Montreal & Vancouver Port Dispute
An ongoing dispute by port workers and terminal operators in Montreal and Vancouver has resulted in the union voting to reject substantial pay offer of more than 20% to be implemented over 6 years retrospective to early 2024.
The Maritime Employers Association (MEA) noted that would mean the average compensation for dockers would equate to more than C$200,000 (AUD 234,300) a year, and would also apply to the current pension plan and benefits offered to port of Montreal workers.
Operations have been halted at Montreal & Vancouver since 31 October and now port operators have now declared a lockout of workers. Rail operators have now advised they will not accept bookings for containers moving into Montreal until further notice.
Vessel operators are now considering alternative options to avoid the dispute, while in breaking news, the Canadian Government has stepped in and directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order a resumption of all work and move talks to binding arbitration.
Australian Terminal Charges
The terminals operated by DP World and Patricks have announced the implementation of increased charges from 1st January 2025 at all their terminals across Australia.
As yet Hutchinson ports or VICT Melbourne have not made any announcement but are expected to follow suit.
We will advise all variations to current rates once costs are on hand and checked, the terminals are claiming they are spending huge amounts on infrastructure at all terminals and need to recoup those outgoings.
New North West Europe to Australia Service
MSC Lines have announced they are starting a new service to Australia from NW Continent ports of Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, London and Le Havre. Containers will tranship at Port Louis and the Australian port rotation will be Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle. MSC are quoting transit times as follows:
THE NEW LINK BETWEEN NORTHWEST CONTINENT AND AUSTRALIA
| SOUTHBOUND | SYDNEY | MELBOURNE | ADELAIDE | FREMANTLE |
| ANTWERP | 37 days | 42 days | 46 days | 51 days |
| LONDON GATEWAY | 36 days | 40 days | 44 days | 50 days |
| ROTTERDAM | 48 days | 53 days | 57 days | 62 days |
| BREMERHAVEN | 42 days | 47 days | 51 days | 56 days |
| HAMBURG | 43 days | 48 days | 52 days | 58 days |
| LE HARVE | 41 days | 44 days | 46 days | 50 days |
Above transit times are indicative only and subject to change without notice.
The above service is a replacement for the previous service that operated via Singapore to Australia and an addition to the direct service from NW Continent ports.
The Trump Presidency in USA
It is expected that the Trump administration will implement large tariffs on imports from China in USA when they power. At this time there is no indication of any expected changes to Australian goods entering USA nor any news on the future of the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and USA.
What is clear is that American importers are ramping up purchases from China prior to the new administration taking over, this may have some ramifications as it is expected many lines will add extra services and the increased volumes are likely to cause congestion at USA ports. This may have an effect on the container traffic to and from USA, GPSM will keep you fully informed of further developments.