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Ports

This Month

Mining giant Glencore has lost a court battle over the fees it is charged by the Port of Newcastle to export coal.

Glencore ordered to pay $3m to Newcastle port after court loss

The NSW port, which mostly exports coal, had claimed that it was owed $3 million in unpaid invoices in a dispute over wharfage fees.

Fremantle Port is raising the prices it charges ships to pay for improvements in infrastructure.

Port fees are ‘out of control’, say shipping lines

The shipping industry has joined importers and exporters in calling for regulation of Australia’s ports as fees continue to soar.

The cost of importing container goods into Australia rose at the start of July, and more price increases are expected.

Global freight prices tumble, except for goods shipped to Australia

Tariffs announced by the Trump administration have caused havoc with freight companies, but costs into the country are defying global trends, cargo groups say.

June

Tradecorp Group’s container sales and leasing operation is centred around Mackay and Brisbane.

Family-run shipping container biz Tradecorp launches beauty parade

The company has issued a confidential fact sheet that talks up an ambitious growth strategy, 20 per cent market share and $93 million in revenues recorded last year.

Salt being unloaded at Bays Port, Glebe Island, Sydney harbour’s last working port.

Glebe Island housing plan risks freight cost blowout

As the NSW government considers moving Bays Port for housing, a freight review has warned the prime real estate will come at a cost.

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Former PM Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Nationals of holding a gun to the Liberal Party’s head.

Turnbull says he could have halted Port of Darwin lease

The former prime minister said that when he approved the lease with a Chinese company a decade ago, security agencies had no concerns about the deal.

May

Darwin Port is looking at new ownership.

Toll, super funds join suitors for Chinese-owned Darwin Port

The logistics powerhouse would add an Australian flavour to a bid by an American private equity fund for the controversial asset.

April

Chinese shipping containers in the United Kingdom. Cargo volumes across the board are expected to fall as trade tariff uncertainty lowers demand this year.

Trump’s trade war creates worse shipping turmoil than the pandemic

One of the world’s most respected maritime analytics firms says global container volumes will fall this year for only the third time in almost five decades.

The Port of Los Angeles in the US. The port is forecasting a 10 per cent fall in volumes later this year.

Shipping giants face surging demand before tariffs hit global freight

Executives at big maritime transport businesses and ports warn consumers could get hit with higher prices as importers scramble “to get cargo in under the wire”.

Global shipping lines are preparing to skip ports and adjust voyage schedules amid expectations demand for consumer goods will drop following the new US tariffs.

Trump trade war shakes up shipping and ripples to Australia

International shipping lines are cancelling scheduled port calls or entire voyages and some are preparing to idle vessels with crew aboard as cargo volumes drop.

The Whyalla steelworks was forced into administration in February as the SA government lost patience with Sanjeev Gupta’s unpaid bills.

Sanjeev Gupta refuses to hand over control of Whyalla port

KordaMentha has taken the British industrialist to court, claiming he refuses to hand it control of the town’s port, jeopardising plans to find a new owner.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles.

Marles won’t say if US pressure led to Port of Darwin U-turn

Defence Minister Richard Marles declined on four occasions to say what had occurred since late 2023 to change the policy on the port’s Chinese ownership.

Both leaders have pledged to take control of the Port of Darwin from Chinese firm Landbridge.

Why Darwin Port struggles to excite potential buyers

Chinese firm Landbridge won an auction with 33 interested parties in 2015 for the tricky and political Port of Darwin. It was a very different time to now.

Peter Dutton says under the Coalition the Chinese owned Landbridge Group will cease to own the Port of Darwin.

Dutton to force Chinese company to sell Darwin Port; Albanese agrees

Peter Dutton has promised to end the Port of Darwin lease if elected and return it to Australian ownership. Anthony Albanese will do the same.

March

Silk Logistics’ shares tumbled after the ACCC said it would scrutinise the company’s proposed sale to stevedore DP World Australia.

ACCC warning on DP World’s $174m takeover sends Silk shares diving

The purchase of the ASX-listed warehousing and port services group by the global stevedore could lessen competition and send the price of goods higher.

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The Port of Darwin was leased to the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group in 2015.

‘Not for sale’: Landbridge disputes Labor’s Darwin Port claim

Luke Gosling, the Labor MP for Solomon, which covers greater Darwin, this week claimed discussions were under way between the Northern Territory and Albanese governments to buy back the port.

January

The Panama Canal (pictured) has been criticised by US President, Donald Trump, as being operated by China.

Trump is wrong: Climate change, not China, is the threat to Panama Canal

Any loss of capacity, which is more likely to be caused by drought will ripple through supply chains and push up costs in Australia.

November 2024

The Port of Darwin was leased to the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group in 2015.

Darwin Port’s Chinese owner scrambles to stave off forced sale

The possibility Darwin Port could be taken back was welcomed by Coalition MPs who believe the key asset should never have been sold to the Chinese.

Australia won’t be able to get wind turbines to renewable energy zones quickly unless it builds more roads and bridges.

‘Maybe we can use Zeppelins’: Australia’s missing infrastructure links

Solar panels and wind turbines crucial to Australia’s energy transition are piling up at a key port because the nation does not have the infrastructure to move them.

The Port of Newcastle wants to diversify away from coal exports and build a container terminal.

Port of Newcastle’s container terminal pitch tempts foreign investors

The world’s biggest coal export hub has been approached by big investors who want to help fund an expansion that is expected to cost well above $2.5 billion.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/ports-hur