News

BTi Logistics latest industry update regarding air freight and sea freight conditions, trade volumes and the latest information on upcoming industrial actions at Australian port terminals.

Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Industrial Actions

Unfortunately, we have received notice of additional Industrial Actions for Fremantle, Melbourne, and Brisbane port terminals.

Patrick Terminals Melbourne:

• Stoppage of work of 24 hours duration commencing at 7am on 23 July 2021.

Patrick Terminals Brisbane:

• Stoppages of work for 1-hour duration at 3.30am, 11.30am and 7.30pm on each day from Thursday 22 July 2021 to Wednesday 28 July 2021 (inclusive of those days).
• Stoppages of work of 24 hours duration commencing at 7am on Wednesday 21 July 2021 and 7am on Thursday 29 July 2021.
• A ban on the working of overtime from 7am on Thursday 22 July 2021 until 7am on Thursday 29 July 2021.
• A ban on the working of shift extensions from 7am on Thursday 22 July 2021 until 7am on Thursday

Patrick Terminals Fremantle:

• A ban on attending for work on days an employee is rostered as “off/avail” commencing from 7am Wednesday 30 June 2021 and ending at 7am on Wednesday 21 July 2021.
• A ban on attending for work on days an employee is rostered as “off/avail” commencing from 7am Wednesday 21 July 2021 and ending at 7am on Wednesday 11 August 2021.
• Stoppages of work of 24-hours duration commencing at 11pm on 22 July 2021 and 11pm on 25 July 2021.

Sea Freight

Port congestion around the world is far from over. In May, there were 134 late vessels on the Asia-Oceania route. Patrick Terminals in Sydney is currently experiencing delays of 4-8 days. Capacity is also limited, therefore, please send your orders as early as possible. Moreover, continuously skyrocketing freight rates are putting even more pressure on importers and exporters.

Air Freight

Expensive and unreliable sea freight has pushed shippers towards air cargo. Despite the expense and possible financial loss, air freight is used as a way to guarantee inventory and build customer loyalty. IATA says, “While air cargo fares remained elevated, container fares have increased strongly since then, and were more than three times higher than pre-crisis levels in April 2021,” IATA said.

“As, a result, relative price of air cargo vs ocean declined, supportive for air mode of transport. In Q1 2021, air cargo has grown 5.6% compared to Q1 2019, while container throughput increased by 6.1%. In contrast, in Q2 2020, when air cargo fares were close to 20 times those of containers, air cargo was relatively weaker. (Cargo Tonne Kms down 17.5% year-on-year in Q2, container throughput down 7.8%).”

Trade Statistics

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Exports increased 11% year-on-year in May 2021. The increase in exports was mainly driven by increases in metalliferous ores, coal, meat and non-ferrous metals. Meanwhile, imports increased 1% mainly due to high movements in transport equipment, general industry machinery, non-monetary gold and electrical machinery. For the month of May 2021 there was a goods trade surplus of $13,316m.