Sea Swift

Sea Swift's MV Trinity Bay steaming towards the Torres Strait out of Cairns' Trinity Inlet.

Sea Swift is Australia's largest privately owned shipping company. It operates in Northern Australia, mainly servicing remote and regional communities in Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory. The company provides freight and passenger services, and maritime logistical support, operating four container ships in addition to barges, tugs and landing craft. It has won a number of business awards, and participates in corporate social responsibility activities in the communities it services.

History

Sea Swift started in 1987 when founder Sid Faithfull identified an opportunity to service Gulf of Carpentaria fishing fleets by mothershipping from Karumba. Over the next 25 years, Sea Swift grew to become Australia's largest privately owned shipping company, operating regular freight, mothershipping, project logistics, and passenger cruise services from its Cairns headquarters to communities throughout Far North Queensland. Expanding to 19 vessels, six depots, and 300 staff in Queensland, today Sea Swift continues to service remote communities along Cape York Peninsula and in the Gulf of Carpentaria, as well as the Torres Strait Islands, including Horn Island, Thursday Island and the outer islands.

In early 2013, through the acquisition of Tiwi Barge,^[1] Sea Swift commenced an operation in the Northern Territory. The initial two-vessel and 15-person operation servicing four destinations has grown to become a nine-vessel, 144-person, three-depot operation servicing 25 destinations across the Territory.

In total, Sea Swift now has 26 vessels, nine depots, and more than 430 staff in its operation across Northern Australia.

Services

Sea Swift has four main service streams:

• Project logistics – logistics capabilities including barge/tug and landing craft operations and crewed (or bare boat) vessel chartering options.
• Sea freight – scheduled liner and coastal freight services accommodating regional break bulk, bulk fuel and container freight requirements.
• Mothershipping – resupply and refuelling of trawlers at sea.
• Passenger cruise – a working barge cruise from Cairns to the Torres Strait. ^[2]

Sea Swift's Project Logistics unit has seen jobs completed domestically to destinations including Brisbane, Townsville, Gladstone, Bundaberg, Torres Strait Islands, Mornington Island, Lizard Island, Palm Island, Darwin, Gove, Tiwi Islands, Arnhem Land, and many others – as far south as Newcastle and as far west as Western Australia coastal mine sites. Internationally, jobs have been completed to Papua New Guinea, South East Asia and the South Pacific. Clients serviced include BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto Alcan, South 32, Gemco, Woolworths, ALPA, Mt Gibson Iron, Sedgman, Bechtel, Santos, Queensland Government, Northern Territory Government, and many others.

Employee and community relations

Sea Swift has more than 430 staff through Northern Australia, with an Indigenous workforce participation rate of 18 per cent. An internally developed award-winning cadetship program develops people ready to progress in the maritime industry.^[3]

Sea Swift operates a Corporate Social Responsibility program in regional and remote communities in Northern Australia. Sea Swift is major sponsor of the Cairns Taipans Indigenous Program, which is run by the National Basketball League (NBL) club. The program is an award-winning initiative, which uses the vehicle of sport to deliver positive outcomes in education, employment, and health and wellbeing to Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait communities.

Sea Swift also supports many other community events, clubs and initiatives, including the Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures and the Tiwi Bombers Football Club in the Northern Territory, and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and Cairns Brothers Rugby League Club in Queensland.

Ships

The following vessels are currently within Sea Swift's fleet.^[5]

References

External links

• Sea Swift website

Coordinates: 16°56′48″S 145°46′13″E / 16.94667°S 145.77028°E / -16.94667; 145.77028