New Zealand Shipping The Solution To Supply Chain Chaos – Scoop

Monday, 20 December 2021, 9:17 amPress Release: NZ Merchant Service Guild

The union representing ships masters and officers saysfuture solutions for a resilient supply chain must includeNew Zealand ships crewed by New Zealand seafarers.

TheNew Zealand Merchant Service Guild has welcomed theGovernments recent state of play report on coastalshipping, including its support for maintaining anddeveloping local maritime skills.

Merchant ServiceGuild Vice President, Captain Iain MacLeod, says the ongoingglobal COVID pandemic has put the spotlight on thevulnerability of New Zealands supply chain.

CaptainMacLeod draws on decades of direct experience of theshipping industry, and he was recently a Master on one ofthe international container vessels routinely plying the NewZealand coast.

He says allowing our supply chain to bedominated by international shipping companies paying crewsfrom poor nations rates as low as NZ$1.47 per hour andcharging exorbitant freight prices cannot bejustified.

The Merchant Service Guild has beenactively campaigning for an expansion to local coastalshipping since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Ithas recently drafted a Private Members Bill to closeloopholes in the Maritime Transport Act.

Theseloopholes have allowed international shipping companies likeMaersk to progressively undermine New Zealandshipping.

There is gross exploitation ofinternational seafarers who effectively work in New Zealandwaters, staying on board with no shore leave for months andmonths on end, while their employers make record profits,and pay no tax here.

Mr MacLeod says the situationhas now become worse as the largest global shipper Maerskhas put New Zealand on the spot market for freightrates.

He says this will hurt New Zealand industry,and a new supply chain model was urgently required thatrebuilt New Zealand coastal shipping.

Captain MacLeodsays a local seafaring workforce is a crucial factor inbuilding New Zealands COVID resilience.

Therewould be nothing to stop New Zealand crewed coastal vesselsfrom adding international ports to their normal tradingroutes carrying New Zealand imports andexports.

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New Zealand Shipping The Solution To Supply Chain Chaos - Scoop