As appeared in INTESECTOR - September 21, 2006
Whilst city based people often throw away comments about the tyranny of distance, people in the north of our state deal with the effects of their remote location in their everyday personal and commercial lives.
The experience of road closures during the wet season and the frustration of waiting for freight consignments is an experience which few Perth based people can relate to.
Yet, in wet seasons, roads such as the North West Highway up to Darwin are regularly cut off to trucks and many people find themselves waiting weeks for freight consignments.
In times like this, shipping provides a critical alternative form of transport, says Steve Forrest, a Wyndham resident of over 30 years and Manager of the Wyndham Port.
Mr Forrest, who runs the port which handles cargoes as diverse as cattle, sugar, molasses, fertiliser, fuel and ammonium nitrate, says the presence of maritime transport also has the effect of keeping road transport costs down.
He says a transport lifeline for people for almost a century has been a state government subsidised coastal shipping service which links the ports of Wyndham, Broome, Dampier and Port Hedland with cities such as Fremantle and Darwin.
A new chapter in this lifeline began in January when independent Western Australian owned company Sea Corporation (Seacorp) won the state government contract to restart a coastal shipping service from Fremantle to the region.
While road closures are less of an issue for communities further south, the coastal shipping service continues to be viewed as a critical transport alternative for the region, says a Department of Planning and Infrastructure adviser.
Transport Industry Policy Directorate Senior Maritime Policy Adviser Mark Brownell says the presence of a coastal shipping service has the effect of keeping road costs down, it generates savings of $1.5 million annually on road damage and offers a safer means for transporting hazardous and over dimensional cargoes.
Mr Brownell says the coastal shipping service also injects up to $3 million annually into the regions the Seacorp vessel, the SCS Anne, calls at and boosts regional employment.
“The shipping service generates many economic and social benefits for the Western Australian community,” Mr Brownell says.
“The government is committed to ensuring that people in remote communities have access to competitive transport.”
Seacorp’s Managing Director Craig Thompson says his company has committed to delivering a total shipping package that includes using the SCS Anne for pilot training, contributing to the Weather Watch Scheme and making an informal contribution to the national Coast Watch program.
Mr Thompson says the coastal shipping service, which runs on a 16 -17 day cycle, offers the cheapest transport option for individuals and businesses in the region.
“The WA community has a lot to gain by embracing it,” Mr Thompson says. “There isn’t another state government that supports manufacturers in this way.
“Many WA businesses are already discovering they are achieving major savings on their freight bills.
“There are many opportunities up and down the vast west coast to offer a logistical and economic advantage to companies and individuals needing to locate heavy, oversize or hazardous cargoes.”
Mr Thompson says many people in the manufacturing sector, who cling to outdated perceptions about the shipping industry, are unaware of the enormous economic and logistical benefits of using the coastal shipping service.
Some commonly held myths are that shipping is much slower, it is more expensive, is marred by poor productivity and that using this transport mode will have an impact on storage space.
He says Australia’s waterfront and maritime industries have undergone major workplace and productivity reforms since the early 1990s thereby generating enormous benefits for transport users.
“I can’t remember the last time a day was lost due to an industrial dispute,” he says.
“Our docksides are very efficient and Australian seafarers are not only amongst the worlds finest, but they also bring greater potential of improving security around our vast coastline.”
The highly versatile 105m multi--purpose ship, the SCS Anne, is ideally suited to “awkward over-dimensional,” cargoes, but can also carry containers, break bulk and hazardous cargo.
The ship, with it is unimpeded deck length of 65 metres is equipped with two 60 tonne cranes, located on the portside, which can be operated in tandem and lift 110 tonne.
Thompson says an added beauty is the SCS Anne’s capacity to give customers in remote areas a chance to rendezvous with barge operators to transfer cargo.
A typical example of this can be seen in the delivery of a 250 tonne crawler crane delivered to Aztec Resources Koolan Island Iron Ore project in mid-June for construction company, Marine & Civil.
This 1800 cubic metre cargo, with a 50 metre boom, was shipped in pieces from Fremantle and then put together on a barge at Koolan Island.
Alan Sweet, managing director for construction company, Marine and Civil, says using the SCS Anne enabled his company to avoid the double handling that would have occurred with road transport.
“The alternative would have involved driving up the North-West highway and then accommodating the more expensive option of taking a barge from a land-backed port facility.”
Protecting the Western Australian coastline
Craig Thompson, a fifth generation descendant of the first Europeans who sailed to Fremantle aboard the Parmelia, believes Australian-crewed shipping operation’s like Seacorp’s offer the potential to enhance security along the vast northern coastline.
He 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 by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
“What better way to carry some of the highly dangerous goods moved around our coast than with Australians that have been subjected to this level of scrutiny,” Thompson says.
“Aussie seafarers, are among the finest trained in the world and our crew is committed to keeping an eye out especially when travelling along the vast north west coastline.
“Everyone in this country has a moral obligation to keep watch.”
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