| Ongoing Empty Park issues and Maersk Empty de-hire surcharge ICAL received notice late last week that Maersk empty yards near the port of Melbourne are now at operational capacity, and as a result all 40’GP and 40’HC containers will be now only be accepted for de-hire in Somerton. At present, we have not received word if 20’containers will also be affected but this could change at a moments notice. Unfortunately as there is no opportunity for back-loading and Somerton is considerably further away from Melbourne port, there will be a $220.00 + GST surcharge on any container nominated by Maersk to be de-hired in Somerton. Terminal access chargers – January increases Both VICT and DP World have recently announced an increase to their infrastructure and slot fees, which is applicable for both import and export containers and compulsory for ICAL to collect and deliver containers through the terminal gates. The increase will be applied immediately for all containers at an additional of $33.00 per container. Emirates suspends flights to and from Australian East Coast Citing “operational reasons”, Emirates has announced they will suspend all flights in and out of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane by January 20. At this stage there is no further information on when the flights may resume, and unfortunately this decision by Emirates will add some pressure to capacity between Australia, Europe and the Middle East. |
Continued severe impacts to Global Supply Chains in the US Customers with US supply chains are facing severe impacts due to a shortage of equipment, continued high volumes, record-breaking rates and gridlock being experienced at US ports. We encourage our customers to notify their ICAL representative once an order with the supplier is placed, so we can liaise with your supplier and ensure vessel bookings are made well in advance to minimise delays. Please be mindful that whilst we do our best to achieve early bookings, this does not guarantee that equipment will be available at the time of the intended shipment and unfortunately as vessel reliability is at all time low, we expect vessel ETA’s to change over the course of the voyage. Chinese New Year Holiday The Chinese New Year Holiday is approaching, with celebrations being held from Feb 11th – Feb 17th. Whilst the holiday officially begins on Feb 11th, we expect operations to begin winding down the week prior. If you have any shipments arriving during the holiday period, please ensure all commercial documents required for customs clearance are received prior to the holiday. |