Fracht Australia News - August 2017
1/8/2017
“Don’t to something permanently stupid because you’re temporarily upset!”
Anonymous
FRACHT AND BOWENS AWARDED INTERIM TRUSTED TRADER STATUS
Fracht Australia Pty Ltd and its customs broker Bowens have been awarded interim Trusted Trader Status by Australian Border Force (ABF). Australian Trusted Trader (ATT) is recognised as a global benchmark for an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme. Fracht and Bowens are amongst the first Logistics companies and customer brokers in Australia to have achieved ATT status. Becoming a Trusted Trader can give businesses access to world class benefits including eg a dedicated ABF Account Manager, a lighter touch at the border, priority service when requesting advice or reviews in certain customs matters or reduced examinations by overseas customs agencies which signed a “Mutual Recognition Arrangement” with Australia.
AROUND THE WORLD
- HONG KONG: Fracht (Hong Kong) Limited moved into new premises on 31 August. Please note the new address: Laford Centre, Units 1209-1210, 12th Floor, 838 Lai Chi Kok Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Phone and fax numbers remain unchanged.
- ITALY: Summer holidays will start on 7 August and end on 25 August. As usual during this time of the year many companies will be closed and there will be severe restrictions for truck movements on Italy’s roads.
- SPAIN: Strikes in Spanish ports have finally ended on 30 June, one week earlier than anticipated. ANESCO and the Dockers Union have agreed to continue negotiations without further strike action.
- INDIA: THE Indian Government has introduced a GST effective 1 July. Different tax rates apply to various products and services. Generally GST on local transport and handling charges in India is 18%. If international freight charges are paid in India the rate for seafreight will be 5% and for airfreight 18%. If an Australian importer purchases products from India on FOB terms (freight collect) the airfreight or seafreight will not be subject to GST.
AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS
As usual at the start of a new financial year many charges and fees are increased, sometimes much more than CPI. The Australian Border Force has increased fines for customs brokers and operators of bonded warehouses by 15%. One “penalty unit” went up from AUD180.00 to AUD210.00. A “standard fine” is usually 45 penalty units which means that clerical errors and mistakes can now cost the forwarder or broker AUD9,450.00. This is one of the reasons why customs brokers insist on comprehensive information and documentation for every shipment!
SEAFREIGHT NEWS
- ANL HAS UPGRADED ITS “APR SERVICE” WITH A DIRECT TOWNSVILLE CALL. This will provide a regular and reliable 22-day transit time from Port Kelang and two Townsville calls per month. ANL’s Express Service to Port Kelang now has a transit time of just 12 days. The service is operated with multi-purpose vessels which cater for containerised as well as project cargoes.
- CMA CGM’S PANAMA DIRECT (PAD) SERVICE HAS ALSO BEEN UPGRADED and now offers weekly sailings. The new service brings together CMA CGM, Seatrade and Marfret and also offers improved port coverage. 13 modern ships with capacities between 2,200 and 2,500 TEUs (Twenty foot equivalent units) will be deployed on the following rotation: Zeebrugge, London, Rotterdam, Dunkerque, Le Havre, New York, Savannah, Kingston, Cartagena, Papeete, Noumea, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Nelson, Napier, Tauranga, Pisco, Paita, Kingston, Philadelphia, Zeebrugge.
- CHINA’S COSCO SHIPPING TOGETHER WITH SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL PORTS GROUP HAVE SIGNED A DEAL TO PURCHASE HONG KONG’S OOCL for USD 6.3 billion. The combined COSCO-OOCL shipping line will operate more than 400 vessels with approx 2.9 million TEU capacity. COSCO will have 11.6% market share and will overtake CMA CGM (11.3%) to take third place behind MAERSK (Danish) and MSC (Swiss).
- THE PIER PASS TRAFFIC MITIGATION FEE (TMF) in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will increase by 2.3% on 1 August to USD 72.09 per TEU.
- THANKS TO DECREASING COSTS OF BUNKER FUEL WWL WILL REDUCE its Fuel Surcharges from UK / Europe and North America to Australia / NZ to 10%.
AIRFREIGHT NEWS
- QANTAS ANNOUNCED THE LAUNCH OF A NEW A330-300 SERVICE FROM SYDNEY TO OSAKA. This new destination will be serviced with three weekly flights from December 2017 to March 2018.
- MOST OF THE TOP INTERNATIONAL CARGO HUBS ENJOYED GROWTH IN THE first quarter of 2017. The top 10 cargo airports are Hong Kong, Memphis, Dubai Louisville, Frankfurt, Tokyo Narita, Paris CDG, Singapore, Los Angeles and Doha Hamad.
- ACCORDING TO IATA STATISTICS, INTERNATIONAL AIRFREIGHT PERFORMED WELL IN THE first five months of 2017. Year to date figures reveal that international volumes per 31 May have increased 11.4% and in the Asia Pacific region 10.9%. Further good news is the fact that industry wide also “Freight Load Factors” have improved to the highest level since July 2014.
