Container transport operators in Melbourne have begun to advise their clients about the need to recover some of the additional landside logistics costs associated with the direct dehire of empty containers to stevedore terminals.
Similar cost recovery negotiations between individual transport operators and their clients are progressing or are being considered In Brisbane and Fremantle.
The clear message is that shippers (importers, exporters and their forwarders) are taking up this issue with the Shipping Lines to ensure that alternative dehire arrangements are available when the time delays, lack of adequate vehicle booking slots, the inability to backload, or the lack terminal capacity make the direct dehire of empties to terminals woefully inefficient from a landside logistics perspective.