Landside Port Charges 2024

Landside Port Charges Index

The Landside Port Charges Index (LPCI) is released annually by NineSquared to provide accessible information on container freight landside charges and how they change over time. 

‘Landside charges’ refer to a slew of fees paid by transport operators moving containers in and out of ports on behalf of cargo owners. The LPCI includes charges levied at container stevedore terminals and empty container parks around Australia. 

Our LPCI dashboard calculates and reports on three indices covering Access Charges, Ancillary Charges, and Penalty Charges, while also allowing users to view individual charges that make up the three indices. 

2024 Release 

NineSquared has released its 2024 update to the Landside Port Charges Index to reflect price increases announced over the past year. Landside port charges across Australia’s capital cities continued to grow over the last year, with most charges increasing more in 2024 compared to the previous year.  

Our main indicator, the Access Charges Index, grew by 21% from 2023-2024. A snapshot of our access charges index and a comparison of average terminal access charges by city can be seen below.  

Our updated dashboard provides more details on individual charges by city and stevedore.

While the magnitude of increases in access charges has been highest in Fremantle, its terminal access fees are much lower than east coast container terminals as the Western Australian Government controlled port authority has direct influence on stevedore landside pricing through terminal lease clauses.

We estimate that increases to Terminal Access Charges alone will generate additional costs of $120 million in 2024 for Australian cargo owners, as compared to 2023.

Other landside charges have also grown substantially. Over the past year, the Ancillary and Penalty Charges indices grew by 26% and 37% respectively. Over the last year, average empty container access charges (captured in the Access Charges Index) increased by an average of 17% across Australia.

Given the impact these increasing charges have on supply chains, they are of interest to industry and policy makers. Most countries including Australia are highly dependent on international trade for both supply of goods to consumers and generating export income for producers. Productive ports reduce transport costs, optimise supply chains and improve customer service for producers and consumers. Port and transport costs are particularly important for regional producers and impact on export competitiveness.

This year, along with an update to the LPCI, we have also released a short discussion paper on container port productivity, and challenges and opportunities for improving it. The paper considers the wide range of ways that container port productivity can be measured. While Australian container ports have been successful in handling increasing trade volumes and productivity has improved over the past 30 years, over the past 10 years, productivity has been largely stable. Targeted improvements in landside productivity, such as truck backloading, could help to remove costs from supply chains that could offset increasing charges.

The current review of freight plans by the Commonwealth, Victorian and NSW governments provides an opportunity to develop a program of targeted improvements. Updates to freight policies and expansion of the National Freight Data Hub should also include a plan for addressing data gaps and developing a program to implement the data improvements recommended by various groups including the Productivity Commission. This will provide better insights into port performance and help to evaluate actions by government and industry to improve productivity.

To view content from previous years’ releases, the methodology used for calculating the LPCI and other special reports and discussion papers, visit the LCPI Archive Page.