Fix Flinders freight woes: producers

Furneaux Freight has said it will suspend stevedoring operations by September 28 over a dispute with TasPorts, the land owner and operator of the port of Lady Barron.

However, the company's owner and director Shannon Bayles said it remained ready, willing and able to continue to provide an efficient and reliable service.

Flinders Island mayor Councillor Carol Cox said the government had assured residents they would not be left stranded.

"As mayor, I just want to know we have continuity of services, that it's sustainable and that it builds confidence in the island's economy," Cr Cox said.

"We want continuity of service and in the long run we don't want the threat of a service pulling out every 12 months hanging over our head."

The shipping service, provided through Matthew Flinders III, was vital for the island's graziers, she said.

"It's not just the island economy, it's the Tasmanian economy which is affected if this goes down," Cr Cox said.

Livestock agent Stuart Dilger, Roberts Livestock, estimated 20,000 head of cattle and 50,000 head of sheep were shipped off the island each year.

But Tasports head Paul Weedon said there had been an increasing number of incidents relating to operations within the port zone.

"In order to maintain its stevedore licence, Furneaux Freight must comply with the terms and conditions outlined within the agreement, such as the demonstration of safe work practices, adequate environmental controls and appropriate recognition and handling of dangerous goods within the port confines," Mr Weedon said.

"Mid this year safety and dangerous goods audits were carried out in the port zone.

"Both these audits reinforced health, safety and environmental non-conformances within the port."

He said Furneaux Freight had told Tasports it was unwilling to work with it to rectify the non-compliance issues.

Tasmanian Ports Minister Rene Hidding said he had asked TasPorts to immediately develop short- and medium-term options to ensure continuity of shipping services to Flinders Island.

"Freight shipping is the lifeblood of the island economy," Mr Hidding said.

THE company which exports lamb from Flinders Island has called for "common sense" to prevail over the dispute.

Flinders Island Meat runs a small abattoir on the island, and principal David Madden said disputes between Furneaux Freight and TasPorts were common.

"The issue for us is certainty of getting product off the island," Mr Madden said.

"Up until now they have been negotiating with baseball bats - it's been a real Punch and Judy show."

He said it appeared there was an antagonistic attitude taken by both parties which needed to come to an end.

"There is nothing wrong with the service here but I feel very vulnerable," Mr Madden said."With these disputes it erodes confidence in doing business here."

The company started off with one employee and now has 20 working on the island and in Melbourne.

Mr Madden said common sense needed to prevail to allow flexibility in the way the port was run.

Livestock agent Stuart Dilger said graziers were not too concerned - although last month had been very dry - as long as the problem was resolved.

"It's the best shipping service ever," he said.

Flinders Island Meat director James Madden, who works out of Melbourne, said there was a need for "big-picture thinking".

He said he believed the issue arose over the shipping and storing of superphosphate.

"The fear is it will fall out of the barge and provide a significant environmental threat," he said.

"That's the small picture.

"The big picture is that superphosphate is critical for the island to sustain itself."

Flinders Island Meats sent three to four tonnes of meat off the island each week, with some air-freighted to time-sensitive customers.

"Our entire business is based on being able to regularly and reliably get product off the island," Mr Madden said.

"I started off with two employees doing 10 lambs a week; now we have almost 15 in total, doing about 200-250 a week on average."