Road closures around Australia’s biggest container port are increasing the cost of each twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) by an estimated AUD45, according to the Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA).

Several roads around the Port of Melbourne will be closed from 30 April to 14 May as work continues on the Victorian government’s multi-billion dollar West Gate Tunnel Project.

The CTAA says the closures will trigger “sustained traffic congestion” around the port, creating more headaches for container transport operators.

“Feedback from transport operators is that truck turn-times between depots in the west of Melbourne and the Port have blown out by at least 45 minutes to an hour, meaning transport delays and the risk of missing time-slots into the container terminals and other facilities,” the CTAA says in a statement.

“Container terminals are strictly applying their late and no-show arrival penalties, requiring transport operators to adapt to the traffic congestion to compensate for the delays.”

The association says since the beginning of this year, it has been receiving reports of increases of 30% to 100% in penalty fees and import container storage fees.

“CTAA estimates that road congestion and delays have added between 10% to 15% more to landside transport operating costs. This has included additional truck turnaround times, a reduction in optimal truck utilisation and payload reductions, more yard storage and container handling, and delivery delays.

“We’ve estimated that this has equated to approximately AUD45 per TEU in added costs.”

The association says some container transport operators are charging customers a congestion levy to claw back some of the cost increases.