Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) has outlined a competitive pricing framework to encourage supply chain efficiency and maintain its status as Australia's leading container port in two Reference Tariff Schedule (RTS) documents released today.
After holding full export box charges at their 2014-15 rate last year, PoMC has reduced wharfage on this cargo type by 2.5% in the first of successive planned reductions of 2.5% each year to 2019-2020 to improve PoMC's competitiveness in international and mainland containerised exports.
PoMC has also kept the overall increase in its other fees and charges to 1.3% - less than half last year's CPI adjustment. The new fees and charges will apply from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.
The 2016-17 pricing announcement builds on last year's modest CPI increment and follows consultation with customers, key representative groups and cargo owners who cited supply chain cost pressures which PoMC considered in setting its pricing.
Announcing the release of PoMC's pricing for 2016-17, Chief Executive Officer Nick Easy said:
"We believe this is a competitive customer offering to underpin the Port of Melbourne's premier position in Australia. Not only is full export box wharfage less than it was three years ago, further reductions are scheduled every year to 2020 which gives our customers pricing certainty.
"Once again, we've backed up last year's minimal price adjustment which saw a freeze on prices for international exporters and a moderate CPI increase on other tariffs.
"This year we've gone even further to encourage supply chain efficiency and enhance the port's status as the nation's premier freight and logistics hub.
"The 1.3% increase to other charges represents a reasonable and responsible approach to port pricing, particularly given PoMC's capital expenditure of around $450 million on port infrastructure in the past two years.
"Our customers are aware that a port lease market process is well underway. The documents released today outline in a transparent way the respective fees and charges to be applied for 2016-17 by PoMC and its successor organisation the Victorian Ports Corporation (Melbourne) and for the private Port Manager (Port of Melbourne Operations Pty Ltd as the Trustee for the Port of Melbourne Unit Trust) post transaction completion."
In terms of charges, wharfage for loaded twenty foot container exports will decrease by $1.62 to $63.28 per TEU plus GST while wharfage for loaded twenty foot container imports will increase by $0.86 to $67.54 per TEU plus GST.
Wharfage charges for empty containers will increase by $0.22 to $16.76 per TEU plus GST and channel fees will increase on average by 1.3% plus GST as will the Infrastructure fee.
The modest increase to wharfage on motor vehicles amounts to just over 50 cents per vehicle on average.
The discount on channel fees for passenger cruise vessels is retained but at a reduced rate, decreasing from 15% to 10% as previously advised to industry.
Once the Port of Melbourne Lease Transaction has concluded, new pricing documents will be re-issued for the commencement of operations of the private Port Manager and Victorian Ports Corporation (Melbourne) with the fees and charges payable during 2016-17 remaining unchanged.
The respective RTS documents, together with PoMC's 2015 Pricing Policy Statement, can be viewed on PoMC's website www.portofmelbourne.com/port-operations/port-pricing