Foreign Ownership of the Australian Maritime Industry
Over the last twenty years the Australian maritime industry has undergone a radical transformation. The home-grown, Australian owned industry has changed into an industry featuring a large proportion of foreign based maritime players. Reflecting the globalisation in many other sectors of the economy the Australian maritime industry is now largely foreign owned. This is detailed in the attached tables.
In the coastal shipping sector, the three largest operators are all parts of foreign owned groups – Teekay, ASP Ship Management and CSL. Gone are the days of the publicly owned Australian National Line with its ro-ro, container and bulk ships. The ‘big Australian’, BHP, exited the shipping game over a decade ago after the diversified Howard Smith Industries also decided to give it away. Smaller local shipping concerns like CSR, WA Stateships and Cementco have also ceased their shipping operations. In most cases foreign owned companies now operate vessels carrying the cargoes once carried by the Australian owned companies. Only in the Bass Strait and in the Northern Territory trades
are Australian owned companies in dominant positions. Australian involvement in our international trades is miniscule but foreign groups are in control of the remaining Australian manned vessels. I n the booming offshore oil and gas sector, the home-grown Australian owned operators are more numerous. However some of the biggest players are foreign owned including Farstad, Swire Pacific and Tidewater. Towage has seen a dramatic change in the last decade with the dominant Adsteam having been bought out by the Danish Svitzer and then being challenged by the Hong Kong based PB Towage after it took over the ailing Australian Maritime Services. The Canadian based Teekay has held a strategic position since taking over BHP towage operations in Hay Point and Port Hedland. New entrant SMIT is a Dutch company but has aspirations to expand in Australia. Dredging is and always has been dominated by the Europeans – the Dutch and the Belgians.
The Government services area also features a great deal of foreign corporate ownership.
Assessing market share in each of
Coastal Shipping ASP Ship Management Pty Ltd Carpentaria Management Service CSL Australia Pty Ltd Inco Ships Pty Ltd
P & O Maritime Services Pty Ltd Perkins Shipping Pty Ltd Searoad Shipping Pty Ltd
Teekay Shipping (Australia) Pty Ltd Tiwi Barge Services Pty Ltd Toll Shipping Pty Ltd TT Line Pty Ltd
International Shipping Teekay Shipping (Australia) Pty Ltd Trident Shipping Services Pty Ltd
Offshore Oil and Gas Bhagwan Marine Pty Ltd
Compass Group (Australia) Pty Ltd On Watch March 2012 page 4
these sectors is difficult. However it is clear that the Australian maritime industry is as open as any sector of the Australian economy. AIMPE has made a number of submissions to the Federal Government over the last 5 years urging that re- regulation of the Australian maritime industry is necessary. Rather than being protectionist this is aimed at ensuring that Australian standards are maintained within the Australian economy. It gets down to the simple proposition that whilst operating in Australia foreign companies should comply with Australian laws. The current legal structures applying to the Australian maritime industry do not deliver this objective. In the maritime industry the concept of the flag of a vessel is a barrier to the effective application of Australian law. Foreign flag vessels can avoid some of the laws that apply to Australian flag vessels. That’s why AIMPE continues to object to foreign flag ships operating continually in Australia’s EEZ. It’s why AIMPE calls for all vessels operating continuously in Australia’s EEZ to be required to be Australian flag.
subsidiary of Indian company subsidiary of DP World - Dubai subsidiary of Canadian group CSL Australian company
subsidiary of DP World - Dubai Australian company Australian company
subsidiary of Canadian company Australian company Australian company
subsidiary of Tasmanian Govt.
subsidiary of Canadian company subsidiary of Shell UK/Dutch company
Australian company part of UK group
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44