Merchant Marine Vessels
As of 2006, the Australian fleet consists of 53 ships of 1,000 gross register tons or over. The use of foreign registered ships to carry Australian cargoes between Australian ports is permitted under a permit scheme, with either Single Voyage Permit (SVP) or a Continuous Voyage Permit (CVP) being issued to ships. Between 1996 and 2002 the number of permits issued has increased by about 350 per cent.
Over recent years the number of Australian registered and flagged ships has greatly declined, from 75 ships in 1996 to less than 40 in 2007, by 2009 the number is now approaching 30. Marine unions blame the decline on the shipping policy of the Howard Government which permitted foreign ships to carry coastal traffic. There have also been cases where locally operated ships have Australian flag from the vessel, registering it overseas under a flag of convenience, then hiring foreign crews who earn up to about half the monthly rate of Australian sailors. Such moves were supported by the Howard Government but opposed by maritime unions and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The registration of the ship overseas also meant the earnings of the ships are not subject to Australian corporate taxation laws.
| Statistics for the shipping industry of Australia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total: 53 ships (1,000 gross register tons (GRT) or over) | |||||
| Totalling: 1,361,000 GRT/1,532,874 metric tons deadweight (DWT) | |||||
| Cargo ships | |||||
| Bulk ships | 17 | ||||
| Cargo ship | 4 | ||||
| Container ships | 1 | ||||
| Roll-on / roll-off ships | 5 | ||||
| Tankers | |||||
| Liquefied gas tanker ships | 4 | ||||
| Chemical tanker ships | 3 | ||||
| Petroleum tanker ships | 6 | ||||
| Passenger ships | |||||
| General passenger ships | 6 | ||||
| Combined passenger/cargo | 7 | ||||
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| Source: This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain. | |||||
Read more about this topic: Transport In Australia
Famous quotes containing the words merchant marine, merchant, marine and/or vessels:
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
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—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 13:45,46.
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—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)