The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has claimed that DP World’s port automation plan at Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane will make Australian container terminals become less productive, more costly and less safe. In correspondence to the MUA, DP World has indicated plans to spend more than AU$600m (US$383m) on automated equipment within the Australian container terminal network.
The announcement has been made without fulfilling consultation requirements set out in the Enterprise Agreement signed off on by the company little over a year ago, according to the union.
The timing midway through a highly contested federal election has also been criticized by the MUA, which claims that it smacks of an effort to manipulate political processes to deliver industrial outcomes, and lands at the same fortnight that Patrick Terminals signed an historic roll-over agreement on the anniversary of its 1998 dispute with the Union.[1]
The agreement builds on the productive outcomes delivered over successive agreements by increasing flexibility and economic certainty while maintaining industrial harmony by delivering consistent and sustainable wage increases for Patrick wharfies until the end of 2028. The new agreement with Patrick Terminals was signed without any industrial action or interruption of operations.
Paddy Crumlin, MUA national secretary said, “DP World hasn’t got the memo. Every time they pick a fight with the MUA they lose. Dubai Ports wants to drag us and the community back to the era of workplace confrontation and wharfie-bashing while companies like Patrick have abandoned that strategy and now stand to benefit from every shipping contract that DP World loses on the way through. “Dubai Ports has a poor track record in this country of triggering disputes with its workers, jacking up prices for its customers, and mismanaging essential supply chain infrastructure which the community rightly expects to be operated more in the national interest than in the financial interest of the Dubai Royal family.”
Evidence from international container operations in more densely populated and busier ports than Australia’s shows that automated container terminals are not as productive as those being worked by highly skilled, attentive and committed stevedores, the union noted.
The MUA stated that automated ports are consistently slower, more costly and less safe even where the overall quantity of container throughput is higher than in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne and the ‘box rate’ metric is always higher when containers are moved by a team of human workers than by robots.
The proposed automation depends on machinery which is adversely affected by heat, rain, insects, radiofrequency interference and software glitches and even when operating without issue, automated port machinery is slower to perform routine manoeuvres and complex activities in tight quarters. Maintenance costs are higher and minor or isolated breakdowns can force the total shutdown of entire terminal operations.
DP World was struck by a nationwide cybersecurity crisis in 2023 when Russian hackers took control of computer systems and shut down Australian container terminals for up to three days. Crumlin said, “This is not a company with a good track record of managing the security of Australia’s port infrastructure. The risk of another cyber-attack on essential infrastructure grows daily, especially with global geopolitical tensions growing worse with every utterance of the Trump administration. Tossing robotic cranes into the mix under the control of Dubai Ports’ IT manager is not something Australia can risk.”
In addition, the MUA noted that DP World pays no Australian tax and wants to cut Australian workers’ jobs while the company is also automating aspects of its railway interface at the Port Botany terminal, “with limited success.” Costs associated with the plan, which will hit on both a financial and productivity basis, will be felt by Australian businesses and consumers, according to the union.
The company increased landside fees for businesses and customers by 52% last year and extracted profits between AU$63-96m (US$40-61m) from its Australian operations, where annual revenue exceeds AU$825m (US$526m). Crumlin said, “Australian wharfies work under modern and flexible arrangements agreed between them and their employers, and that have continually delivered increased productivity for terminal operators. They are some of the most productive and flexible workers in the Australian economy. With 99% of our imports coming by sea, almost every consumer good you can imagine is dependent on containerized freight, all of which is unloaded and transported within our ports by members of the MUA working around the clock, in all weather. DP World know that Australian wharfies are faster, safer and more consistent in this highly skilled work than any robot, so this plan is not about productivity it’s about politics.”
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[1] https://container-mag.com/2025/04/21/maritime-union-of-australia-criticises-dp-world-port-automation-plans/
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