Ships carrying imported cars bound for Victoria are being redirected to Port Kembla, causing delays at the largest terminal for incoming vehicles in New South Wales.
Quarantine inspections have identified seeds and pests in thousands of cars from China, Japan and Europe that pose biosecurity risks to Australian agriculture.
The issues are believed to have been caused by cars sitting in paddocks last year during global supply chain blockages.
Daryl McIntyre, who is managing director of car importer Dazmac, said tighter biosecurity measures to combat the pests and other concerns were contributing to delays of up to 15 days at Port Kembla.
"Not only would you be waiting longer, there is going to be additional costs," he said.
"The cost of trucking [vehicles] down to Melbourne isn't cheap, so that would be added on."
He said additional time in storage at the port was adding to costs.
"Shipping lines are starting to pass on congestion surcharges because they are having to wait," he said.
Tighter quarantine procedures
The federal budget has boosted biosecurity protections for a range of products coming into Australia, promising $1.3 billion to bolster measures to protect against exotic pests and diseases.
But Mr McIntyre said adopting some new quarantine technology was adding to delays.
"Quarantine added a new biosecurity portal in the middle of this crisis which has seen some inspection times and issues flow out which are unrelated to the quarantine issue to the cars," he said.
"I know there is never a good time to take on software in this sort of environment but I think the congestion is the worst in history so there probably couldn't be a worse time.
"There has also been a structure change with the way they are doing inspections, which isn't helping."
The jam at the Port of Melbourne has recently eased, prompting some ships to divert from Port Kembla back to Victoria, Mr McIntyre said.
Figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show 1,081,429 vehicles were delivered in 2022 with delivery numbers increasing in 2023.
NSW Ports and Australian Amalgamated Terminals which operates the Port Kembla Cargo Terminal declined to comment on the delays.
