DP World West Swanson Terminal Lets Down Landside Stakeholders Again

It was only six weeks’ ago that CTAA commented on significant landside delays at DP World’s West Swanson Terminal (WST) in the Port of Melbourne.

However, over the weekend just gone and into this week, further significant landside performance delays have caused havoc for container transport operators and their freight forwarder and import / export customers.

Lengthy truck turnaround time (TTT) delays of upwards of 2 to 3 hours, plus a lack of Vehicle Booking System (VBS) slots at DP World WST, have led to transport operators not being able to meet the import container pick up and export receival demands of their customers.

This has meant forwarders & importers not receiving their containers until Day 4 or Day 5 since discharge (in some instances), and export containers potentially missing vessel cut off.

The flow on impacts in the supply chain are numerous, including arguments about who is responsible to pay container detention bills levied by shipping lines for the late return of empty containers, despite the Shipping Lines’ terminal service provider (DP World) being the source of the operational delays.

Read the CTAA Media Release for more information and DP World’s responses.