the Australian coast and best in class liner services from Europe and North America into the region,” it said in a recent statement.
“The congestion in Australian ports remains at a critical level as large proportions of imported cars continue to fail quarantine inspections after discharge.
“Consequently, terminal congestion and vessel delays persist which has resulted in all ro-ro carriers reducing services to Australia, and Melbourne in particular. Terminal operators in other Australian ports are also capping transhipment volumes to avoid further congestion by cargo that is being diverted from Melbourne.”
Wallenius Wilhelmsen said the overall number of vessels, and therefore cargoes, arriving to Australia is reducing as a result of service adjustments by all ro-ro carriers.
However, the waiting times for berth access continue to be long in Melbourne Port Kembla, Brisbane and Fremantle due to a backlog of vessels and cargoes at the terminals.
According to Wallenius Wilhelmsen, current average waiting times are as follows:
- Melbourne: 15-20 days
- Port Kembla: 9-10 days
- Brisbane: 5-6 days
- Fremantle: 8-10 days
The company said there has been “no material improvement” in the high number of units failing quarantine inspection on arrival.
“The number of units still failing DAFF [Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry] inspection on arrival, mainly due to seed contamination, continue to outweigh the industry’s capacity, including terminal and off-wharf treatment facilities, to treat and clear the cargo in a timely and efficient manner,” WW said.
“Recently, we are also seeing an increased number of high and heavy units being held for seed contamination in Australia, in addition to cars, which has been the segment impacted most until now.”
The company said alternative ports, Newcastle and Geelong, are still not meeting DAFF requirements to handle cars, free of biosecurity risks.
“Progress is slow and we don’t expect this to be a solution that can provide relief in the short term. In contrast, in Melbourne, we are using Appleton Dock on a case-by-case basis, in addition to MIRRAT, which has proven successful thus far,” the company said.
“There are a small number of DAFF accredited off-wharf facilities whilst others, including our own equipment processing centres, are still waiting on the accreditation from DAFF before being able to provide related services. The capacity limitation of transporting contaminated cargoes from the terminal to off-wharf DAFF accredited facilities is a challenge due to the limited number of enclosed trailers, and an absence of large scale, operationally efficient tarping solutions. Therefore, while the expansion of off-wharf treatment capacity is a positive development, the industry, and in particular the congested terminals will not see the full benefit of this development until there is a solution to transport considerable numbers of contaminated cargoes off the terminal in compliance with DAFF requirements.”
