It’s come at the worst possible time with news emerging,that ships sailing to Australian ports loaded with consumer electronics and appliances, could be turned around due to a potential tug dispute today.
We have also been told that boats that were being unloaded at Australian ports have overnight sailed some with stock still in their holds.
Early this morning we were told that a settlement was extremely close and could be announced later this morningThe dispute blew up after AP Møller-Maersk-owned Svitzer decided bring container ports “to a standstill” by barring its tugboat crews from working.It’s the latest escalation in a three-year battle with trade unions over a new employment agreement, with deckhands who are paid over $170,000 a year asking for a pay rise.
Yesterday, the Danish company announced an “indefinite lockout” of all its 582 harbour towage employees from noon on Friday, effectively closing shipping traffic to Australia’s 17 major ports.
Svitzer said it would lock out its tugboat crews “under the provisions of the Fair Work Act, in response to damaging and ongoing industrial action” by the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers and Australian Maritime Officers Union.
These are same unions that are linked with the Transport Unions that are trying to take on the NSW Government who is in a head on fight to keep trains running in NSW.
According to Maritime news site The Loadster there have been “more than 1,100 instances of industrial action notified by the maritime unions since October 2020”, and more than 250 instances of protected industrial action since 20 October this year, amounting to “nearly 2,000 hours of work stoppages.”
It added: “There is new protected action being notified by the unions on an almost daily basis.
With each instance valuable imports and exports are delayed, disrupted, or goods and produce lost.”
Svitzer said: “When the lockout becomes effective, no shipping vessels will be towed in or out of 17 Australian ports otherwise serviced by Svitzer,” the company said.
CE Distributors in Australia that ChannelNews has spoken to claim that they are “seriously concerned”.
“This has come at the worst possible time. We have stock on boats for the peak Christmas New Year period” one senior executive said.
Laser Corporation CEO Chris Lau claims that they have already landed the bulk of their stock for Black Friday and Christmas with concerns now for New Year stock.
Liner lobby group Shipping Australia (SAL) told The Loadster the lockout would impact major commodities such as the general cargo handled at container ports.
Despite the negative impact on customers, SAL said it supported Switzer’s lockout, claiming the company had been “forced” to respond by the union’s ongoing industrial action.
However, MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin described Svitzer’s move as a “massive escalation of industrial conflict” against its seagoing workforce.
He said: “The Australian management team has spent the past three years refusing to finalise a new employment agreement to cover tugboat crews at 17 ports around the country, effectively giving these workers a wage-freeze amid soaring inflation and massive corporate profits during a Covid-boom for shipping and logistics companies.
He made no mention of the fact that maritime workers are in some cases paid over $200,000 a year and deckhands $170,000 a year which observers claim is pushing up the cost of freight in Australia.
A full bench of the Fair Work Commission was poised late on Thursday to hand down orders either suspending or terminating tugboat giant Svitzer’s lockout that will stop ships going in and out of 17 ports from 12pm on Friday, after considering the action would significantly damage the economy.
The new Labor federal government said that merely the threat of the lockout had caused disruption and ships were already leaving.
Qube director Michael Sousa told the commission that “at the moment most of the ships are not going to dock”.
“We’re not expecting any ships to berth tomorrow,” (Friday) the head of the stevedore said. “In fact, some have already started leaving the berths.”