The International Transport Workers Federation has welcomed an Australian Senate inquiry into flag of convenience shipping.
The Inquiry by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee will examine the national security, fuel security, environmental, social and economic impacts of FOC shipping and revisit the 1992 Ships of Shame Inquiry.
It follows a recent damning exposé on Australia’s Four Corners television programme into three mysterious deaths at sea on board the MV Sage Sagittarius.
A coronial inquest has heard allegations that guns were being sold on board the Panama-flagged coal carrier in 2012 and that assaults on and intimidation of the crew were widespread.
ITF national coordinator Dean Summers said there was a high cost involved in cheap shipping.
“I would like to thank the ALP, Greens and cross bench Senators for agreeing to this inquiry which will expose the harsh realities of life at sea for seafarers from developing countries,” Summers says.
“The murky world of FOC shipping needs to be investigated,” Summers explains. “Intimidation, bullying and harassment are often an unfortunate part of life onboard FOC vessels and it’s allowed to happen because of jurisdictional blurred lines and a lack of regulation.”
