TRADE LAW: DFAT unveils report of the Trade 2040 Taskforce
ON 29 June 2026, DFAT convened an event at Parliament House to announce the release of the report by its 2040 Trade Taskforce entitled Towards 2040: Navigating Australia’s Trading...
OPINION: The month that reminded me why seafarer welfare matters
JUNE has been one of those months that reinforces why our industry can never afford to take seafarer welfare for granted. At first glance, it has been a month of meetings,...
TRADE LAW: US tariffs continue to create uncertainty for Australian trade
ONCE upon a time, there was hope that the world was working towards a rule‑based, multilateral trading system in which customs tariffs on imported goods were being reduced as part...
OPINION: Australia-EU FTA and the EU de minimis threshold removal
CROSS-border e-commerce between Australia and Europe is entering a pivotal moment. As Australian SMEs and e-tailers increasingly look beyond traditional markets, the European...
OPINION: Illegal tobacco is thriving — legitimate importers are picking up the bill
THE ILLEGAL tobacco trade in Australia has become a significant national issue. Reports indicate that billions of illicit cigarettes and tonnes of illegal tobacco enter the...
OPINION: Why cyber resilience is critical for Australia's transport sector
AUSTRALIA'S transportation sector is rapidly modernising, driven by growing consumer expectations, pressure to reduce operating costs, and ongoing labour shortages. What was once...
OPINION: Container Port Performance Index - scrutinising the scrutineers
THE WORLD Bank Container Port Performance Index for 2025 has just been released and it is showing some interesting trends. For instance, our top performer, Bell Bay, with a total...
NAVIGATING 2026: Transport operators become the reluctant primary customer
THIS month, I want to focus on a topic that has been raised repeatedly in industry discussions and that several stakeholders have specifically asked me to investigate more deeply....
OPINION: AI is a tool, not an authority when it comes to customs broking
QUIET pressure is building across our profession. Customs brokers are being pushed, with increasing urgency, toward automation, digital platforms and AI-driven workflows. We are...
OPINION: MSIC price increases an affront
BURIED in the federal government’s 2026/27 budget papers was a decision that will have a significant impact on hard-working truck drivers who must have a federal security...
ANALYSIS: BYD ‘invasion’ - fact or PR flood?
NEVER underestimate the power of a saturation marketing and PR campaign. Any media-alert reader could hardly have missed the efforts by Chinese car manufacturer BYD (‘Build Your...
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NAVIGATING 2026: Eye of the storm and a world getting harder before it gets better
TEN WEEKS after the United States and Israel targeted Iran, which responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, the global oil market is surprisingly calm....
OPINION: Should shipping lines own and control the terminals?
THERE IS a growing battle happening behind the scenes in global ports right now, and it’s not just about moves per hour and container volumes anymore. It is about who controls the...
ANALYSIS: The state of Australia’s merchant fleet in 2026
IN THE increasingly important discussion surrounding Australia’s maritime resilience and the future of the Australian merchant fleet, there remains significant debate regarding...
OPINION: When GPS fails - why maritime needs resilient navigation
EVERY day brings new reports of GPS interference affecting shipping, particularly in regions like the Persian Gulf. Less visible are the collisions, groundings, and near misses...
