Drug dealing, gun running, money laundering ... that's flag of convenience

More and more Australian flagged and crewed vessels are being replaced 
on Australia's coast by foreign flagged and crewed vessels. These vessels 
are exempted from security checks that airports, planes, travellers, asylum 
seekers and immigrants are subject to at a time when there are warnings 
that the coastline is vulnerable to attack.

The Maritime Union last week invited politicians and the media onto the 
CSL Yarra in Brisbane. The vessel's owner, CSL, intends to sell it 
via a bogus company it has set up, and bring it back to operate on 
Australia's coast with a non-union, cheap labour crew under a foreign flag.

The union says that the sale of the Yarra brings crucial issues to 
the fore:

* Concerns raised by experts at the Centre for Maritime Policy, University 
of Wollongong, that unlike airports and embassies, coastal security has not 
been upgraded;

* Suppressed Government reports that an Australian flagged fleet should be 
maintained on both economic and security grounds;

* Growing reports and incidents linking flag of convenience shipping to 
crime such as drug dealing, gun running, people smuggling, money 
laundering, tax evasion, illegal fishing, fraud, pollution, and oil spills;

* There are inadequate powers over foreign ships and an inability or 
unwillingness to implement guidelines to revoke a ship's permit. For 
example, the Bunga Teratai Satu which ran aground on the Great 
Barrier Reef last year, has not had its permit revoked, nor has the CSL 
Pacific (formerly Australian but now flag of convenience) despite being 
under investigation after a serious accident on board;

* There is widespread abuse of crew, such as the ANL Progress which 
is currently in dispute with the International Transport Workers' 
Federation (ITF) over $400,000 of backpay owed to the crew and substandard 
conditions on board. (The ANL, once the government-owned line, now 
privatised, flies the Cypriot flag of convenience.);

* Fraudulent certification and corruption enabling people with no seafaring 
skills to buy documentation and jobs on ships, both a safety and security 
risk. The ITF recently illustrated this by obtaining chief officer's papers 
over the internet for a price.

The Maritime Union has gained a temporary injunction from the Federal Court 
stopping the sale of the Yarra.