Sea
Sea Transport is critical to Australia as an Island Nation. It links our products to overseas markets and allows us access to goods produced elsewhere.
Over 99% of Australia’s international exports and imports (by volume) travel via sea. We rely heavily on the imported goods for our quality of life, as well as the income we receive for exporting our bulk products by sea. Many goods are moved by sea, ranging from petrol to cars, and agricultural exports to heavy machinery.
Because sea transport is so important, major port infrastructure upgrades are occurring across the country. Recent examples include channel deepening in Adelaide and Melbourne, and the building of a new container terminal in Sydney.
General
- Marine information from the Department of Environment and Conservation
- The Commonwealth Marine Security Regime
- Information on Australian Trade and Shipping Container Sizes
- The Export Bureau’s A-Z Dictionary of Export, Trade and Shipping Terms
- German Marine Insurers Container Handbook on cargo loss prevention
- An SA Freight Council Paper on Moving Freight
Publications & Reports
- The Department of Infrastructure & Transport’s links to Maritime Publications
- Working Safely on the Waterfront
- Working Safely With General Steel Products Cargo
- Working Safely With Containers
- The National Marine Safety Committee 2008-2013 Strategic Plan
- Find Links to all issues of the Waterline Journal
- Infrastructure Australia’s National Ports Strategy
- 2003 International Benchmarking of Container Stevedoring by the Productivity Commission
- Infrastructure for an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable future, a national ports strategy by Infrastructure Australia
- A national ports strategy background paper by Infrastructure Australia
- A paper: “Effective port governance and project evaluation” by Infrastructure Australia and the National Transport Commission
- A paper: “Current port planning practices in Australia” by Infrastructure Australia and the National Transport Commission
- A paper: “Analysis of landside costs and the potential for container productivity gains” by Infrastructure Australia and the National Transport Commission
- A paper: “Examples of best practice port planning overseas” by Infrastructure Australia and the National Transport Commission
- A paper: “The possible future market challenges for relevant ports” by Infrastructure Australia and the National Transport Commission
Safety
- Information on shipping safety and environmental protection
- Cargo and dangerous goods regulations information
- Navigation Safety information
- Maritime Safety Information
- The National Maritime Safety Regulator
- Maritime safety information
Associations and contacts
- National Marine Safety Committee
- Shipping Australia Ltd
- Maritime Heritage Association
- Australian Ship Owners Association
- Australian Maritime Safety Authority
- Australian Association for Maritime Affairs
- A list of Maritime Security Identification Card (MSIC) Issuing Bodies
- World Shipping Council
- Freight and Logistics Council of WA
- SA Freight Council
- Tasmanian Freight and Logistics Council
- Queensland Transport and Logistics Council
Regulations
- Link to Regulations page
Statistics
- Link to Statistics Page
