RFNSW questions DP World Australia’s infrastructure surcharge defence

Road Freight NSW has questioned DP World Australia’s (DPWA) defence of its infrastructure surcharge.

DPWA has claimed this surcharge is necessary as they are in a “position of facing significant and unavoidable cost increases for the use of the port infrastructure, including the cost of council rates, land tax, rent and terminal infrastructure maintenance”, DPWA chief commercial officer Brian Gillespie says.

RFNSW says DPWA’s chief operating officer has declined to discuss the reasoning behind the surcharge in any detail.

“There is no plausible reason or rationale for the Sydney surcharge of $21.16 and DPWA know this,” RFNSW general manager Simon O’Hara says.
Otherwise they would have invited RFNSW in for a discussion about the real and significant costs for their business and explained their reasoning, he says..

“The loss of Qube Logistics as a lessee for DPWA has made them think twice about their costs and how they recoup those costs.

“In the past, other companies have moved to automation and did not seek to recoup costs from road freight users (our members) for their self-investment.

“The increased costs that DPWA write about in relation to Sydney Ports is a fiction. The increase on this front is only CPI (1.3%-1.5%)– an increase that most other businesses have to suffer through and take into account for their day-to-day operations.”

O’Hara says the surcharge should be levied on the stevedore’s customers – the shipping lines, not the road users.

DPWA’s infrastructure surcharge implementation has been delayed until April 17 (Easter Monday).