Author: GPSM

Revision of China’s Maritime Code

REVISION OF CHINA’S MARITIME CODE
Governing
Law and Shipper Liability Risks  

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association
(APSA) would like to update members on the latest regarding the significant
changes to China’s Maritime Code, which came into effect on 1 May 2026 and
may have material implications for parties involved in international ocean
shipments linked to Chinese ports.
Further clarification has recently
emerged regarding the practical operation of the revised Code:

Key issues for shippers and forwarders
1.
Mandatory application of Chinese maritime law
The revised
Maritime Code provides that all international sea transport contracts
involving a Chinese port (whether for loading or discharge) will be
subject to China’s Carriage of Goods by Sea law.
This raises the prospect that:

  • Governing law clauses nominating foreign law (e.g. English law or US COGSA)
    may be overridden in Chinese courts
  • Arbitration or jurisdiction clauses specifying foreign venues may not
    prevail where enforcement is sought in China
  • Disputes involving Chinese counterparties could ultimately need to be
    enforced under Chinese law, even where proceedings are commenced elsewhere

While Chinese courts have historically been reluctant to recognise bespoke
shipping contracts unless expressly provided for in Chinese law, the revised
Code may strengthen the position of a party seeking to resist enforcement of
foreign judgments or arbitral awards on public policy grounds.
The practical impact of these provisions will ultimately depend on how the
Chinese courts interpret and apply the revised Code.

2.
Liability for unclaimed or abandoned cargo
As previously
advised, the revised Code introduces mandatory liability for unclaimed or
abandoned cargo, transferring responsibility for:

  • storage,
  • removal, and
  • disposal

to the “shipper”, where they have been notified by
the consignee without delay that delivery will not be accepted.
Importantly:

  • The “shipper” may not be the cargo owner
  • Liability applies regardless of any agreed transfer of ownership or
    risk     under Incoterms®
  • This could expose exporters or forwarders to recovery obligations long
    after they believed the sale was complete

Global Shippers Forum (GSF), of which the Australian Peak Shippers Association
(APSA) are Australia’s representative,  has sought clarification on whether
Incoterms® delivery points will be recognised under the revised
Code. Particular uncertainty remains for:

  • FCA terms (commonly used for containerised cargo), where delivery occurs at
    the port or terminal of loading
  • Situations where the buyer, not the exporter, arranges ocean transport but
    subsequently refuses to accept delivery in China

Freight forwarders in China are already assessing their exposure with insurers
and, in some cases, advising importers to switch to CIF terms — a move
that may delay delivery to the buyer and increase residual liability for
exporters.

3. Rights to change consignee or
destination
The revised Code also clarifies and
strengthens a shipper’s rights to instruct a carrier to:

  • change the consignee, or
  • redirect cargo to an alternative port

This is particularly relevant for users of negotiable Bills of
Lading, and may also become significant for future users of negotiable
multimodal transport documents, given China’s strong support for
the UN Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents.

What members
are encouraged to do
Members involved in ocean freight
movements to or from China are strongly encouraged to:

  • Review governing law, jurisdiction and arbitration clauses in Bills of
    Lading and shipping contracts
  • Reassess exposure to unclaimed or abandoned cargo, particularly where acting
    as “shipper” but not cargo owner
  • Consider the interaction between Incoterms®, sales contracts and
    shipping arrangements
  • Seek legal and insurance advice where China-linked shipments form a material
    part of operations

An article outlining potential risks for freight forwarders has also been
published by TT Club and may be of interest to members:
https://www.ttclub.com/news-and-resources/news/article/tt-talk-what-freight-forwarders-should-watch-under-chinas-revised-maritime-code

FTA / APSA will keep members informed of further developments.  
 

Tom Jensen – General Manager Freight Policy & Operations – FTA /
APSA
Copyright © 2026 Freight & Trade Alliance
(FTA) Pty Ltd, All rights reserved.

Trucking Fuel Levies

As previously advised, GPSM are reviewing trucking furl levies on a weekly basis in conjunction with our interstate partners.

Eventually we are seeing the terminal gate price for diesel fuel starting to reduce and from April 28th our fuel levies will be adjusted as follows:

  • NSW 32%
  • VIC 35%
  • QLD 38%
  • SA 38%
  • WA 38%

The situation will again be reviewed on Monday 4th May 2026.

Trucking Fuel Levies

There has been little movement in the diesel fuel terminal gate price over the past week, it was reduced slightly for 1-2 days but then rebounded to be over 300cents per litre.

The GPSM fuel levy rates advised last week will remain in place for this week, we will review the situation again on Tuesday April 28th.

Trucking Fuel Levies

Unfortunately, we have no good news on fuel levies for this current week.

Diesel prices have continue to rise over the past week, we can only assume it is due to short supply and high demand, below are the new rates applicable from 13th April, 2026:

  • Sydney         38%
  • Melbourne   43%
  • Brisbane       44.3%
  • Adelaide       39% no change
  • Fremantle     39% no change

Trucking Fuel Levies

Further to our previous Newsletters on this subject, GPSM will be maintaining our current rates for this week as we await news on the revised terminal gate price to be advised.

The terminals are awaiting deliveries of diesel fuel with a lot of service stations running dry, and bowser rates for diesel are still around $ 3.00 per litre despite the Government announcements.

We are seeing a surge in diesel fuel prices in some states as stocks are running low and demand is far outstripping supply, we are monitoring the market daily and will advise further either later this week or on Monday next week if there has been any adjustment to the terminal gate pricing, keeping in mind current diesel stocks were purchased prior to the Government tax relief measures being announced.

We note just in the last hour or two that a ceasefire has been agreed to by Iran/USA/Israel for a period of two weeks to allow for peace talks to be held in Pakistan commencing this Friday 10th April.

We understand the Strait of Hormuz has also been reopened with all vessels required to seek clearance from Iran before entering or leaving the Gulf.

Let us hope that oil starts flowing again and that shipping lines are able to resume operations as soon as possible albeit but under new requirements.

Shipping Charges Update

Local cargo consolidators (LCL shipments) have implemented a Temporary Emergency Fuel Levy on all LCL shipments, import and export, across all Australian ports from 1st April 2026 @ $ 5.00 per cbm or 1000kgs.

Empty Container Parks have also introduced the Temporary Emergency Fuel Levy of $ 10.00 per container to “cover additional operating costs” effective immediately.

Airline Cargo Terminals have announced that they too are introducing the Temporary Emergency Fuel Levy of 10% based on their International Terminal Fees and their Airline Transfer Fees effective from 1st April 2026.

All above costs will be listed separately on all invoices from 1st April 2026 until charges are withdrawn by cargo terminal operators.

We sincerely apologise for the late notice but most of these companies have just announced these increases in the last 24 hours.

Trucking Fuel Updates

Government Action on Fuel Pricing:

Many would have heard the news this afternoon that the Federal Government will cut fuel tax by 50% for 3 months from later this week.

We welcome this news and while it should impact our costs in a positive way we await to see the mechanics of how will operate for the heavy transport industry and when the savings will begin to filter through.

We will come back as soon as possible with the results, we will also be discussing these developments with our industry bodies and our interstate sub-contractors, many of whom have had delivery volumes reduced by their distributors in recent days.

Trucking Fuel Levies

As we are seeing on the daily news bulletins, the price of diesel fuel has again increased dramatically in the last week.

The supply of same from normal distributors has also slowed, with many companies reducing delivery quantities in an effort to stretch existing stocks in their facilities. This is greatly impacting our costs as we have recently been forced to pay in excess of $ 3.00/litre to top up some trucks fuel tanks at retail service stations.

The most recent diesel fuel cost increase is now close to 100% on the cost some 2 weeks ago.

GPSM has introduced weekly fuel updates in line with the market, the rates applicable for week commencing 30th March 2026 will be as follows:

  • Sydney/Melbourne 34%
  • Brisbane 39%
  • Adelaide/Fremantle 39%

We shall keep you updated each week on the rates applicable for the following week.

Shipping and Trucking Fuel Surcharges

Emergency Fuel Surcharges:

Shipping Lines are reviewing the introduction of Emergency Fuel Surcharges from Asia, and same are expected to be implemented from 1st April 2026, although no final decision has been made at present. One shipping line has already implemented the Surcharge effective 22nd March from Korea, Taiwan and Japan to Australian and New Zealand ports, in the form of adding a Low Sulphur Surcharge (previously included in the rates) or an Emergency Fuel Surcharge from these areas of USD 150.00/20ft and USD 300.00/40ft FCL.

The same rate has been applied from SE Asian ports in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam as well as ports in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and all Middle east ports.

Other carriers are yet to announce their intentions, however we do expect they will implement surcharges in some form from April, we will provide further details as soon as possible.

 

Trucking Fuel Levies:

The local cost of diesel fuel continues to increase every few days, with the latest diesel Terminal Gate Price (TGP) data showing that TPG diesel pricing has continued to soar (percentage increase between 2nd March 2026 to 20th March 2026) was between 69.62% and 71.54% across the nation.

The average TGP of diesel on Friday, 20th March ranged between 280.9 cents per litre (cpl) to 287.5 cpl, with the National Average being 282.4 cpl, up from an average of 165.0cpl earlier in March.

Most trucking companies around the country have changed to a weekly fuel levy update and GPSM will be forced to do the same as fuel contributes a significant amount to our costs. The fuel levies we are seeing from many truckers at present are unprecedented and are well above the rates being applied by GPSM.

Moving forward we will announce each Friday the percentage levy for all pick-ups and deliveries for the following week until the price of fuel stabilises again.

Middle East War and effects on global shipping

As the Middle East conflict enters its third week, significant impacts are being felt on global shipping and airfreight movements.

With some 400,000 teu’s (twenty foot equivalent units) currently stranded on vessels in the Middle East, those containers are basically out of operation and may have an effect on the availability of empty equipment in many countries. As all services are suspended to and from all Middle East ports at present, equipment shortages and sailing schedule changes may start to appear across Asia.

Significant Emergency Surcharges have been imposed by shipping lines with the view they will now offload/load cargo in safe ports in Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia and land-bridge all containers to/from their ultimate destinations in order to have their vessels again operating and not sitting at anchor away from the conflict area.

Many shipping lines and LCL cargo consolidators have already announced emergency fuel/war surcharges on many trade routes with some effective from 16th March, 2023, at this time there has been no announcement of any surcharges from North East Asia (China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Philippines) to Australia, however that could change at any time in the next week.

As far as airfreight is concerned, a huge volume of cargo moves globally via Middle East hubs, so with all flights effectively cancelled at present between these hubs and Asia, Europe and Australia, capacity has been cut dramatically. Flights to Australia and New Zealand now relying on Asian airlines to move any cargo without long delays. The rates from Asian carriers have increased as a result of the increased demand and the additional fuel costs the airlines are now facing.

Please bear in mind the Middle East situation has thrown shipping/airline schedules, fuel costs and surcharges into chaos across the globe and there could be further changes in costs at any moment, we are monitoring the situation closely and will advise further as we receive additional information from shipping lines, airlines and various industry news sources.