Beginning on October 1st, VICTORIA International Container Terminal (VICT) will no longer charge a temporary $3.97 COVID recovery fee for each container. The firm said in an industry notice that, starting on October 1, it would no longer need daily quick antigen testing of all workers, contractors, and visitors. As a result, the tariff would be eliminated.
To ensure continuity of service although infection rates remained high, VICT’s industry notification noted, “We would like to express our appreciation to our workers, contractors, and visitors who prescribed our testing methods.” “VICT fully supports the Voluntary Pricing for Stevedore Landside Charges of the Victorian Department of Transport, but given this is a temporary tax that we are eliminating, we consider that the 60 and 30-day notices are not necessary for this circumstance.” Director of the Container Transport Alliance Neil Chambers praised the disclosure. According to him, VICT would have received a charge of almost $1.3 million yearly. Since the COVID public health rules and practices have changed, CTAA has been pushing for the abolition of the fee.
VICT is the only container port in Australia that recovers its COVID compliance expenses in this manner.
