About container stevedoring
Container stevedores are responsible for lifting containers on and off container ships.
Australia has benefited from container trade over the past 50 years. The use of containers has lowered the cost of transporting goods around the world. This has allowed many Australian businesses to take part in international trade.
As a key part of international trade, the container freight industry impacts the:
- cost of imported goods sold in Australia
- the competitiveness of Australian exports.
What we do in container stevedoring monitoring
The ACCC has a role in tracking Australia’s container freight industry. We:
- track prices, costs and profits of container stevedores at major ports. These are Adelaide, Brisbane, Burnie (when operational), Fremantle, Melbourne and Sydney ports.
- gather information from others operating in the container freight industry
- provide performance information on the industry to government and the community
- write a Container stevedoring monitoring report to the Minister each year.
The legal basis of our functions
Our functions come from a direction issued by the Treasurer under what is now Part VIIA of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. This relates to price inquiries, notifications and monitoring.