A bit of weekend reading over the Australia Day BBQ and beer has just landed; the Freight Branch of Transport for NSW has announced that the “Final Report of the Independent Review of the Ports and Maritime Act and the Port Botany Landside Improvement Strategy has been released.
The Final Report has made 37 recommendations relating to the Act and PBLIS. All 16 of the Act recommendations will be adopted. Further stakeholder consultation will occur on 20 of the 21 PBLIS recommendations before making a final decision on these.
In a statement on freight policy, the NSW Government has commented that:
“In relation to the recommendations of the Independent Review of PAMA and PBLIS it is noted the 16 recommendations relating to the PAMA Act will be progressed towards implementation; of the 21 recommendations relating to PBLIS, 20 are subject to further consultation before Government responds to the recommendation and 1 recommendation will not be adopted. The review was commenced in 2021 with the report received by the NSW Government in 2023. Through the Freight Policy Reform Program, industry will be consulted on 20 of the 21 recommendations of the Independent Review relating to PBLIS, except the recommendation for the administration of PBLIS to be undertaken by NSW Ports. The NSW Government has rejected this recommendation as it is considered appropriate that this function remain within Government.”
A selections of the recommendations are as follows:
- Dangerous goods time limit penalty – replace the current three tier dangerous goods in ports time-limit penalty structure with an ongoing penalty that applies for each day that dangerous goods remain at port facilities beyond the set time limits;
- Towage, lines handling and bunkering services – Introduce a statutory licensing regime administered by Port Authority
- Update permit requirements for bunkering and other works
- Make changes to private port operator directions to introduce a criminal offence and penalty infringement notice (PIN) for persons who breach private port operator directions
- Amend the port operator direction notification period from at least two weeks to at least one week to allow for more timely responses to general (non-emergency) safety or security issues
- Require trading ships to provide relevant port authorities with vessel performance information such as fuel types, exhaust gas cleaning systems, noise emission levels and noise mitigation measures where relevant, and for vessels carrying bulk liquids to also provide information such as pump and outlet capacities
- Change the port operator charges notification period to provide 40 business days’ notification to the Minister before implementation, and within that period 20 business days’ notification to industry before implementation
- Strengthen vessel manifest information requirements and information sharing mechanisms to support quality information provision and efficient data sharing
- More information sharing from vessels re: goods loaded or discharged and a requirement for information to be provided in an appropriate electronic format unless agreed otherwise
- TfNSW should review the application of current port boundaries
- Clarify functions of TfNSW to reflect changes in responsibilities for managing waterways infrastructure and the provision of maritime services across NSW and improve clarity of the role of TfNSW
- Allow Port Authority to engage in activities that are complementary to its principal objectives
- Remove the navigation service charge exemptions applied in Port Botany and Sydney Harbour in the Regulation so that vessels that enter ports are subject to the navigation service charge for each entry
- Outline the objectives of the Act and make other amendments to remove outdated references and requirements and simplify the Act
Further reading
