Shipping Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Melwyn Noronha presented at the hearing of the Victorian Essential Services Commission into the Port of Melbourne’s compliance with the Pricing Order.
Matters raised and highlighted by Capt. Noronha were:
- the current framework has provided some restraint on price hikes for some of the prescribed services since the port was privatised
- SAL members are concerned about the impact on prices resulting from any amendment to the Pricing Order
- there should be an appropriate method for consultation and input on proposed amendments to the Pricing Order
- any input should be addressed appropriately
- the Port of Melbourne adopts a length of one year for its regulatory period in setting its prescribed service revenue.
- unpredicted changes to these charges affect contractual arrangements
- longer regulatory periods would promote stability and predictability of prescribed service tariffs for port users within the applicable tariff limit
- industry representatives should be included on future consultations about the feasibilities and implications of a longer regulatory period.
- Members are opposed to the financing method of pay first / use later when the infrastructure is built
- This is akin to charging everyone for a toll road in advance of the road being built
- Operators should build first then charge when the infrastructure is available for use
- investment upgrades for bigger ship handling
- buyers of Port of Melbourne ought to have been aware that there was, or that there would be a need for, further investment in the port’s ability to handle bigger ships
- this need was foreseeable at the time of privatisation
- this need was, in fact, highlighted by Shipping Australia at the time of the privatisation
- buyers of Port of Melbourne ought to have been aware that there was, or that there would be a need for, further investment in the port’s ability to handle bigger ships
- recovery of deferred depreciation in future years (post 2032-2033). Members are keen to know:
- the timing and methodology for recovering deferred depreciation
- how recovery will affect them
- any new fees or new charges should take the form of a separate and transparent surcharge
- new fees / charges should be a separate line item on the invoice
- they should be a published, fixed, end-point in time for temporary charges
- performance standards and criteria for port productivity should be associated with price increases – utilisation of the Container Port Performance Index report, methodology and associated metrics from the recently released World Bank & IHS Markit Report should be used
- channel fees and surcharges
- amendment to definition and implementation of the Channel Fees Charge, especially for so called Pure Car Carriers:
- technically speaking, there are no Pure Car Carriers anymore
- these days all car carriers are PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carriers)
- PCCs carry cars only; PCTCs carry cars, trucks and other wheeled cargo of various kinds
- PCTCs are a type of roll-on / roll-off vessel
- Channel surcharges should not be based purely on a ship’s summer draught as some RoRo / PCTCs can’t reach summer draught as the berth pocket does not allow it
- Some RoRo vessels which have a maximum summer draught over 12.1 metres are charged the higher tariff even though
- they arrive with at a draught of less than 10 metres; and
- they can only go to a berth where maximum allowable draught at Webb Dock West is 11.8 m.
Other presentations were made on the day by Port of Melbourne, Patrick Terminals and DP World.
