Fremantle Port Strike holds up boards

That's fine by me. I don't have a problem whatsoever with this. I don't wish for Tony Abbott to be the next PM.

I am truly sorry if your business is suffering due to non-delivery of 'boards'. Did you factor such likelihood into your business model? Are you able to insure - or make a claim against the stevedores?

www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-18/wharf-workers-vote-on-job-clause/4433456?section=wa


You are full of ..it!!

Did you read the Port Authority / Buswell Gazette to get that little gem did you ??

If you are still in business I'm surprised, because every transport company that doesn't want to deliver or unpack your 10 or 20 boards uses the excuse that "they are held up on the wharf" for what ever reason suits them on the day. 30 years in the transport and stevedoring game and I've heard them all - even used a few myself.

There has been one container vessel sitting in the outer harbour since yesterday arvo ( the 6 day strike is over after 1 day ) so if your boards are on that ship you probably wouldn't have got them anyway. The usual timeline for a container vessel is -- the ship arrives and is unloaded/loaded (maybe 24 hours depending on number of containers ), 3 days free storage starts so unless you are a big spender with the transport company your container should be picked up by Friday, they will take it back to their yard and it may or may not get unpacked straight away, if it does you may get lucky and be able to pick it up before Chrissie but if you are relying on a truck to deliver it then ????

I'm not actually sure how you arrive at the conclusion that shipping should be a lot cheaper when I presume you understand that there are about a dozen fingers in the pie just to get your boards here and every one wants a slice.

Anyway, I hope you get your gear before Chrissie and your business thrives but don't always believe what you read in the paper and what the transport company or customs agent tells you because they may well be taking the pisssss

Here's a link to see when a vessel is due to arrive and sail that may help you decide if you are getting the run around...

www3.fremantleports.com.au/VTMIS/Public/PublicMovements.aspx

There's no way that seafreight should be getting anywhere close to the cost of airfreight. Yes to many fingers in the pie. Lifetime tenure in a bottleneck industry should solve that.

So give me a list of all the other jobs which come with lifetime tenure.
In case you have trouble getting started I can start it for you.

President of North Korea- Dear Leader Kim Jong Un
Hmmm maybe we should consider only Australian jobs,
So the list is,... ummmmm?

Here's a scenario I just thought up...

A very wealthy business man gets peed off with the state government (and the previous one also) due to the length of time it takes for him to get his own way with building a port for his use. He really shouldn't be subject to all those EPA, planning etc things that every other developer is subject to because he is a White Knight to the peasants - really he is.

He threatens to sue the state for a billion dollars - or there abouts.

The government gets a little nervous and thinks "what can we do?".

A very naughty minister thinks " I know !! We will sell him a few government assets down at Kwinana, give him a contract or two and maybe he might put a leash on the attack dogs (read lawyers). And even better we can get rid of a few pesky port service workers and a couple or wharfies."

The EBA (read contract - pretty good one it must be said) that is just about to be signed between the Port Authority and the workers won't be a problem because we will be able to sling them a few dollars in redundancy money. The minister is pretty good at making public denials so "There won't be any asset sales should be taken as a rock solid guarantee" - maybe.....

I made this story up but hey!! I still believe in Santa.....

Does the EBA give them the 4 days in 6 days off on top of the 5% raise a year for the next 5 years! I really feel sorry for the poor dockers!

Why don't you buy Australian made boards?

No. That used to be the case but finally during one of the recent budget tightenings, the gov realised what a bloated organisation it had become, so now, even the humble and hard working pubic servant is no longer safe from the sack.
Long overdue too.
Why on earth should anyone be exempt from dismissal when the employer has no equal right in return. If any employee wants to leave they can simply give the required few weeks notice and leave, with no reason given. This can often be after the employer has spent many thousands of dollars training them up. It can also be after the employer gives them critical information on how the business works, which can then be used to the employers detriment. Too bad. Just the employers bad luck eh?
If you're buying shoes, you really want two shoes the same for both feet. At the moment, the employees shoe is at least a shoe, and the employers shoe is an old rubber thong.

We're still waiting on a list of other australians who have the bonus of lifetime tenure.
Is that because the list is so long your'e still working on it?

The best ordinary people can get is a two or three year contract for a particular job. After that, you have to re-apply for the same job you've been doing.
If you've done a good job, you will probably get it renewed. If not, you wont.

If the warfies are asking for that then they have my support.
If they're asking for anything more, they don't.

Select to expand quote

Why don't you buy Australian made boards?

I think that manufacturing battle was lost ages ago, but yeah imagine how good it would be to have a few competitive Aussie manufacturers. You'd think with the freight time and costs and a little bit of tariff it would be doable but obviously not.

Regardless of all of the above, I've got a container that arrived on the 13th, cleared customs, and should have arrived with us on Monday.

It's now sat on the docks.

It contains all the stock to meet our Christmas orders.

I don't care who is right and who is wrong. I just know that someone, somewhere is directly responsible for the hit to the business we are taking during the busiest period of the year.

Result:
Us considering setting up a distribution centre in Singapore and shipping direct from there. Shipping costs = lower. Distribution costs = the same. Shipping issues = less. Delivery time to our customers = only a day longer. GST and 30% company tax paid to the Australian government? In my pocket. Actually no, that's not right... we'll pass on the GST cut to our customers and pay 10% tax on profit in Singapore... so our customers get the same product for less and we get more money in our pockets.

I don't want to do it, but in such times we need to be smart about how we operate. Taking the business out of Australia (away from striking dockers, expensive freight, high taxes, etc) seems worthy of consideration when we're actively losing serious money because of a strike.

Rant over.

Bull... The stevedore companies charge the shipper an arm and a leg if the container is left on the wharf more than 3 days due to a lot of transport companies using the wharf as their private storage yard and if it's on the wharf in Fremantle then you are in big trouble when I assume you are in Victoria.

I'll say it again - it is very convenient for everyone to say "it's stuck on the docks" when in fact you may well be a low priority in the transport chain........

Thanks for your input.

My container is sat on the dock. I know this for a fact. It's off the boat, has been customs cleared and the picket line was preventing us from getting a sideloader in there to pick it up. Latest news is that the picket line has been stood down and I'm in the process of negotiating a hefty "cash incentive" to ensure our container gets to us asap.

I'm in Perth, sorting this out, and my shipping agent is a long-time friend. The "incentive" is to the sideloader to ensure my container gets out today, not to the shipping company.

So please, continue your assumptions about me and the issue I'm facing.

So your incentive is to the sideloader. The said sideloader belongs to the transport company then - not the stevedore company or the shipping company.

Like I said, if you are paying an "incentive", it is to a transport company that most likely has you at the bottom of the list but in reality it is probably storage for not picking up the container in the storage free period.....

My assumptions are purely to help you ask the right questions of the people you are dealing with (instead of just indulging a bit of union bashing with only the newspaper as a reference for info). Delivery of containers is a 24 hour a day operation on most days unless no transport company is interested in taking the facility up and on a busy day there can be a turnover of greater than 1000 in just one of the terminals. That requires quite a few trucks and if you are a "sometime customer" then you container ain't gunna be a priority for the transport chain sorry to say.