Australia's Newcastle Port Workers to Protest

Published May 14, 2013 9:48 AM by The Maritime Executive

Workers at the world's largest thermal coal port of Newcastle in Australia will halt work for 4 hours on Wednesday after negotiations failed to allay fears that a new agreement could hit working conditions and jobs.

Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS), which operates the facility, said it did not expect the stoppage to have a big impact on coal shipments and market sources said the brief stoppage was unlikely to have a big impact on prices.

"We don't expect a major effect (on coal exports)," a PWCS spokesman said on Tuesday, adding that scheduled maintenance on the rail line would reduce the amount of coal arriving for export.

Australia's Newcastle spot index closed at $87.63 per tonne on Monday, up from $87.38 per tonne a week earlier, data from online trading platform globalCOAL showed.

About 220 workers will join the protest against a proposed work pact they say threatens work conditions and job security.

"We are disappointed," Glen Williams, branch secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, said in a statement. "We've had high-level talks in the past 24 hours and PWCS has had every opportunity to resolve these issues."

PWCS said negotiations would continue next week.