CTAA has welcomed the establishment by the Victorian Minister for Ports, the Hon. Melissa Horne MP, of the Victorian Container Storage Working Group which is gathering together senior representatives from shipping lines, container stevedore terminals, transport operators, the Port of Melbourne, peak bodies (including CTAA) and government representatives to tackle the severe pressures challenging efficient landside container logistics operations.
View the Victorian Government's Media Release: HERESince the beginning of 2022, CTAA has highlighted the significant strains under which the container logistics sector is operating in Australia. This has been particularly acute in Melbourne and across Victoria due to:- Labour shortages caused by COVID-related absenteeism and the longer-term impact on labour supply due to Australia's international borders being closed for two years due to the pandemic;
- Continued high container volume demand, both for imports and seasonal exports;
- Continued vessel berthing delays at the Port of Melbourne leading to vessel bunching, which magnifies large vessel discharge and load exchanges, all of which need to be processed in the normal three days of import container availability, including over nightshifts and weekend shifts
- A slow down in the velocity of the movement of full import containers through the supply chain due to transport yard hard-stand & warehousing capacity constraints, as well as pressures on customers' ability to receive freight due to labour shortages and inventory spikes;
- Containers subject to biosecurity or Border Force intervention taking longer to process.
- A build-up of empty containers leading to capacity constraints in some empty container depots. This requires a fine balance between empty container upgrade & availability suitable for food-grade exports during current export seasonal demand, with the evacuation of empties through the Port of Melbourne by shipping lines to keep empty stocks at a manageable level.
- Full export containers impacted when suitable empties aren't available, when vessel receival dates are altered due to changed vessel berthing timetables, and when export containers either miss vessel cut-offs, or are "rolled" by shipping lines to subsequent services.
CTAA alliance companies in Melbourne report transport yard capacities operating at well over 100%, with additional storage space for full (and empty) containers being sought at great cost.
Congested transport yards are not good for transport efficiency, timely client delivery and safety. Boxes need to be block-stacked leading to additional yard moves to "dig out" containers, either for customer delivery or empty container de-hire.
Transport companies have called for patience and understanding by customers and everyone else in the supply chain as these challenges need to be faced together. This includes from shipping lines who have not offered any blanket relief from stringent import (or export) container detention policies, but have indicated that they will address concerns on a "case-by-case" basis.
On the issue of container detention, importers and forwarders are being urged to contact shipping lines early to seek extensions to container detention free time if containers are likely to be delayed given the current confluence of extreme pressures being applied to the landside container logistics sector. Regards,
Neil Chambers, Director
Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) |
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