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CONTAINER DETENTION - WHERE DOES IT END?

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) are receiving feedback from members that congestion is increasing at Melbourne and Sydney empty container parks. Notices received this morning via ContainerChain advise that DP World Logistics Park 1 in Sydney is advising transport operators to HOLD ONTO certain category containers as they cannot accommodate them.

As a result, many transport operators are staging containers in their yards until re-directions are issued with dehire locations.

Despite repeated requests to shipping lines for blanket extensions of container detention periods, all those that have responded state they will assess the quantum of fees payable on a case by case basis.

As members will recall, FTA/APSA continue to supply evidence of unreasonable practices to the Productivity Commission and are advocating for similar regulatory intervention that is currently taking place in the USA. Some relevant materials are available below:

FTA submission to the Productivity Commission
FTA supplementary submission – container detention
FTA media release – container detention

As outlined in today’s weekly report, Paul Zalai (Director FTA, Secretariat APSA) was interviewed by Sky News (Business Week-end, Sunday 15 May 2022)) explaining the reality of $1B in container detention and terminal access costs adding to inflationary pressures – refer HERE (interview starts at 22:28 and concludes 24.58).

FTA/APSA will continue to highlight this unreasonable administrative practice deployed by foreign owned shipping lines. Further examples for referral to the Productivity Commission should be sent to Tony Vinson (Head of International Freight & Logistics – FTA/APSA) at [email protected]

John Park, Head of Business Operations - FTA / APSA

Frequently Asked Questions

Are all personal effects shipments into Australia subject to mandatory quarantine inspection?

Yes – Australia is in the fortunate situation of being one of the few countries relatively free of common pests and diseases found in other countries. For this reason, the Australian Government has mandated that all unaccompanied shipments of used personal effects, motor vehicles and vessels be screened and physically inspected at approved and licenced unpacking depots by Department of Agriculture and Water Resources inspection officers.

Why is there a fee for the mandatory quarantine inspection?

The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources will only permit the unpacking of imported personal effects to occur within the confines of specially licenced and approved warehouses with adequate contamination containment measures, trained and accredited warehouse staff and the required electronic interface reporting systems. The fees for quarantine inspection, clearance and attendance charged by AIMA members cover the cost of annual depot licencing, use of bonded warehouse space, attendance and inspection fees for DAWR inspection officers and required interface software licencing.

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