ITF Cabotage Taskforce rejects Australia deregulation push

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) Cabotage Taskforce, which consists of unions from Canada, Norway, Brazil, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, USA, Nigeria, Australia, the Philippines and India, today blasted Australia’s Productivity Commission as entirely missing the point of having a national shipping fleet.

The Productivity Commission has recommended deregulation of coastal shipping in a report into Australia’s agricultural exports, saying that to improve the efficiency of coastal shipping services, barriers to entry for foreign vessels should be removed to allow greater competition.
 
ITF president and Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) national secretary Paddy Crumlin said that not for the first time, the Productivity Commission had entirely missed the point of cabotage.
 
Among the proposed changes in the discussion paper is the removal of the five-voyage minimum requirement for a Temporary Licence (TL), which would allow for organisations to apply for single voyages instead of the current five.
 
There are also proposals to streamline the licensing processes for TLs and in instances where no General Licence (GL) vessels are available.
 
The proposed changes would make it easier for the Minister’s Delegate to provide Temporary Licenses (TLs) to foreign ships and make it more difficult for Australian ships with Australian crew to compete in the coastal trade.