Australia adrift. We must restore our merchant shipping fleet.
“The problem is blunt and unresolved. Australia lacks an Australian-controlled, internationally trading merchant shipping fleet. This means we have no national capability to move essential fuel, food, medical supplies or military stores. In a crisis—be it conflict, global logistics breakdown, fuel disruption or natural disaster—we rely entirely on foreign-flagged vessels to move crucial imports and exports.”
“For decades, successive governments have allowed our maritime capability to wither. In the 1980s, Australia maintained a fleet of more than 120 internationally trading ships of varied types, including tankers and container carriers. Today, we effectively have none. Our current capacity comprises just a handful of vehicle and passenger vessels serving Tasmania, an icebreaker and one self-discharging bulk carrier. Requisitioning these vessels in an emergency would cut lifelines to the island state and offer no depth or diversity in capability.”
Source: The Strategist – ASPI