May Newsletter

Bata Shoes 

Bata Shoes is donating pairs of shoes to health and aged care workers, the front-liners fighting the covid-19 with admirable courage.

We are proud to be associated with a long term customer, who remains committed to supporting the community generously through these challenging times.

If you know any health or aged care workers, please let them know about this generous offer. They will just need to present their Employer ID at the store. The offer ends at the end of the month or until stock runs out. 

Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

The Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will enter into force on 5 July 2020. Whilst both Indonesia and Australia are already members under the ASEAN-Australian-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the benefits of the agreement will be strongly felt by Australian exporters and services providers, who will see improved market access, including significantly reduced duty rates for agricultural exporters. A significant benefit of the Indonesia-Australia agreement is a system for using a declaration of origin rather than certificates of origin issued by an official body.  For further information on the agreement, please see below website link. 

https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/in-force/iacepa/Pages/indonesia-australia-comprehensive-economic-partnership-agreement

Port of Melbourne’s Port Rail Transformation Project

The Port Rail Transformation Project is set to go ahead with all of the project preconditions being completed. The Port of Melbourne advised the $125 million initiative will involve significant rail infrastructure works and a new rail operating framework inside the port that will provide an alternative to moving containers by trucks. The project is being funded through an increase in the tariff of $9.75 per TEU on full import containers, to take effect 1 June 2020.  For further information, please see below media release from the Port of Melbourne. 

https://www.portofmelbourne.com/wp-content/uploads/Media-Release-Rail-Project-to-Commence-30042020.pdf.pdf

Fuel Surcharge Update

As a result of recent movements in the cost of fuel, ICAL will decrease the fuel surcharge on all domestic deliveries by 1% effective May 20th.