Pasha Bulker

An inquiry into the Pasha Bulker grounding has highlighted the perils of FoC shipping and the need for an expanded Australian national fleet to service coal exports.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's damning report into the grounding found that poor crew training and management support systems placed it and other vessels at risk. The Pasha Bulker grounded in heavy weather off Nobby's Beach in June 2007.

The ATSB report released in May found:

o inappropriate decision-making by the Master

o lack of training of the master

o lack of knowledge of local conditions and anchorage exposure

o inadequacies in the performance of the Newcastle Vessel Traffic Information Centre (part of Newcastle Port Corporation)

o poor implementation by Port Waratah Coal Services of its vessel suitability list (aimed at reducing the number of slow ballasting ships to speed loading times)

o adverse safety implications of long queues of ships off Newcastle.

The Pasha Bulker - a flag of convenience ship owned by a Japanese company, registered in Panama, captained by a South Korean and crewed by Filipinos - ran aground due to the "human and ship management deficiencies" that Australian unions, masters, engineers and shipping companies have issued dire warnings about for years.

MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said the former Howard Government's active support for unregulated Flag of Convenience shipping had driven down standards around the Australian coast.

"The grounding of the Pasha Bulker was a wake-up call to Australia of the dangers of the growth of unregulated Flag of Convenience shipping," he said

International Transport Workers' Federation Australia coordinator Dean Summers told The Newcastle Herald: "We know that national flag ships put a greater onus on seamanship, and masters on national flag ships have laws at home that support them when they have issues with their companies."

"Under a flag of convenience who's the master got to fall back on when things go wrong? A Panamanian front company?" he asked.

The pressure on ships' masters to push ahead of the notorious Newcastle shipping queue would be of paramount importance to the captains of FOC shipping from companies totally focused on increasing their profits over all other considerations including safety.

"After undergoing repairs in Vietnam the Pasha Bulker continues to trade around the world. It has been renamed the Duke with the same owners, operators and reckless attitude toward safety and the welfare of its crews and environment," Dean Summers said.