FEDERAL Lyons MP Eric Hutchinson today urges Tasmanian Labor senators and MPs to come out fighting for reasonable Melbourne port fees.
“Where are they on this issue that is so important to Tasmania?” Mr Hutchinson said.
“I’m calling them to account to pressure their Victorian state colleagues to stop this massive Melbourne port rent hike going ahead which could so hurt Tasmanian producers and exporters.’’
Mr Hutchinson wrote to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Simms when news of the planned port fee hike first broke, calling on him to intervene in the process because of his concern about the effect on Tasmania.
Melbourne Port is essentially a monopoly provider to Tasmanian exporters, he said.
The Port of Melbourne, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Victorian State Government, is proposing to increase the rent which DP World pays for its container terminal at the port by more than 700 per cent.
DP World Australia handles nearly 60 per cent of all international traffic into and out of Victoria.
Nearly 98 per cent of Tasmania’s exports go through the Port of Melbourne and Tasmanian freight accounts for more than one quarter of the port’s traffic.
If the expected flow-on effect happened to other Melbourne Port leaseholders on Webb Dock such as Toll Shipping and SeaRoad Holdings, which combined carry 80 per cent of the Bass Strait container trade, as well as international carriers such as Patrick, the cost of moving goods in and out of our state would significantly increase.
Tasmanian Liberal MPs and Senators negotiated the $203.9 million expansion of the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme and we don’t want to see that pocketed by the Victorian Labor Government.
In the absence of a direct international container shipping service of any scale, Tasmanian exporters and importers have little choice but to continue using the Port of Melbourne.
The proposed $120 per square metre rental hike would make Melbourne five times as expensive as the Brisbane and Sydney ports and at least three times more expensive than DP World’s 65 container terminals internationally including the huge Jebel Ali Port in Dubai and the UK’s London Gateway.
Mr Hutchinson said that he and his Federal and State colleagues had been working hard to keep Melbourne Port fees at a level that Tasmania can manage.
“I’m calling on Federal Tasmanian Labor members to get on board,” he said.
“This is unacceptable. I’m calling on Tasmanian Labor members to ring (Victorian Premier) Daniel Andrews and tell him this is unacceptable.
“It’s just not fair for Tasmania.”
Federal Lyons MHR Eric Hutchinson
