Red Sea and Suez Canal Update
Shipping companies continue to avoid the Suez Canal in the wake of further attacks on container ships in the Red Sea. After initially resuming several services through the Suez Canal, Maersk has again announced it would pause all sailings via the Red Sea after its containership the Maersk Hangzhou was struck by a missile from the Houthi Rebels over the weekend.
The US Navy responded quickly and shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen towards the ships. Ten hours later, the Maersk Hangzhou issued a second distress call, saying it was under attack from Houthi gunmen in four small boats. The small boats fired small arms weapons at the containership, getting to within 20 metres of the vessel, and attempted to board the vessel.
Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier and the USS Gravely came under fire from the small boats as they issued verbal warnings, leading them to fire back, eventually sinking 3 of the 4 small boats.
The recent attacks suggest that resumption of normal services between Europe and the Middle East to Australia may still yet be far away and shippers should prepare for further delays and additional costs as a result.
The latest carrier to announce their Red Sea Contingency surcharge is COSCO at USD 1600.00 per container (20’/40’) with immediate effect and until further notice.
Please check with your Key Account Manager for additional updates or revised arrival times on any shipments to and from Europe or the Middle East.
DP World Updates + Brisbane Landside Disruptions
Container transport operators are experiencing significant delays and disruptions at DP World’s Brisbane Terminal due to equipment and IT outages on top of notified Protected Industrial Actions (PIA).
During the period between Christmas and New Year, DP World Brisbane has suffered from equipment outages and maintenance of their Automated Stacking Cranes (ASCs) used to load and unload trucks within the Terminal.
As of 29 December, 3 of the total of 8 Automatic Stacking Crane Modules were out of action, and another was experiencing difficulties in manifesting B-doubles or Higher Productivity Freight Vehicles as the Module was only able to load the rear trailer of these combinations.
The Brisbane Terminal also experienced a systems outage in the early hours of 29 December ceasing all operations. On top of this, the current industrial actions have seen some truck turnaround times at DP World Brisbane running up to and over 5 hours in duration.
The Stevedore recently released the latest schedule of planned Industrial Actions up to the 15th January (attached) and despite intense pushback from industry, also announced plans to forge ahead with their intended rate increases coming Nationally from the 1st February.
Among these, the Terminal Access Charges (Infrastructure Fees) will increase by the following amounts:
Terminal Access Charge (TAC): Full Exports
52.52% increase in Melbourne
38.80% increase in Sydney
37.50% increase in Brisbane
Terminal Access Charge (TAC): Full Imports –
26.18% increase in Brisbane
25.49% in Sydney
21.22% in Melbourne
As of today, there are still no indications either side are close to finalising an agreement that would cease the Industrial Action and as a result, many shipping lines will be applying GRI’s from the second half of January to deal with the delays and additional vessel running costs up to USD 500 per TEU.
We are actively negotiating with the carriers to minimise the cost impact but shippers should anticipate increases from the 15th January and of course allow additional lead times on any new orders. We will keep you updated as further details become available.