DP World ports in gridlock, dispute builds

Operations have stopped at major Australian ports, including Fremantle, as workers of one of the country's biggest ports operators continue union-led industrial action.

The Maritime Union of Australia has led an industrial action at DP World Australia’s terminals in Fremantle, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney since late last year.

DP World today announced the action has led to full work bans at its Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle terminals and limited work in Melbourne.

The ports operator claims its economic modelling shows the industrial action has cost the country $34 million a day in lost productivity since the action began in September.

In its announcement this morning, DP World estimated a $78.7 million loss in disrupted exports across the country, including an $8.9 million loss in disrupted exports at its Fremantle port.

The Fair Work Commission has ordered the union to hold a protection action ballot for DP World employees, to be open for 14 days.

The secret ballot would give employees the opportunity to vote on the protected industrial action, which proposes an unlimited number of 16-hour work bans in any ship from the moment it has been tied up to the wharf.

Fair Work commissioner Nick Wilson has ordered the MUA to give DP World five days' notice of any industrial action occurring.

MUA assistant national secretary Adrian Evans told Business News that the union has withdrawn some of the work bans to prevent DP World from locking out its workers.

Mr Evans said any industrial action could not be taken for five weeks with the ballot process ongoing, and urged DP World to settle negotiations in that time.

DP World also claims a $10.7 million loss at its Fremantle port in the indirect and direct loss in output from the industrial action, a $1.5 million loss from freight delay, and a $3.2 million loss from estimates of loss cargo.

The operator has estimated $265.3 million worth of imported goods were disrupted each week and led to a loss of $26.5 million a week, from data across all its terminals.

"DP World Australia is again calling on the Australian federal government to intervene in its dispute with the Maritime Union of Australia following a severe escalation of industrial action, that has seen DP World employees encouraged by the MUA to not work across the nation’s port terminals," the company said.

"The ongoing industrial action, despite the non-acceptance of partial work bans, is set to further damage the nation’s supply chain by causing delays on essential items, which are already between two and eight weeks behind schedule and will now widen further.

"The impact will also be felt by employees who are set to forgo wages, further exacerbating the negative impact of months of industrial action."

DP World reiterated that employees participating in work bans would not be paid, repeating its warning to workers made earlier this week.

“From today, employees who choose to engage in the work bans at DP World’s Australian terminals will not receive wages until they return to their full normal duties,” DP World Oceania APAC executive vice-president Nicolaj Noes said.

“This is in line with a new stance introduced by the company on 8 January 2024 in a bid to stop the MUA from accelerating and prolonging industrial action.

“Our decision to not accept partial work bans has been necessitated by the imposition of continued bans and limitations applied on an hour by hour and day by day basis which has made operating landside and waterside functions almost impossible.

“We were hopeful this step would have encouraged the MUA to withdraw their industrial action and negotiate in good faith, but sadly this hasn’t been the case."

DP World said the backlog of containers across the country's ports have surpassed 48,000.