OPINION: Layer upon layer of Quarantine inefficiencies
I REMEMBER from my earliest days of having Quarantine files processed face-to-face with a quarantine officer at Rosebery NSW, that we would receive a Quarantine paper direction...
OPINION: Russian imports levied with an additional 35% import duty - is it enough?
ON 13 APRIL the Australian Border Force issued Australian Customs Notice No. 2022/21, advising that there would be a new rate of customs duty for imported goods from the Russian...
OPINION: Quarantine – an unfair charging system
AS A corporate customs brokerage we pay the Australian Border Force $2400 for a three-year customs brokerage licence; in 2017 the Department of Agriculture, Water and the...
INSIGHT: Australian sanctions and controls against Russia escalate and evolve
I HAVE previously written regarding fundamental changes to Australia’s sanctions regime, from implementing UN sanctions, through to the adoption of our own Autonomous Sanctions...
OPINION: Australia takes steps to free trade agreement with India
AFTER a long series of false starts, Australia and India have finally completed the first stage of a two-stage process that will result in a full Australia-India Comprehensive...
OPINION: How to lose $46,500 in one shipment
AS A customs broker, we see and hear things that immediately alight our instincts that just don’t add up or make sense. A customs broker is licensed to undertake tasks alongside...
INSIGHT: Sanctions here, there and everywhere
THE RUSSIAN military invasion of Ukraine has met almost universal opposition and condemnation from around the world through commentary, protest and by way of the imposition of...
INSIGHT: Australia-UK FTA and what it means for you
BACK in June 2021, I provided an update to readers regarding the release of the “agreement in principle” between Australia and the UK as to the proposed content of the...
OPINION: Alcohol and tobacco – once bitten twice shy
TWO of the highest taxed goods that enter Australia are tobacco and alcohol. Recently, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that 2 million packets of cigarettes disappeared from a...
OPINION: The new era of DAP shipments and all its complexities
OVER the years, more and more shipments are sold on an informal delivered-at-place (DAP) basis. The importer makes contact with overseas suppliers who, in turn, offer a one-stop...
LETTER TO THE DCN: Let’s get the facts straight
THE COMMENTS by Shipping Australia’s CEO Melwyn Noronha about the container road transport sector can’t go unchallenged. Responding to the findings of the ACCC’s Container...
OPINION: 1 January 2022 – a new year is not fun for everyone!
MANY people look forward to a new year as a time for celebration. However, for importers and exporters and their service providers, including licensed customs brokers and freight...
OPINION: Quarantine will cancel Christmas – believe me
FURTHER to my piece from 19 October, nothing has changed in regards to entry processing with the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (Quarantine). The dire situation has...
OPINION: It’s all about container dwell time
THERE are currently more than 70 containerships anchored off the Long Beach/Los Angeles coast waiting for a berth at one of the container terminals to discharge their containers....
OPINION: Never mind the shipping crisis, we have a quarantine crisis
YES, I will show my age in this opinion piece (or maybe I will show my 23 years of experience). In the olden days we could take our quarantine files to a quarantine office, take a...
