As mentioned in our Newsletter earlier this month, there’s been ongoing Industrial action between Svitzer and the unions for quite some time, years actually. As you may have already seen in the media, this dispute has escalated dramatically in the past few days with Svitzer advising their staff that they will be locked out from 12pm on Friday the 18th November.  This action will have very serious consequences for our ports, as vessels will not be able to berth or depart in any of our major ports around Australia with Svitzer providing the majority of the tugboats needed for these operations.

We are very hopeful that the ongoing hearings with the Fair Work Commission will be able to get this matter resolved before this lockout commences, but if not there will be delays and issues starting from tomorrow. We’ll continue to keep you updated on this situation and fingers crossed we’ll be able to provide you with some better news very soon.

Below are links to recent articles for further details on this matter

Daily Cargo Newsletter

Financial Review Article