MARITIME Union deputy national secretary Will Tracey has criticised differing messages from Victoria International Container Terminal and parent company ICTSI.

As was reported in DCN, ICTSI released a bullish statement describing “a strong operational and financial performance at VICT in Melbourne”.

ICTSI chairman and president Enrique K. Razon Jr said “ICTSI has continued to grow and delivered a strong first quarter financial performance underpinned by operational improvements and higher contributions from our new ports including VICT in Melbourne Australia, Lae and Motukea in Papua New Guinea”. 

But days later, VICT released a statement indicating otherwise saying “we haven’t received as much business as we expected and unfortunately need to make some very hard decisions”.

An email to staff from VICT chief executive Anders Dommestrup also noted the first quarter “had not been good”.

Mr Tracey questioned what was going on.

“The statements stand in stark contrast to each other and they can’t both be right,” Mr Tracey said.

He questioned the impact on markets and the need for reliable reporting about what was going on.