Dear Freight Industry,

The Empty Container Working Group (Working Group) met on Tuesday 3 May 2021. In previous weeks, the members agreed that the Working Group should be extended for another six months as significant opportunities remain to make improvements across the empty container supply chain.

Increased evacuation of empty containers from Port Botany

A key focus area for the Working Group over the last six months was enabling discussions between empty container supply chain members to improve container evacuation rates and the 'load-discharge ratio' for Port Botany.

The load discharge ratio is a simple measure of the number of containers moved in and out of Port Botany, which gives immediate indication of whether trade is contributing to, or reducing, stocks of surplus empty containers. A load-discharge ratio of greater than 1 means that there are more containers going out of Port Botany compared to the number coming in.

Over the past four months, the load-discharge ratio has improved, in particular in December 2020, February 2021 and March 2021 saw load-discharge ratios of 1.02, 1.08 and 1.09, respectively. These load discharge ratio results have been achieved during a period of increased movement of containers in and out of Port Botany. For instance, December 2020 saw the highest number of empty containers evacuated from Port Botany on record.

Targets for the NSW Empty Container Working Group

Members of the Working Group have also discussed objectives for the next six months, including identifying goals for the broader supply chain.

Achieving a monthly load-discharge ratio of 0.98 or greater

To Read More Go To Transport NSW page or IFCBAA news