The Sydney Ports Corporation is the state owned entity in Sydney which manages the ports in Sydney on behalf of the New South Wales government. It manages the ports in Sydney Harbor, Port Botany The authority is largely governed under the State Owned Corporations Act (NSW) 1989. This piece of legislation means that the Sydney Ports Board is required to have a minimum of 3 Directors and a maximum of 7 Directors. Additionally, under the legislation the one of these Directors of the board needs to be elected by the staff of Sydney Ports. Directors are appointed by the Governor of New South Wales, on the recommendation of the Voting Shareholders.

In order to dock in Sydney, there are a series of port charges which are levied on the basis of the tonnage of the ships which come into port. For example, a passenger ship docking at the cruise line terminal in Sydney Harbor would be charged at the rate of $0.464 per Gross Tonne of the Ship’s weight. So a ship like the new Queen Mary with a Gross Tonnage of
148,528 would pay AUD $68,916.992 to enter Sydney Harbor and then $250.00 per hour to remain docked at any of the ports in the Harbor. The Sydney Port Authority does not arbitrate or resolve any of the disputes between ship owners and cargo owners, or passengers on ships. All of these dispute resolution functions are performed in Sydney by the Federal Magistrates Court located in the John Madison Tower in Goulburn Street in the city or the Federal Court of Australia located in the Queen’s Square Court Complex on Macquarie Street. However, there are occasionally disputes which arise in relation to the port services provided by the port authority for the berthing and unloading of ships which are usually the subject of contractual dispute but may fall within the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal Court. If you have and enquiry about shipping law, we would be more than happy to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to use any of the contact methods on this site to contact us.