THE MARITIME Union of Australia will continue with protected industrial action at DP World terminals as it recovers from a cyberattack that halted operations at its four Australian terminals.

Operations at the container stevedore resumed Monday (13 November) after landside operations shut down on Friday (10 November).

About 5224 containers were moved through DP World’s terminals by road yesterday, and 151 containers were moved by rail, according to a spokesperson from the company.

DCN understands that on average about 6000 containers move through the terminals per day when there is no industrial action. While industrial action is underway, the terminals have been handling about 4000 containers per day.

Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator Air Marshal Darren Goldie said in a statement yesterday that although port operations had resumed “it does not mean that this incident has concluded”.

“The Australian government is continuing to work with DP World Australia to support the management of any further consequences, including any ongoing disruption to Australia’s supply chains,” Air Marshal Goldie said.

“Investigations into the incident remain ongoing and remediation work is likely to continue for some time.”

More PIA announced

In the meantime, the MUA has announced a new round of protected industrial action from Monday 13 November through Monday 27 November.

The union commenced industrial action in early October after negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement broke down.

A spokesperson for DP World told DCN the company acknowledges the right of MUA to take industrial action in support of its bargaining claims.

“Their decision to notify further periods of industrial action is disappointing under the circumstances,” the spokesperson said.

“It’s crucial for all parties to work together in order to maintain the efficiency and integrity of our supply chain operations.”

MUA assistant national secretary Adrian Evans accused DP World’s local management of sabotaging the negotiation process.

“There is absolutely no reason why the local HR managers who’ve been deliberately sabotaging the negotiation process these past six months can’t meet with us this week to finish bargaining on a new agreement,” he said.

“Dubai Ports and other terminal operators have been quick to reassure businesses and consumers that Christmas goods will not be in shortage because of the cyberattack, so the ball is in DP World’s court to abandon this HR dummy spit, return to the negotiation table, and engage with the workforce in good faith.”

Bans and stoppages

The union’s protected industrial action at all terminals this week includes bans on any work on any ship for eight hours after it arrives in addition to bans on overtime, shift extensions, call ins, and more.

PIA at DP World’s Sydney terminal this week includes (among other actions) a 24-hour work stoppage starting at 0600 on Friday 17 November, a 24-hour ban on working CMA CGM/ANL vessels starting at 0600 on Monday 13 November and a 30-hour ban on working any Maersk vessels from 0001 on Wednesday 15 November.

PIA at the Brisbane terminal also includes a 24-hour ban on working any CMA CGM/ANL vessels beginning at 0600 on Monday 13 November, two-hour stoppages every day at the end of each operations shift, in addition to bans on other work types.

At DP World’s Melbourne terminal, there will be a 24-hour ban on working CMA CGM/ANL ships starting on Thursday 16 November at 0600, in addition to other bans and stoppages.

And PIA at DP World’s Fremantle terminal includes a similar 24-hour ban on working CMA CGM/ANL ships commencing on Wednesday 15 November at 0600, as well as other bans and stoppages.

Looking ahead to next week, the list of bans and work stoppages is very similar to those of this week.

Impacts on shipping

The disruption at DP World has resulted in shipping lines changing some services and switching around port calls.

Maersk announced Tuesday that it would make changes to its trans-Tasman Polaris service following what it said was “prolonged disruption at Australian ports due to the ongoing industrial action”.

ANL on Tuesday announced the ship OOCL Miami would be subcontracted to Patrick Terminals when it arrives at Brisbane on Wednesday for a discharge only call. It said this was due to the “recent cybersecurity incident at DPW”.

OOCL Miami is on the A3C service, which calls Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Shanghai, Ningbo, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Also, ANL said “with the current industrial action happening at DP World,” the vessel Ikaria will call Patrick Terminals at Brisbane instead of DP World.

Ikaria is on the AAXE service, which calls Port Klang, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Brisbane and Sydney.