Mr Sorensen said the ship used automated equipment to unload cargo and all that was stopping the crew unloading was the refusal of the MUA to move a hopper a few metres to connect with their own equipment. He said the crew were used to unloading cargo using automated equipment and were compensated through their employment contracts.

Unionists claimed yesterday they would not budge until they won the fight. Chairs were set across the entrance to the dock and picketers waved placards including “Save Our Ships” and “Aussie Ships, Aussie Jobs, No Ships of Shame”.

A spokeswoman for Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said any claim that the Government had somehow orchestrated the dispute was “not just farcical” but “another stunt in the unions’ $100 million scare campaign against the Government’s industrial relations reforms”.

THE company that chartered a cargo ship stranded by industrial action at Port Kembla has launched a legal challenge against picketing stevedores.

Canadian Steamship Line managing director Chris Sorenson said the Maritime Union of Australia picket of the Malta-registered MV Capo Nico was illegal and the company was seeking an injunction in the Federal Court.

More than 50 dockside workers and unionists at the NSW port on Tuesday blocked the unloading of the foreign-owned and foreign- crewed cargo ship. The MUA claimed this was the first time a foreign- owned operation had tried to avoid employing local workers to unload a cargo.

Mr Sorensen said the ship used automated equipment to unload cargo and all that was stopping the crew unloading was the refusal of the MUA to move a hopper a few metres to connect with their own equipment. He said the crew were used to unloading cargo using automated equipment and were compensated through their employment contracts.

The Capo Noli docked at 6.30pm on Tuesday to a crowd of protesters.

Unionists claimed yesterday they would not budge until they won the fight. Chairs were set across the entrance to the dock and picketers waved placards including “Save Our Ships” and “Aussie Ships, Aussie Jobs, No Ships of Shame”.

The cargo of gypsum, loaded at Ceduna in South Australia, is bound for a local cement manufacturer.

South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the region had the highest unemployment in the country.

He said the Capo Noli affair was “an outrageous attempt by a multinational to replace our workers with an untrained foreign crew”.

An MUA delegation boarded the ship yesterday morning in an attempt to negotiate a resolution.

After talks with the ship’s captain, they alleged the Filipino crew were poorly paid and that it was dangerous to allow an untrained crew to unload cargo.

MUA assistant national secretary Rick Newlyn said the Capo Noli was party to international agreements prohibiting it from using seafaring staff for stevedoring work. He said skilled local stevedores were ready to unload the gypsum the minute the company agreed to use them.

He blamed the Howard Government, saying it had signed agreements allowing foreign ships to take over work normally done by Australians. “No wharfie anywhere is going to sit by and let this happen,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said any claim that the Government had somehow orchestrated the dispute was “not just farcical” but “another stunt in the unions’ $100 million scare campaign against the Government’s industrial relations reforms”.

A spokeswoman for the Port Kembla Port Corporation said the dispute was not causing a hold-up at the port, with the next ship not due to berth for two weeks yet.