On Wednesday 20^th July 2016 the DAWR – Grain and Plant Products Export Industry Consultative Committee met in Adelaide to discuss the AO Trial Training Program that was held at Oran, Kwinana Western Australia.

The AIMS Executive were advised that the meeting in Adelaide was agreed upon by all “members” of the working group when Viterra offered their boardroom for the meeting.

Viterra offered the use of their boardroom after the last meeting that was held in Melbourne but there was no official notification to the AIMS by DAWR that the meeting would be held in Adelaide.

The contents/discussion at the Adelaide meeting did not pertain to any matters associated with Adelaide/South Australian Grain / AO Inspections nor were any issues raised on this matter.

All discussion was centred on the AO – Trial Training Program recently held at ORAN, Kwinana, WA.

Present at the meeting were: 

• DAWR Director – Grain and Seed Exports Program – Vikki Fischer    who was the Chair of the meeting
• 2 DAWR representatives from Canberra
• 2 DAWR AO Assessors (Kwinana and Adelaide)
• 2 Representatives from Oldendorff Carriers
• 2 Representatives from Vittera
• 1 Representative from Emerald
• 1 Representative from AIMS – Michel Lagesse

Overview:

Following is a summary of the meeting from notes provided by the AIMS representative:

All persons were individually requested to provide / discuss their particular view on how the recent AO – Trial Training Program went and whether there were any adverse incidences to report.

In essence, the feedback from all persons’ present was extremely positive and there were no negative / adverse incidences to report.

There were some issues noted, which the AO assessors obtained from their “one-on-one” interviews held between the AO assessors and the individual AO trainee towards the final stages of the Trial Training Program.

These being:

• 1.      The access area at CBH / Grain Terminal onto / from the launch is not deemed safe and an alternative access site will need to be identified,
• 2.      Declarations of “Conflicts of Interests” between Marine Surveyors and external Authorised Officers must be clearly established and closely monitored / audited.
• 3.      The appointment of the External Authorised Officers, by the port agent, could lead to certain ship agencies favouring certain AOs / AOs from a particular company at the exclusion of others whom may never get an AO appointment despite their required training.

DAWR – Health Safety personnel were satisfied with the safety aspects of the AO – Trail Training Program.

Upon closure of the meeting, the AIMS representative directed the following enquiries to the DAWR representatives.

The questions and the responses are listed below

• 1.      What “time-frame” would be expected before we / industry obtains feedback from DAWR as to whether the external AO Program will be “accepted” or not?

DAWR - Whilst there was no definitive date nor time frame period in place, it was inferred that we / industry should receive some form of notification “in about 4 to 5 months’ time!”.

• 2.      Should the AO Program be accepted for ORAN, Kwinana, would there be any consideration to extend the same to Gage Roads, Fremantle, given that most of the Grain Surveys conducted at anchorage are done at Gage Roads and the same would be extremely financially beneficial to vessels Owners / Operators?

DAWR - They would consider the request; however, further “internal” discussions would have to be made in this regard.

• 3.      Should the AO Program be accepted for ORAN, Kwinana, would there be any consideration to extend the same to other “hub” port anchorages in South Australia, Queensland, Victoria

DAWR – (As above) - They would consider the request; however, further “internal” discussions would have to be made in this regard.

AIMS representative Michel Lagesse has advised the Executive that subject to no adverse / negative output from DAWR’s internal review of the current AO Program, it is his opinion that the AO Program will eventually be “rolled-out” to other “hub” port anchorages subject to DAWR conducting their own assessment at that particular location.

If this were the case it would be imperative that an additional representative from the AIMS Executive plus a locally based AIMS member be present and part of the “assessment” and “discussion”.

The AIMS President and Executive would like to assure members that their input will be sought and additional representatives appointed before any future AO trials are conducted in any other Ports.

The Executive “will await the outcomes of the AO program for Oran before seeking a formal response from DAWR on the likelihood of AO Inspections being implemented in other ports”.

If the AO Program is not accepted for ORAN for whatever reason, then it is doubtful as to whether there would be any further trials or discussion related to the matter.