Finally some good news from the Australian waterfront.
This morning we have been advised that the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement between Patrick’s Terminal in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle and the Maritime Union of Australia appears to finally have been negotiated.
Below is the statement issued by Patrick’s Terminals:
“Patrick Terminals can confirm that an in-principle agreement has been reached with the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) for a new 4-year enterprise agreement. The agreement will now need to be voted on by the MUA members before being ratified by the Fair Work Commission.
Patrick Terminals is very pleased with the outcome. The new agreement has achieved the removal of restrictive recruitment conditions and also delivered other much-needed flexibilities for the Patrick operations across all four terminals. Patrick Terminals looks forward to the endorsement of the agreement by the MUA members and four years of industrial stability on our waterfront.
The current vessel berthing delays at Patrick’s Terminals around the coast have been:
- Melbourne – severe congestion and delays up to 10+ days
- Sydney – average delay is around 2.5 days
- Brisbane – some vessel bunching, but overall there is no major delays until early February
- Fremantle – berth free (last week), but vessels starting to bunch again from (the weekend just gone)
It is hoped that the new Enterprise Agreement (when ratified) will be a contributing factor to Patrick Terminals recovering from the current berthing delays and flow-on impacts that these delays have on landside logistics performance”.