TROUBLED WATERS
Sea Swift lays off skilled maintenance crew to outsource work
CAIRNS-BASED shipping company Sea Swift has laid off six staff from its engineering department.
The firm, which employs about 400 people, blames the impacts of COVID-19 for the redundancies.
Chief executive Fred White admits the outsourcing of the firm’s major out-of-water refit program has led to the job losses in the department of 40 people.
But the company denies State Opposition claims the work has gone offshore to Indonesia.
SIX engineers from Sea Swift have been made redundant, with the Cairns shipping company blaming the impacts of COVID-19.
The company also denies claims that the jobs have been sent offshore.
Chief executive Fred White said “due to domestic and international influences and the likelihood of a protracted recovery period from COVID-19, we’ve been left with no choice but to restructure our engineering department of 40 staff”.
“The restructure arose out of a detailed efficiency review of our capital projects and processes, which resulted in extending out the major out-ofwater refit program for our fleet. This has sadly meant that six of our engineering staff have been made redundant,” he said.
LNP candidate for Cairns Sam Marino said he had spoken to workers claiming their jobs had been “shipped overseas”, with refits now being done in Indonesia.
“The Queensland Labor Government needs to explain to the Cairns community why they have signed a deal with an Indonesian company to undertake marine maintenance work resulting in local workers losing their jobs,” Mr Marino said.
He said they were highly skilled workers such as boilermakers, engineers and fitters and turners.
“Sea Swift founder Sid Faithful would be rolling in his grave at the treatment of these workers,” Mr Marino said.
Mr White said it “was an extremely hard decision to make, but these necessary changes will ensure the goods and services we provide to our remote communities remain unchanged and sustainable as we all work through the lengthy recovery period”.
“It’s certainly a sad day for us all here at Sea Swift, and we are offering our full support to all affected employees, including recognising their dedication with appropriate redundancy packages,” he said.
Mr Marino said it was egregious coming off the back of work on the Cairns Convention Centre being awarded to southern workers at the expense of local tradies and businesses. “The Cairns Convention Centre is three years overdue, local workers have been sold out and the constant delays have now left the Cairns Taipans without a home,” he said.
The Queensland Investment Corporation bought Sea Swift for about $300 million in September. However, a QIC spokesman said the corporation was not the direct shareholder or owner of Sea Swift, nor did it operate the company.
A spokesman for Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick said support had been made available for companies like Sea Swift when the pandemic began in February.
“Marine operators in Cairns were the first group of Queensland businesses to receive support from the Palaszczuk Government in mid-February, through marina fee rebates,” he said.
“Cairns-based businesses have also been the recipients of more than $7 million in payroll tax refunds.”
Federal member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch accused the State Government of not doing their part to help keep Cairns’ shipping industry viable.