Draft Monitoring Report on TFES released by Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE)

Posted on Dec 13, 2017 by mike.brindley@rdatasmania.org.au

THE Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) has released its draft monitoring report on the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES), providing a snapshot of northbound trade from Tasmania.

The TFES was expanded in January 2016 to provide assistance for goods shipped from Tasmania to international markets (via transhipment at a mainland port).

This means that eligible shipments receive $700 per TEU, with shippers from King Island and the Furneaux Group receiving a 15% additional loading.

BITRE was tasked with reviewing the impact of the changes, and the draft report is the first such review.

The report focuses on the volume and value of eligible claims for goods shipped to the mainland for the purpose of transhipment between January 1 2016 and June 30, 2017.

Over this period, 1411 claims from 163 different claimants were paid, totalling $30.2m for 43,200 TEU.

Norske Skog Boyer Mill was the biggest claimant with $4.53m claimed for 6500 TEU, followed by Rio Tinto with $4.37m for 6250 TEU.

About 90% of the total TEUs were shipped through Victoria, and most freight shipped beyond Australia was shipped via sea, with only 1.7% by volume was shipped by air, according to the preliminary data laid out in the report.

Shippers made claims for cargo in 56 commodity groups, with the top three groups being unwrought metals (9800 TEU), aluminium (8400 TEU) and newsprint (6500 TEU).

Submissions on the draft report are due by Monday December 18, 2018. The full report and information on how to submit can be found here.