SHIPPING
SHIPPING MONOPOLIES JEOPARDISE
AUSTRALIAN TRADE Australia must loosen the grip of international shipping cartels on our supply chains
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hipping cartels now dominate and jeopardise Australian trade. A rapid consolidation of the liner trade through mergers, takeovers and alliances has left the overwhelming majority of vessel cargo capacity in all Australian terminals in the hands of three major global alliances. Freight prices from China to Australia alone have more than doubled. So concludes the Maritime Union submission to the Productivity Commission inquiry into Australia’s maritime logistics. The union submission recommends a strategic fleet and renewed domestic shipping capacity so as to free Australian importers and consumers from the grip of international shipping cartels. “The greed and avarice of the shipowners who have been
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going through a process of monopolisation and price gouging has resulted in an under capacity in shipping services and huge profits,” national officers reported to monthly meetings in February. “To demonstrate the obscene levels of monopolisation at the root of supply chain issues, Australia in 1996 had eight shipping lines to choose from. By 2020 it was down to three,” they reported. It is not just the union that is highlighting the shipping cartel issue. Organisations such as the Freight and Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Export Council of Australia clearly identify price gouging as the top concern in maritime logistics. Representatives of international shipping, however, blame the unions. “The Morrison Government called
for the Productivity Commission inquiry in December 2021 during a supply chain crunch caused by the short-sighted ineptitude of Scott Morrison’s response to the Omicron wave of Covid-19,” Paddy Crumlin said in a statement. “Predictably the inquiry attracted the usual union bashing from some industry players.” Crumlin stressed the MUA had for many years highlighted the structural, long-term decline of Australian shipping and its impacts for Australian businesses and consumers. He described our growing national dependence on services provided by international shipping cartels as perilous. The union submission contends Australia’s maritime logistics system and supply chains are
www.mua.org.au
