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Showing posts with label Free Trade Agreements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free Trade Agreements. Show all posts

Wednesday 9 January 2019

Good news for Depth Logistics clients in 2019.

I wanted to let you know about what we are rolling out at Depth Logistics this year to enhance our service offering and pass on some other good news for our clients in general.

We are excited to announce that we have begun investing in trucking assets to improve the service to our clients and ensure we are always delivering on our brand promise of “Absolute Reliability”. The fleet will start taking to the road in February and will include 100T low loaders, flat top and drop deck trailers and we have a side loader trailer also on order for container deliveries.



The truck fleet will be based at our new terminal, which will be established at the Port of Brisbane. The terminal will broaden the scope of services we can supply clients “in house” and will include the full suite of Biosecurity treatments including washing, a customs bond store, storage, container packing/unpacking and pre-delivery processing of RoRo cargo. The terminal will have ultra-high security for clients we act for in moving sensitive cargo.



Major Quarantine issues with brown marmorated stink bug are ongoing and it seems may be here to stay. So far we have succeeded in minimising the impacts of this on our clients through being hyper-vigilant on carrier selection and offshore treatment providers and to soon have fumigation ability in our own terminal in Brisbane will mean faster clearance of cargo we are handling.



The investments in our trucking fleet and new terminal for the company are underpinned by the good recovery we are seeing from our resources clients and growth in defence procurement supply chains we are working in.

We are recruiting more new senior team members and have already recently hired Chad Pennington as our new financial controller and Holli Delaforce as our executive assistant.

Our Clark, Philippines team have just moved to a brand new much larger branch office to give us more room to grow.



This year we will continue to invest in the digital delivery of more of our services as trends are that clients are preferring to use digital channels more and more to accomplish their shipping. An example of this is with our myCargo Insurance platform we launched late last year, which many of our clients now love using.



1 January 2019 also heralded the commencement of more Free Trade Agreements (FTA) for Australia with other countries. Many import duty rates have dropped as part of phased reductions in tariffs as of this date. More FTA’s are coming online with other countries this year. See this link from the Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade to get a great overview of what FTA’s are in operation and coming.

I am sincerely excited with our 2019 strategic direction and expanding our own “in house” logistics capabilities and thank you for your ongoing support.

In the meantime if there is any help, advice or quotes you need, please contact me 24/7 toll free on 1DEPTH (133784) or +61730544670.

Yours with “Absolute Reliability”,

Brad Skelton

Friday 29 December 2017

How Is Import Duty and GST Calculated in Australia?

All imported goods are potentially subject to import duty and GST before they can be released for delivery by the wharf, airport bond store or Australia Post in the case of international parcels arriving by mail.
My team and I at Depth Logistics are commonly asked how import duty and GST is calculated so by way of this post I will explain the basic principles.
Import Duty is determined by the classification of goods in the Customs Tariff and the applicability of concessions. The duty rate can range from FREE to 10%, however the standard rate for most goods is 5%.

Our licensed customs brokers classify your goods in the Customs Tariff and proactively search for concessions, by-laws and Free Trade Agreement exemptions that may make the goods duty free. Our Tariff Consultants can also make application to Customs for Tariff Concessions on your goods. Learn more about Tariff Consultancy Services.

Australia has numerous Free Trade Agreements with many of its major trading partners and is currently entering into more. With the right declarations and/or Certificates of Origin it means we can legally claim exemption from import duty on your goods.

Import Duty is calculated as a percentage of the goods value or Customs Value (CV) of your consignment.

GST is calculated at 10% of the Value of the Taxable Import (VoTI). The VoTI is calculated by the addition of the Customs Value (CV) plus the Duty plus the value of the International Transport and Insurance (T&I).

Here is an example of how the import duty and GST is calculated on goods valued at AUD$1000 which attract a 5% duty rate:

Duty @ 5% of the AUD$1,000 (CV) = $ 50.00(Duty)

International transport and insurance (T&I) = $ 150.00

Then the VoTI = (CV) + Duty + (T&I) = $1,200.00

GST is 10% of the VoTI = 10% x $1200 = $ 120.00(GST)

Total Duty and GST Payable $ 170.00


Depth Logistics Customs Brokers are online to Customs Cargo System so this means lower Customs declaration processing fees for you compared to lodging import declarations manually yourself. The charges Customs levy for this are called Electronic Entry Charges(EEC). These charges range from $50.00 to about $194.00 depending on the value of the goods and mode of transport. Also as our customs brokers are online to Customs it means that in the majority of case cargo clearance processing is near instantaneous except where Customs may have a query or other concern.
Import duty and GST is paid to Customs by a daily direct debit facility on the customs brokers bank account. This is why customs brokers and freight forwarders usually require payment for these charges prior to delivery of your cargo.
If you are a frequent importer that lodges your Business Activity Statement monthly with the Australian Tax Office, we can also arrange to defer your payment of the GST to assist your cashflow.
If you would like more information about the applicable duty rates on goods you are importing, or any other aspect of customs clearance in Australia, please contact us or call toll free on 1DEPTH (133784).
All for now,

Monday 20 August 2012

No doubt about the Canadians..a FTA with the EU.


(You are getting this note because you subscribed to The Shipping Blokes Blog by Brad Skelton)

It has barely been reported in the media around the world but one of the worlds biggest mining and resource nations, Canada, is hurriedly trying to secure a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union. A truly brilliant move in my book.

Mines in Europe are generally all but depleted so the primary resources need to be shipped in from somewhere so Canada is setting about ensuring it becomes the most competitive supplier possible by removing import duty and taxes on it's resources. No mining or carbon taxes being applied there unlike with the Canuk's biggest competitor, Australia.

Canada needs the business as the resources landscape in Canada is changing. Traditionally Canada has been a big energy supplier to it's southern cousin, the USA. However this is changing as the USA is increasingly using fracking technology to get natural gas out of places once thought impossible so the need for Canadian energy is diminishing.

Another reason is that with uncertain global economic conditions and generally slowing GDP growth in most regions of the world, it is only prudent to try and create conditions that lock in one the worlds biggest consumers as a customer, the EU.

On the otherside of the Atlantic with an FTA in place, a debt ridden Europe will no doubt love selling and shipping more BMW's, Gucci and Louis into Canada without import duties as well.

As a proud Aussie I am frustrated that my country isn't doing all it can to beat the Canadians to the punch with the EU. In fact we seem to be doing the opposite which will ultimately be at our peril. I think we have too much reliance on the Chinese buying our natural resources.

By the way, the cost of shipping from Canada to China is not that different from Australia so I think we better watch our backs as the Canadians are proving to be leaner, meaner and more agile and I'm sure are working hard on winning over our biggest customer.

Australia needs to take a leaf out of the Canadian's book with the EU and quickly get FTA's with our biggest trading partners and remove taxes that make us a less competitive supplier.

By the way, a little bit of intervention by the Aussie Reserve Bank to get our dollar down from 1.05 against the USD would help our exporters out a hell of a lot too!

What part of "exports bring money into the country to deal with debt and help us prosper" don't our regulators get?!

All for now,

Brad Skelton
The Shipping Bloke

Wednesday 2 May 2012

The new protectionism - EPA

(You are getting this note because you subscribed to the Shipping Blokes Blog by Brad Skelton)

I met with a client today who is a major shipper of earthmoving, mining and construction machinery. Apart from the usual conversation about freight rates, shipping lines and quarantine compliance, our conversation turned to the EPA(Environmental Protection Authority) rules around diesel engines that powers equipment.

While I think we agree that reducing emissions is desirable and important, the hypocrisy and lack of fairness starts when you have different EPA agencies around the world producing their own rules on what engines will comply for their country. This has resulted in manufacturers building multiple engine types depending on what rules apply in the country the machine is destined for. There are differing "tiers" of engines for various countries.

Most manufacturers have realised that in the name of saving the environment, they can conveniently use this EPA legislation to protect their markets from imported machinery which may be fitted with engines that do not comply. They are building machines so that once exported, they can never come back or be sold into other markets with different EPA compliance requirements.

When I studied as a customs broker and freight forwarder there was a world trade agreement called GATT. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. GATT existed as the World Trade Organisation tried to moderate and control protectionism to keep trade relatively fair. 

Protectionist policy is essentially countries using import duties and tariffs to protect their local manufacturers and markets from cheaper imports. As globalisation and free trade agreements between countries gained momentum GATT was abandoned and protectionism has fallen out of favor and is now considered archaic and politically incorrect. As an aside, try telling that to workers in the western world who are losing their jobs in manufacturing to Asian competitors right now though! This might be a somewhat wild idea but protectionism, in this current tough global economy, might even make a come back as countries try and save whole industries and jobs. It would also raise government revenue to pay down sovereign debt. Anyway perhaps there is a future blog in that topic for another day!  

During the conversation with my client today I said to him that clever manufacturers are leveraging EPA rules as effectively "protectionism" under a different name. He agreed. Therefore EPA rules are already impacting "fair trade" and will gradually and ultimately lead to less global trade of heavy machinery unless something changes. In the old days of GATT, someone would have been shouting "not fair" and the WTO would be stepping in but who would dare do this now and then be seen to not be environmentally responsible? 

So what would be environmentally responsible then? To me there should only be one standard of engine produced. That being the one with the lowest emissions. Why bother even building anything else? Forget the rest. That's what environmental responsibility looks like to me. Now I am just a humble shipping bloke, not an engineer or mechanic, and I suspect differing fuel quality in some places may present a challenge to this idea. I don't know but the whole planet breathes the same air ultimately so this situation seems ridiculous and irresponsible to me.

This reminds me of another absurd situation in the name of protecting the environment in my own country, Australia. Here the Department of Environment and Heritage is wanting to ensure that air conditioning gas in machinery is of a type that is non-ozone depleting. Fair enough but this caused the department to institute an import permit regime on all imported machinery and vehicles that have air conditioners. As yet most countries don't even have any rules on this so consequently many machines air conditioners are still filled with ozone depleting gases. 

To avoid having to apply for import permits nearly all of our clients elect to get their supplier to evacuate the gas overseas before the machine is loaded on the ship to Australia. This takes me back too a point already made in this blog that the whole planet is sharing the same air ultimately so this is stupid. 

My company has pointed out to the department that effectively the import permit system is actually counter-productive not only for Australia, but the ozone layer no matter what country you live in. The response:- "That's okay, here in Australia we are doing the right thing and the rest of the world needs to catch up". Meantime somewhere in the world more ozone depleting gases are getting released into the same atmosphere we all share.

The sooner the whole world converges on truly uniform standards on EPA rules the better off global trade and the environment we live in will be.

All for now,

Brad Skelton

The Shipping Bloke