ACCC Container Stevedoring Report

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have released its annual container stevedoring report. The report highlights the need for more competition to encourage increased investment and productivity at container ports, and observes the progress NSW is making towards more competitive ports.

Ensuring Sydney remains globally competitive; the NSW Government is investing in the $1 billion expansion of Port Botany to meet Sydney’s future trade growth. This project will also bring a new stevedoring operator to Sydney with the selection of global port operator Hutchison Port Holdings to operate the third container terminal. The importance of the appointment of a third operator at Port Botany has been highlighted by the ACCC.

Australia’s competition watchdog says increased competition at Australia’s major ports will encourage stevedores to invest in terminals and maximise the use of existing facilities.

The Commission also highlights the significant legislative reforms introduced in NSW in 2008. Under these reforms the NSW’s three Port Corporations are required to promote and facilitate a competitive port environment. The reforms are also specifically designed to improve productivity and efficiency at ports and in the port related supply chains.

In Sydney these supply chain improvement reforms are contained in the Port Botany Landside Improvement Strategy (PBLIS) which is designed to reduce congestion, improve efficiency and ease freight delays at the Port Botany terminal.

“Demand at Australia’s major ports is forecast to almost triple during the next two decades as trade booms”, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s annual container stevedoring report said.

“The challenge we face as a nation is to improve productivity and to underpin Australia’s economic performance,” ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said.

“Competition is important for driving the stevedoring industry to invest in new capacity and use existing infrastructure to move containers on and off ships faster and in ever-increasing numbers.”

Sydney Ports’ leasing practices have also been revised to ensure the leases for major port facilities such as the Port Botany stevedoring terminals promote competition, investment and productivity.

For example, the DP World lease at Port Botany (signed in 2009) now includes productivity and performance targets, including incentives and penalties. This model will also apply to Hutchinson’s new lease at Port Botany.

The NSW Government’s reforms of port operations will increase competition and trade growth and lead to greater investment in port facilities.

These reforms are crucial to the economic productivity of New South Wales and of Australia.

The full ACCC Container Stevedoring Report can be found here.