THE NEW South Wales Government has provided an update on its freight reform agenda currently underway across the state, including stevedore pricing reforms, fuel security coordination and work to improve supply chain efficiency and port connectivity.
Speaking on behalf of Transport Minister John Graham at the Shipping Australia luncheon in NSW Parliament, Dr Marjorie Spooner O’Neill said the state continued to work with industry on freight and ports reform, while also responding to ongoing global supply chain pressures linked to conflict in the Middle East.
Addressing around 250 guests from across the maritime and logistics sector in the Strangers’ Dining Room, she said the NSW Government continued to work with industry on freight and ports reform.
She said the government had convened a fuel security roundtable and was working with the Commonwealth and other states under the national fuel security plan, while acknowledging the disruption had delayed progress on parts of the Port Botany landside improvement strategy.
“Round two of the consultation was due to start earlier this year, but that is now on hold for up to 12 months as key stakeholders grapple with our supply shocks,” she said.
She also outlined proposed ports and maritime regulation changes designed to support safer and more efficient port operations, including reforms to towage, line handling and bunkering licensing, as well as improvements to vessel environmental performance reporting and ship manifest data sharing.
She said infrastructure ministers had endorsed updates to the national voluntary guidelines covering stevedore landside charges, including annual pricing changes being standardised to 1 January each year and broader consideration of empty container park operators within the framework.
“These changes will improve transparency of landside pricing and charging behaviour, helping to maximise freight productivity and improve the efficiencies of Australia’s container freight supply chains,” she said.
Dr O’Neill reiterated the importance of Port Botany as the state’s primary container gateway, noting it currently handled 99.6% of containerised imports into New South Wales.
At the same time, she acknowledged other structural pressures facing the freight task, particularly around industrial land availability and long-term network planning across metropolitan Sydney.
“The shortage of land is causing major freight and logistics operations to leave Sydney, relocating their main centres to Brisbane or Melbourne, where suitable land is more available and less expensive,” she said.
She said freight reform work currently underway considered ports, rail, road and intermodal terminals as interconnected parts of the same supply chain, with a focus on improving landside connectivity, productivity and long-term planning.
Taking a question on the next phase in the Glebe Island transition — where construction material imports will be moved from Glebe Island to make way for housing — Dr O’Neill said she would seek an update and revert once arrangements were finalised.
Dr O’Neill also told guests of her family maritime background and her involvement in rugby, likening shipping to sport and saying both relied on “good coordination, clear roles, good timing, and everyone pulling in the same direction”.
“But unlike rugby,” she added, “the goal of shipping is generally to avoid collisions.”
The luncheon was hosted by Shipping Australia and sponsored by Boluda Towage, with support from MCC and OneStop.
The event concluded with networking among industry and government representatives over lunch at NSW Parliament House.