Cruise operators, shipowners and industry groups are opposed to the Victorian government’s decision
Cruise operators, shipowners and industry groups are opposed to the Victorian government’s decision to impose a US$81 million licence fee on the Port of Melbourne, claiming it will hurt competitiveness, reported The Australian Financial Review.
The charge, announced in December, replaces the freight infrastructure charge on trucks and is expected to be passed in state Parliament this week.
Shipping Australia chairman Ken Fitzpatrick said the fee was a “severe imposition” and could be the “nail in the coffin” for an already struggling shipping industry being hit by the high Australian dollar. “Why apply it only to the Port of Melbourne?” Fitzpatrick said.
“Why single it out?
“It’s a substantial increase, up to 50 per cent for wharfage charges.
“There is also a [shipping] channel fee increase and lines don’t know how they will recover that yet.” Fitzpatrick said the fee would not drive big business away from the port but it would make it harder to do business and less attractive to use.
“It will be the people who need the port for trade who will wear the cost, but those in industries like the grain industry might decide to look to Geelong or Portland, where there aren’t such costs. But everyone along the supply chain will suffer.”
The Port of Melbourne is the largest container and general cargo port in Australia. Trade there rose 6.6 per cent last year.Fitzpatrick said that when the former government introduced a tax on trucks entering and leaving the port it was controversial and this was no different.
“It’s just the same. They are moving it from one source to another.”
Victorian Ports Minister Denis Napthine said the previous charge on trucks was “unfair and discriminatory” and the fee would be more equitable and “spreads the impact of a wider area of port users”.
“The money, while it will go to consolidated revenue, [will be spent] on the industry like the development of the Port of Hastings.”
Cruise ships will have to pay an extra $4,960 per vessel for the first 24 hours of any stay.Carnival Australia chief executive Ann Sherry said the charges were already among the world’s highest.
“Any further increase in port charges in Melbourne will necessarily have a cost impact on cruise operators and there is always a risk of deterring them from calling once these costs become commercially unsustainable,” she said.
The Australian Shipowners Association said companies would be less competitive. A spokesman said operators would inevitably pass on the tax where they could.
Source: Port News
