Increased Airline Terminal Handing Costs:
Airfreight Cargo Terminal Operators (CTO’s) have announced they will again increase handling fees at all terminals in Australia effective from 1st September, 2023 This is the second increase in the last 2 months.
The revised costs amount to $ 0.02/kg on handling, with an increase of $ 2.00 for Airway Bill fees., updated rates have been added to the GPSM rates portal.
LCL Trucking Charges:
When import/export LCL depots introduced time slot bookings some 12 months ago it was hoped it would see an end to the long queues we encountered every day. Despite us having to pay a booking fee for every truck, this has not led to any improvement in the ranks at the LCL depots, in most cases it has made the delays in loading longer.
GPSM has conducted an audit on all LCL import pick-ups and export drop-offs over the last 3 months and have found the delays encountered have added some 3-4 hours per load idle time to our operational costs.
We will be increasing the cubic metre rate by $ 1.00 per cbm/1000kgs and we will be increasing our minimum LCL trucking charges in all states by an average of $ 10.00 per shipment to assist in covering the shortfall, we believe this is a fairest way of spreading the costs involved. Our trucking costs have not increased for some two (2) years despite many cost increases being absorbed over that period.
The new LCL trucking charges will be introduced effective from 7th September, 2023.
Panama Canal Shipping Delays:
We are seeing several publications advising that due to drought conditions the water level in the Panama Canal has dropped, resulting in vessel movement restrictions on a daily basis.
On average, these delays are presently adding an around 2-3 days to transit times on services to/from the USA East Coast ports. Vessl operators have also been advised that the maximum vessel draught has also been reduced by some 10%, leading to less containers/tonnage being moved on vessels transiting the Canal.
Authorities are trying to add additional water to the lock system but in drought conditions this will be a slow process.