State of our ports during the COVID-19 crisis

June Ma, Rohan Pitchford, and Rabee Tourky

Internationally traded goods in Australia

In FY 2018–19, Australia exported $372.4 billion worth of goods and imported $306.7 billion. As an island nation, internationally traded goods in Australia must enter or exit via seaports or airports. International trade has historically been dominated by shipping, accounting for around three-quarters of trade by value in FY2017–18. While the share of goods arriving or departing airports by value has trended downwards over the past few decades, the volume of traded goods transported by air remains negligible at 0.3 per cent.

In a recent note, “Trading our way out of the COVID-19 economic downturn”, we suggest that the economic slowdown in economies during the COVID-19 crisis “has arisen from deliberately introduced frictions in human interaction at local, regional and international levels” and that “the only real exit strategy available to us is based on a fundamental principle of economics: we trade our way out.”

This article summarises the major trading ports in Australia and proposals to boost their capacity or otherwise improve their infrastructure to assist with trade.

Seaports

The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development is responsible for the regulation of shipping accessing Australia’s ports, but not of port precincts, which are regulated at the state level. Australia’s sea freight trade is dominated by exports, which according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics accounted for 98 per cent of international trade through Australian ports by volume in FY 2016–17. However, the export share of sea freight for the same period by value was only 57 per cent, reflecting the large share of resources that are exported. The table below summarises some of the key ports by state or territory and their plans to meet forecasted growth.

Airports

The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development is responsible for the regulation of ownership and control of airports formerly owned by the Commonwealth. A report commissioned by the Department indicated that Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth airports accounted for 96 per cent of international trade by volume in FY 2018/19.