Author: GPSM

SUEZ BLOCKAGE – THE NEW CHALLENGES

Reports of the Suez blockage easing and shipping getting back to normal have been greatly exaggerated.

At the time of writing some 400 vessels are queuing to pass through the Canal, causing delays for shipments transshipping in South East Asia bound for Australia.

We have been advised by our International agents that , in their discussions with shipping lines YML, COSCO,HMM and EMC, they have been told these lines will cancel vessels to the Middle East and Asia and will concentrate there capacities on the Red Sea , America’s and Europe trades.

This will no doubt put pressure on equipment (containers) for the Australian trade which could force Ocean Freight rates to increase, just as Importers were seeing reductions in these rates.

We believe that the crucial date will be the 3rd week in April to gauge the extent of any increases.

Just as things were showing signs of settling down, space was becoming available and freight rates were dropping, the dramas of 2020 are starting to reappear.

We at GPSM are always mindful that shipping information to our clients is of vital importance, especially in these turbulent times. We will continue to monitor all situations and keep you updated with the most current information as it comes to hand.

Khapra Beetle update ( PLANT PRODUCTS ONLY )

Do you import PLANT PRODUCTS from a Khapra beetle Country see list below ?

Khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium) is a destructive pest that can reproduce rapidly in stored products under hot conditions and is a significant biosecurity risk to Australia.

Khapra beetle is found throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The department has identified the following countries as those where khapra beetle is present:

  • Afghanistan
  • Albania
  • Algeria
  • Bangladesh
  • Benin
  • Burkina Faso
  • Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
  • Cyprus
  • Egypt
  • Ghana
  • Greece
  • India
  • Iran, Islamic Republic of
  • Iraq
  • Israel
  • Kuwait
  • Lebanon
  • Libya
  • Mali
  • Mauritania
  • Morocco
  • Myanmar
  • Nepal
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Senegal
  • Somalia
  • South Sudan
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sudan
  • Syrian Arab Republic
  • Timor-Leste
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Yemen

 

Are these goods High risk plant products ?

Product

Tariff item code

Rice (Oryza sativa)

1209, 1006

Chickpeas (Cicer arietinum)

1209, 0713, 1106

Cucurbit seed (Cucurbita, Cucumis, Citrullus spp.)

1209, 1207

Cumin seed (Cuminum cyminum)

1209, 0909

Safflower seed (Carthamus tinctorius)

1209, 1207

Bean seed (Phaseolus spp.)

1209, 0713, 1106

Soybean (Glycine max)

1209, 1201

Mung beans, cowpeas (Vigna spp.)

1209, 0713, 1106

Lentils (Lens culinaris)

1209, 0713, 1106

Wheat (Triticum aestivum)

1209, 1001, 1104, 1103, 1101

Coriander seed (Coriandrum sativum)

1209, 0909

Celery seed (Apium graveolens)

1209

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea)

1209, 1202, 0713, 1106

Dried chillies/capsicum (Capsicum spp.)

09

Faba bean (Vicia faba)

1209, 0713, 1106

Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan)

1209, 0713, 1106

Pea seed (Pisum sativum)

1209, 0713, 1106

Fennel seed (Foeniculum spp).

1209, 0909

 

The following exclusions apply:

  • goods that are thermally processed that are commercially manufactured and packaged such as retorted, blanched, roasted, fried, par-boiled, boiled, puffed, malted or pasteurised goods
  • goods that are chemically processed and preserved such as with a Formalin Propionic Acid fixative, Formalin Acetic acid alcohol, Carnoy’s fixative or ethanol.
  • fresh vegetables
  • commercially manufactured frozen or freeze-dried food (perishable foodstuffs only)
  • frozen plant samples for plant research (including through the use of liquid nitrogen and freeze drying)
  • oils derived from vegetables or seed
  • Preserved or pickled (such as in vinegar or alcohol)
  • goods that have been refined or extracted to obtain specific components from plant-based raw materials. Examples include starch, lecithin, protein, cellulose, sugars and pigments.

Are these goods other risk Plant products ?

  • Seeds (all species, excluding those listed as high-risk plant products)
  • Spices (all species, excluding those listed in high-risk plant products)
  • Plant gums and resins (except those chemically extracted or highly processed)
  • Meals and flours of plant origin (all species, excluding those listed in high-risk plant products)
  • Dried fruits
  • Nuts (all species, excluding those listed in high-risk plant products)
  • Dried vegetables
  • Unprocessed plant products (excluding fresh fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, herbarium specimens, fresh cut flowers).

The following exclusions apply:

  • goods that are thermally processed that are commercially manufactured and packaged such as retorted, blanched, roasted, fried, par-boiled, boiled, puffed, malted or pasteurised goods
  • goods that are chemically processed and preserved such as with a Formalin Propionic Acid fixative, Formalin Acetic acid alcohol, Carnoy’s fixative or ethanol.
  • fresh vegetables
  • commercially manufactured frozen or freeze-dried food (perishable foodstuffs only)
  • frozen plant samples for plant research (including through the use of liquid nitrogen and freeze drying)
  • oils derived from vegetables or seed
  • Preserved or pickled (such as in vinegar or alcohol)
  • goods that have been refined or extracted to obtain specific components from plant-based raw materials. Examples include starch, lecithin, protein, cellulose, sugars and pigments.

Is the final delivery of goods going to a Rural Grain growing Area ?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions then you goods are subject to MANDATORY TREATMENT PRIOR TO SHIPMENT

 

Treatment options and rates for plant products

In cases where treatment is required for plant products (refer to Phase 3 and 4 of the urgent actions), one of the approved treatment options listed below must be used.

 

Methyl Bromide Fumigation

The goods must be fumigated with a dose of 80 g/m³ or above, at 21°C or above, for a minimum of 48 hours. The fumigation must be conducted in accordance with the Methyl Bromide Fumigation Methodology, including end-point retention and dose compensation requirements.

 

Heat Treatment

The goods must be heat treated at 60°C or higher (measured at the core of the goods) for a minimum of 120 minutes. The treatment must be conducted in accordance with the Heat Treatment Methodology.

For further information please see below link

https://www.agriculture.gov.au/pests-diseases-weeds/plant/khapra-beetle/sea-container-measures

Attachment(s):

Khapra beetle phase 6a summary flowchart

Sydney Port Congestion Surcharge

Industry body, FTA-Freight and Trade Alliance has been lobbying Shipping Lines, ACCC and Government on the above surcharge, questioning why it is still being imposed when all industrial action by the two (2) major terminals has been resolved and vessel movements in and out of the port have improved dramatically over the past month.

Good news has now been received from Maersk Lines and Hamburg-Sud advising that they are removing the surcharge effective from 15th March, while Hapag-Lloyd have overnight announced they will remove their surcharge effective from 22nd March, 2021.

It is expected other shipping lines will follow suit in the coming days, GPSM will keep all clients advised as soon as further details are received.

Industrial issues resolved

Industrial Issues Resolved:

DP World Terminals have confirmed that the Enterprise Bargaining Agreements with Australian Waterside Unions have nows been finalised, ending further industrial unrest at DP World Terminals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle ports.

As well as announcing the long awaited finalisation of their Enterprise Agreement, DP World has made the following important declaration:

“In addition to finalising agreements, we are proud that we have been able to provide you with a reliable service. Over the past five months, DP World Australia has enjoyed zero industrial action at our East-Coast terminals.

This stability has enabled the resumption of pre- bargaining levels of productivity and reduced congestion in the Australian network

All our terminals are operating normally and without berthing delays. We will continue to accept subcontracts, ad hoc callers, and above contract exchanges which includes empty container repositioning.”

 

Shipping Line Surcharges/Empty Container Detention:

Our Industry Groups are now calling on Governments to investigate the congestion surcharges and empty container detention charges.

Industry body, Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) haveissued the below statement:

“Based on this advice, our state / federal regulators (including the Productivity Commission and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) must now scrutinise the validity of shipping lines administering:

  • congestion surcharges on exporters and importers of up to USD 350 per TEU;
  • container detention penalties for ‘late’ dehire of empty containers and refusal to compensate importers for the cost to staged empty container movements when shipping line contracted empty container parks are at capacity”.

 

VICT Melbourne Industrial Dispute:

Further to our Newsflash last week, VICT Melbourne Terminal have advised that The Fair Work Commission have issued an Interim Order suspending industrial action which was due to start Saturday 20th February, 2021.

VICT sought Fair Work Commission intervention, citing economic and other harm threatened by the action.

A mid-March hearing will be scheduled, in the meantime, no further industrial action will be undertaken.

Updated Rates and Surcharges

Airline Handling Fees:

Airline Cargo Terminals have reviewed their Australian handling charges for 2021 and have announced that handling Charges will increase from 1st March 2021 to below levels:

  • Arline Airwaybill Fee               AUD 60.00/airway bill
  • Airline Handling Fee                AUD 0.59/kg, Minimum AUD 59.00
  • International Terminal Fee        AUD 0.20/kg, Minimum AUD 50.00

 

Port Infrastructure Levies:

Australian Port Terminals are set to again increase their charges on import containers into below Australian ports.

The new charges, while being vehemently disputed by freight forwarders, trucking companies and industry representatives with both the operators and various State and Federal Governments, will add additional costs to trucking company operations.

The new charges will be applied from 1st March, 2021:

Sydney:

Side-Loader Trailer Access Fee     AUD 80.00/container

Port Infrastructure Levy                 AUD 140.00/container

 

Melbourne:

Port Vehicle Booking Fee               AUD 40.00/container

Port Infrastructure Levy                 AUD 155.00/container

 

Brisbane:

Port Vehicle Booking Fee               AUD 40.00/container

Port Infrastructure Levy                 AUD 155.00/container

 

Fremantle:

Port Vehicle Booking Fee:               AUD 40.00/container

Port Infrastructure Levy                   AUD 75.00/container

 

Industry bodies are currently lobbying State and Federal Governments in order to end these continual cost increases, further approaches are underway in lobbying Governments to also implement an enquiry into Port Congestion Surcharges, Storage Charges and Empty Equipment Detention Fees being levied by Shipping Lines.

 

IMO 2020 Low Sulphur Fuel Surcharge:

MSC Lines have announced a change to their above surcharge from 1st March, 2021, the new levels will be applied as follows:

From North East Asia to Australia/NZ         USD 30.00 per 20ft container, USD 60.00 per 40ft container

From South East Asia to Australia/NZ         USD 41.00 per 20ft container, USD 82.00 per 40ft container

OOCL Line has also revised their surcharge as follows, effective from 1st March 2021:

From North Asia to Australia/NZ         USD 45.00 per 20ft container, USD 90.00 per 40ft container

From South East Asia to Australia/NZ         USD 26.00 per 20ft container, USD 52.00 per 40ft container

 

Peak Season Surcharges:

CMA-CGM and ANL Line have announced a Peak Season Surcharge will be implemented from all North European ports (excluding Spain and Turkey) effective from 1st March 2021 at a level of USD 200.00/20ft and USD 400.00/40ft container.

MSC Line have announced a Peak Season Surcharge will be implemented from all European, UK, Baltic and Mediterranean origin ports effective from 8th March, 2021 at a level of USD 250.00/20ft and USD 500.00/40ft container.

All above rate variations will be added to GPSM web rates.

Melbourne Industrial Action

Melbourne Port Industrial Action:

The Maritime Union of Australia has notified VICT Terminal (Australia’s only fully automated facility) of impending industrial action , with a series of full shift work-bans and stoppages beginning today Tuesday, 16th February, 2020.

The bans go beyond full shift stop-work directives and include threats to impose old-fashioned over-manning and restrictive work practices on VICT, directly undermining the competitiveness the terminal derives from its automated technology and modern way of working.
With no update from the MUA today, Tim Vancampen, CEO of VICT, said he was amazed the MUA would even consider this sort of attack while the Victorian economy was already at a standstill owing to its third lock-down.
“VICT accounts for a third of Victoria’s container freight. The union is directly attacking VICT’s unique way of working as a modern, automated terminal. They want to take us back to the past, no matter the cost or the ill-considered timing in the context of the lockdown.
“This campaign won’t produce the extra jobs, massive pay rises and fewer hours the Union has promised our employees. All it will do is undermine VICT’s competitiveness and threaten the benefits of port automation for Victoria and for the Port of Melbourne,” he said.
“If the MUA was serious about representing VICT employees’ interests it would seek to protect their modern jobs, not jeopardize them,” he said.

The stoppages and bans include:

  • A Four (4) hour stoppage already planned on Tuesday 16th February, 2020.
  • A stop work for a full 12-hour shift on Friday, 19 February, commencing 6:00pm.Further 12-hour shift bans are threatened for Sunday, 21 February at 6.00 am, following immediately by a 24-hour ban commencing at 18.00, 21 February – therefore incurring a 36-hour concurrent stoppage of all VICT’s operations and equipment maintenance.
  • From Monday February 22, VICT’s control room will be banned from operating cranes unless the operations of each crane is manned by a dedicated quayside supervisor.
  • An indefinite ban on overtime, various restrictions on communications phone use and bans on interaction with anyone outside Australia.

The industrial action will seriously impact container movements in and out of the port and no doubt lead to additional congestion and vessel delays at a time when Australia’s ports are still recovering from unprecedented congestion and vessel delays.

East Coast USA storms

Severe snowstorms on the East Coast of the USA is resulting in significant delays for cargo/container collections and deliveries at present and the storms are expected to continue until mid-week.

The states of PA, NJ, & NY have declared a State of Emergency and are mandating that all non-essential personnel stay home and off the road.

Local truckers have advised they will be closed until mid-week and will take time to return operations to full service.

We will continue to monitor the situation & provide updates as they become available

General Shipping Update February 2021

Australian ports:

Generally all Australian ports are working well, there is some industrial action in Fremantle which is causing some delays to deliveries but overall ports are working well for deliveries in and out of all Terminals.

The national industrial action planned by Maritime Union of Australia against Svitzer, the national tug company, was averted recently allowing a smoother flow of vessels into all ports, albeit with some ports reporting a large number of vessels awaiting discharge at most times.

 

NZ Congestion:

Auckland ports continue to be heavily congested and a number of shipping lines are diverting sailings during February to omit the normal scheduled Auckland port call, particularly from USA, in an effort to try and maintain scheduling.

 

Singapore Congestion:

The delays in Singapore to Australian ports are currently between 7 and 21 days, it is hoped that the situation will ease with the onset of Chinese New Year holiday late next week when they should see an easing of import/export volume, shipping lines in Australia are currently advising us that they expect it could be at least 6 more weeks before they can see an ease to the current situation.

 

China Ports:

Severe delays have been encountered with vessel departures over recent weeks with schedules thrown in chaos due to a backlog of cargo, freak weather events off the China coast and an unprecedented volume of cargo moving in and out of China.

Most main ports in China have seen vessel delays recently with an embargo on reefer containers being sent to Xingang and Qingdao ports. A severe shortage of empty equipment in China has also led to delays in export shipments as container lines struggle to reposition enough empty equipment to service the demand.

 

South East Asia Ports:

Heavy congestion exists in most South East Asian ports with equipment and space issues particularly bad out of Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. The huge volume of traffic that has moved from these countries over recent months has led to equipment shortages and space problems with all sailings fully booked on all trade routes. The same situation exists in Indonesia and Indian main ports at this time.

 

West Coast USA ports:

Los Angeles and Long Beach ports continue with heavy congestion, above average numbers of vessels arriving, a shortage of empty equipment for export and a very large shortage of truck drivers and chassis to move the incoming flood of containers.

Last week it was reported some 40 vessels were anchored at sea awaiting entry to the ports for discharge and load operations.

 

East Coast USA Ports:

East Coast USA ports are faring much better than West Coast USA ports, and while all vessels off the East Coast are fully booked at present, the delays have been less dramatic. There is a general shortage of empty equipment in the Mid-West areas as well as an acute shortage of truckers and chassis with delays of a week to 10 day common for sourcing equipment and arranging trucking to the ports.

 

European Ports:

Similar to most other regions, most sailings fully booked with huge cargo volumes moving to Asia and Australia and some issues with sourcing empty container equipment, particularly in inland European points. Some lines have announced they are restricting or cancelling bookings to Australia for the month of February in an effort to clear the backlog of cargo and to reposition empty equipment back to Europe.

 

Container Services in General:

At the normal Peak Season period from August to December most shipping lines will add additional sailings (commonly called clean out sailings), however in a Newsflash received today from Hapag-Lloyd in Europe, we are advised that chartering of additional vessels at present is almost impossible as all available vessels are already in service around the globe. This is a stark contrast to “normal times” when shipowners have available vessels for anyone wanting a one-time charter.

 

Airfreight Services into Australia:

With the Australian Government again reducing the number of passengers permitted to arrive in Australia per week, and imposing new restrictions on flight crews arriving into hotel quarantine, flight services have again been disrupted. The UK Government also banning all flights from Middle East areas in and out of UK has seen a drop in flights available from UK and Europe. Emirates announced it was cancelling all flights to and from Australia some 10 days ago, they then suddenly back-flipped after a few days and are again now operating services on reduced scheduling from European origin points via Dubai to Australia. Both Qatar Airways and Etihad Airlines are also flying from Europe via The Middle East to Australia on limited schedule.

Protected Industrial Action

Protected Industrial Action:

D P World Terminals have advised they have received notice of protected industrial action from the Maritime Union of Australia.

Work will stop in the below terminals for Union members to discuss the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement put forward by D P World Terminals at the following times and dates:

Melbourne Friday 15/1/21 from 1.00pm to 3.00pm

Fremantle Tuesday 19/1/21 from 9.30am to 1.30pm

Above stoppages will have an impact on container receivals and deliveries in both terminals.

 

Svitzer Industrial Action – Vessel impacts

Maersk Line have advised of industrial actions being taken against Svitzer (a Maersk Company and National Tug Operator) by the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

Svitzer has received strike notice from MUA for below dates and locations:

Dates: Tues 12 Jan 0001hrs until Fri 15 Jan 2359hrs, Tues 19 Jan 0001hrs until Fri 22 Jan 2359hrs, Tues 26 Jan 0001hrs until Fri 29 Jan 2359hrs

Location: BNE, SYD, MEL, ADL, FRE

Svitzer is working on alternate arrangements in order to mitigate the impact to vessels.

GPSM Customer Service/Transport Teams will keep affected clients updated on developments.

Shipping Line Surcharges

Shipping Line Surcharges:

Hapag Lloyd Line have announced that as a result of an empty equipment shortage in Northern Europe (excluding UK and Ireland) they will impose an Equipment Imbalance Surcharge on all trade routes effective from 15th January, 2021.

For shipments to Asia and Australia/New Zealand the surcharge will be levied at the rate of USD 200.00/20ft container and USD 400.00/40ft container.

The above surcharge will be effective until sufficient empty equipment is available to meet the current demand, GPSM web rates will be updated to include the new Surcharge.