THE LATEST increase in terminal access charges at Australian box ports make a mockery of voluntary guidelines for landside charges, a leading freight industry figure says.
Freight and Trade Alliance director and Australian Peak Shippers Association secretariat Paul Zalai said the guidelines might give policymakers “a warm, fuzzy feeling”, but were offering tacit approval for practices identified by the ACCC as cause for concern.
Mr Zalai’s statement followed major container stevedores (Patrick, DP World, Flinders and VICT) late last week releasing details of increases to TACs and ancillary fees in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle/Perth effective 1 January 2026.
A prominent stevedore has defended the increase in landside charges, however, arguing the money was being spent on critical port infrastructure.
According to the FTA and APSA, while the 60-day notice period aligned with the National Voluntary Guidelines for Landside Charges, the magnitude of the increases—mostly between 5% and 15% and exceeding 45% at DP World Fremantle—had “sparked outrage”.
Mr Zalai said the stevedores were “making a mockery of the voluntary arrangements”.
“There is absolutely no engagement with industry in determining these increases, leaving exporters and importers at the mercy of stevedores who can control their profits with the stroke of a pen,” Mr Zalai said.
“All businesses are grappling with higher costs — rents, labour, insurance, energy, infrastructure expenditure — and are expected to absorb or justify price increases through productivity gains,” he said.
“Yet stevedores face no such scrutiny from their commercial clients, the foreign-owned shipping lines.”
Mr Zalai said such costs were simply passed on to third parties — the exporters, importers and freight forwarders — who had no ability to influence service or price.
“The economic situation hasn’t improved, and it has been extensively reported that inflation remains high,” Mr Zalai said. “Why not start by turning off the money tap at our ports? We need regulation that enforces scrutiny over any price increase — or better still, requires stevedores to negotiate directly with their commercial clients, the shipping lines.”
A spokesperson for stevedore DP World Australia said their adjustment to landside charges from 1 January 2026 would underpin almost $1 billion of private investment in Australia’s critical port infrastructure.
"The investment includes rail expansion and terminal upgrades, expanding Australia’s trade capacity and strengthening our competitiveness in the region as we move toward a 24/7 trade economy," the spokesperson said.
"For more than 30 years, DP World has been a trusted partner in Australia’s logistics networksupporting over 4,500 local jobs and operating from 70+ sites nationwide. Our Australian supply chain feeds more than 2,500 local businesses, many of them SMEs, ensuring Australia’s trade flows safely, sustainably, and efficiently."
Mr Zalai, meanwhile, also called for more scrutiny of empty container parks that were charging “negligible fees” to retain and win shipping line contracts.
“We have seen a rate card whereby they charge as little as 30 cents a day to store containers on prime land. No wonder they too have followed the stevedore model and now charge an incontestable fee to transport operators to remain commercially viable,” he said.
“It is the wild west out there with an anything goes mentality on our waterfront.”
Mr Zalai said the federal government had the opportunity to take control with reform including repeal of foreign owned shipping line exemptions from Australian competition law.
He said FTA and APSA would continue its “constructive engagement” with the ACCC in the lead-up to the soon to be released container stevedore monitoring report 2024-25.
Comment has been sought from the stevedoring sector.
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