Unchecked port profits risk entrenching cost-of-living

Profits for Australian stevedore companies have hit a record high without productivity increases. (Ben Symons/AAP PHOTOS)

Higher costs may be permanently embedded for Australian consumers and businesses as port companies reap historic profits from unchecked price increases, freight operators warn.

Profits for Australian stevedore companies, which load and unload containers at ports, rose for the fifth year in a row to a record high of $808.6 million in 2024/25, according to an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission monitoring report.