Australia: Unlocking port congestion at Port Botany

Australia: New South Wales Minister for Ports and Waterways, Paul McLeay has announced major reforms aimed at reducing congestion at Port Botany.

Mr McLeay said the majority of stakeholder and industry feedback received had been overwhelmingly positive.

"It is in everyone's interest that we have an efficient and transparent landside operation at the port. While I have decided to regulate to reduce congestion at the port and ensure efficiency in the supply chain, co-operation from all users of Port Botany remains critical to the reform package," Mr McLeay said.

Under the new Port Botany Landside Improvement Strategy (PBLIS) – truck carriers will receive a penalty payment if stevedores fail to meet the regulated standards:

Before the reforms there were no incentives for stevedores to service trucks in a quick and timely fashion

• If a truck was late or did not arrive, they paid a penalty to the stevedore
• If a stevedore did not service a truck or was late in servicing a truck there was no penalty. The truck operator wore the cost of waiting.
• This will be rectified through the implementation of a series of mandatory regulations and penalty payments will flow between the stevedores and road operators directly. The penalties will be:
• Stevedore must pay the road carrier A$25 (US$22.16) for every 15 minute delay
• Stevedore must pay the road carrier A$100 (US$88.64) for a cancelled slot if cancelled within two hours of slot or A$50 (US$44.32) to be paid for cancelled slot outside this period
• Road carrier must pay the stevedore A$50 (US$44.32) for late arrival; and
• Road carrier must pay the stevedore A$100 (US$88.64) for no-show

Mr McLeay said the new regulations would give all parties a fair go. "I have a responsibility to ensure that Port Botany, the key container port in New South Wales, can meet not only short-term demand, but longer term growth in container movements as well.

"Container trade continues to reach record highs – up 4.8 per cent on same time last year. All trends indicate this growth is not going to slow."