Wyuna

An Australian shipping company has been accused of underpaying foreign crew aboard a Bahamas-flagged vessel operating in Australian waters on domestic routes. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said it inspected the CSL Australia’s MV Diana in Melbourne and found the company is underpaying Filipino seafarers who are effectively operating full-time on the Australian coast. Under coastal trading rules introduced in 2012, foreign crew must be paid award rates as the vessel is working more than two domestic voyages in Australian waters, but the ITF’s inspection shows that seafarers are only receiving low FOC wages, the trade group said in statement on Wednesday. The Diana is owned by an Australian company, Canadian Shipping Lines (CSL) Australia. According to the ITF, the company has increased the use of foreign seafarers in coastal trades replacing Australian crew, effectively undermining employment conditions and jobs on Australia’s coastal shipping routes. “Under Australian legislation, all foreign workers must be paid award rates while operating in the local trade,” said ITF Australia Coordinator Dean Summers. “ITF Australia, acting on a tip off, has exposed abuse of Filipino seafarers working in Australia for CSL. The ITF has contacted the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) to investigate further but we are yet to receive a response. These are vulnerable foreign workers used by an Australian company to replace Australian national seafarers working exclusively in the Australian trade,” Summers said. http://gcaptain.com/itf-csl-australia-underpaying-foreign-crew-bahamas-flagged-vessel-operating-australian-waters/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29&goal=0_f50174ef03-9be2122912-139851609&mc_cid=9be2122912&mc_eid=d927638ba2

Canadian outfit CSL Group has pounced on the Japanese controlled handysize bulker DIANA ISLAND, paying Yahata Trader $8.5m for the seven-year-old 28,398 dwt ship. This is the second handysize bought by CSL this year after the purchase of the 2006-built Cape Knox for $7.4m in April.