OPINION: How the coronavirus highlights the perils of the US-China trade war
DONALD Trump’s September 2015 assertion that the North American Free Trade Agreement was a “disaster” gave prescient notice of what lay ahead. The economic nationalism of America...
ANALYSIS: The unintended consequences of amending standard policy wordings
THE INSURED imported helicopters into Australia and had an annual facility with a marine insurer under a ‘master slip’ wording which provided “Helicopter Cargo Insurance (single...
TRADE LAW: High Court rules on “Vita gummies” and “Garcinia weight”
WE HAVE previously written at length on decisions of the AAT, or State or Federal Courts on the classification of goods for customs purposes. The classification of goods is a...
OPINION: Part X on the chopping block?
OCEAN liner shipping industry participants should take advantage of the window for submissions to the ACCC and prepare for a significant shift in the exemptions landscape in 2020...
OPINION: China catches a coronavirus and global trade may get very ill
AS I write this article, news of the spread of the “coronavirus” becomes worse on a regular basis. According to current media nearly 60 million people in China’s largest cities...
OPINION: US China trade agreement - Phase One
IN MUCH the same way that Australia welcomed rain this week, the release of “Phase One” of the US and China Agreement had led to some degree of relief and confidence in the...
COMMENT: Melbourne empty container park fee increases from January 2020
EMPTY container parks in Melbourne have followed the interstate trend by advising significant increases in truck arrival notification fees to commence in January 2020. The fee...
OPINION: A packing quagmire
PACKING declarations have been in operation since around 1998/1999. International sea freight trade into Australia has changed dramatically since that time; sea freight shipments...
OPINION: Distorted container logistics market in Australia
THE REFERRAL by New South Wales Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance, of the massive, unfettered and unregulated stevedore infrastructure fee increases to the NSW Productivity...
OPINION: Australia suffers a rare defeat at the WTO
WHILE much debate surrounds the operation of our anti - dumping legislation in practice it may be a surprise to some that we did not create the regime unilaterally. Our regime...
OPINION: Why do quarantine declaration charges need to increase by $23 million?
ON 11 December 2019, Agriculture [quarantine] advised that effective 01 January 2020 that: Air Full Import Declarations will increase from $33 to $38 and Sea Full Import...
OPINION: A damaged reputation can take a lifetime to repair
I HAVE been to my fair share of gatherings, weddings, birthdays and met plenty of people and most of those people have never heard of the word “customs broker” or know what a...
OPINION: State of insurance for boat builders and ship repairers
THERE is an upheaval taking place in the global marine insurance market, says broker AlphaXO. Marine hull premiums are on the rise and P&I clubs looking at general increases for...
COMMENT: Agreement on finalisation of RCEP
AS MUCH of Australia’s focus was taken by the Melbourne Cup carnival, the leaders of 15 of the 16 nations negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)...
LETTER TO THE DCN: Stevedore price hikes deserve scrutiny
A FEW comments on the DPWA announcement of this week. I note the remarks as follows: “The continuation of the rebalancing of revenue recovery from waterside to landside is...
