Industry Analysis & Industry Trends
The Water Freight Transport industry has been transporting increasing volumes of freight between Australian and foreign ports. Despite the greater volumes, industry revenue declined at a compound annual rate of 2.3% over the five years through 2012-13 to reach $2.55 billion. The drop in revenue was due to a collapse in shipping rates as lower than expected volumes coincided with a massive worldwide ship oversupply. Ship owners were unable to decommission vessels quickly and the inelastic ship supply meant prices for water transport services sunk. Industry revenue is expected to increase 1.0% in 2012-13 due to continued weakness in freight rates despite growing freight volumes.
The mining boom has contributed to growth in freight volumes over the past five years... purchase to read more
Industry Report - Industry Locations Chapter
Two major factors in determining the concentration of trade and port locations spread throughout the country are population concentration and commodities mining. The higher proportion of establishments in New South Wales and Victoria reflect the higher volumes of trade through the ports of Sydney and Melbourne. The ranking by state of establishments in Australia also partially represents the population of each state. However, Western Australia and Queensland's extensive mining and mineral export operations give it a higher proportion of industry establishments than its population proportion would otherwise require.
Sydney Ports hosts more than 2,500 cargo and passenger ships each year... purchase to read more