WMDs Threaten Disaster In NZ Ports

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Threaten Disaster In NZ Ports

For immediate release Friday 26 March 2004

"Weapons of mass destruction" threaten disaster in New Zealand ports

The Maritime Union says that a lethal cocktail of deregulation, security lapses, and cutprice 'flag of convenience' shipping is pointing towards a maritime disaster in a New Zealand port.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says a string of incidents this week aboard the Marshall Island-flagged vessel "Tasman Independence" shows how dysfunctional the maritime industry has become.

"Ships like this are now entrusted with a dangerous cargo like fertilizer which becomes a potential weapon of mass destruction in the wrong hands, as Australian maritime unions have noted previously."

The 'Tasman Independence' was turned away from the Ports of Auckland last week when a last minute manifest check revealed the ship was carrying 220 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, and diverted to Tauranga.

The fertilizer is highly explosive, and was used in the Oklahoma City bombing where 1.8 tonnes led to a death toll of 168. An explosion of 2300 tonnes killed 500 people in a Texas port in 1947.

Port of Tauranga Chief Executive Jon Mayson told media that the berths where unloading took place were at least 1km away from residential areas.

"We are asking Mr Mayson whether he has any idea what would happen if 220 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded on a ship in his port, and what plans there are for such a scenario," says Mr Hanson.

In a further incident, a waterfront worker was seriously injured aboard the 'Tasman Independence' in Wellington on Monday 22 March in an industrial accident.

Mr Hanson says several Maritime Union members narrowly escaped death or serious injury when machinery from an onboard crane on the 'Tasman Independence' fell onto wharves at Southport in Bluff on 14 January 2004 in a widely reported incident.

He says the events form a pattern of "systemic failure" on board visiting Flag of Convenience vessels.

"We are seeing series of incidents including crane collapses, injuries to maritime workers, and abuse and exploitation of crews, sometimes all aboard the one vessel within a short time frame."

The lack of regulation of flag of convenience shipping and the casualization of waterfront labour was leading towards catastrophe, says Mr Hanson.

"The New Zealand shipping industry is being destroyed by having to compete with cutprice flag of convenience vessels who are working our coastal waters."

Mr Hanson says there seems to be a culture of buck passing and box ticking in the maritime industry, where potentially catastrophic threats in our ports and coastal waters are swept under the carpet of indifference in the search for profits.

Recent incidents in Australia indicated the problem was an international one, he says.

"The Australian maritime unions say that the mixture of cheap ships, unregulated multinational crews, unidentifiable ship-owners and gaping holes in maritime security is a massive threat, and we agree completely."

"The authorities have little idea of whom owns these ships, or the status of their crews who are drawn from some of the world's most impoverished nations, and whom basically have free access into New Zealand ports onboard ships carrying potentially deadly cargoes," says Mr Hanson.

The Maritime Union is launching a national campaign to introduce cabotage (where New Zealand coastal shipping is reserved for New Zealand ships and New Zealand crews), as well as demanding regulation of the waterfront labour force to end casualization and security threats.

ENDS

http://www.munz.org.nz

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