Port told to cut coal ship charges

GLENCORE has won its latest bout with the Port of Newcastle after the competition regulator ruled the port must cut its charges for ships carrying coal for the global miner.

Glencore won a court battle last year to overturn big increases in what is pays to use the facility, which is the world’s biggest coal export port.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was then called on to decide the prices that can be charged by the port’s lease owners, Hastings Funds Management and China Merchants Group. The ACCC yesterday said the port should cut its current charge for ships entering the port to carry away Glencore’s coal by 20 per cent to 61c a tonne.

The port hiked the charge by 40 per cent to 69c a tonne in early 2015 after it was privatised by the NSW government.

The charge has subsequently increased to 76c a tonne.

Port of Newcastle has said that before the 2015 price hike, port usage charges had risen just 1.2 per cent in 20 years while inflation was up 70 per cent. Hastings and China Merchant said they were unwinding a historic subsidy of which Glencore was the biggest beneficiary, and aligning prices with that of competitors such as Port Kembla.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims in 2016 criticised state governments for not ensuring priceregulation mechanisms were in place when they privatised assets.