National voluntary guidelines for landside stevedore charges

Australia’s transport ministers have asked the NTC to update the National Voluntary Guidelines for landside stevedore charges to include a new requirement for stevedore operators to implement price changes annually on 1 January. 

Ministers also agreed the NTC will work with jurisdictions to include empty container park operators in the Guidelines with similar requirements as stevedore operators. We are now consulting on these proposed updates.

The consultation paper outlines these proposed changes to improve transparency, predictability and consistency of landside pricing across Australia’s five major ports. Stakeholders across the containerised freight supply chain are invited to provide feedback.

Consultation is open until 13 March 2026.

For more information on this work, please see our project page.

 

The Guidelines aim to complement, build on, or replace any existing provisions. They apply to any proposed changes from the commencement date specified by each participating state and/or territory government.

The Guidelines are designed to promote enhanced communication and transparency across the national containerised freight supply chain when changes are made to corresponding charges.