Recently, after the latest round of negotiations between DP World Group and the Maritime Alliance of Australia (MUA) failed, Australian ports have restarted general strikes.
It is said that there is currently a backlog of 48,000 containers in various ports across Australia! Strike action has now escalated, with employees at the Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle terminals stopping work, and work at Melbourne terminals also being “restricted” until January 22.
Recently, Maersk’s official website updated its warning about DP World’s Australian industrial actions.
Maersk said it was informed that Australia had received additional protected industrial action notices from the CFMMEU (a division of the Australian Maritime Union) for each of its Australian terminals at the following ports. According to the notice, port operations in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle and other ports will be affected. Details are as follows:
DP World said the strikes had caused losses totaling A$1.34 billion since they began in October last year. Staff shutdowns are costing the country $34 million a day in lost productivity and causing further delays in essential goods, which have been delayed for up to eight weeks. DP World accused the strike action of “severely disrupting” its business and announced it would no longer tolerate partial work bans and that dockworkers participating in the strike action would not be entitled to any wages “until they are willing to carry out their normal duties”. DP World’s executive vice-president for Oceania said the company “has negotiated constructively and made concessions, but it is clear that the unions are willing to inflict maximum damage to achieve their goals.” He said key sectors such as meat, clothing and appliances Delays in items will intensify and deal a huge blow to business owners who are already suffering hardship. However, DP World said it would prioritize critical supplies including perishable food, medical supplies and humanitarian aid where possible.
As terminal work continues to stagnate, logistics and transportation are also disrupted, resulting in serious supply chain disruptions. The ongoing labor dispute has the potential to have a significant impact on the flow of cargo at Australia’s ports. It could cause considerable economic disruption by affecting various industries that rely heavily on on-time shipments.
In fact, as early as October last year, the Australian union has been continuously participating in strike actions, conducting work stoppages and 24-hour strikes to fight for wage increases. Since the end of last year, many Chinese have reported that the packages they sent by sea from overseas have clearly arrived in Australia, but have not been delivered, and this situation has lasted for several weeks.
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