Published: 4 Nov 2010
3 incidents in as many months involving Liberian Flag of Convenience ships on our coastline. Union call for government crackdown.
The Federal Government needs to provide greater support for safety checks to ensure ships using Australian ports meet high standards, MUA Assistant National Secretary Warren Smith told ABC Radio today.
Flag of convenience ships that are registered in Third World countries with lax safety and environmental standards are often the ones involved in accidents and disasters.
"I don't think it's possible at this stage to ban them and I think that there could be much more stringent controls placed on shipping by Government," he said.
"That means resourcing the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to have its inspectors ready to go down and inspect these vessels."
The Liberan FoC was responsible for all four recent incidents - a ship grounding of Brisbane this week, a ship collision in Port LIncoln last month and an oil spill in Newcastle Harbour.
