The state's port privatisation saga has taken another twist after a company part-owned by Danish shipping giant Maersk applied to lift a stay of proceedings in a Federal Court action against private operator NSW Ports.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Maersk subsidiary APM Terminals owns a 50 per cent stake in a company called Mayfield Development Corporation (MDC), which was negotiating with the NSW government to build a container terminal on the former BHP steelworks site before the government decided to privatise the state's ports in 2013 via long-term leases.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking Federal Court action before Justice Jayne Jagot against NSW Ports, which leases Port Botany and Port Kembla, over port privatisation deals which contain what it considers "anti-competitive and illegal" financial penalties on anyone operating a rival container terminal in Newcastle.
NSW Ports has filed a cross-claim against the government, and the court has told the three parties to start mediation before April 3.
MDC launched a restrictive trade practices action against NSW Ports last year before Justice Jagot, but the parties agreed in August to stay the proceedings because the ACCC matter "involves several issues for determination that are threshold issues with respect to the Mayfield proceedings, with significant overlap in the factual allegations".
MDC, whose other shareholder is Sydney-based Anglo Ports, has now applied to lift the stay of proceedings against NSW Ports. The matter is listed for a procedural hearing in the Federal Court on February 26.
The ACCC, Port of Newcastle and the government are listed as interested persons in the application and can make written submissions to the court.
MDC director Richard Setchell would not comment on Sunday about why the company had launched the action against NSW Ports last year nor why it had applied to lift the stay.
Port of Newcastle, the private consortium that bought the port in 2014 and is pushing to develop a container terminal, also declined to comment, as did NSW Ports.
The privatisation controversy ignited in July 2016 when the Newcastle Herald obtained a copy of a "port commitment deed" proving that a Newcastle port operator would have to pay compensation to the NSW government, which would then pay the money to NSW Ports, if it set up a container terminal.
The government leased the Botany, Kembla and Newcastle ports for a total of almost $7 billion in 2013 and 2014 without informing Parliament about the container fees.