Shipping tycoon in media storm

Paul Martin

Paul Martin, aspiring Canadian PM in media melee

Paul Martin of CSL shipping fame was tipped to be Canada's next prime minister. Now it's not so sure. Investigative journalism is alive and well in Canada. And it seems that every news hound is on the scent of Martin.

In an attempt to throw them off, Martin announced in March he is giving up control of his multimillion dollar shipping empire. But the media were not impressed. Martin is to dispose of all his voting shares in Canada Steamship Lines by transferring them to his three sons,.

His sons already hold all company common shares, but Martin has maintained control through his preferential voting shares.

One son, Paul William, sits on the board of directors. He is also marketing director of CSL's Singapore office.

Martin first came under political pressure when the Canadian press exposed his private briefings about company business affairs while he was still finance minister.

Opposition leaders say this was not only improper but a conflict of interest.

While Martin's holding in the company has been run under a blind management agreement since 1994, he still held briefings during his time as finance minister.

CSL is one of the biggest shipping lines in the world. It has 17 ships in Canada and an interest in 11 others around the world, including the former ANL coastal bulk carriers now trading on the Australian coast under the Bahamas Flag of Convenience as the Pacific and Stadacona.

Since he announced he would nominate as PM (with a reported 87 per cent support within his own party) news of Martin's business deals have been making headlines.

Leading the media pack on the chase for dirt on the CSL boss is the Ottawa Citizen. Since it first raised the conflict of interest allegations it has also found some dirt on Martin's ships dumping waste in fishing grounds.

On March 4 the Citizen announced CSL was under investigation for a possible environmental offence after one of its bulk carriers dumped potentially harmful sediment in a bay near prime salmon stocks.

CSL could face charges. The Fisheries Department investigation has also raised concerns of potential conflicts of interest with maritime environmental regulations while Martin remains in government.

The illegal dumping came to light when dockside workers noticed the ship discharging dirty hold water into the bay. The weekly newspaper Coast Report also quoted a resident who witnessed murky water "just shooting right out" of the ship.

It is not the first time a CSL ship has been involved in dirty business. The Citizen reports that last November the CSL Atlas was fined $125,000 for unlawfully discharging an oily substance off the coast of Nova Scotia.

But the biggest dirt on Martin and CSL has been the Citizen's expose of Martin's business ties with Indonesia.

"Martin's firm linked to Suharto", the front-page headline screamed on February 17. "CSL Subsidiary ships coal to power plant partly owned by dictator's son."

The article by Canadian journalist Glen McGregor was scathing.

"Paul Martin's shipping company has business ties to a controversial power project partially owned by the son of former Indonesian president Suharto, the dictator who enriched himself and his family in a 32 year reign of corruption and nepotism."

Suharto used his position as president to enhance his family business by forcing the state owned power company PLN to buy electricity at above market rates from family companies. This led to the financial collapse of PLN under a debt load of $2.6 million in 1998, the Citizen reported.

A CSL subsidiary won the 15 year contract to ship coal to PT Jawa Power, a consortium owned in part by Suharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo.

It appears Martin's company and Suharto have many things in common.

Meanwhile, back in Australia a damning report into the near fatality of a guest worker on a CSL vessel has been released.

A man suffered life-threatening injuries due to crew fatigue and a failure to comply with safe work practices, according to the report into an accident on the CSL Pacific -- the ship at the centre of an ongoing battle between the maritime unions, the Federal Government and CSL over the flagging out of Australian vessels working the coastal trade with guest workers.

The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau into the serious injury on board the Bahamas flagged bulk carrier CSL Pacific south of Portland, Victoria, on February 18, 2002, found "a significant failure of the safety management system on the vessel".

Key factors the investigation uncovered were:

• failure to properly shutdown machinery during maintenance work

• chronic fatigue ratings equal to blood alcohol levels over 0.05

"Put simply the crew might as well have been drunk, they were so overworked when things went haywire," said National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "Fundamental safe work practices like shutting down equipment and locking controls before sending in a worker to weld were ignored. The man is lucky to be alive. "

The report noted that BEFORE the Pacific was flagged out in July 2000 the vessel had a rigorous safety management system and no record of serious accidents.

The Pacific was diverted to Portland after fellow crew heard the worker screaming in pain and freed him from the equipment. He was hospitalised for six weeks suffering a dislocated hip, fractured pelvis and vertebra, two broken ribs and ligament damage to his groin. He was then repatriated home to the Ukraine.

"What's even more outrageous is that after the accident the government failed to cancel the vessels permit to trade on our coast in contravention of its own guidelines," said Mr Crumlin. "Australia is lucky the ship didn't run aground or cause more damage."

April Fool

Canadian television CBC Disclosure has also run an expose of Mr Martin, his ships of shame and his company's tax avoidance schemes on April 1.

The program, which stars MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin and ex Yarra crew Dianne Kelly can be viewed at the website below. The CBC Disclosure website also offers a web forum and the full program transcript for downloading.

It also has links to all recent Canadian press reports on Martin and CSL.