FTA, APSA call for urgent intervention to prevent supply chain crisis

The Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) is bringing focus to a possible crisis regarding the effects of last year’s escalated industrial action faced by all three stevedores, which has had crippling effects on the international trade sector.

As well as resulting in additional time and cost to move imported goods back across state borders, the FTA said the events left commerce scrambling for supplies and regional producers with the dilemma on how to reach overseas markets with limited shipping services.

According to FTA, exporters and importers have paid an estimated $330 million in congestion surcharges to recover vessel operational costs.

This resulted in significantly diminished returns for manufacturers, farmers and regional communities whilst contributing to record high, multi-billion dollar profits by several foreign owned shipping lines.

Both Patrick and DP World have agreed to continue out of court negotiations with the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

DP World subsequently successfully implemented an Enterprise Agreement with their employees. While Hutchison has experienced periods of ongoing industrial action, they have more recently reported that they too are close to resolution.

However, the FTA revealed that Patrick and the MUA still have unresolved matters causing major disruption, noting their critically important operation handles more than 40% of overall containerised trade volume via Port Botany.

In a formal notice to rail operators accessing Port Botany, Patrick executive stated that they written to the MUA seeking an exception of certain roles from the industrial action within the rail operations to enable trains to access/ingress the terminal during the period of disruption

FTA Director and APSA Secretariat Paul Zalai noted that Patrick has made the unilateral decision to cancel a significant proportion of rail windows from 24 June to 15 July 2021.

“This action, conducted without any consultation with exporters, will have devastating economic impacts on the New South Wales economy,” Zalai said.

“We remain uncertain how much suffering is required before this action can be the pre-requisite trigger required to again take proceedings before the commission,” he said.

Regional exporters reliant on rail to move goods to the port will again face additional logistics costs.

In additional, rail operators will be forced to terminate their journey at Sydney intermodal terminals with secondary road movements to be made to the port.

“The additional cost is one factor, however a critical concern for the entire import and export supply-chain is that with a bumper season for the agriculture sector, container volumes will quickly mount at these transition points with the intermodals and empty container parks likely to very quickly become heavily congested,” Zalai warned

“Despite constructive engagement with government and port representatives there are no obvious, workable contingency measures in an environment whereby Patrick are maintaining their position of cancelled rail windows. We are now seeking an urgent meeting with Patrick executives, but we do not
expect that they will deviate away from their position, nor are we confident that that they and the MUA are likely to settle their differences after what has been an extensive and prolonged negotiation,” he said.

FTA and APSA have informed members that the peak industry alliance is escalating its advocacy to the Attorney General for immediate FWC intervention and are calling for the Federal Government to initiate a broader review on waterfront industrial relations.

Source: FTA, APSA