Dear Valued Customer,
Further to our client advisory regarding planned stoppages at DP World’s terminals across Australia, additional information has been released from the Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) following the announcement of a national agreement:
"DP World and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) have both issued statements about reaching in-principle agreement on the clauses for a new four-year Enterprise Agreement (EA).
The DP World Media Release can be downloaded: HERE
The MUA Media Statement can be viewed: HERE
The content of the agreement (constituting “Part A” on national issues) still needs to be voted on by MUA members in each State, and CTAA understands that “Part B” (individual terminal) negotiations are scheduled to continue next week.
The complete new EA (“Part A” & “Part B”) then requires ratification through the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to supersede the old agreement which expired in September last year. This is likely to occur around early April 2024.
As a result of the negotiated agreement, the MUA has withdrawn all Protected Industrial Action (PIA) and each terminal has issued VBS notifications about returning to normal slot allocations and operations.
As acknowledged though in the Melbourne VBS notification, operations will be likely a little disjointed as DP World transitions out of the PIA operations mode back to standard operations.
Priorities include export receivals for vessels scheduled to berth in the next 24 to 48 hours, and then the progressive clearance of import containers backlogged in each terminal.
It is expected too that vessel schedules will take some time to recover to some form of “normal” vessel schedule reliability.
CTAA understands that DP World has been able to negotiate important roster changes that will improve their ability to allocate labour across all operating shifts, while employees will receive pay and allowance increases across all four years of the Agreement, as well as a sign-on bonus."
Thank you for being our Valued Customer. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the notice held within, please contact your Key Account Manager or a C.H. Robinson representative.
Sincerely,
C.H. Robinson.