General Steering Group
The General Steering Group deals with many issues relating to the activities of the border agencies including those that deal with maritime security, towage, pilotage and post costs, the environment, taxation (especially GST) and e-commerce matters.
Technical Steering Group
The Technical Steering Group deals with a wide range of issues arising from marine operations, including maritime safety. This Group liaises closely with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on a broad range of issues relating to commercial operations, navigational services, regulatory changes, ship and personnel safety, marine rescue operations, levies and charges, and environmental issues.
The group also handles specific issues relating to the physical handling of cargo and containers, particularly the safe stowage and carriage of goods. This is most important in the area of refrigerated cargoes, and particularly so with chilled items (chilled meat, horticultural produce, etc.).
For this reason the committee is represented on the Export Meat Advisory Committee which deals with the preparation of containers for the transport of meat, proper stowage and packing of meat products, storage and transport temperatures for chilled and frozen cargoes.
Chair: Ross McAlpine
Maritime Legal Steering Group
The Maritime Legal Steering Group considers issues arising out of national and international legislation governing maritime operations, in particular liability for the carriage of goods by sea (COGSA). It is also involved in the organisation of seminars through which shipping personnel and other association interests can remain properly informed in the areas of maritime liability and have the benefit of a legal perspective on issues.
Chair: Denis Speyer
Public Relations Steering Group
The PR Steering Group coordinates and manages SAL’s quarterly magazine.
Chair: Ross McAlpine
Human Resources Steering Group
Collectively Shipping Australia’s members have 100’s of employees and the Human Resources Steering Group is the opportunity for the HR managers and recruiters and to discuss common issues. Providing employee training opportunities is a priority for the HR Group which maintains ties with the Transport and Logistics Industry Skills Council. The HR group has also been closely associated with the development of Shipping Australia’s e-learning courses.
Chair: Eddy Declercq
Container Steering Group
The Container Steering Group is specifically focused on matters concerning the container supply chain and the management of shipping container assets. Many of these issues require liaison with Government regulators and inspectors, port services, container parks, commodity shippers and auxiliary service providers. The container steering group is also responsible for a number of factsheets and the industry guide ‘Standards for Food Quality Containers’.
Chair: Dexter Vaz