Ausmarine June 2006 Page 19
The time is ripe for an Australian operator to become a major player on the Australian coastal shipping scene, asserts Seacorp Managing Director, Craig Thompson.
The Fremantle shipping identity speaks with the conviction of someone who is in the advanced planning stages of a project that may significantly change the character of the Australian transport scene.
This “big picture project” is for an Australian-controlled and nationally crewed shipping service that will take in the resource rich states of Western Australian, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Seacorp, which won the Western Australian coastal shipping contract from major Australian shipping identities including Patrick, ANL and P&O, is poised to steam farther afield with a “butterfly shipping service” from Fremantle around the top of Australian to Brisbane.
Plans are progressing well and the service, which will use Darwin as a transhipment hub, is expected to be up and running during the last quarter of 2006.
The current resource and building boom is generating an abundance of coastal cargo and the diversified company, which has a healthy relationship with unions, is in a strong position to offer lateral solutions to clients.
Seacorp’s butterfly service will be unique in that, as is the case with the incumbent vessel for the WA service, the SCS ‘Anne’, it will have the capability to carry various cargoes including containers, break bulk and over-dimensional cargo.
The SCS ‘Anne’ has the ability to carry long, wide and heavy cargoes, with an unimpeded deck length of 65 metres and a pair of 60-tonne cranes located on the portside that can be operated in tandem and thus lift 110 tonnes.
Thompson says the WA coastal service, which sails between Fremantle, Dampier, Port Hedland, Broome, Wyndham and Darwin on a 16-day cycle, is a great transport resource that is supported by the Western Australian Government.
“The WA community has a lot to gain by embracing it,” he says. “There is not another state government in Australia that assists manufacturers, miners and remote communities in the way that this coastal shipping service does.”
Thompson says the “beauty of Seacorp’s door-to-door service” is its unique ability to achieve savings and add value for non-time sensitive and awkward cargoes.
Procurement managers who are keen to satisfy Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing principles are under the mistaken impression that shipping does not serve their needs, he says.
In some cases, business is being blindly led by JIT principles and is foregoing an opportunity to achieve enormous commercial savings.
“There are lots of situations where cargo can be mixed and matched,” Thompson says. “Procurement and logistics managers stand to gain a lot if they think about what cargo can go now and what can go later.
“A lot of people in industry are under the mistaken impression that a one-size fits all when it comes to cargo logistics.”
Thompson says new customers often express concern about how using a shipping service with a 16-day turnaround will impact on their storage space. This is not an issue, he says, because Seacorp can offer continuous receivals on the wharf at all ports and offers a complete door-to-door service.
Seacorp will form more of the alliances it has sealed with transport companies to ensure customers continue to derive logistical and financial advantages.
“It’s simply a matter of telling us when you want it to arrive,” he says.
Thompson says Seacorp’s success in winning the North West Coastal Shipping tender from major Australian Shipping identities is testimony to the benefits of being able to offer a total package.
Part of that package includes a complimentary contribution to the national ‘Coast Watch’ programme, to a ‘Weather Watch’ programme and making a commitment to utilise the 105-metre SCS ‘Anne’ for pilot training.
“There is a dearth of marine pilots in Australia and a lack of opportunity for marine officers to undertake hands on training,” Thompson says.
“The vessel in this service is ideal for pilot training as its 16-day cycle covers six ports, all with their own challenges, including some with the largest tidal movements in the world, with berthing/unberthing undertaken without the assistance of tugs.”
Another feature of Seacorp’s service is it gives customers in remote areas the opportunity to rendezvous with barge operators to transfer cargo. This will reduce freight costs significantly, will improve the viability of marginal operations and guarantee reliability of supply during the wet season when reads are often closed.
Seacorp has also drawn on its association with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to offer a ‘Gatewat to the World’ service for remote shippers. MSC is reportedly the world’s second largest container ship operator.
This allows cargo to be shipped to/from the North West via Fremantle to any of the 128 ports serviced in MSC’s worldwide network.
Thompson points out there are several things that make “the time ripe” for Seacorp to become an aggressive player in the Australian coastal trade.
The plan hinges on funding, possibly through private equity arrangements, a new multi-purpose vessel for trading bulk and break-bulk commodities around the Australian coast.
But an obvious question may be how can Thompson have so much confidence in obtaining support from Australian shippers when so much coastal cargo is carried by foreign-flagged, foreign-crewed vessels?
He says there will be considerable economic incentives to use Seacorp’s butterfly shipping service and there are also wider social benefits from using Australian operated and crewed vessels.
While Aussie seafarers are more expensive than other traditional sources of shipping labour, they offer quality of service and the potential to enhance security around the country’s vast coastline.
“Everyone in this country has a moral obligation to keep watch,” Thompson says/ “I doubt that foreign crews would give a tinker’s cuss about that.”
Thompson says Australian crews will soon carry the Maritime Security Identification card, which includes a criminal history check by the Australian Federal Police and security assessment be the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
“What better way to carry some of the highly dangerous cargoes currently moved around our coast than with Australians that have been subjected to this level of scrutiny.”
Thompson, whose 30-year career in transport has seen him represent ship owners and shippers, claims to be equally empathetic to the needs of both parties.
He began his shipping career in a ship’s agency, but later gained a deep understanding for shippers’ needs when he took a dual posting as marketing manager for protein and oilseeds and executive manager Chartering and Logistics for WA’s grain marketing body, the Grain Pool of WA.
He says a demonstration of his willingness to add value for clients can be seen in a six-figure investment in an internet-based documentary system, Seaweb.
Seaweb is a live system that effectively allows customers to transfer the responsibility of producing shipping commercial documents to Seacorp.
“As we have in the past, we will win future business through meeting the increasingly higher expectations of clients.”
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