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Strategic Fleet campaign

(uploaded 07-08-2025)

The AIMPE, AMOU and MUA have been lobbying for the implementation of the Strategic Fleet policy since the Federal Election in May.

Consistent with the priorities adopted by the Federal Executive at its May meeting, AIMPE has endorsed a leaflet for use in the campaign.

Strategic Fleet Pamphlet Aug 2025

The maritime unions ask that all MPs and Senators use their voice and vote to support:

  1. Establishment of the Strategic Fleet for national security and supply chain resilience.
  2. Legislative reforms to our coastal trading laws to ensure Australian registered ships can compete on a level playing field and that our high labour and environmental standards are maintained.
  3. Legislative reforms to the Shipping Registration Act so vessels continuously operating in Australian waters must be registered in Australia.
  4. Legislative reforms to address the cost gap between the international and Australian ships.
  5. Establishment of a Strategic Fleet and Training levies (or supported through the Defence budget) to ensure the longevity of the industry and minimise the cost to the taxpayer.
  6. Reforms to the Fair Work Regulations so all seafarers while working in Australia are guaranteed minimum Award entitlements.
  7. Reforms to Maritime Crew Visas to restore its use as originally intended
  8. Incorporate the use of Australian flagged and crewed vessels for Government funded/supported programs like FMiA and offshore wind.

Here is a copy of the full document:

Shipping legislation review

AIMPE, together with the AMOU, MUA and ITF, participated in consultations with the shipping legislation review team on 16th July. Consistent with our submission to the review of the Shipping Registration Act, AIMPE strongly argued that the Act needs to be amended to ensure that vessels which are continuously operating in Australian waters must be registered in Australia. This position is also reflected in the joint unions submission in response to the review team further consultation paper.

The unions all rejected the reviewers’ proposal for a new second register.

Regarding the Coastal Trading Act the review team proposal for a new class of temporary licence to be called a regular trading licence was also rejected by the three maritime unions. This appears to be a misguided proposal and would actually have the consequence of further undermining the Australian flag vessels on the coast.

In addition, the unions rejected the review team proposal that the Coastal Trading Act be extended to the Offshore Oil and Gas sector. It seemed that the review team could not grasp the fundamental difference between trading ships and the oil and gas vessel sector.

Regarding the review team proposals for the cruise shipping sector the three unions supported the removal of the exemption of the cruise sector from the Coastal Trading Act and supported the introduction of new arrangements to support the expedition cruise sector.

The three unions’ joint submissions can be read here:

Electric Vessels

AIMPE has submitted a paper about electric vessels to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Shipping Consultative Forum. The meeting was held in December in Canberra. The paper flagged that there are developments in relation to electric vessels that should be discussed and guidelines issued.

The main purpose of the paper is to draw attention to the steps already taken by the Norwegian authority on the subject. These have been raised by the Norwegian Engineers Union in discussions at the Nautilus Federation over the last 18 months.

AMSA has indicated that it will include the paper in the materials to be considered at its roundtable on alternative fuels and energy in February.

Shipping submissions lodged

AIMPE has lodged two submissions to the current reviews of the Coastal Trading Act and the Shipping Registration Act.

These are joint submissions with the AMOU.

Members can access the full submissions here:

The submissions seek fundamental changes to the legislation to assert greater Australian control of vessels operating in Australian waters by requiring transfer of registration to the Australian flag after 3 months continuous operation in Australian waters.

This was a policy change which we proposed at the ACTU Congress in June 2024 -and which was adopted at that meeting.

We are now taking the next step and proposing it to the Federal Government.

Review of Coastal Trading Act and Shipping Registration Act

(uploaded 26-08-2024)

AIMPE will prepare submissions in relation to both the Shipping Registration Act and the Coastal Trading Act following the announcement on 20th August the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport of two independent reviews of some of Australia’s critical shipping legislation. The Australian Government has appointed Ms Lynelle Briggs and Prof Nicholas Gaskell to co-chair the reviews of the Shipping Registration Act 1981 and Coastal Trading (Revitalising Australian Shipping) Act 2012. 

Minister Catherine King said “Ensuring the Acts reflect modern regulatory best practice for shipping registration and coastal trading will be critical to supporting the long-term sustainability of Australia’s maritime industry and Strategic Fleet.

The Government committed to reviewing both Acts as part of its response to the Strategic Fleet Taskforce report.”

AIMPE was highly critical of the Coastal Trading Act in 2012 and ahead of the passing of the Act by Parliament, AIMPE predicted that the scheme would lead to the withdrawal of more ships from the Australian coast. This was exactly what happened in the following years. The Coastal Trading Act does nothing to protect and promote the Australian flag shipping operators but allows for unlimited “Temporary Licences” to be issued to carry domestic cargoes. The policy seems to be that tax free international operators can carry Australian cargoes but Australia operators must pay corporate income tax and Australian seafarers have to pay Australian income tax. A totally inequitable situation.

The Shipping Registration Act meanwhile is long overdue for reform. The Shipping Registration Act requires vessels owned by Australians or Australian legal entities to be registered in Australia. Perversely this allows Australians or Australian companies to own foreign registered companies and register ships in foreign countries then seek “Temporary Licences” to operate in Australia with foreign crews. Also, the Shipping Registration Act does not prevent foreign registered vessels from operating in Australian waters for unlimited periods of time. An Australian person or company owning a truck or a bus cannot have it registered in a foreign country and operate it on Australian roads.

The first phase of the review will be required to be completed in six months from 20th August 2024 meaning it will have to be provided to the Minister by 20th February 2025.

Terms of reference for the two reviews can be found here:

Just Transition and Safety for Seafarers

(uploaded 08-11-2023)

The safety of seafarers was the central focus of a presentation made to the recent General Meeting of the UK based union Nautilus International. The presentation was prepared and delivered by Odd Rune Malterud the Assistant Director & Technical Manager, Norwegian Union of Marine Engineers.

The presentation included links to a wide range of source documents covering many aspects of the move to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Issues covered include:

The presentation represents a very good resource for anyone interested in these issues especially as it contains hyperlinks to a host of relevant documents:

The paper builds on the earlier work by the ITF Maritime Safety Committee which had previously produced a tabulated summary of the various fuel types and the characteristics of these fuels - many of which are extremely hazardous for seafarers:

IMO adopts new greenhouse gases reduction strategy & targets

(posted 10-07-2023)

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has adopted a new strategy including new targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases from international shipping. The decision was taken in London in the first week of July. 

There has been negative coverage of decision with some of the Pacific Island states criticising the decision as not going far enough to address the problem of climate change and the problem of rising sea levels.

For the international shipping industry it may involve slower speed voyages and the use of alternative fuels including biofuels, and other less polluting fuels as well as the deployment of "sails" to assist on some routes at certain times.

The decision was taken by the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80).

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) addresses environmental issues under IMO's remit. This includes the control and prevention of ship-source pollution covered by the MARPOL treaty, including oil, chemicals carried in bulk, sewage, garbage and emissions from ships, including air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Other matters covered include ballast water management, anti-fouling systems, ship recycling, pollution preparedness and response, and identification of special areas and particularly sensitive sea areas.

MEPC 80 met 3-7 July 2023 at IMO Headquarters in London. It was attended by some 1,800 delegates (in person and remotely).

Here is a link to the text released by the IMO:

Just Transition plan for Seafarers

(posted 10-11-2022)

COP27 is very much in the news this week.

On 9th November the Just Transition for Seafarers plan was released at COP27.

It is a broad plan for seafarers globally that has been developed by ITF, ICS and the UN Global Compact group.

The Nautilus Federation was involved in its preparation too.

There are 3 scenarios addressed, a number of key findings arising from these scenarios and a 10 point plan for the transition.

Although these may seem far off the major changes will be to fuel types & propulsion systems. The human impact will be primarily on the marine engineer workforce.

The relevant key findings are:

Key Finding 3: There are a number of safety challenges related to alternative fuels in shipping. These include pressurized storage, low flashpoint and toxicity. Hydrogen, for example, is substantially more flammable than diesel. Ammonia, a method of chemically storing hydrogen for propulsion, is toxic to humans and the marine environment. With the exception of hydrogen, which was until recently only transported in packaged form, most of the alternative fuels are currently carried as bulk marine cargo. The shipping industry is therefore both knowledgeable and experienced with regard to their handling. However, seafarers will need additional training concerning the particular risks associated with using these fuels for propulsion in order to ensure not only their safety but the safety of the environment and local communities.

Key Finding 4: Training seafarers to support shipping’s decarbonization is already subject to several constraints. These include: slow pace of regulatory development and lack of clarity surrounding the viability and uptake of alternative fuel options and decarbonization trajectories, which makes investment in seafarer training challenging; a need to increase investment in training centres and up-to-date equipment; a lack of competent trainers; and a shortage of experienced seafarers.

As a global plan this is focussed on international shipping. Few of AIMPE’s members are involved in international shipping and paradoxically the LNG tanker fleet is due for withdrawal in 2024.

But inevitably the net zero target will see other sectors of the maritime industry [apart from international shipping] affected by the changes ahead.

We have other immediate priorities – Fair Work Act changes, Strategic Fleet development including training, Svitzer dispute and Offshore negotiations – but the big picture issues being discussed at COP27 will also have an impact sooner or later.

To read the Just Transition plan please use this link:

Training and the Just Transition plan

(posted 10-11-2022)

Underpinning the Just Transition plan for Seafarers, is a DNV training paper commissioned by the UN group.

This provides some more detail about the expected pathway toward decarbonised shipping by 2050.

The brief summary is that DNV predicts growth of LNG/LPG fuelled internal combustion engines followed by a transition to lower or zero emissions fuels namely hydrogen, methane or ammonia used in internal combustion engines.

Alternatively the future may involve hydrogen fuel cells or ammonia fuel cells.

Finally there is the possibility of battery power. This is possibly range/size restricted but is obviously a short haul option.

To read the DNV paper please use the link below:

Strategic Fleet Taskforce established

(uploaded 31-10-2022)

Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Ms Catherine King announced the formation of the new Strategic Fleet Taskforce on 20th October 2022 and asked it to provide an interim report by 30th December 2022 and a final report by the end of June 2023. The Strategic Fleet Taskforce is comprised of:

The initial report can be expected to deal with the broad issues outlined in the Terms of Reference for the Taskforce:

  1. Undertake an initial strategic assessment of:
    1. Australia’s current and future shipping freight needs
    2. the types of disruption that may occur, including natural disasters, in coastal and international shipping and how they would affect Australian industry and society, and
    3. which of the identified freight needs the Government should position itself to influence and the level of control the Government could have with a strategic fleet of vessels.

AIMPE and AMOU have called for the Federal Government to provide support for training for Maritime Officers as a matter of urgency to enable planning to commence for the implementation of the proposed new Maritime Strategic Fleet. The two unions made a Budget submission to Treasurer Jim Chalmers in September and have followed this up with a submission to the newly established Strategic Fleet Taskforce.

AIMPE and AMOU have made the case that the training of Maritime Officers should start in the first semester of 2023 regardless of the final details of the Strategic Fleet policy. The basis of this call is that the length of time for training of new entrant Engineers Officers and Deck Officers is so long that if commencement is delayed until all details are worked out, then there may be a substantial subsequent delay to the first ships being available.

The full Terms of Reference for the Taskforce provide more detail on the job that it has been set by Minister King:


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