A PLAN by cement manufacturer Holcim New Zealand to introduce a foreign-crewed, chartered ship to coastal trades has aroused the ire of the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ).
As reported by DCN Holcim has taken on charter Nova Marine Carriers’ 8,108 DWT NACC Vega, which departed Mexico 23 September en route to replace the 1998-built Buffalo in coastal cement distribution.
Nova recently joined forces with local company MacCallum Brothers to win a New Zealand Government contract to provide a newbuiding multi-purpose vessel to supply the remote Chatham Islands. At the time Nova CEO Vincenzo Romeo said the company had been planning to enter the New Zealand shipping space for some time: “We are expecting the arrival of one of our cement carriers to begin operating in New Zealand waters by the end of this year.”
Today [16 October] MUNZ called for the Government to reject an application by Nova to be exempted from the legal requirement for New Zealand coastal vessels to be NZ-flagged.
“The call comes as Nova’s fellow Swiss multinational company, Holcim, moves to scrap its NZ-flagged vessel Buffalo and sack its local crew in favour of using Nova's “flag of convenience” Panamanian-flagged service to transport its cement domestically,” the union said.
“This would bypass New Zealand legal protections for crew including those provided by employment and environmental law.”
MUNZ national secretary Carl Findlay said the application to be exempted was a test of the government's loyalties.
“This Government needs to ask itself – does it back the 32 Kiwi seafarers on the Buffalo and New Zealand's vital shipping industry, or does it give a free pass to two Swiss multinational companies looking to make a few more dollars at the expense of its crew’s safety and security, and yet another hit on New Zealand’s supply chain security and economic sovereignty?”
Mr Findlay said the Minister of Transport James Meager was refusing to meet with the seafarers and their representatives until after the “application process has concluded”.
“He seems to want to wait until New Zealand seafarers are sacked to get involved, rather than stepping up.”
Mr Findlay said New Zealand was an island nation facing significant risk to the maritime supply chains “we rely on to transport 99% of our physical exports to market.
“Any further reduction of our skills and capacity in this sector increases that risk.
“Granting this exemption would be an act of economic sabotage.”
“This isn’t a complicated situation. It's a simple choice. The Government can grant this exemption from New Zealand law and harm these workers and our maritime industry, or they can do the right thing and make sure that this work is done on a NZ-flagged ship with a workforce protected by New Zealand law.”
DCN earlier sought comment from Holcim New Zealand but received no response.