Shipping Australia seeks action on incidents

Mr Russell highlighted what he described as a "spate" of incidents including a grounding in Tasmania, a ship putting a wharf out of commission in South Australia and a tug losing her tow in northern New South Wales.

"These vessels are all Australian-owned and manned and one would have thought that, given the level of training in Australia and our high standards, we can avoid these kinds of incidents, which can seriously impact on the safety of others, raise the potential for pollution and as clearly has happened, damage port infrastructure," Mr Russell said.

"Shipping Australia will be discussing with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority what can be done to improve the performance of these types of vessels and it underlines the importance of AMSA becoming the national regulator for commercial vessels throughout Australia."

Mr Russell emphasised that SAL had long pursued national regulation as it sought the adoption of national standards.

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