Author: GPSM

Airline Fuel Surcharge:

Airlines operating services to Australia from Hong Kong have announced another fuel surcharge increase effective from 1st July 2018.

The Fuel Surcharge will increase by another HKD 0.40/kg to HKD 2.90/kg, this is the second increase in the last 2 months. GPSM rates will be adjusted to reflect the cost increase.

Adelaide Port Infrastructure Charge:

The Port of Adelaide are introducing an Infrastructure Charge of $ 50.00 per container from 1st July 2018. The new charge will apply to all import and export containers moved via the port.

Adelaide was the only port not to introduce this charge earlier in line with all other major Australian ports. The new charge will apply to FCL and LCL cargo and will be shown separately on all GPSM shipment invoices.

Emergency Bunker Surcharge:

Just a reminder that lines from USA and Canada will implement their Emergency Bunker Surcharge effective 1st July, 2018 at a rate of USD 60.00/20ft and USD 120.00/40ft FCL.

All shipments with a departure date from 1 July will be affected and rates billed by GPSM will reflect the increased costs. This will also apply to LCL shipments, the additional cost will be USD 3.00 per cubic metre or 1000kgs.

New Service from Central and Southern China:

Three shipping lines (APL, Hyundai and Evergreen Lines) have announced they will be introducing a new joint service to Australia from North East Asia in mid-August 2018. The three partners were previously members of a larger lines consortium but have now made the decision to split from that conference and operate an independent service.

Port rotation of the new service will be Ningbo – Shanghai – Yantian – Sydney – Melbourne – Brisbane – Ningbo and will be serviced by five (5) vessels on a weekly schedule.

It is expected the new service will add an extra capacity of 3,700 TEU’s (twenty-foot equivalent containers) to the weekly southbound services.

Main Points

New Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws commence on October 1, 2018.

All parties that have control or influence over a transport task are responsible for compliance under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).

Please refer to the attached CoR checklist, if you select YES in any of the checkboxes for a specific role/s, you are a party in the transport supply chain. Pretty much everyone in the supply chain will be considered liable as the checklist will indicate.

As part of this supply chain, you are legally obliged to eliminate and minimise public risks by doing everything reasonably practicable to ensure all transport related activities are safe. GPSM are already taking steps to ensure it has full compliance by the time these laws come into effect. We will continue to advise information as it comes to hand as we all need to prepare for the new Chain of Responsibility New primary Duty Laws over the next few months.

GPSM suggest as a starting point to establish your own safety management systems with regards to complying to COR:

Check with your insurers on how you might be affected by these new laws, and what your responsibilities encompass. Also check if you are covered in case of an incident as current policies may not give you coverage.

Insurers should also be a good source of information on how best to comply and protect your specific risk factors.

Penalties for noncompliance are large, and penalties may be applied to a business and individual inside the business, such as managers and executive offices.

Penalties range from $50,000 to $300,000 including imprisonment for Individuals and from $500,000 to $3m for Corporations.

You will need to Identify, assess, evaluate, and control risk.

Implement regular reporting systems, including to executive officers.

Document or record actions are taken to manage safety.

Keep an eye out for further newsletters as GPSM will continue to advise on latest developments as more information comes to hand.

As always please don’t hesitate to contact our office if you have any questions. GPSM has appointed a COR compliance officer, Rob Sullivan who will be the key liaison for all matters regarding COR.

Download COR Checklist

COR Checklist

Emergency Bunker Surcharges

Most shipping lines are implementing a new surcharge to cover the rapid cost of Bunker Oil that has risen by an average of 30% – 40% over the last few months. We have received notices from a large number of lines operating in and out of Australia to/from the USA, UK/Europe, South East Asia and Far East Asia.

Some carriers are describing the surcharge as an Emergency Bunker Surcharge, others, where their application to local authorities has been rejected, are now describing it as an Emergency Peak Season Surcharge.

The surcharge will apply to all trade lanes and will be implemented on 1st June 2018, from the information we have to hand at present, with some lines still to decide on their future action, the notified increments are generally around USD 60.00/20ft container and USD 100.00/40ft container, however we have seen one line with a surcharge of USD 75.00/20ft container and USD 150.00/40ft container.

Consolidators have not yet announced a level of charge, however, we believe it will be approximately USD 3.00-USD 4.00 per cbm/1000kgs.

We regret the need to increase costs however the decision is out of GPSM’s hands and is being applied by all shipping line to both contract and non-contract cargoes.

Airline Fuel Surcharge

Airlines operating from Hong Kong to Australia have advised they will increase the Airline Fuel Surcharge from 1st June 2018 from HKD 2.10/kg to HKD 2.60/kg until further notice.

GPSM web rates will be updated to reflect the latest cost increase.

Qingdao Port Closure

China’s Central Government in Beijing has announced that trucks will be banned from entering Qingdao port from June 9th to June 10th inclusive while the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit is taking place in Qingdao. The summit will be chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping and will include observer states and many international visitors. This may lead to shipment delays, our Customer Service Team will keep all clients affected fully informed of any shipment detail changes.

China Customs has released Order No.56 [2017] to adjust the advanced manifest regulations. The adjustments will be effective as of 1st June 2018.

We were originally advised by numerous shipping lines and airlines that this information was only required for shipments into China, however further clarification with China Customs has resulted in us being advised that the new requirements (listed below) will also be required for all exports from China to all worldwide destinations including any shipments transiting any China port.

The following information will need to be supplied to China Customs prior to cargo being Customs cleared for export from China, our Customer Service Team may require you assistance in sourcing this information, please assist them where possible to ensure your shipments are not delayed departing from China:

1. Consignor’s company code (Mandatory): used for the customs clearance

2. Consignor’s phone number (Mandatory): used for the customs clearance

3. Consignor’s AEO code (Optional): AEO is Authorized Economic Operator (Europe only)

4. Consignee’s company name (Mandatory): used for the customs clearance

5. Consignee’s company code (Mandatory if Consignee is not “TO ORDER”) – Australian Business Number-ABN

6. Consignee’s phone number (Mandatory if Consignee is not “TO ORDER”)

7. Name of contact person for Consignee (Mandatory if Consignee is not “TO ORDER”)

8. Phone number of contact person for consignee (Mandatory if Consignee is not “TO ORDER”)

9. Consignee’s AEO code (Optional): AEO is Authorized Economic Operator (Europe only)

10. Notify Party’s company code (Mandatory if Consignee is “TO ORDER”) – Australian Business Number-ABN

11. Notify Party’s phone number (Mandatory if Consignee is “TO ORDER”)

12. Consignee’s company address (Mandatory): used for the customs clearance.

13. Consignee’s email address (Mandatory): used for the customs clearance

14. Consignee’s country code (Mandatory): such as  AU SYD. (used for the customs clearance)

Our China agents will be able to source all the shipper information directly from your suppliers, only items 4-8 and 10-14 (where applicable) will need to be supplied by GPSM for each and every shipment exported from any China port from 1st June 2018.

Dear Clients,

We have just received notification of Industrial Action at all Sydney port Container Terminals on Tuesday 29th May as follows:

HUTCHISON TERMINAL PORT BOTANY

Please be advised there will be a terminal closure on the 29th May from 09:00 am – 2:00 pm.

Extra slots will be allocated to allow for the outage.

PATRICK TERMINAL PORT BOTANY

Please note there will be a 4-hour MUA Stop Work Meeting next Tuesday 29th May. Consequently, time zones from 09:00 am to 2:00 pm inclusive will be closed with Yard Operations resuming from 3:00 pm.

DP WORLD TERMINAL PORT BOTANY

Sydney update: terminal stoppage Tuesday 29 May 2018

Please note a stoppage will take place at our Sydney Terminal from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, Tuesday 29 May 2018.

All terminal operations will cease during this period.

Our Transport Team will be in direct contact with clients affected by the above stoppage to reschedule all deliveries.

Dear Clients,

Please note that the Chinese and Indonesian Governments have announced new regulations on all imports into those countries, regardless of the origin country.

For Indonesia, effective immediately, it will be mandatory to show Indonesian importers Tax ID Number (NPWP) and also the HS Code (Tariff Item) in the body of all bills of lading and airwaybills.

For China, effective from 1st June 2018, the  following is required:

• Consignee Enterprise Code – Uniform Social Credit Code (USCC) of the Consignee is similar to “Tax (payer) Identification Number” (TIN No.). Each USCC contains 18 digits or letters in total. In case of “to order B/L”, please advise tax ID number of first Notify Party. 

• Shipper Enterprise Code, the Australian Business Number (ABN) for Australia.

The above information is required to be submitted to airlines and shipping lines in Australia prior to cargo loading at origin point so it is important that this information is included in all future Shippers Letter of Instructions submitted to GPSM.

Please note that cargo will not be loaded on aircraft or vessels if this information is not received by carriers prior to loading, and GPSM will have no control over carriers actions and costs incurred should you not be able to provide this information prior to loading. Any such costs incurred will be to shipper’s account.

Naturally, our Export Customer Service Team will assist you in ensuring this information is received and processed accordingly, we would suggest that you contact your consignees in both countries to obtain the relative information as soon as possible so that we have same on file to ensure a smooth and trouble-free export operation.

 

DO YOU IMPORT FOOD, THEN READ THIS

Attention all food importers new laws come into force from 1st July 2018, products must be labelled in compliance with “ The Standard under the Australia Consumer Law (ACL). Businesses failing to comply with these new laws face penalties of up to $1.1 million for corporations and $220,000 for individuals.

Labelling requirements for a food item will vary depending on whether the food:

• Is a priority or Non-priority food.
• Was grown, produced, made or packed in Australia, or another country.

Non-priority items are:

• Seasonings
• Confectionary
• Biscuits and snack food
• Bottled water
• Soft drinks, and sports drinks
• Tea and Coffee
• Alcoholic beverages

All other foods, eg: meats, fruits, vegetables, bread, and dairy products, will be priority foods.

For full details on how these new regulations may impact on your business please read the attached Fact Sheet.

Country of Origin Labelling Fact Sheet

A reminder that the New Packing Declaration comes into force for containers arriving from 1st July 2018. Bamboo packaging is now acceptable provided it is treated by an approved method prior to export or on arrival and does not need to be declared as unacceptable packaging. Could you please have your suppliers commence using the new format immediately to prevent additional costs and delays on arrival.

DOWNLOAD FORMS:

Packing Declaration Annual Format

Packing Declaration FCL and LCL

The Department of Agriculture & Water Resources (DAWR ) has ceased heightened measures for the current Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) risk season for goods shipped from 1 May 2018. Goods shipped on or before 30 April 2018 and still en-route to Australia will still be subject to BMSB Mandatory measures where applicable.

DAWR has also said it will use the experience and data gained from this current season to prepare for the strategy to be implemented for the 2018 -2019 season. Information about the movement and establishment of BMSB from Europe and other areas will also be taken into consideration when looking at the 2018-19 season.

In addition to existing mandatory measures that have been implemented to manage this risk, DAWR is also developing a list of approved BMSB treatment providers offshore that will be authorised to conduct and certify treatments for certain categories of goods during the 2018-19 risk season.

Delays to Vessels To / From North China:

Please note that as a result of severe thick fog recently in North China, all vessels on the NE Asia service are currently being delayed into Australian ports. Shipping Lines are trying to adjust scheduling but in some North China ports, up to 1,000 vessels have been delayed and we are now seeing some load ports omitted from scheduling.

Customer Service team will continue updating you on arrival dates of all shipments as usual as latest information is received.

Airline Fuel Surcharge from Hong Kong:

Despite a fuel surcharge reduction in April, airlines operating to Australia have again reinstated the March fuel surcharge of HKD 2.10/kg to all cargo movements for May 2018, rates are being adjusted in our rate module to reflect the increase.