The latest Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Container Stevedoring Monitoring Report shows that average prices* for container movements across wharves by stevedoring services have decreased to their lowest level since monitoring data has been available.
"This is good news for Australian businesses involved in exporting and importing", ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.
"Since this round of monitoring began both average costs and average revenues of the stevedores have fallen. Productivity as measured by container movements has increased significantly. These productivity improvements could be expected to provide further benefits in terms of service quality to shippers".
The report shows that increased trade volumes and improved efficiency have increased the profitability of Australian stevedore companies over the 2001-2002 financial year.
The ACCC monitors stevedoring revenues, costs and profits to provide the government and the community with information on the progress of waterfront reforms at Australia's major container terminals. In particular, the ACCC was directed to monitor a levy on stevedores that funded redundancy payments.
The Container Stevedoring Monitoring Report No. 4 can be obtained from the ACCC's Melbourne or Canberra offices on (03) 9290 1800 or (02) 6243 1143.