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Unidentified firm or persons triggered NZ Commerce Commissionâ€™s pre-Xmas blitz

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

NEW Zealand’s Commerce Commission grabbed the headlines in a pre-Christmas court prosecution of a large number of carriers for alleged air cargo price-fixing and other cartel-type behaviour, writes Kelvin King.

For the airlines it was a worrying reprise of the anti-cartel mania experienced in the US, UK, Australia and elsewhere.
For shippers and forwarders, it has raised the possibility of higher rates, less-than-seamless delivery pathways and extra documentation as airlines shy away from integration of services and seek to further differentiate their product offerings.

As AirCargo Asia-Pacific has reported in the past 18 months, the blitz has already induced a degree of paranoia in the aviation and freight industry, with some executives suggesting that the inability to consult with peers might lead not only to higher prices but also to safety and environmental efficiency issues.

While the Commerce Commission’s move in New Zealand has drawn some criticism for its apparent ‘wannabe’ emulation of overseas jurisdictions, there are few doubts that it means business and intends to follow through on prosecutions.

Paula Rebstock, the Commission’s chairwoman, is respected - and even feared - for her regulatory zeal, which is backed by strong legal powers.

She has warned that the Commission is hot on the heels of other alleged cartels, including one which she recently referred to as ‘affecting more commerce’ that the airline case; a decision on prosecutions in this case is not likely until late 2009.

Not unexpected

While the pre-Christmas timing of the airline prosecutions drew some industry sniffs, the move was far from unexpected.

The Commission had been working on the case since December 2005, with the matter widely publicised after it issued notices requiring several airlines to provide information.

When announcing the prosecutions, Rebstock noted that three airlines had not complied with the terms of these notices. “As a result, the commission filed summary proceedings for non-compliance against Cathay Pacific Airways, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Aerolineas Argentinas earlier this year,” she said.

“The District Court in Auckland will next consider this case in January 2009. The penalties for not responding to a request for information fully can be summary conviction and fines of up to NZ$30,000 for companies.”

Extensive cartel activity

While the Commerce Commission refers to the matter as “extensive and long-term cartel activity in the air cargo matter” and consumer media exposure has largely presented in that way, the reality is that at this stage the prosecutions are based only on allegations.

Evidence will be heard in the High Court, with hearings in Auckland. A date has not yet been set.

The Commission alleges that airlines have “colluded to raise the price of freighting cargo by imposing fuel surcharges for more than seven years”. This has, it claims, “affected the price of cargo both into and out of New Zealand”.

The allegations are that “airlines first entered into an illegal global agreement in 1999/2000 under the auspices of the trade organisation International Air Transport Association (IATA). The airlines imposed the fuel surcharges between 2000 and 2006”.

And, says the Commission, the allegations “also involve a series of regional price fixing agreements”. Further, it says “a large number of airlines conspired to price fix through the imposition of a security surcharge immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks”.

IATA has already denied that an anti-competitive agreement was effected.

‘Grandstanding’ claimed

Although Air New Zealand is but one of several parties to the case, it has been the loudest in denouncing the move.

Some other carriers have commented in milder terms, although all of these have said they will defend themselves against the allegations.

John Blair, Air New Zealand’s general counsel, came out swinging almost immediately after Rebstock held a press conference to announce the prosecutions.

He said that the airline had never condoned anti-competitive conduct and had co-operated fully with the Commerce Commission throughout its investigation, providing hundreds of thousands of documents and making current and former employees available for interview from around the world.

This had cost several million dollars, Blair pointed out.

“Despite extensive reviews of our own files and interviews with key staff, Air New Zealand has not been able to identify any evidence of price-fixing or cartel behaviour. We have repeatedly asked the Commerce Commission to present us with any evidence to indicate that Air New Zealand has breached any laws.

“To date they have been either unwilling or unable to do so.”

Blair suggested that the Commission’s announcement of court proceedings “is clearly an approach designed to justify their existence and seems more about grandstanding than about getting to the bottom of the allegations and facilitating a co-operative approach from the airlines”.

These comments were, AirCargo Asia-Pacific has been told, backed up by Air New Zealand’s chief executive, Rob Fyfe, in communications to airline staff.

There appears to be a strong feeling throughout Air New Zealand that the company has been targeted unjustly.

Firing line

Rebstock said that while as many as 60 airlines could be involved in the alleged cartel, along with “a great number of individuals throughout the world,” the Commission had decided to focus on those airlines that had the greatest impact on New Zealand “as well as the most culpable individuals”.

Those listed on the High Court proceedings papers are Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Korean Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and United Airlines.

Several current and former airline staff are named as defendants. The commission’s statement of proceedings described them as “managers holding positions of responsibility” who were “allegedly actively involved in promoting the conspiracy and/or were allegedly in a position to stop the conduct and deliberately refrained from doing so”.

Unidentified trigger

Rebstock said the case was triggered in 2005 by a leniency application.

It is not known exactly where this came from, but Qantas and British Airways are said to be co-operating with the Commission.

The Commission has a leniency program which can deliver immunity from prosecution for the first company or individual to bring an alleged cartel to Commission attention. Those who admit liability and co-operate once an investigation is under way can win “a lower level of enforcement in the form of discounts on penalties, subject to the endorsement of the High Court”.

As is well known, both Qantas and British Airways have been hit by price-fixing prosecutions in other parts of the world.

Recently, as the results of proceedings instituted by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Federal Court in Sydney imposed A$20 million in penalties on Qantas and A$5 million on British Airways, along with A$200,000 each toward ACCC’s costs. Both also were the subject of restraining orders.

We have the technology to make it very hard for thieves to steal

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

AS world trade volumes grow and borders become more open, thieves have become more organised and sophisticated, “stealing-to-order” digital cameras, PDAs, athletic shoes or any other category of high-value goods, depending on what their “customers” might want, says Gerrit Wassink, director Strategic Accounts Logistics, Tyco Fire & Security / ADT.

The Transported Assets Protection Association (TAPA) estimates that about US$12 billion in goods will be stolen annually, much of it by criminal syndicates aided by insiders and loose security practices. That physical loss not only hurts the profits of the source companies but also is a loss of irreplaceable sales opportunities.

In today’s interconnected global economy, companies have increased expectations of accessing information about their goods in transit 24x7 and even of being able to see those goods.

Unfortunately, gangs also want to know. Using increasingly sophisticated methods and technologies, both sides now play a high-tech game of cat-and-mouse to prevent theft on one side and steal goods on the other. The playing field is the entire supply chain. At any point along it, wherever goods sit, wherever they are transferred and wherever they change possession, they are at risk.

Prompted by the TAPA standards, the logistics industry has made huge investments to thwart theft in recent years both in technologies and in processes.

Access control, CCTV, electronic article surveillance and tracking, unmarked boxes and pallets, fire and intruder alarms, monitoring and GPS devices are all part of the mix.

What’s changing in this toolset are the technologies inside them and, more and more, the technologies networking them.

The components of these security devices, systems and solutions, for example, are becoming highly integrated, putting more and more “smarts” inside them. Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled video cameras can have chipsets in them with analytical capabilities that can provide pattern recognition of, say, boxes on a moving conveyer line and even facial recognition of logistics personnel.

Today, if a camera monitoring the line sees a box is missing, it can send an alarm over the company’s network (or even encrypted via the Internet) to a centralised monitoring system or station for investigation.

Better, the facility’s entire network of IP video cameras can be interconnected with barcode scanning or RFID tag data of the moving packages. This converged data makes it easy to automate an ultrafast frame-by-frame video search of the entire video data pool in seconds to find the “last seen” scene of the missing package.

That kind of insight can help make catching the thief much more likely — or, at the very least, help prevent such theft from happening again.

As for networking, IP means the central station can be anywhere on the planet. From there, it can signal to an onsite guard’s wireless smart phone that something’s amiss and even provide the video clip to help investigate.

The convergence of security and information technologies has many implications. One of the most profound is this: Convergence can enable security professionals to be less reactive to events such as alarms and more proactive in their fight against crime via data-driven, predictive security models. Security professionals now can neutralise risks before they happen, say, by designing loading patterns and processes so goods are not left exposed. They can use predictive security models to reduce the probability of risks. Or, they can determine what levels of vulnerability are acceptable.

Since logistics companies are in the business of moving goods, securing those goods from loss and theft is also inherently part of what they do.

That in itself is a tall order on a daily basis. That’s why it can help to have strategic partners supporting their efforts.

These partners should be logistics sector experts who fully understand the market and customer dynamics and solutions.

They should know that service levels drive performance pressures and quality of service is a logistics company’s key competitive differentiator. They should think beyond borders and time zones and most importantly, create integrated solutions both across systems and business processes.

Along with technological advances, TAPA has helped the logistics industry take giant steps toward standardised security practices worldwide. Both technology and standards are important to keeping worldwide security as simple and consistent as possible. Both make the global application of converged security solutions not a cost of doing business, but an investment in the business - with payoffs in better operational performance and greater customer responsiveness and satisfaction.

Some day, we’ll look back on the times we live in now and call them the “good old days”. Thieves will still be a problem, but with the continued evolution of technologies and standards, their percentage take of the world’s material value stream will be ever smaller. And we’ll do it all with the simplicity and convenience of one point of contact across more than 50 countries.

On the web www.adt.com/global.

ACMG report tips 2010 upturn, ranks international express shippers as industry braces for tough year

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

THE AIR Cargo Management Group (ACMG) has released its annual ‘International Air Freight and Express Industry Performance Analysis’ report, providing fresh insight and a detailed assessment of the international air cargo/express industry for 2008.

ACMG’s new study found the year to be one of the most challenging ever for participants in the global airline industry.

First came record-high fuel prices, followed by recession-induced traffic declines. Air cargo traffic levels showed modest year-over-year increases through mid-year, but turned decidedly negative later on.

“All indications are that international air freight for 2008 will show a decline of two to four per cent compared to the results for 2007,” said Robert Dahl, ACMG managing director.

“November results showed double-digit declines, and early reports indicate that the December figures will come in even lower.”

Those looking for a turnaround in 2009 are likely to be disappointed, as global air freight traffic is expected to drop another five per cent before a recovery begins in 2010. “This is clearly disappointing news for an industry where six per cent annual growth is the norm,” commented Dahl. “On the other hand, air freight tends to be a leading economic indicator, so when the recovery does come air freight companies will be among the earliest beneficiaries.”

Over the long term, economists predict global GDP will exhibit three per cent annual growth, and ACMG finds that this, coupled with further globalisation, will support a return to six per cent average annual growth for air freight.

“Combined annual revenue for participants in the international air cargo market (airlines, forwarders, and express companies) now exceeds US$87 billion based on results for the most recent financial year. The revenue total was pushed up more than 10 per cent by traffic growth (prior to the recent decline), coupled with higher fuel surcharges and currency exchange rate trends,” Dahl noted.

“Things to watch for in 2009 include further consolidation in the airline, freight forwarding and express sectors, and more concern about shippers switching to the ocean mode as they seek to cut their transportation costs. Hopefully, by mid-2009 we will see the first signs of a market recovery, although we don’t expect a major turnaround in the near term.”

Other key findings in the report included:

• Express companies have fared somewhat better than airlines in the current weak cargo market, but even express traffic has declined in recent months, and some retrenching is apparent in the express group, including the deferral of freighter deliveries and some planned reductions in air operations.

• International express grew just 1.4 per cent to reach 2.144 million shipments per day in mid-2008; growth in this sector has averaged 9.5 per cent per year since 1992, but a less-impressive 6.3 per cent per year since 1997. UPS now has the largest share of the international air express market at 24.7 per cent, followed closely by DHL and FedEx, with TNT and the Express Mail Service of the Universal Postal Union rounding out the top-five.

• Despite gains by the express companies, airlines and forwarders retain control of 89 per cent of the tonnage of air cargo handled in the international market. The non-express carriers in the combination and all-cargo groups together have 46 per cent of market turnover (about US$40.1 billion), with freight forwarders having an additional 17 per cent (US$14.8 billion). Leading airlines in Asia generate nearly one-third of their revenue from cargo.

• ACMG said interest in freighter aircraft remains high, with more than 300 orders on the books for new and converted widebody freighters. However, an over capacity situation is likely to develop in 2009 given the expectation for continuing weak air freight demand.

The 200-page ACMG report provides extensive coverage of the performance of the express companies, all-cargo and combination carriers, and freight forwarders that serve the international air freight market, and describes the strategies being employed by more than 50 individual market participants. Additional commentary and analysis is provided on a wide range of related topics, including airline alliances, open-skies pacts, and freighter aircraft trends, among others.

Adelaide expansion plans to include light rail link and new 200-room hotel

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

ADELAIDE Airport has experienced strong growth over recent years in conjunction with an increase in the number of low-cost carriers and reduced-cost airfares, writes John Satterley.

While the level of growth has started to slow as a result of recent economic uncertainty, the historically robust nature of the aviation industry and its ability to bounce back from adverse conditions means Adelaide Airport Ltd (AAL) has continued to plan for future expansion.

AAL has recently identified the necessary major infrastructure changes to accommodate increased passenger, vehicle, cargo and aircraft traffic without significant degradation and impact on service levels in the Terminals Area Precinct.

This precinct currently includes T1 (Terminal 1 which cost A$260 million and became fully operational in February 2006) and support infrastructure, access roads, carparks, offices, maintenance areas and freight facilities in the central publicly accessible portion of the airport.

A strategic review was carried out in 2008 resulting in initial concept plans which incorporate development of a multilevel carpark, a 200-room hotel, reshaping of the access and egress road network, development of a plaza forecourt as a feature entrance to T1, a regional terminal to accommodate mining charter and general aviation passengers and identification of a future light rail access and terminus within the precinct.

Taxi and hire car facilities also will be relocated with dedicated and user-friendly pick-up and set-down points.
The result is proposed to provide an integrated approach to vehicular traffic and pedestrian flow and improve security outcomes while maintaining and continuing to enhance the ambience created initially by the development of T1.

The first of Adelaide Airport’s proposed new facilities, the 200-room hotel, has received approval from federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese following extensive public consultation through the Major Development Planning process.

Formal details and timelines for the introduction of these changes and proposed facilities will be displayed through the airport’s Master Plan review due out for public consultation early this year.

Freight movements will play an important role in the Master Plan review process as more and more exporters choose to fly their products direct from Adelaide to overseas destinations rather than via Sydney or Melbourne.
For the first time, more than 50 per cent of South Australia’s airfreight exports (by volume) are now flown direct from Adelaide Airport to international destinations. This compares with only 30 per cent flying direct from Adelaide just six years ago.

After seven months in a row, Januaryâ€™s A-P cargo down another 28.1 per cent

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

THE INTERNATIONAL Air Transport Association (IATA) says international scheduled traffic results for January showed alarming slumps for both cargo and passenger numbers.

December’s airfreight collapse (-22.6 per cent) worsened to a 23.2 per cent year-on-year demand drop, the eighth consecutive month of contraction for air cargo.

“Alarm bells are ringing everywhere. Every region’s carriers are reporting big drops in cargo,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and ceo.

Asia Pacific carriers, representing 43 per cent of the market, led the cargo decline with a 28.1 per cent year-on-year drop. This was followed closely by the other major market players: European carriers (-23.0 per cent) and North American carriers (-19.3 per cent).

While this may appear to be relatively stabilised compared to the precipitous December drop, it is too soon to call a bottom in the air freight market. Manufacturers are still shedding inventory and cutting production which is expected to lead to further falls in freight volumes.

In the cabins, international passenger demand fell by 5.6 per cent in January 2009 compared to January 2008 and was a full percentage point worse than the 4.6 per cent year-on-year drop recorded in December. January’s fall in passenger demand was the fifth consecutive month of contraction and outpaced capacity cuts of 2.0 per cent, driving the load factor down to 72.8 per cent, some 2.8 per cent below January 2008.

Bisignani continued: “Aside from Middle East carriers, passenger demand is falling in all regions. The industry is in a global crisis and we have not yet seen the bottom.”

Asian carriers led the decline in passenger demand with an 8.4 per cent year-on-year drop in January. While this was slightly better than the 9.7 per cent contraction in December, the figure was positively skewed by Chinese New Year which fell at the end of January 2009 (and which was in February the year before). Capacity in the region contracted 4.3 per cent. With Japan, the region’s largest market for air travel, expected to see its economy contract by an unprecedented 5 per cent in 2009, the prospects for traffic in the region remain dismal.

North American carriers posted the second largest passenger decline at 6.2 per cent led by a decline in trans-Pacific travel. In response, carriers withdrew 2.6 per cent of their international capacity, clawing back some of the expansion of 2008.

European carriers offset a 5.7 per cent decline in demand with a 3.6 per cent decrease in capacity. Demand decreased sharply from the 2.7 per cent fall in December as European economies move into deep recession.
Latin American carriers saw a modest decline of 1.4 per cent. Even against a 0.5 per cent increase in capacity, the region turned in the highest load factors at 74.9 per cent.

African carriers saw the demand decline slow from an average 4.0 per cent in 2008 to 2.6 per cent in January.
The Middle East was the only region with a positive traffic growth, of 3.1 per cent. This is far below both the double-digit traffic growth in 2008 and the 10.8 per cent expansion in capacity.

“The only good news is that fuel prices remain well below last year’s level. But the drop in demand is much more harmful. The industry is shrinking with revenues expected to fall by US$35 billion to US$500 billion, delivering a loss of US$2.5 billion this year,” said Bisignani.

“Airlines remain in intensive care, but while others ask for government bailouts, our demands on governments are much more modest. First, don’t tax us to death in order to pay for investments in the banking industry. This includes the UK government’s plans to increase its multi-billion pound Air Passenger Duty and the Dutch Government’s misguided departure tax,” said Bisignani. In 2008, even as governments delivered tax breaks to stimulate economic growth, the airline industry took on an additional tax burden of US$6.9 billion.

“Second, give airlines the commercial freedoms that every other business takes for granted. With the world’s capital markets in disarray, archaic ownership restrictions are an unnecessary burden that must be lifted. Today’s crisis highlights the need to change the structure of this hyper-fragmented and fragile industry,” said Bisignani, referring to IATA’s Agenda for Freedom initiative.

AirAsia X offers European cargo

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

LOW-cost long-haul carrier AirAsia X will begin cargo operations to and from Europe from 11 March when it inaugurates flights between Kuala Lumpur and London Stansted airport, UK. The five-times-weekly direct flights will be operated using an A340-300, with around eight tonne cargo capacity per flight.

The airline has appointed IAM, Network Cargo Services, FlyUs, Global Cargo Management and ACT as cargo sales agents in Western Europe while cargo handling at London Stansted will be undertaken by Aviance.

AirAsia X currently operates three A330 aircraft plying routes from Kuala Lumpur to Australia and China and a total order of 25 A330 aircraft to be delivered progressively over the next five years.

Azran Osman-Rani, ceo of AirAsia X says: “We believe Stansted is an excellent hub to serve all of Europe, with an extensive network of services that provide excellent connectivity. In addition to that, with our extensive network across Southeast Asia, China, Australia, India and now Europe combined with the services offered by Aviance, we are confident that this new service offered to the airfreight industry is extremely appealing to freight forwarders.”

Meanwhile, Dato’ Abdul Nasser Abu Kassim, AirAsia’s regional head of Cargo commented “We are truly delighted to expand our cargo business in Europe due to the potential huge demand. This will give us the flexibility to offer lower rates to the market, while maintaining reliability. AirAsia X’s cost efficiencies are derived from maintaining a simple aircraft fleet and a route network based on low-cost airports, without complex code-sharing and other legacy overheads that weigh down traditional airlines. This will give us the flexibility to offer lower rates to the market.”

Auckland tops for SYD air freight exports

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

AUCKLAND, New Zealand retained its position as the top IATA export market for air freight from Sydney, Australia with 25,258,355 kgs worth A$31,687,544 for the reporting period January - November 2008.

Second was Singapore with 7,199,732 kgs worth A$4,170,926. Third was Hong Kong with 5,371,436 kgs worth A$3,081,109.

The Sydney top three export markets filled the same places in 2007, but newcomer Dubai continues to improve coming in at fourth spot with 3,060,590 kgs worth A$4,532,516.

Other improvers included Los Angeles, which moved from eighth spot in 2007 to sixth in 2008 with 2,420,030 kgs worth A$7,806,061; Bangkok 11th to ninth with 2,178,647 kgs worth A$1,053,536; Shanghai 18th to 14th with 1,430,646 kgs worth A$1,173,533 and Chicago which moved up from 23rd to 16th position with 1,205,596 kgs worth A$4,323,459.

In Melbourne it also was Auckland leading the export air freight market with 15,242,189 kgs worth A$14,581,118, followed by Singapore 12,812,371 kgs worth A$7,783,751 and Hong Kong 9,213,018 kgs worth A$10,517,108.
The top 50 export markets for Sydney and Melbourne are on our website www.aircargo-ap.com.au

Australia and New Zealand sign FTA with ASEAN group

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

IN August 2008, there were announcements that Australia and New Zealand had struck a deal to establish a Free Trade Agreement with the ASEAN nations ("AANZFTA"), writes Andrew Hudson.

In the ensuing period, there have been additional negotiations to try and resolve outstanding issues and finalise the document.

It seems most of those negotiations surrounded Australia's efforts to secure additional tariff reductions for those in the automotive industry.

More recent reports now suggest that while tariff reductions have been secured within ASEAN for Australian ‘car component and small vehicle manufacturers’, Australia will still need to separately press for concessional treatment for large passenger cars in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Those concessions will be sought in the current Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Malaysia and through separate trade negotiations with Indonesia. In very recent times, Australia has increased its efforts to engage with Indonesia on trade matters including the forum conducted by government officials in Australia last week.

However, the deal has now been completed with the AANZFTA and was signed in Thailand 27 February.

While details of concessions granted to Australia have only now been released and have yet to be reviewed in detail, according to material provided by DFAT, the AANZFTA will include the following:

• The ability for Australian pharmaceutical companies across the region to export to ASEAN countries with almost total reduction in tariffs.

• Significant reductions in tariffs on Australian beef, live cattle exports, sheep and goat meat to countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

• Lower tariffs on Australian aluminium exports to Indonesia and reduction of Malaysian tariffs on aluminium tanks, vats, nails and screws (over the next four years).

• A dispute resolution provision so that Australian firms investing in ASEAN countries will have access to arbitration against ASEAN countries if their investments are adversely affected by action by those countries in breach of AANZFTA commitments. This will expand current protection currently made available in Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam.

• A general commitment to certainty and transparency for Australia service providers. In addition, a number of Australian service industries have received specific commitments to improve their market access including benefits for lawyers.

• Rules of origin generally constructed on "co-equal" access to rules based on either "Change in Tariff Classification" (CTC) or a "Regional Value Content" (RVC) tests. For most goods, there will be the option of using either test although some goods will need to fit one test.

• The use of a "Certificate of Origin" regime for those wishing to claim preference. These Certificates will be issued by relevant approved bodies (as in our Thai Free Trade Agreement).

I have yet to review details of Australia's concessions to ASEAN nations. However, as many would be aware, current Australian tariffs are already low on nearly all imports from all countries.

I will continue to provide analysis on the AANZFTA as they become available. These will be by way of publication and through my various speaking engagements. These include the CBFCA Member Forums being conducted in Sydney (04 March) and in Melbourne (18 - 19 March).

Consignment release times can be shorter, but itâ€™s up to industry, says Customsâ€™ latest study

: Magazine Stories January Issue 2009; Thursday, 28 January 2016

OPPORTUNITIES for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service to influence the timing of consignment release are limited, says the report on The Time Study 2007. Its findings were made public on February 10.

“Early advice of unimpeded status via prompt acquittal of holds immediately when impediments are dealt with will assist,” the report notes. “Otherwise, the opportunities for changing the timing of release are principally in industry’s domain.”

However, some improvements could be made to the service’s performance, it suggests.

These include:

• Reduced intervention on legitimate consignments through more-accurate identification of legitimate trade and use of comprehensive information (including from the country of export) to better direct interventions.

• More extensive use of targets and service levels for processing performance. Regular monitoring and quality reviews to ensure consistency.

• Increasing the speed of processing for impeded consignments subject to permit requirements by extending the domestic single trade window - the ICS - via electronic data interchange and automation arrangements with more of the 41 permit issuing agencies the service acts for.

• Provision of early advice of impeded status to importers or their service providers, allowing a maximum opportunity to deal with the additional requirements of border agencies.

• An integrated and ongoing approach to performance management that enables better assessment of the alignment of activities to risk and determine where opportunities lie for tactical management.

Analysis of the study’s data has shown that the area of reporting and declaration appears to offer significant potential for improvement by increasing the proportion of cargo which is unimpeded by the border agencies at arrival, says the report, thereby reducing the average time from arrival to release.

Further efficiencies could be enabled by achieving a higher proportion of declarations lodged early and implementing measures which facilitate the timeliness and accuracy of linking of documents.

The study found that the average elapsed time from arrival to release for air cargo was 0.3 days, while for sea cargo it was 1.3 days.

Michael Carmody, chief executive of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, says the study findings compare favourably with recent TRS measurements elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The TRS results indicate that Australian Customs and Border Protection’s processes are not a significant impediment to import trade,” he points out. “Rather, factors such as the relative efficiency of business to business communications and the arrangement of inland transport appear to be greater influences on the timing of cargo delivery.

“This was confirmed by industry at the Customs National Consultative Committee meeting last year.”

The TRS is a method endorsed by the World Customs Organisation. It has been identified by APEC as an important tool to identify and improve bottlenecks in customs-related procedures.

On the web:
http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/time-release-study.pdf