Ship Campaign delivers - new policy, new ships, new govt

Two new ships are set to work in the Australian trade, both replacing older vessels, but both retaining Australian crew – a first for more than a decade.

As MWJ went to press the union had reached agreement with Rio Tinto Marine for Australian crew to be employed on board their new vessel RMT Weipa.

The ship is due to start on the coast in October replacing the River Endeavour.
At the same time Teekay’s Ocean Protector will
replace the former coast guard vessel Oceanic
Viking. The Protector was undergoing final
touches in Newcastle in September.
Both vessels are replacing bulk carriers that are
more than 25 years old.
“Without the government announcing its
shipping policy during the campaign, it would
be a very different story,” said MUA National
Secretary Paddy Crumlin. “It’s down to Labor
making that policy commitment that we are
where we are. Had it been otherwise – had
Labor not delivered, or had they lost the election,
which they very nearly did, we’d probably be
in the same situation on the Viking and the
Endeavour, as we were on the Yarra, the Stolt,
the Triton and the Fitzroy River – sitting in. We’d
probably be fighting against two more ships
flagging out, going offshore and coming back on
our coast with guest workers.”

RIO AGREEMENT

The Rio Marine fleet have carted bauxite from
Weipa to Gladstone for a quarter of a century
on four vessels – River Boyne, River Embley,
Fitzroy River and Endeavour River. But all have
been retired or are on the path to retirement,
with the Fitzroy River leaving the coast last year
and the River Endeavour en route to Singapore
after her final sailing on the Australian coast.

With high demand for bauxite in the resources
boom in recent years the UK-flagged RTM Weipa
came into the Australian trade last year, taking
advantage of intrastate Queensland permits.

It flew the UK rather than the Australian flag because
the UK, not Australia offered a tonnage tax.

AIMPE and the MUA claimed Rio using intrastate
permits was an abuse of the system.

Alarms sounded last year when the Rio website
carried news that Rio Tinto Marine has taken
delivery in Japan of the first of five new bulk
carriers costing a total of US$200 million.

“Like haul tucks on water, the ships will principally
be used for carrying bauxite from the Weipa mine
to Gladstone alumina refineries under long term
freight contract with Rio Tinto Aluminium,” it read.

“This was a major body blow to Australian
shipping,” said Martin Byrne, AIMPE.

The Fitzroy River was first to be replaced. It
was subject to a dispute last year that led
to protracted ACTU-led negotiations with Rio
Tinto shipping. The outcome was a framework
agreement, whereby the company agreed to
crew new vessels with Australian seafarers if
the government delivered on shipping reform,
including fiscal incentives for ship owners. It
was also contingent on the union delivering on
labour reform.

Unions reached agreement on a Rio Tinto framework
agreement that will see a minimum 70-80 per cent
of Rio’s coastal cargoes carried on vessels with
Australian crew.

The MUA rejected a company proposal to remove
the chief caterer.

In September Ian Bray, MUA Assistant Federal
Secretary reported that hurdle had been
overcome. After National Secretary Paddy
Crumlin and Ian Bray met Peter Manion (Rio
Tinto) and Grant Hardie (Teekay) Rio has now
agreed to a crew of eight, including a chief
caterer. This is on the proviso there will be a
crewing review in the first three months of the
vessel working in Australia to establish work
load, training requirements and other relevant
factors to optimise long term Australian crewing
to this and further new vessel additions in the
trade further talks will take on.

THE MUA crew on the Weipa will now be one CIR, five
IRs, one chief cook and one chief caterer. Further
talks will take place on trainees and riding gangs.
ASP crewing agent is now looking at
redundancies in the vicinity of two CIRs, four to
eight IRs, two chief stewards and one chief cook,
with members on the Endeavour River given
the first option. Teekay have agreed to accept
the crew joining the RMT Wiepa if they have the
required certificates.

“The vessel management has been awarded to
Anglo Eastern and will be managed by their office
in Glasgow. This is to take advantage of the UK
tonnage tax which provides shipping companies
an opportunity to reduce their operating costs via
tax relief if they flag their vessels under the UK
ensign. It is the same taxation system that the
MUA has been lobbying the ALP Government to
introduce as part of a comprehensive shipping
reform agenda,” said Bray.

Tonnage tax is a key element of the recently
announced Labor government shipping policy.
Now with the government commitment to the
shipping revitalisation package and the ACTU-led
negotiations the unions are confident the Rio fleet
will eventually fly the Australian flag.

The crew of the Endeavour River sent the following
message to National Secretary Paddy Crumlin:
‘At the time of writing this ship the SS Endeavour
River is inside the Great Barrier Reef, heading
north to Singapore where its Australian crew will
disembark for the final time after almost 30 years.
“Up until recently the MUA members on board
were worried about their future in as much as
the blue water fleet crewed by Australians on our
coast was disappearing at an alarming rate. Now,
thanks to the hard work done, and continuing
to be done by you and our fellow officers both
federal and state there appears to be more than
just a light at the end of the tunnel.

“On returning to Australia MUA members have the
opportunity to walk up the gangway of new tonnage
owned by Rio Tinto and operating on the same
Gladstone/Weipa run that the Endeavour River had
been working for the past three decades.

”The 80 per cent of Rio Tinto ships in Australia to
be crewed by Australians bargained by you and
Rio Tinto (re Government regulation and tonnage
tax) indicates more good news in the future.”