Transport Crisis

Peter Morris

Failure to invest in Australian shipping is creating a critical skills shortage, an infrastructure crisis and a security risk.

"Almost 20 years ago, in April 1985, I opened the new Ship Handling Simulator. It was then only the second in the southern hemisphere. Less sophisticated than the latest simulator, it still raised a sweat on my brow as I tried to steer a ship safely into Newcastle Harbour.

At that time there was much more bipartisan support of Australian shipping and considerable progress was made in modernising the industry. The College played a major part in that progress.

Now it is even more important that we look 10 to 15 years ahead, particularly in light of 9/11 and the need for maritime security.

The reality is that the operation of a ship is but one link, albeit the primary link, in the provision of origin to destination sea transport.

Research in 1995 estimated that Australia's maritime sector, including fishing, employed approx 80,000 people and its annual contribution to the national economy was in the order of $14,000 million.

A strong marine education and training industry needs a strong home market and responsible investment by the industry. However, the suppression of the Australian shipping industry in recent years has driven Australian flagged ships offshore. The flaws of this process in respect of taxation and regulation were apparent in the Independent Review of Australian Shipping [IRAS] carried out by former Minister for Transport, John Sharp and myself.

This suppression of the Australian shipping industry has also deterred industry investment in training of seafarers

Skills Crisis

In recent years the Australian shipping industry has been living off past investment in training and as qualified officers retire Australia's pool of skilled seafarers and ratings is being reduced.

This is causing recruitment problems for port related and shore based positions which historically have been filled by seagoing officers and ratings retiring ashore. So acute has the shortage become that senior ships officers are being enticed into shore positions ahead of normal time.

Globally, there are about 1.2 million seafarers employed with a heavy surplus of people seeking employment as ratings, mostly from developing countries. There is a growing worldwide shortage of well-trained, competent, resourceful deck and engineer officers.

Australian and A M C certification are good credentials on the world shipping market but if you are an Australian, opportunity for employment is limited because Australia, unlike most other countries, demands the payment of Australian income tax by its seafarers regardless of where the income was earned.

Sectors of the international shipping industry have complained for years that quality young people will not go to sea. Capable young people find careers at sea do not hold the attraction or magic of long ago. A career in ship service where crews are confined on board during quick turnaround port visits at remote terminals, and where ships officers endure heavy stress loads, has little appeal in today's world of cheap air travel.

If the shipping industry is to recruit people of the calibre they say they want then they will have to offer more attractive careers than the competing opportunities ashore.

Infrastructure

There is growing economic recognition that sea transport is an essential mode in the development of a surface transport strategy for the nation. The Greenhouse effect alone demands that sea transport play a greater role in interstate freight transport.

For the largest island continent in the world to be determining a land transport strategy to the exclusion of its own interstate shipping services is irresponsible in security, energy and environmental terms.

We know that the most expensive way of moving containers from east to west in Australia is by road. Rail is cheaper. Sea transport is considerably cheaper than both. And we know that on a level playing field Australian ships can be less costly than foreign ships.

The European Union's Surface Transport Strategy seeks the optimum combination of sea, road and rail services based on economic efficiency, energy, security and environmental factors. The US is also focusing on short sea services as part of its surface and security transport strategy.

An irony in Australia is that the concentration on road and rail transport ignores the fact that the introduction of itinerant foreign shipping into interstate domestic transport services has caused a substantial loss of east /west freight from rail to foreign shipping.

Formerly domestic freight payments have now become external payments, adding to the current account deficit.

IRAS was made aware of Australian companies wanting to compete against this foreign shipping being prevented, by the absence of clear policy direction and what can only be termed capricious regulation.

The Australian Logistics Council chairman, Ivan Backman, says that, like road and rail, shipping is not without issues: "But they can be resolved," he says "The share of coastal shipping in the non-urban freight task is about 30 per cent, measured in tonne/kilometres - a significant and often overlooked player in the Australian logistics transport task. Recent advances in ship technology can give 30 per cent increase in efficiency and 20 per cent fuel savings."

Mr Backman's words are indeed encouraging - he is looking at the big picture in transport logistics.

Currently there is much clamour about port infrastructure. The clamour about queues of coal ships ignores the cyclical nature of the coal industry. Queues of coal ships are not new - the first began in Port Newcastle in the 1850's; maybe some one could mention the perennial queues at Hampton Roads off the east coast of the U S.

The immediate challenge comes back to making best use of existing infrastructure.