TFPA: Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme needs a ground-up review
Posted 21 November 2024
Media Release: Tasmanian Forest Products Association. A scheme to help alleviate the burden of sea freight for Tasmanian businesses should have a
ground-up review and be indexed, according to the Tasmanian Forest Products Association (TFPA).
Meeting in Hobart on 13 November 2024, the Senate Select Committee on the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES) was told the scheme is out-of-date, in need of administrative changes and should be indexed to ensure it remains fit for purpose.
The TFES assists Tasmanian businesses to be more competitive when exporting goods to the mainland, by offsetting the costs of shipping across Bass Strait.
Speaking to the inquiry, TFPA Chief Executive Officer, Nick Steel, said the scheme was essential to keep all exporting Tasmanian businesses competitive.
“A recent survey of our members found that the majority of them use the scheme in one way or another - whether that’s for processed timber, trusses, veneer, engineered wood products or sustainably harvested logs.
“With over $320 million in exports to the mainland, and over $55 million in international trade facilitated through the system it’s essential for our industry,” Mr Steel said.
“These figures are only for the sustainable forest industry. The scheme is essential for all businesses that ship across Bass Strait.”
Mr Steel said there are several issues with the TFES as it currently operates. “Our members have told us the system is old, out-of-date, and relies on manual bookkeeping
methods. They say its lack of indexation actually means businesses are worse off now than before the scheme was introduced.
“And they say the scheme hasn’t kept up with increasing shipping costs - which are now much more per kilometre, per kilogram than road or rail freight – further disadvantaging Tasmanian businesses against their mainland counterparts."
Mr Steel said it’s important to note that the scheme’s objective was always to “alleviate”, but not fully “equalise” the freight cost disadvantage incurred by Tasmanian businesses who move freight between Tasmania and the mainland by sea.
“Shipping goods to and from Tasmania has a unique set of challenges, both logistically and economically,” Mr Steel said.
“The need to transfer goods from road or rail to ship and then back to road or rail is an impediment to trade no other state is faced with. This disadvantage was one of the reasons for TFES was originally introduced.
“Despite extensive shipping cost rises over recent years, the scheme has not been indexed against the rise in shipping costs, which has resulted in a perverse outcome where mainland businesses trade is at a distinct advantage over TFES supported Tasmanian businesses – exactly the purpose of the scheme’s original introduction.”
As well as hearing from the TFPA, the committee heard from a range of industry bodies, including Fruit Growers Tasmania, Wine Tasmania, the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) and TFPA member Norske Skog Boyer.
Media contact: David Bauche, Media and Public Relations Manager, 0491 205 627, david.bauche@tfpa.com.au
Share this Article
Latest Articles
-
28 November 2024
Successful private native forest management celebrated
-
25 November 2024
$15 million investment in new ship loader to boost Bell Bay's forestry exports
-
21 November 2024
Standing with Tasmania's forestry industry: buy local
Archives
- $15 million investment in new ship loader to boost Bell Bay's forestry exports
- Standing with Tasmania's forestry industry: buy local
- TFPA: Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme needs a ground-up review
- AFCA Gala Dinner celebrates industry excellence
- Fire permits now required Statewide
- Forest leaders hone skills in sustainable native regrowth management
- Carbon methods for native forests must be ‘nature positive’
- Call for Expressions of Interest: Member, Private Forests Tasmania Board
- Private Forests Tasmania marks a year of leadership and innovation
- Bill passed to modernise private forestry regulations in Tasmania
- Next generation increasing access to tree seedlings for timber, biodiversity purposes
- Tasmanian forests and the carbon market: Barriers and opportunities
- Spring is the time for fuel reduction burning
- Primed for Growth: A situation analysis of the Tasmanian Forest and Wood Products Sector
- Audit requirements cut for low-risk plantation projects
- Guidance and support for landowners after damaging winds
- Forestry Australia welcomes further definition of active forest management
- Farm & Forest Mapper Tool highlighted at Rural Youth Tasmania's Young Farmer of the Year competition
- Senate Select Committee inquiry into the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme
- Timberlink announces new wood composite products brand
- Newly developed protocol a vital tool for safeguarding forestry industry
- Red Hot Tips: Fire management for Tassie farmers
- Bioenergy: Fuelling industries with trees
- Harvesting trees: What you need to know
- Shelterbelts: How are they contributing to farm systems?
- Infill plantings and remnant vegetation: Why biodiversity depends on a thriving understory
- Plantation planning: The key to a successful plantation
- Exciting interactive forestry knowledge hub launched
- $450,000 farm forestry grant recipients revealed
- Tasmanian primary producers, environment and industry to benefit from trees on farms
- Why farmers should plant trees now, and manage them for the mass timber buildings of the future
- Stephen Clarke can help you capitalise on the extensive benefits of trees
- Private Forests Tasmania welcomes Molly Marshall to our team
- Windbreaks and wildlife benefit better understood
- The effects of windbreaks on airflow, microclimates and crop yields
- Find out the socio-economic impacts of forestry
- The benefits of trees to reduce paddock water loss
- Modelling the costs and benefits of Agroforestry systems
- Market for Plantation Grown Wood: Where we're at and where we're going
- Rob Smith offers his expertise to advance Tasmania and help the planet at the same time
- Trees on farms to support natural capital: An evidence-based review for grazed dairy systems
- Understanding values behind farmer perceptions of trees on farms
- Economic Impact of Forestry in New Zealand - Te uru Rakau May 2020
- Farm-scale sediment sources: Tree harvesting, cattle and roads
- Improving durability to enhance the value of plantation, regrowth and regenerated Eucalyptus
- Biodiversity outcomes from eucalypt plantation expansion into agricultural landscapes of southern Australia
- Understand how trees improve the carbon balance - carbon investing improves your ROI from trees
- 10 per cent multipurpose tree cover for every farm: A low risk, high opportunity first step