NEOLINK Announcement – Information on Protected Industrial Action at Australian Ports This Week – Monday 8th of July – 8.7.19

NEOLINK Announcement – Information on Protected Industrial Action at Australian Ports This Week – Monday 8^th of July – 8.7.19

Monday 8^th of July 2019

Dear Valued Clients,

Ports across the country has received Protected Industrial Action notices from the CFMMEU for this week

Terminal operations will cease at each location for a period of 48 hours and times/details are below:

Planned stoppages as of Friday 5 July:

Monday 8 July 2019
BRISBANE: All terminal operations will be stopped from 0600hrs for a 48 hour period

Wednesday 10 July 2019
MELBOURNE: All terminal operations will be stopped from 0600hrs for a 48 hour period

Thursday 11 July 2019
FREMANTLE: All terminal operations will be stopped from 0600hrs for a 48 hour period
SYDNEY: All terminal operations will be stopped from 0600hrs for a 48 hour period

Your NEOLINK Account Manager will proactively be in touch to discuss if your import or export shipment may be impacted.

If you have any questions, please also feel free to contact Chris or Sean directly

Best regards,

NEOLINK Marketing Team

NEOLINK Joins Prestigious WCA Associations – The Global Affinity Alliance and WCA Inter Global

Monday 25th, February 2019

NEOLINK today announced that its been accepted into the world’s largest and most powerful network of Independent Freight Forwards in the world, the WCA. Founded in 1998; the WCA has over 7000 member offices in 190 countries around the world. This combined network exceeds the length and breadth of the world’s largest multinational freight forwarding businesses, providing NEOLINK’s customers with a truly global network.

Since its inception; NEOLINK has focused on building a global presence for its members and joining the WCA is a landmark in developing those trade lanes. ” We believe that joining the WCA will provide NEOLINK with a great platform to build new business relationships where we do not currently have established trade lanes. Our clients here in Australia are always looking at new and different suppliers from all over the world, so it is important we provide the network to build those new supply chains.” said Christopher Makhoul, Director at NEOLINK.

“Continuous improvement is a key growth pillar for NEOLINK every year and we hope to leverage the network to see best practice examples, as well as share some of our innovative systems automation learnings. We believe that the WCA can offer this in abundance and was one of the key reasons why we joined this prestigious network. Ultimately the real benefactor will be our customers; ensuring that we are always providing the best and most efficient supply chains possible”

NEOLINK are now members of the below international logistics networks for 2019:

• WCA Inter Global
• Global Affinity Alliance
• JC Trans Network

If you seek more information; please contact NEOLINK Marketing Team on info@neolink.au

NEOLINK Marketing Team

NEOLINK Announcement – MUA Industrial Action – Commencing in Sydney & Brisbane Ports – 17/1/19 @ 06:00

Tuesday 15, January 2019

Dear Valued Clients,

This morning we have been notified that the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) will be commencing industrial action from this Thursday at 6am.

The ports affected by the protected industrial action are Hutchinson’s at both Sydney and Brisbane ports, which will be significantly disrupting normal operations.

The action includes a range of stoppages, bans on overtime and shift extensions that will impact inbound/outbound vessels through Hutchinson’s Ports.

The MUA has stated that the industrial action is a result of a breakdown in negotiations over a new workplace agreement and that the disruption will be continuing for an indefinite period of time until the matter is resolved.

Your NEOLINK Account Manager will proactively be in contact to discuss the specific impact on a client by client basis.

As always; please feel free to reach out to Chris or I if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

Sean Crook
Director

Dear Valued Clients,

From the team here at NEOLINK we wish you and all of your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

It has been an incredibly busy year as our business and team continue to grow – we are committed to investing in technology and our people to ensure the best customer experience possible in the industry.

Our office will be shut for the public holidays only and our team will be working through all of the urgent Christmas/NY shipments arriving in over the next week.

We appreciate all of the support we have had this past year and look forward to continue working with you all again in 2019!

Best regards,

Sean Crook
Director

Dear Valued Clients,

The entire industry has been experiencing some significant issues in the past 24 hours due to ongoing issues at Port Botany.

Our Industry body the FTA has been providing us with continued updates throughout the day directly from the ports, with the main issues being caused primarily due to the weather:

• 5:58AM – Port Botany Closure from 10am last night to 6am this morning with cancelled pick up slots – Exit gates broken down all evening
• 10:56AM – Quarantine’s online platform for clearing shipments has been crashing all morning
• 10:56AM – Further pick up slots cancelled up to 12pm due to exit gates still not being repaired
• 12:56pm – Further announcements from all ports stating that availability dates are now being pushed back for arrival vessels
• 14:04pm – 18 vessels have had availability pushed back and extended free days are being provided as a result
• 15:06pm – Further pick up slots cancelled at ports due to continuing weather related issues

As I am sure you can imagine; the whole industry is feeling a lot of pressure the past couple of weeks due to Union Interruptions, BMSB Fumigation requirements and now significant weather problems causing delays at the ports today in peak season.

Your NEOLINK Account Manager will be proactively reaching out to give you an update on your arriving shipments and the impact the past 24 hours will have going into next week.

Every situation is different and unique for every client, but our expectation is that this could create ongoing challenges leading into next week for all clients.

We appreciate your understanding and patience as we endeavor to manage your arriving shipments as efficiently as possible.

Please feel free to give your AM or Chris and I a call if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Sean Crook
Director

NEOLINK Announcement – Increasing Industrial Action at Australian Ports

Thursday 22, November 2018

Dear Valued Clients,

Over the past couple of weeks there has been an increase in industrial activity (details attached) by the MUA (Maritime Union of Australia) at Australian Ports.

We have also been notified that there will be stop work meetings at all terminals across Australia next week due to the MUA’s Annual General meeting.

• What is exactly happening?: Ports across Australia will cease operations during different periods on Tuesday the 27^th and Thursday 29^th of November | Slots will not be released during these periods and limited will be released when open | The rail lines into the ports will also be shut down for 8 hours | all port opening and closing times will be shortening, so the working day will be significantly shorter.

• What impact will this have?: This will have a big impact on vessel congestion across the ports waiting to dock and will result in fewer slots for carrier pick ups from the wharf over the coming weeks. As a result this will create added pressures across the industry on how we book, slot and manage customer deliveries of containers from the ports.

• What are we doing to manage?: NEOLINK will continue to secure as many slots as possible by running both off peak pick ups and rail off the ports where we can to best manage the congestion.

• What are your Account Managers going to be doing? Your NEOLINK Account Managers will proactively be in contact to forward plan all bookings and discuss impact on potential arriving containers. If you have CFR or CIF shipments that we are not aware of, please let us know 5-7 days prior to arrival so we can ensure we are planning as best as we possibly can to ensure we can manage your shipment as best we can.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your NEOLINK Account Manager or Chris and I respectively.

Best regards,

Sean Crook
Director

Dear Valued Clients,

Some of you might have seen the news today regarding Super Typhoon Manghut.

I have provided some articles below:

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3527084

https://www.newsweek.com/super-typhoon-mangkhut-ompong-track-path-update-massive-storm-heads-toward-1118269

The “Super Typhoon” Manghut is on path towards the Philippines and China that is expected to impact both countries from today through to next week.

Projected path of typhoon manghut by ATCF

As a result of the typhoon we are expecting delays to occur on most sailings out of China for both southern and northern ports that stop off in Hong Kong/Shenzhen on the way to Australia. In addition we also expect clients importing from Philippines and Taiwan could also be impacted due to conditions created by the typhoon.

If you have orders/shipments that are planned for Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday departure, please note that they could be delayed as a result.

Your NEOLINK Account Manager will proactively reach out to all affected clients that have planned sailings for this week.

If you have upcoming orders or new PO’s, please take this into consideration and work with NEOLINK to plan accordingly.

We will keep you updated the rest of this week and over the weekend as the situation progresses.

Best regards,

Sean Crook
Director

Dear Valued Clients,

Please note that China will be on a National Golden Week Holiday from the 1^st of October until the 7^th of October.

Most suppliers and factories will be closed during this period, so please ensure that you are planning accordingly to allow for this.

Our team here locally and your NEOLINK Account Manager will proactively touch base to assist where we can.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any member of the NEOLINK Team.

Best regards,

Sean Crook
Director

The BMSB Risk Season is now upon us!

I have provided below a short summary of what this means for your business, but I would encourage everyone to visit the Departments website for further information as well.

Summary of key points to consider for the 2018-19 BMSB Risk Season:

• What does this mean for importers?: The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (Quarantine) require mandatory Heat or Methyl Bromide or Sulfuryl fluoride treatment for all sea freighted High Risk and Risk goods before entering Australia
• BMSB 2018-19 Commencement Date: Shipments that depart from 1^st of September 2018 to 30^th of April 2019 for High Risk and Risk containerized goods from the targeted risk countries
• Where can you treat the goods?: As per Quarantines latest announcement; goods can be treated at origin and now after much lobbying by industry bodies at destination
• Australian Quarantine Approved Treatment Centres: Goods treated at either origin or destination can only be treated at Approved facilities (NEOLINK to advise on best solutions on a client by shipment basis)
• Target Risk Countries: USA, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Georgia and Japan
• High Risk and Risk Goods: Please refer to the link below for further information on what goods require treatment

LINK: http://www.agriculture.gov.au/import/before/pests/brown-marmorated-stink-bugs

NEOLINK’s Recommended Approach and Next Steps

1. NEOLINK’s recommendation on all goods that require treatment is to treat at Origin and only upon arrival as a last resort. The main reason for this is that there are limited facilities here in Australia that are approved by Quarantine and resources will be stretched incredibly thin to cope with the demand – we anticipate this will be reflective in the pricing for these special types of fumigations as well. As a result; there are also heightened risks that containers will exceed their free detention time and importers will incur incremental costs from the shipping lines as a result. Treating at Origin will avoid the above, but there are also turn around times at origin facilities we have to manage together as well.
2. NEOLINK have been proactively looking at all our clients and reaching to engage on this topic based on previous imported shipments. If you do have new imports from new countries that will be impacted by the BMSB Risk Season, please let us know.
3. NEOLINK will be recommending and providing different options for our clients at origin based on both price, turn around time and location to supplier/origin office.
4. All NEOLINK Account Managers will be proactively reaching out again this week to discuss this with you to go through upcoming shipments and new potential orders that will be affected

I would strongly recommend that if you are impacted by the above to please plan for the extra time on your shipments. Your AM will work closely with you on all of your shipments to co-ordinate treatment in the most efficient and effective way possible, but please ensure you allow for this time over the next 8 months in your supply chain.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your account manager directly or one of the Directors.

Dear Valued Clients,

We received the attached notification this morning from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.

They have announced the upcoming risk measures for 2018-19 for the BMSB Pest Season.

Please see attached for full announcement and Key Takeaways below:

• BMSB 2018-19 Commencement Date: from 1^st of September 2018 and finishes on 30^th of April 2019 for ALL containerized goods from the targeted risk countries

• Target Risk Countries: USA, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Georgia and Japan

• Targeted High Risk Goods Include: Vehicles, Machinery, Bricks, Tiles, Ceramics, Steel, Stone, Cement, Chemicals, Chemical Products, Salt, Minerals, Fertilizers, Wood Pulp, Printed Matter, Straw, Paper, Cardboard, Plastics, Wadding and Tyres

• Exempted Goods: Fresh Produce, Live Animals, Food for Human consumption (inc beverages), seeds for sowing and registered pharmaceuticals

• Goods Have to be treated at Origin or Destination before they obtain a CLEAR status for release by Quarantine

• Accepted treatment options include: Sulfuryl fluoride, methyl bromide fumigation and heat treatment (all options offered by NEOLINK and overseas offices/agents)

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Measures in the attached announcement are still being finalised – final measures will be announced from the departments website in later July once all processes are completed – for more info please visit agriculture.gov.au/bmsb

Next Steps from NEOLINK and your upcoming shipments:

• Your NEOLINK Account Manager will proactively reach out to all our clients that are affected by the above to prepare on all goods arriving from 1^st of September

• We offer all of the above treatment options above both at origin and locally here in Australia

• Our team will be recommending solutions that are client specific based on the goods, origin and supplier locations

If your business is changing or planning to import new or different goods from the above origin locations mentioned that might be affected, please let us know and we can recommend the correct solutions accordingly.

Please also feel free to give myself or Chris a call if you have any urgent questions.

Best regards,

Sean Crook
Director