Sydney Port Congestion Surcharge

MSC and ANL / CMA CGM have this week announced that due to congestion in the port of Sydney, a Congestion Surcharge (CGS) will be applied to maintain an acceptable level of service in the port.

Both seem to be blaming recent industrial actions which are impacting the terminals productivity, however, neither have been forthcoming in explaining in their announcements how revenue received through the surcharge, will be used to ease congestion in the port. ICAL, along with the broader forwarding community, strongly oppose the surcharge and strongly believe importers and exporters should be compensated for the poor management and service being offered up by Sydney port at the moment. We will continue to monitor the situation and advise on updates as they become available

MSC – USD$300 per TEU

• Import cargo: for vessel arrival on the 14 September and onward
• Export cargo: from commercial date 14 September and onward
• For Import cargo from U.S: from cargo possession on 8 October
• For Export cargo to U.S.: from cargo possession on 8 October

ANL / CMA CGM – USD$285.00 per TEU

• Export cargo for all vessels (non USA trades) departing Sydney on or after 17^th September
• Import cargo for all vessels (non USA trades) arriving Sydney on or after 17^th September
• Export cargo for all vessels (USA trades) departing Sydney on or after 10^th October
• Imports for all cargo received (USA trades) on or after 10^th October

Sydney Empty Parks reach capacity

Adding to Sydney’s problems, many empty parks around Sydney are at capacity and have closed their doors for de-hires of empties. Estimates at this stage put the excess number of containers in Sydney at around 30,000 TEU, which in normal circumstances would have been re-positioned to Asia on export vessels. 

Unfortunately, these issues will bring into light shipping lines container detention policies, which historically shipping lines have had zero interest in negotiating on in times of need for importers. ICAL will be pro-active in speaking to shipping lines if we are arranging the delivery and de-hire of your import containers, however if this is not the case for you, we suggest you speak to your carriers as a matter of urgency.

China National Day Holiday

Note China will this year celebrate their National Day Holiday from October 1 to October 8. If you have any bookings to move ex China to Australia, please ensure you contact us as soon as possible as space will be at a premium over the next 3 weeks. Also, if you have any shipments arriving in early October, please ask your suppler to issue all clearance documents prior to their holiday to ensure there is no hold up on arrival.