The Maritime Worker Newsletter of the Wellington Branch of the Maritime Union of New Zealand – Vol. 16 April 2022
New Zealand’s Flag of Convenience ship By Tony Mowbray, Branch President Chatham Island Shipping is a New Zealand shipping company that operates the MV Southern Tiare. This vessel serves the ports of Napier, Timaru, and the Chatham and Pitt Islands, along with a regular service between Napier and Norfolk Island via Auckland. It is not known if any New Zealand crew are engaged on this vessel which is Cook Islands flagged. The Cook Islands flag is an ITF flag of convenience (FOC). If no New Zealanders are employed, it shows how the Maritime Transport Act is easily exploited by a New Zealand owned and based company not employing New Zealand crews. This is done by getting around the 28-day rule in the legislation by having the vessel make the run to Norfolk Island, outside New Zealand waters on a monthly basis. The operation of this company should be showing the Government the importance of investment in similar vessels to service our island nation so New Zealand seafarers can be employed. We need to be training our young people on vessels other than ferries. New Zealand domestic cargo should be moved by New Zealand flagged and crewed ships. The Government needs to take a much stronger stance in supporting our industry. This scenario is similar to what happened when the LPG Tanker Terahiko was withdrawn from service, and our domestic LPG supply carried by foreign flagged and crewed ships to this day.
You could expect this under a right wing National Government who originally sold out New Zealand shipping in 1994 with the Maritime Transport Act. It is disappointing, yet again, to feel let down by a Labour Government that is well aware of the struggles of the maritime industry since the 1990s, and who recently allowed the demise of our two New Zealand flagged coastal tankers, despite a lengthy and high profile campaign to keep them on. One of the main areas we have raised with the Government is the almost total reliance on overseas owned and flagged shipping even for the domestic movement of goods. We are all aware of the current supply chain problems, now including fuel, which if not fixed will only get worse. I noticed that our national media had coverage of the horrendous sacking of 800 British P&O ferry crews on the day that it happened, yet after months of our “Save our Tankers” campaign was struggling to get media attention. Thankfully our National Secretary managed to make Radio New Zealand to get our message out to at least some people. All members should be taking note of the big picture. By allowing shipping companies like Chatham Islands Shipping to operate on our coast without New Zealand crews this is not only at our cost as an industry, but New Zealand as a whole. I continue to encourage all members to become active in whatever way they can to support New Zealand crews and New Zealand shipping.