Lobby group Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) has launched an attack on DP World Australia, and also criticised competition regulator the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), over a new infrastructure surcharge imposed on users of the DPWA facility at the Port of Fremantle.
The surcharge of A$8.22 on all full containers was described as “another example of stevedore monopolistic behaviour” by alliance director Neil Chambers.
He said the ACCC chairman, Rod Sims, had previously commented that similar surcharges in east coast ports were a negative aspect of port privatisation. “What then is the ACCC chairman’s view about it happening, again, in a publicly-owned major capital city port?” he asked.
The alliance believes stevedores should absorb increased operating costs, improve their productivity or negotiate the collection of fees through their commercial clients, the shipping lines. It is to raise its concerns with the ACCC, small business commissioners, and with Federal and State politicians including the WA Government and Fremantle Ports.
