With the Strait of Hormuz still closed, international exporters are being forced to adapt to the new world order of alternative shipping routes and new markets, the federal government now stepping up to support the challenge.

Today, Trade Minister Don Farrell announced the government would support Australian exporters by standing up a “highly-skilled” team of trade and logistics experts to provide real-time information and advice to help businesses get their goods through the Middle East.

The ‘Trade Resilience Service’, run by the federal government’s Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), will be operational for 12 months initially.

It will give exporters information about how to continue to supply products to international customers and identify alternative shipping routes, with the Strait of Hormuz now essentially slammed shut.

The initiative builds on the federal government’s $50 million ‘Accessing New Markets Initiative’, which was launched in September last year to help exporters find new partners and customers overseas.

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When the federal government announced the export initiative last year, the United Arab Emirates was one market identified as a focus for traders in the context of Australia and the UAE’s recently signed free trade agreement.

As reported by InDaily this week, South Australian businesses have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on market penetration initiatives in the Middle East, including The Yoghurt Shop, which has since seen this new customer base almost vanish since the war in Iran began.

Speaking to reporters today at Banquet Foods in Albert Park, Federal Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell said the nation needed to “find new ways of getting products into Australia until such time as hostilities end in the Middle East”.

“We want to make sure that Australians continue to be able to export their wonderful food and wine products,” Farrell said.

Don Totino, the owner of Banquet Foods, which imports European foods for sale in Adelaide and exports Australian wine, said the price of a shipping container had doubled from €2000 to €4000.

“And we just got a note from the shipping company that it will go up again,” Totino said.

“Who knows how much it will go up? You’ve got to pass [the cost] on.”

Asked whether the federal government would provide targeted financial support to small- and medium-sized Australian exporters struggling with the cost of pricier shipping, Farrell said: “Today we’re just dealing with this Resilience Program”.

“What might come into the future? No doubt the Treasurer will be dealing with those issues.

“I think there will be a range of things which the government will deal with. This is one really practical way that we can assist Australian importers and exporters to get their products into the rest of the world.”