July 2023 Newsletter
Welcome to our July 2023 Newsletter
Rate Increases From North Asia
As we start to move into the peak shipping season, it’s no surprise that we’ve received several notices from various carriers advising of a Rate Restoration being applied from the 1st August out of North Asia to Australia.
It’s expected that vessels will be near capacity during the next few months and carriers will be doing everything they can to try and push up rates while there’s a demand for space and equipment. In fact, we’ve already received a second notice from MSC advising of a further increase from the 15th August and we’ll have to wait and see whether these proposed increases come into effect or not.
Please contact your usual CFL rep if you need any further information on this matter.
Local charges on the rise
As you would be aware due to various factors the costs of being in business have dramatically increased recently, in order to maintain our current service and staff levels we will be increasing our CMR/EDI fee by $10.00 per shipment from the 1st September.
We do appreciate your understanding and support in this matter and please contact your usual CFL rep if you have any questions at all on this fee increase.
Fuel Surcharge Reductions
There has been some relief in the price of diesel since May and transport companies are gradually reducing their fuel levy percentages, these decreases are subsequently being passed on in the respective cities.
From the 1st of August you will see a further reduction in the fuel levy across most metro areas (subject to the respective transport company used).
Government Fee Increase on Import Declarations
As you may be already aware, the Dept of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry (DAFF) have increased their fees again on all Import Declarations from the 1st July. Link below for further details
BMSB season nearly here again
Just a reminder that the next Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) season will commence again for shipments departing from the 1st September and we’ll be sending out updated details on the 2023/24 season once the information has been finalised by the Dept of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry (DAFF).
USA delays
We just wanted to let you know that we’re experiencing various delays with sea shipments from the USA for several reasons, especially from the West Coast. Firstly, there’s been ongoing strike action on the waterfront in Canada which has caused many delays to vessels that transit in Canada and the USA on their way to Australia. This strike action has only recently been resolved after several weeks, but there will still be delays to vessel movements with large backlogs of containers waiting to be shipped.
The other major reason for delays from the USA is due to the increase of cargo inspections by US Customs. Many LCL and FCL shipments are missing their booked vessel due to the container being stopped at the terminal by US Customs for a border inspection and sometimes these shipments are held for several weeks waiting to be inspected and released with additional charges incurred being passed onto the consignee. It appears that there is a concerted effort at the moment by US Customs to inspect containers to Australia and New Zealand, apparently due to several large contraband shipments being detected on this route recently.
Hopefully, these delays will ease soon with the strike action having ceased and with US Customs putting more resources into these inspections.