Landside Port & Air Cargo Terminal Charges Indices

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. NineSquared has collected Landside Port Charges charged by Australian stevedores since 2018, to identify trends in the cost of freight and logistics in the country. The NineSquared LPCI database now includes more than 1,300 data points on charges across the 5 major port cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Fremantle.

In 2026, the LPCI expanded with the addition of the Air Cargo Terminal Charges Index (ACTCI). This index tracks changes to document, handling and storage fees being levied by air freight handlers at Australian airports. As with the LPCI, NineSquared has collected Air Cargo Terminal charges levied since 2018, with more than 250 data points on charges levied across Australia’s three major Cargo Terminal Operators.

A summary of the latest updates to the Landside Port & Air Cargo Terminal Charges Indices can be found here: Landside Port & Air Charges Index 2026. The full report is available here: Landside Port and Air Charges Index Report 2026.

Content from previous years’ releases, the methodology used for calculating the LPCI and other special reports and discussion papers can be found here: LPCI Archive Page.

Our LPCI dashboard calculates and reports on three Landside Port indices (Access Charges, Ancillary Charges, and Penalty Charges) and two Air Cargo Terminal indices (Import and Export), while also allowing users to view individual charges that make up the these indices. Interested parties can access the dashboard by completing the form below: