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Category: Business, Economics and Finance

Jobs to go at Toll in wake of Sea Swift deal

Tuesday, 12 Jul 2016 12:21:58 | Sally Brooks

Toll supply ship (ABC News)

About 100 jobs will be slashed from Toll Marine Logistics (TML) sea freight operations across the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland.

Key points:

  • Union says job losses in Darwin will be at Frances Bay terminal
  • Merger of Toll Marine Logistics and Sea Swift follows price war
  • Agreement between two companies rejected by ACCC but authorised by Australian Competition Tribunal

The cuts are the result of Sea Swift's acquisition of TML assets, a deal about two years in the making which was finally given the green light by the Australian Competition Tribunal in July.

Toll Group spokesman Shannon Gill said the company had already moved some employees to other areas of the organisation.

"Naturally when a merger like this takes place, jobs will be lost," he said.

"We expect around 100 jobs from the existing business to go as a result, however we are actively seeking redeployment for those affected and have already had some transfer to other Toll entities."

Sea Swift managing director Fred White said his company was looking to recruit more staff as a result of the merger.

"We are looking at putting on around 40 people," he said.

The Maritime Union of Australia's representative in the NT, Thomas Mayor, said many of the job losses locally would be at the Frances Bay terminal in Darwin and on the ships that service local communities.

Merger follows price war

A 2014 Sea Swift and TML asset and share sale agreement was knocked back by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2015.

The companies then made a new application, this time to the Australian Competition Tribunal.

The tribunal authorised the deal, which allowed Sea Swift to buy vessels, equipment and assume all of TML's freight contracts, on July 1 this year.

ACCC Commissioner Roger Featherston said the proposal followed a price war between the two companies.

"The markets had been dominated by one or other of those players so that Toll Marine Logistics had the dominate position in the Northern Territory market, and Sea Swift had the dominant position in Far North Queensland, and then they each entered the others market and a price war ensued in each of the markets," he said.

"Our concern is that it is not an acceptable way to end a price war."

The Australian Competition Tribunal has not yet published reasons for backing the deal.

Sea Swift's Fred White said while the company will have a monopoly position in the market, it will not take advantage of that and has given several undertakings to prevent unreasonable freight price hikes.

"So we put price caps on our scheduled pricing for five years with only a CPI adjustment, for the schedule prices so it really provides a lot of surety to the market," he said.

Alistair King is the chief executive of the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation which runs 27 remote supermarket and general stores.

Mr King was originally opposed to the merged but is now supportive of the deal.

"The really key thing for us was that Toll made it very clear that regardless of the ACCC decision, that they were going to withdraw from the market," he said.

AustraliaPlus


 

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