THE INTERNATIONAL Forwarders & Customs Brokers Association of Australia (IFCBAA) has released its Review and Recommendation package in response to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The package has been created in response to the ACCC’s Container Stevedoring Monitoring Report 2023-24, which was issued on 20 December, 2024.
The association said the package responds to the ACCC’s data, assessment, scope, and findings, and provides direct recommendations to the Federal Government, as well as having been issued direct to the Prime Minister and the Federal Leader of the Opposition.
IFCBAA issued a number of key recommendations to the ACCC in its review, among which included a formal assessment of the PONDUS container weighing system, and a request to have future annual reports include key data and assessment of Australia’s specialist break bulk and ro-ro stevedore terminals.
IFCBAA’s position maintains that the Federal Government needs to implement one of the following two initiatives;
1. The establishment of a new body called the Australian Maritime and Aviation Commission (“AMAC”) or the like, which would be empowered through its charter and by legislation, to control and monitor port and airport precinct-based processes, charges and access conditions, on a national basis, or alternatively:
2. The establishment of a new national mandatory code, governed by the ACCC, the latter of which would be equipped with the necessary additional resources and authority/powers to administer and where need be prosecute any non compliance, to the new mandatory code’s requirements.
Further, in its review IFCBAA recommends to have the Federal Government engage directly with the Fair Work Commission to place tighter time restrictions on protected industrial action processes between the MUA and stevedore terminals, in addition to levying wider penalties and orders on either or both parties for any breaches to the proposed new conditions.
“Noting that these reports primarily focus on full import and export container movements through the major stevedore terminals in Australia and now parts of the ECP processes, the Federal Government needs to separately and more formally assess the air cargo interface through the major and regional airports,” IFCBAA said in a post about its review on LinkedIn.
A key point of the association’s review also seeks reference to existing industry initiatives such as PAMA/PBLIS in NSW, the VPP in Victoria, and the National Transport Commission’s national voluntary guidelines for landside stevedore charges and the control of stevedore landside pricing in WA.
Other industry parties have previously reacted to the ACCC’s latest report, including Patrick Terminals, which said it did not agree with observations in the report about the competitiveness of the container terminal industry, including for landside services.
