Due to failure of their landside quay crane rail, Patrick continues to operate with limited berth availability at their Port Botany terminal. The CBFCA understands that over the last two weeks at least seventeen vessels have by-passed......
Sydney calling instead at Port Kembla or continuing their scheduled voyages to other Australian ports.
In order to minimise additional disruption to sailing schedules, Patrick are strictly limiting the volume of export empties being received in order to focus on timely servicing of vessels. As a result, high volumes of import containers are still being discharged at Port Botany however local empty container parks (ECPs) are rapidly reaching capacity. This has generated significant operational disruption and additional costs to the entire supply chain.
Slot availability
Member feedback has indicated that limited Vehicle Booking System (VBS) slots are available. Patrick management has confirmed that they are meeting their Port Botany Landside Improvement Strategy (PBLIS) minimum requirement of fifty (50) slots per hour. The CBFCA has requested confirmation of this from Sydney Ports Corporation (SPC). Patrick has committed to provide additional slots on a daily basis based on available resources to ensure that they can service trucks within prescribed PBLIS turnaround times.
Empty Container Park capacity
Due to the limited ability of shipping lines to evacuate empty containers, Sydney's empty container parks (ECPs) are close to reaching capacity. Shipping lines have been authorising re-directions of nominated ECPs for the dehire of empty containers in order to manage this issue. The CBFCA has subsequently received advice that some transport companies have introduced a "re-direction fee" in order to recover associated waiting, travel and fuel costs.
Container Detention
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Both the CBFCA and SPC have made requests to Shipping Australia Limited (SAL) for extended container detention periods for the dehire of empties during the current operational conditions. The CBFCA understands that SAL has forwarded this request to their member shipping lines however is yet to receive a formal response.
The CBFCA anticipates that shipping lines will maintain current container detention policies addressing each scenario on a case-by-case basis. The CBFCA recommends that members maintain comprehensive records pertaining to any potential delay in container dehire and initiate early engagement with relevant shipping lines.
Sydney Port Congestion Surcharge
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As outlined in the attached notices, the following shipping lines intend to introduce a Sydney Port Congestion Surcharge
- Pacific Asia Express (PAE) - effective 22 October 2011
- Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) - effective 15 November 2011
- OOCL - effective 21 November 2011
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The CBFCA view remains that shipping lines should look to contractual arrangements with stevedores for failure to meet KPIs rather than seeking compensation from consignees.
The CBFCA has received reassurances that SPC is taking the related productivity issue very seriously. To that end, SPC is chairing a working group comprising various shipping line, stevedore and Shipping Australia Ltd (SAL) representatives working collaboratively to monitor and improve quayside performance at Port Botany.
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