Freight News - June 2012

Freight News – June 2012

Importing or exporting goods containing ozone-depleting substances or synthetic greenhouse gases
The manufacture, importation and exportation of certain ozone depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases is administered by the Department of Environment and Heritage.
Customs Prohibited Imports Regulations and the Prohibited Exports Regulations act to ensure that the import and export of certain substances controlled by the relevant Act is regulated in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

What is prohibited
The Act restricts and regulates the manufacture, import and export of specified ozone depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases. An importer or exporter of controlled substances must be licensed under the Act to import or export the controlled substances that are specified in the regulations.

A licence is required to import controlled substances in bulk form and substances contained in
pre-charged equipment. The permit to import the above is known as a Pre-charged equipment licence

Do you need a pre-charged equipment licence
A pre-charged equipment licence is required to import into Australia refrigeration and/or airconditioning equipment that contains a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) or hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerant. HFCs and HCFCs are damaging to the environment as they are ozone depleting substances (ODSs) and synthetic greenhouse gases (SGGs).

A pre-charged equipment licence may be required even if the airconditioner or refrigeration equipment is incorporated into another object, e.g. a car, caravan, or another vehicle (including earth moving equipment). It is an offence under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 to import pre-charged equipment without a licence.

Licence application fee
The standard licence application fee for regular importers of pre-charged equipment is $3000.
Since 18 May 2011, when amendments to the Act came into force, regular pre-charged equipment licences granted on and after this date generally expire two years from the date on which the licence is granted, unless a shorter date is specified. Licences issued before 18 May 2011 for the 2010-11 period expired on 31 December 2011.

How do I apply for a pre-charged equipment (PCE) licence
You need to complete and submit an online application form for a pre-charged equipment licence and required supporting documentation to the Department. If you do not have access to the internet a paper form can be obtained from the licensing officer on +61 2 6274 1373 or ozone@environment.gov.au

The maximum penalty for importing pre-charged equipment without a pre-charged equipment licence is $55,000 for a person or $275,000 for a body corporate.

Who can I contact if I have more questions
For further information contact the licensing officer in the Ozone and Synthetic Gas Team:
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT AUSTRALIA 2601 Ph: +61 2 6274 1373 or 6274 1237 Email: ozone@environment.gov.au
Website: http://www.environment.gov.au/atmosphere/ozone/licences/index.html

Port of Melbourne volumes increase in 2011

The Port of Melbourne Corporation has reported a throughput of 2,506,726 TEU (twenty foot equivalent containers) in the 2011 calendar year, an increase of 6.6% on 2010.

According to port management, this was boosted by strong trade in December of 221,128 TEU, up 6.2% on December 2010. The port reached the 2 million TEU milestone only four and a half years ago.

The additional half a million containers has been driven by population growth and good rainfall which has helped boost commodity exports.

Australia-NZ closer economic links

A joint investigation into closer Aus-NZ economic ties will be set up by the two Productivity Commissions in Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian treasurer and the New Zealand finance minister have commissioned the study on boosting economic ties between the two countries.

The two Commissions are expected to produce a Joint Scoping Study on the impacts and benefits of further economic integration of the Australian and New Zealand economies. The benefits of the Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement which came into effect in 1983 have been noted in this review.

2013 marks 30 years of the operation of the Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, the Commission’s report will help advise the Australian and New Zealand Governments on the next steps in economic integration.

The report is to focus on:
• Potential areas of further economic reform and integration
• Economic impacts and benefits of reform
• Significant transition and adjustment costs
• Identification of reform where joint benefits are greatest
• The means by which reforms might be best actioned
• The time paths over which benefits are expected to accrue.

The report is expected to be finished by December 2012 and in time for the next meeting of leaders early 2013.

AusIndustry Programs

AusIndustry is a specialist program delivery division within the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education that:

• delivers business programs worth about $2 billion each year;
• has customer service managers in more than 20 offices across Australia, including 15 regional offices;
• has a long-standing relationship with Australian business with more than 15 years’ experience in dealing with busi-ness and business issues.

Its programs include assisting importers and exporters, a summary of these follows:

Certain Inputs to Manufacture (CIM)
The Certain Inputs to Manufacture (CIM) Program aims to improve the competitiveness of Australian industry by providing import duty concessions on certain imported raw materials and intermediate goods such as chemical, plastics or paper goods. In addition, CIM covers metal materials and goods which are used for the packaging of food.

Applications for the concession are primarily assessed on the basis of an independent technical assessment which demonstrates that the imported goods are substantially and demonstrably superior in certain respects to comparable goods produced in Australia for specific end products. Applications should also provide advice from the Industry Capability Network which identifies at least one Australian manufacturer of comparable goods.

Enhanced Project By-law Scheme (EPBS)
EPBS Can Reduce Project Costs EPBS provides an opportunity for Australian industry to access tariff duty concessions on eligible goods for major projects in the mining, resource processing, agriculture, food processing, food packaging, manufacturing, gas supply, power supply, and water supply industries where certain conditions are met.
EPBS Creates Opportunities for Australian Suppliers: Each project applying for EPBS must have an Australian Industry Participation (AIP) Plan. AIP Plans provide Australian industry with a full, fair and reasonable opportunity to participate in major projects and encourage the use of Australian industry in global supply chains.

Tradex Scheme Program
The Tradex Scheme allows an importer to gain an up-front exemption from Customs duty and GST on eligible imported goods that are intended for export. The goods may be exported in the same condition as imported, subjected to a process or treatment after importation, then exported or incorporated in other goods which are exported. Export may be carried out by the importer or a third party.

Tradex provides an alternative to the Customs Drawback Scheme which requires an up-front payment of Customs duty and GST and then the subsequent recovery of these taxes when the goods have been exported. The Tradex Scheme can, therefore, provide a significant cashflow benefit.
The goods must be exported within 12 months of importation, although approval can be sought to extend this period.

Mega-Ship Trend Comes With Consequences

The economies of scale that are driving carriers to replace their fleets with mega-ships may result in the consolidation of shipping lines or in the reduction of competition and customer service.
Forecasts predict that the container industry will shrink to seven carriers by the mid-2020s.
The capacity of the global container fleet will grow by 7 percent per year through 2015, but the capacity of the new mega-ships being delivered will increase at a 30 percent annual rate. From now until the end of 2014, the mega-ship fleet will grow by 120 percent. By 2015, mega-ships will account for more than half of the capacity of the total container fleet.
As more large ships enter the Asia-Europe and the trans-Pacific trades, carriers will cascade smaller and less-efficient ships on the trans-Atlantic and the north-south trades, which have not been hit by the overcapacity. But these trades, which have been relatively stable, may suffer from excess capacity.

The size of the mega-ships is already approaching its upper limit, because ships larger than 18,000-TEUs cannot be loaded and unloaded quickly enough to offer the frequency of sailings demanded by the market. In addition, few ports have the infrastructure to handle ships bigger than the Maersk Triple-E ships.

India Export Growth Hits Three-Month High

India’s exports in January increased 10.1 percent year-over-year to $25.4 billion, the fastest growth rate in three months.

Exports grew 3.87 percent in November and 6.7 percent in December over the corresponding months in 2010. Total exports from April through January, the first 10 months of fiscal 2011-12, surged 23.5 percent to $242.8 billion from a year earlier.

Imports for January expanded 20.3 percent to $40.1 billion year-over-year, creating a trade gap of $14.7 billion. Overall inbound trade during April to January jumped 29.4 percent to $391.5 billion, expanding the trade deficit for the 10-month period to roughly $148.7 billion.

Exports for the current fiscal year of around $300 billion and imports of about $460 billion with a balance of trade of about $160 billion.

Export growth during April-January was primarily led by engineering goods, petroleum products, readymade garments and electronics, which grew 51.1 percent, 21 percent, 21 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively, in $ value terms.

In the year ended March 31, India exported a record $246 billion worth of goods and set an export target of $500 billion by 2014. 6
Rena progress

Good progress has been made in the recovery of a variety of cargoes from the wreck of the Rena.
One success story is six container loads of aluminium ingots recovered and landed ashore, 210.7 tonnes in total.

Cargo has been successfully recovered by divers from the sunken hold 5 in the bow section of the wreck, and by helicopter lifts from above the waterline. Efforts are continuing to locate and bring ashore more of the ingots.

The number of containers recovered and landed ashore has risen to 772. The number of containers left in the bow section has fallen below the 200 mark to 197 (most of them empty), and a further 359 are believed to be in the aft section or on the seabed nearby.

Approximately 270 boxes were swept overboard from the date of the grounding to April 3; 772 boxes have been processed on shore since container recovery began on November 16. Most have been removed from Rena by salvors and the balance recovered from the water and beaches.
Salvors are continuing to sweep the local coast for boxes and other debris; several 40-footers remain on the sea-bed at known locations.

Over 1,041 tonnes of waste have been collected. 350 tonnes of oil was released from Rena fuel tanks between October 5 and 11 last year. Small amounts of oil in the local environment continue to be observed and recovered.

The Master and the Second Officer were each jailed for seven months. Engineering company fined for importing asbestos gaskets

An international engineering company was last month ordered to pay $64,000 in penalties and costs in the Perth Magistrates Court for importing prohibited asbestos in machinery parts.

In 2009, the company imported 62 machinery parts from China for the development of a power plant. Customs and Border Protection found that the machinery contained chrysotile asbestos. In June 2010, the company imported a further 60 parts containing chrysotile asbestos.
Chrysotile asbestos, commonly known as white asbestos, is a prohibited import under the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 and can cause adverse health effects, including lung cancer.
The company was found to be guilty of two counts of importing prohibited imports, namely chrysotile asbestos into Austra-lia contrary to Section 233(1)(b) of the Customs Act 1901.

SOS looks forward to your on-going support and should you require any further information or assistance please do not hesitate to contact your local SOS Consultant Representative or your nearest SOS Office.

SOS Consultants
Suite 1/799 Centre Road
East Bentleigh VIC 3165
Telephone: 61 3 9570 1799
Fax: 61 3 9570 1188
Email: info@sosconsultants.com.au
Web:www.sosconsultants.com.au

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