Pricing & Access
The Maritime Services (Access) Act 2000 (“MSA Act”) contains a regulatory framework for specified port services, referred to as Maritime Services. A subset of Maritime Services, defined as Essential Maritime Services, is subject to price regulation (Part 2 of the MSA Act).
Price regulation of Essential Maritime Services is currently achieved through a price monitoring framework.
A similar, and sometimes overlapping, set of services, the proclaimed Regulated Services, is subject to regulation under the ports access regime (Part 3 of the MSA Act).
Part 3 of the MSA Act provides a framework for the negotiation of access to Regulated Services. It also provides for conciliation and arbitration to occur for disputes over access to Regulated Services that cannot be otherwise resolved between the parties.
