US Government Shutdown Temporarily Delayed
The US has been able to pass an emergency bill in both Houses and delay the immediate threat of a Federal Government Shutdown. The President signed a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open with little time to spare. The bill will extend funding until Friday 17th November 2023 and give both the Senate and House of Representatives an opportunity to reach a longer term agreement.
Major Qantas Freight Terminal Delays
Qantas Freight Terminal has been suffering widespread system issues causing significant delays to the release of import cargo. In a recently released statement, they advised
“Qantas Freight cut-over to a new, fully integrated cloud-based system on 24 September 2023 after many months of testing and validation, and following successful releases of the new technology in all regional Australian ports and key offshore terminals.
Unfortunately, our national cut-over did not go as planned which has resulted in delays to processing freight. Whilst we immediately implemented a comprehensive plan to rectify the issues, our recovery has been hampered by system integration complications which required reverting several functions to manual processes.
This has created significant backlogs across the key terminals of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.”
Industry members are reporting instances of cargo not being released that arrived on flights as far back as the 22/23 September, spoilt perishable shipments and widespread IT issues impacting cargo identification.
At this stage, Melbourne Terminal appears to be faring worse than Sydney but our airfreight team is working closely with our air cargo partners to keep the flow of airfreight moving in and out as quickly as possible.
Industrial Action at DP World
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has given notice of industrial action at DP World terminals starting on 6 October.
The industrial action is being taken as a result of recent work bans and work stoppages (in some cases for the full 24hrs) planned for DP World terminals in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Fremantle.
DP World executive vice-president for Oceania Nicolaj Noes is quoted as suggesting DP World recognises the “right to freedom of association” but breakdown in negotiations on a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, with noted the “significant impact such actions have on the national economy and supply chain”.
“We remain dedicated to a co-operative and productive dialogue with CFMEU-MUA Division. Parties have invested more than 90 hours in ongoing discussions to reach a national agreement,” he said.
As of Friday 29 September DP World has claimed there had been 28 meetings, with 118 hours of discussions to date and “there seems to be a trend towards one-sided negotiations,” the company said.
“There have been 363 claims made nationally by the CFMEU-MUA Division. If the majority of these claims are agreed to, it would severely limit the efficiency of the Australian supply chain, with the ultimate cost being passed onto the Australian consumer.”
The following is a list of bans according to DP World that the union will be taking from 7 October, as at 29 September:
DP WORLD SYDNEY
7 OCTOBER 2023 (0600 HOURS) – BANS BEGIN FOR:
- Any work on ships for 8 hours after berthing
- Attending work when called past usual notification time
- Advanced or delayed starts
- Fixed Salary Employees (FSEs) not working as per specific rosters
- Performance of work outside of roster panel assigned on 4 September 2023
- Work on subcontracted vessels
- Taking delayed or advanced meal breaks
9 OCTOBER TO 13 OCTOBER 2023 (0600 TO 2200 HOURS) – BANS INCLUDE:
- Overtime
- Shift extensions
- Upgrades on dayshift
DP WORLD MELBOURNE
8 OCTOBER 2023 (1200 HOURS ONWARDS) – BANS AND STOPPAGES INCLUDE:
- 24-hour work stoppage
- Bans on work for ships for 8 hours after berthing, attending late calls, advanced or delayed starts, grade 7 work, FSE’s non-specific rostered shifts, and work outside of roster panel assigned on 4 September 2023
9 TO 13 OCTOBER 2023 – BANS INCLUDE:
- Overtime and shift extensions (from 0001 hours 9 Oct to 2359 hours 13 Oct)
- 12-hour work stoppage on 9 Oct at 1200 hours
- 8-hour work stoppage on 10 Oct starting 0001 hours
- 24-hour ban on loading/unloading trucks and trains starting 0600 hours on 13 Oct
15 TO 20 OCTOBER 2023 – MULTIPLE WORK STOPPAGES AND BANS, MOST NOTABLY INCLUDING:
- Four 1-hour consecutive stoppages starting 1800 hours on 15 Oct
- Two consecutive 2-hour stoppages starting 0600 hours on 16 Oct
- Several 8-hour upgrade bans on specific dates
- Overtime and shift extensions ban from 16 to 20 Oct
DP WORLD FREMANTLE
6 OCTOBER 2023 (0600 HOURS ONWARDS) – BANS AND STOPPAGES INCLUDE:
- 24-hour work stoppage
- Overtime, shift extensions, work on ships for 8 hours after berthing, attending late calls, advanced or delayed starts, grade 7 work, FSE’s non-specific rostered shifts, work outside of roster panel assigned on 4 September 2023, work on subcontracted vessels, delayed or advanced meal breaks, and work on public holidays
7 OCTOBER 2023:
- Multiple work stoppages ranging from 4 hours to 12 hours throughout the day
DP WORLD BRISBANE
7 OCTOBER 2023 (0700 HOURS ONWARDS) – BANS INCLUDE:
• Work on ships for 8 hours after berthing, advanced or delayed starts, work during another employee’s rest period from the proposed agreement, work on subcontracted vessels, FSE’s non-specific rostered shifts, work outside of roster panel assigned on 4 September 2023, early or later meal breaks, and attending 4-hour shifts except for training or meetings
9 TO 13 OCTOBER 2023 (0700 TO 2300 HOURS) – BANS INCLUDE:
- Overtime
- Shift extensions
- Deployment of more than two ship crane gangs on dayshift
Our team will continue to monitor the situation and work with transport carriers to avoid delays and additional costs removing containers from the port wherever possible.