As we start into a New Year, and an expected surge of containers expected through February/March following Chinese New Year holiday period, we remind all clients of advising earliest empty container pick-ups when containers are dropped on site.
The trucking industry throughout Australia has been under immense pressure since Covid commenced with longer than normal delays at container terminals and empty container parks all of whom have struggled to deliver or receive on time, particularly empty container parks as per below:
- Limited operating hours of container parks.
- Empty container park capacity issues.
- Lack of slots to collect or de-hire.
- Constant and last-minute redirections to alternative container parks.
- Lengthy delays.
During this period, our interstate partners have insisted on a minimum of 3 days’ notice for empty collection, below is an example of their requirements:
- At a minimum, we requires three (3) full working days to collect and de-hire empty containers.
- Where a single public holiday falls in any month, we requires a minimum of four (4) full working days to collect and de-hire empty containers.
- Where more than one public holiday falls in any month, we requires a minimum of five (5) full working days to collect and de-hire empty containers.
This situation is now the normal minimal industry requirement, in fact we see some interstate truckers are asking for up to 5 days’ notice to collect empty containers.
This has led to additional charges being incurred on many shipments which GPSM have until now absorbed, however we regret we are unable to continue to absorb these costs.
Moving forward, would all clients please ensure the above requirements are met to assist us in a smooth operation and avoiding additional costs.
Please note the above only applies to deliveries in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, GPSM in Sydney are managing the delivery and retrieval of empties under our original 2 days’ notice requirement.