Wharf action delays car deliveries

AT LEAST eight car-carrying ships bringing imported vehicles to Melbourne have been delayed by industrial action taking place at Webb Dock, leaving some vessels stranded at anchor in Port Phillip Bay for more than a week, causing thousands of cars to arrive late.

The delays come at a time when the supply of cars is already under pressure in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and resultant infrastructure crisis in Japan.

The action taken by the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is part of an attempt to secure annual pay increases, higher superannuation contributions and more annual leave for its members.

Details on which vehicle brands are affected remain scarce but a shipping industry insider told GoAuto that one vessel scheduled to discharge about 500 cars, including Citroens, Fords, Nissans and Renaults, at Melbourne was diverted to Geelong after a three-day wait.

The hulking ships – the largest affected being 228 metres long by 32 metres wide – have posed unusual sight from most of Melbourne’s beaches over the past week or so as they sat stationary in the bay – and there was no end in sight this Easter weekend.

Of the eight affected vessels, two originate from Europe, three appear to have come from Thailand, and two have come directly from Japan.

Another vessel named Aquamarine Ace came from Japan via North America and appears to be the worst affected so far.

The ship arrived and dropped anchor in the Victorian harbour on April 15 and did not moor at Webb Dock to await unloading until 7.45pm on April 24. Further, it is not scheduled to depart until April 27 according to information from the Port of Melbourne.

Two of the ships arriving from Thailand were turned around relatively quickly within four or five days, although a third, Progress Ace, had been at anchor from April 15 to April 23 by the time it reached Webb Dock for unloading.

With 42,285 Thai-sourced vehicles registered in the first quarter of this year, Thailand is Australia’s second largest source of vehicle imports after Japan.

At the time of writing, three car carriers remained anchored in Port Phillip Bay. Modern Peak, originating from Japan, arrived on April 18. Silverstone Express, also from Japan, arrived on April 21.

Hoegh Trooper arrived from Europe on May 22 but expected to leave for Port Kembla in New South Wales without unloading at Melbourne.

Webb Dock operator Patrick Ports and Stevedoring claims that complying with the MUA’s demands will result in a $37 million increase to its costs in the first year and that “the restrictions on employment included in the log of claims from the MUA, is unreasonable and unsustainable and as such the Company is not in a position to agree to them”.

The union has imposed work restrictions at Webb Dock, Fremantle and Geelong. The restrictions take the form of bans on staff transfers to other work sites, shift start times limited to 7am, 3pm and 11pm and a ban on upgrades for the seventh working hour – meaning that for example, a grade 2 employee may undertake seven hours of grade 5 work but must go back to grade 2 responsibilities for the last hour of their shift.

On April 6 Patrick told employees taking part in work restrictions that they would not be paid.

MUA assistant national secretary Ian Bray told GoAuto that that the union’s choice was between work restrictions that would largely allow business to continue as usual or a full-blown strike that would “shut the joint down”.

He said that Patrick had effectively forced the second option by refusing to pay workers for the hours they had worked.

“The guys worked three days for no pay to see where the company was going with it, to get an understanding, but after three days they couldn’t get answers so they said they would stop working until the company could confirm they would be paid for the hours they had worked,” he said.