An era ended last year when Peter Murday, a name familiar to many involved in Australian maritime, stepped down as managing director of MCC, a business that he started in partnership back in 1991. At that time, Mr Murday had already been in the maritime game for nearly two decades, learning the ropes first as a seafarer in the merchant navy, before entering the world of marine surveying.
Mr Murday grew up in the tropical Mossman, North Queensland, and went to sea “on a whim”. His grandfather had been a master mariner, Queensland pilot and Brisbane harbour master, serving as some inspiration. After completing secondary school in Brisbane, Mr Murday applied to Australian National Line and was accepted in February of 1973.
“My first vessel was Darwin Trader, which I joined in Brisbane. She traded from Hobart to Darwin and all ports in between. She was a container/bulk carrier fitted with two mobile gantries – which is where the deck cadets spent most of their time in port fixing up the wharfies’ mistakes!”
Mr Murday completed a four-year cadetship with ANL on all vessel types in the fleet, which numbered approximately 36 at the time.
“It was great training on a variety of vessels, something that’s not available to many cadets these days,” Mr Murday reflected.
Early adventures
As an apprentice, Mr Murday sailed on vessels such as Yarra River, which at 55,000 tonnes deadweight was one of the largest bulk carriers in Australia at the time, and Allunga, a ro-ro vessel that ran to the United States and Canada.
“The Allunga briefly carried an old Land Rover on board for quick runs ashore when we got the chance,” Mr Murday recalled.
“There were a few problems in that it wasn’t registered, and it was right-hand drive, which unfortunately led to us getting pulled over by the highway patrol in Vancouver one cold night.
“Once over the shock of it all the officer directed us – in no uncertain terms – to ‘get your you-know-what back on your ship and don’t let me see you again’. It could only happen in the ‘70s.”
Mr Murday obtained his Master’s Foreign Going in 1983 and sailed as a chief officer on various Lake Class bulk vessels before accepting redundancy in 1986.
“The ANL was a great company, despite the many naysayers, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.”
He then spent two years with Howard Smith Industries on bulk carriers and tankers.
“The ANL and the Australian shipping industry in general was under a lot of pressure at this time and the long-term outlook was poor – the industry didn’t have many friends and the government of the time was not in any way supportive of Australian-flag shipping – so I took the hard decision to leave the sea and took up a job offer as a marine surveyor in Gladstone with a major multi-national,” he said.
“This meant uprooting my young family from Sydney and shifting to Queensland. Six weeks after starting the job in Gladstone I was offered a position on one of the early floating production storage and offloading units with BHP Petroleum. Such is life – timing is everything.”
Mr Murday recounted that the learning curve ashore was steep.
“My first boss said, ‘It will take you two years to get up to speed with this job’ – and right he was. It was a very different world being ashore,” Mr Murday said.
“Gladstone was a busy port and growing rapidly and we certainly earned our keep, but it was a great training ground for marine surveying. We covered Port Alma and Bundaberg as well and learnt to handle a wide range of bulk and liquid cargoes.”
Speaking on the rigors of the surveyor’s lifestyle in the 1980s, Mr Murday recalled, “There were only two surveyors at the time – not enough money for a third man, we were told.”
“It wasn’t unusual to leave home on a Friday night and get back on Sunday night, our time spent driving from one ship to the next – and we lived in the place. Great training. Crap lifestyle.”
The rise of Marine Cargo Care
Mr Murday left Gladstone in 1991 – “there is only so much coal and alumina dust you can eat” – and started Marine Cargo Care in partnership in Brisbane.
“It’s a very big step going out on your own, but we had the belief we could succeed,” he recalled.
The budding MCC was assisted in its early days by a prolonged drought, Mr Murday remembered, which meant the local feedlots had to import all their feed grain from South Australia and Western Australia.
“This one-off business opened many doors for us and many of those early clients are still friends today 30 years later,” he said.
“We were the first Australian surveying company to get involved in overseas hold inspections to ensure no organic contaminants (most importantly foreign grain) remained in the olds prior to loading fertiliser cargoes. Hold inspections were done using man lifts – something that hadn’t been done before.
“These inspections were in response to an AQIS [Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service] directive to protect Australian wheat crops from the ‘Karnal bunt’ disease.”
No one told ships about Easter or Christmas – or about the eight-hour day or the difference between day and night, summer or winter.
After initially experiencing a slow start that had the new boys on the block sweating, Mr Murday said that business soon picked up.
“Almost overnight we found ourselves flying around the world to the various fertiliser ports on behalf of Australian importers. At last count we had visited some 20 different countries carrying out these surveys, from Saudi Arabia in the height of summer to Murmansk in the middle of winter,” he said.
Mr Murday said that in addition to the overseas surveys, MCC continued to build its local business in Brisbane, gaining big clients including ACI, CRL, Graincorp and QBH.
“It was here that our Gladstone training in bulk terminal operations, bulk vessels and draft surveys proved invaluable,” Mr Murday said.
“We were never a ‘traditional’ marine surveying company and as such we were always on the lookout for other opportunities, which in time resulted in us taking over the stevedoring operations at Graincorp FIGT, loading bulk grains and wood chip and discharging cement powder.”
Reflecting on the lifestyle of a marine surveyor, Mr Murday has no illusions.
“Managing a marine surveying company is a challenge. Keeping enough jobs in the pipeline to pay the bills, growing the client base, keeping experienced staff motivated and balancing the workload with modern day expectations. A bit like a one-handed juggler.”
“Working with ships is tough business. No one told ships about Easter or Christmas – or about the eight-hour day or the difference between day and night, summer or winter. When they turn up you need to be there. The KPIs are measured in minutes, not hours or days.”
Industry impacts
Mr Murday affirmed that marine surveyors play a crucial role in the maritime industry, adding that the marine surveyor in the past was normally an ex-ships-officer of senior rank with in-depth knowledge of ships and how they work. They made decisions based on actual experience.”
On how the role has changed, he reflected, “I will put my neck on the block – again – and say that most marine surveyors in the shipping sector today do not look upon the job as a long-term career option – more a stepping-stone to something less stressful and far better paying. Experience has and will become a premium.
“In my opinion the present-day business model for the larger marine surveying companies is not sustainable and needs fixing if the industry is to survive.
“Contract rates generally aren’t keeping pace with staff costs. There is no premium being paid for quality.”
Additionally, Mr. Murday joined the Australasian Institute of Marine Surveyors in 1992, and from 2013 until 2021 was president of AIMS.
“These were years of great change for the AIMS, driven by an excellent CEO and a small, dedicated executive committee.”
Mr Murday said taking on this role gave him great insight into what is required to manage and lead a professional association. In 2014, AIMS won the Lloyds List Australia Maritime Services Award, and The Associations Forum Turnaround Association of the Year award in 2017.
Mr Murday says he is proud of what was achieved in that time, with AIMS now recognised as the peak industry body in Australia.
Finally, on the future, he admits, “It is rare for old surveyors to stick about once the end has come. I haven’t seen anyone write their memoirs yet.
“It’s an industry thing. Maybe I’ll break ranks and pencil a few words? I have met and worked with some great characters over the last 50 years – at sea and ashore.”
This article appeared in the February | March 2025 edition of DCN Magazine
