Following discussions led by the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning (DTP), all three container terminals based in Victoria—DP World Australia, Patrick Terminals, and Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT)—have agreed to amend the Victorian Voluntary Pricing Protocol.
These changes will align their landside pricing tariffs to take effect from 1 January each calendar year.
As part of this adjustment, each terminal operator issued a 60-day industry notice on 1 November 2024, with 30-day notices scheduled for early December 2024, ensuring the new tariffs are in place by 1 January 2025.
For Patrick Terminals and DP World Australia, which operate in multiple locations across Australia, this change establishes a consistent nationwide commencement date of 1 January for their landside tariffs.
In addition, the Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) has welcomed this development, as it allows transport operators to inform their landside customers of updated charges annually, covering the two major terminal operators nationwide (Patrick Terminals and DP World Australia) and VICT in Victoria.
With all terminal operators agreeing to announce price changes on the same date, they no longer have the option to wait and see competitors’ rates before setting their own, eliminating “follow-the-leader” pricing strategies.
Furthermore, CTAA also acknowledges the potential for further discussions to align the National Voluntary Protocols on container stevedore landside charges, initially developed by the National Transport Commission (NTC), with these revised Victorian Protocols. However, any such national alignment would likely take time to implement.
If this alignment occurs, Hutchison Ports’ terminals in Sydney and Brisbane, as well as Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal (FACT) and AAT in Brisbane, could eventually adopt the single date for landside fee adjustments. For now, however, these terminals will continue to operate on their existing cycles for landside fee assessments and adjustments.
