Maritime Executive: Australian Protestors “Tag” Bulker in Call for Export Tax on Coal Shipments

The Australian group “Rising Tide,” which calls itself “climate justice activists,” staged another protest at the Port of Newcastle to call attention to its campaign against coal exports ahead of a larger event planned for the end of November, where they plan to blockade the port. Activists from the group “tagged” the bulker Climate Justice, writing the words “Tax Me” near the bow of the vessel. 

The activists took to the waters at the Port of Newcastle on October 29 and marked the bulker while it was loading a cargo of coal for export to Japan. According to the media reports, the ship takes on 30,000 to 40,000 tons of coal. The group claims to have used chalk that was sprayed onto the hull. Port officials called it a dangerous stunt when speaking with The Newcastle Herald.

“The actions from Rising Tide this morning at Port of Newcastle was incredibly unsafe, it is pure luck that coming so close to a fully laden bulk carrier, without the training or supervision required, did not have catastrophic consequences. This group is irresponsible, unsafe, and happy to break the law,” a spokesperson told the newspaper.

The activists pointed to the irony of the name of the 87,2845 dwt coal carrier, which was built in 2023 and is registered in Cyprus. The vessel is part of Safe Bulkers’ fleet renewal program that started in 2020, and which is designed to phase out older tonnage and replace it with energy-efficient vessels. Climate Justice is fitted with selective catalyst reduction, ballast water treatment, and exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubber) to make her environmentally efficient compared to other bulkers.

The activists are pushing for the government to introduce a 78 percent tax on profits generated from coal exports. They highlighted that the tax would mirror a 78 percent tax on oil and gas implemented in Norway in 1996, which the group says has raised over a trillion dollars for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. They claim that coal royalties in New South Wales are only 8 to 10 percent and that while 60 percent is generated from the Hunter region, less than 2 percent comes back to the region and is used to support workers during the anticipated transition from coal. 

The activists demand that funds raised from the tax be channelled towards securing jobs that are increasingly becoming under threat owing to the clean energy transition, and as more countries walk away from coal. Australia is already forecasting that the value of coal exports will drop by up to 50 percent in the next five years as countries transition to renewable energy. The group says the CEO of the Port of Newcastle, Craig Carmody, has predicted the coal export industry could collapse in the next 10 years.

“The federal government has no plan—no timeline, no serious funding, no pathway to secure jobs beyond coal. Instead, they’re letting many of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel companies rake in billions of dollars of profit whilst paying less tax than nurses and teachers,” said Alexa Stuart, a spokesperson for Rising Tide.

As the largest bulk shipping port on Australia’s east coast and Australia’s largest terminal for coal exports, Newcastle continues to report strong coal exports. Last year, the port handled 150 million tonnes of coal, a 3.8 percent increase from 2023.

Rising Tide plans to stage protests in Newcastle from November 27 to December 2. They are calling it the “People’s Blockade.” They are calling for the port to stop coal ship movements on Saturday, November 29, and Sunday, November 30, to “accommodate the protest.” The group has also stopped trains and other coal shipments, and a similar protest last year paralyzed operations for 10 days.