Rising Stevedore Infrastructure Surcharges
Commercial decisions made by stevedores around Australia to levy surcharges to offset the costs of introducing new machinery and technology have added to the rising costs of imports and exports. Charges have increased from $25.45 at Patrick’s Sydney Terminal per container movement (irrespective of container size) last July to the most recent figures of $41.10 in March of this year. DP World’s figures are similar. This has added a huge impost to the cost of doing business in both the import and export markets and has drawn the attention of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ahead of the release of its Container Stevedore Monitoring Report later this year.