Millions of dollars worth of farm machinery bound for Fremantle Port has been diverted to the east coast due to an ongoing industrial dispute involving dock workers and one of Australia's biggest logistics providers.
The farm machinery industry believes 44 harvesters and 31 tractors aboard three ships won't arrive in time for harvest. They may have to be unloaded at ports in Melbourne and Adelaide before being transported back to WA.
It comes as logistics company QUBE and the Maritime Workers Union remain locked in a stalemate over worker rosters, resulting in significant backlogs at WA's main port since the industrial action started in July.
Farmers fuming
Pastoralists and Graziers Association president Tony Seabrook said affected grain growers were worried they would be left without vital machinery needed to harvest what's tipped to be the state's biggest-ever crop.
"It's appalling timing. There are going to be farmers who have let their second-hand machines go on the basis that they were guaranteed delivery of these new machines in time for harvest," he said.
"The machines could have been off the wharf, out to dealer and on-farm today if they had been unloaded.
"To suddenly find out that the machine you thought you were going to use for the coming harvest is going to Melbourne is not a good situation at all."
Mr Seabrook said he "shuddered'" at the thought of what impacted farmers would do if without harvesters in coming weeks.
"There's been no consideration whatsoever of the impact of what their actions will have in a year when we have a record crop to come off, and these machines are desperately needed."
Earlier rosters solution: Union
The Maritime Worker Union's WA secretary Will Tracey said the dispute was centred on how QUBE rostered staff.
"There is an easy resolution to this problem. That QUBE notify them [workers] at 2:00pm on the day before staff are asked to work about whether they're working the next day and whether their shift will be a day, evening or night shift and how many hours it will be," he said.
"There is a large proportion of workers on the waterfront with QUBE who are casual workers. For those workers who take other work outside of QUBE and don't wait until 4:00pm, it [QUBE] takes them off the roster for three weeks."
Staff on 'very good salary'
QUBE's general manager of industrial relations, Dan Coulton said it was the shipping line owners who had chosen to bypass Fremantle to avoid getting caught in delays resulting from the dispute.
He said the current rostering arrangement [including two hours' notice for work] was standard industry practice resulting from a common user berth.
"We're impacted by our competitors in terms of what they do and their practices and delay in vessels," he said.
"We give them the notice as early as we possibly can.
"So, they get a very good work-life balance and the nuances of continued fluctuating shipping – they are things that are out of our control, so how can we promise something we can't deliver?"
