Shipping Australia notes the agreement between the states and territories to develop voluntary national guidelines for stevedore infrastructure / access charges.
Ocean carriers have contracts with shippers of cargo. Ocean carriers also have contracts with ports and also with terminals for the loading and discharge of cargo.
Consignees enter into contractual relationships with land transport operators, such as trucking companies. When trucking companies seek entry to a terminal, and such access is granted in return for the payment of money, then the trucking company and the terminal enter into a contractual relationship i.e. the trucking company becomes a customer of the container terminal.
As readers can clearly see, ocean carriers are not, in the overwhelming majority of cases, in a contractual relationship with land transport operators. It therefore follows that any matters relating to stevedore infrastructure access charges are for stevedores and trucking companies to resolve between them.
Advocacy that ocean shipping lines should be forced to absorb such costs is based on the fact that ocean carriers and land transport operators both use the services of container terminal operators. Such advocacy is clearly based on a flawed premise and should therefore be rejected.
Shipping Australia’s full policy statement on this matter is ‘Terminal Access Charges’ which can be read in the FAQ section of this website.
