News / A new crisis for Australian exporters, after fires, drought and pandemic

Australia’s agricultural exporters are losing business because of increasing shipping delays and costs, prompting fresh calls for tighter regulation of container carriers.

For example, according to a new report by the Freight & Trade Alliance (F&TA), the country’s grain exporters are failing to meet contractual obligations, due to the rerouting of vessels or schedule cancellations by shipping lines.

F&TA director Paul Zalai said: “Three of our members collectively paid in excess of US$117,000 in contract breaches in the past three months alone, ...