Fortune Union Shipping Ltd, Hong Kong New Fortune Genius Management Ltd, China and Australian Maritime Safety Authority

The parties to this matter were Fortune Union Shipping Ltd and Hong Kong New Fortune Genius Management Ltd, as applicants, and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), as respondent. The dispute concerned a direction issued by AMSA on 13 September 2019, prohibiting the vessel M.V. Fortune Genius from entering or using any port in Australia for a period of 365 days. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to consider the merits of this direction.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether AMSA's direction was justified, specifically in light of serious contraventions of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006. These contraventions included seafarers not being provided with monthly accounts of wages, the use of multiple sets of wage accounts, seafarers being coerced to sign false wage statements, and the presentation of false documentation regarding home allotments, with no objective evidence that these allotments had been made. The Tribunal had to determine the appropriate period for exclusion given the nature and severity of these breaches.

The Tribunal affirmed AMSA's direction, finding that the contraventions were extremely serious and premeditated. The court noted that the vessel had been detained on 5 September 2019 following an inspection that revealed significant deficiencies in wage payments to a group of seafarers from Myanmar. The existence of two sets of Seafarers Employment Agreements, one showing significantly higher wages and entitlements than the other which was provided to the seafarers, along with evidence of coercion and falsified documents, demonstrated a deliberate attempt to disguise underpayment and non-compliance with the Convention. The Tribunal considered previous instances where similar conduct led to vessel exclusions, highlighting AMSA's zero-tolerance approach to the mistreatment of crew.

The Tribunal's decision was to affirm the direction issued by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, meaning the M.V. Fortune Genius would be excluded from Australian ports for 365 days.