A federal plan to build a strategic fleet of Australian-flagged ships designed to strengthen the nation’s maritime resilience and provide vessels for crises, emergencies, or defence support has quietly slipped behind schedule.

The fleet would be operated by civilian commercial crews but could be requisitioned by the government or the Australian Defence Force in times of national need.

The government has committed $21.7 million over five years, delivered through a competitive tender to private operators, with payments helping cover the higher costs of Australian-flagged and crewed vessels.

Selected ships would continue commercial operations while remaining available for government requisition during national emergencies.

The government had promised to name the winning tender for the first three ships in early 2025, but no announcement has been made.

For experts who monitor Australia’s shipping and maritime security the delay comes at an uneasy moment, with the country now relying heavily on foreign-flagged ships and only a handful of Australian-crewed vessels.

The pilot forms part of the Strategic Fleet Taskforce’s recommendations, proposing up to 12 vessels that could be requisitioned in a crisis or emergency, while also providing training to help reverse a chronic shortage of Australian mariners.

Frustration builds

Maritime Industry Australia Ltd chief executive Angela Gillham said the delay was “frustrating”, though she remains confident the “Albanese government is still behind the project”.

“The process is wrapped in very strict probity requirements so the government isn’t even able to tell us how many people applied for the tender,” she said.

In a statement the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King, said the fleet would provide “important maritime capabilities and bolster resilience”.

“To begin, we’ve funded a five-year Strategic Fleet Pilot Program, starting with three ships,” she said.

“This is about learning by doing — testing the model, proving its effectiveness, and gathering the evidence we’ll need to scale up to the full fleet.

“My department is working diligently through each step in the process to ensure it is completed with integrity and transparency, and provides Australians with a long-term solution.”

Ms Gillham said there were only nine Australian-crewed private commercial ships, down from more than 150 at their peak.

She recently led an industry delegation to Parliament House urging politicians to recognise the essential nature of the industry.

Maritime vulnerabilities exposed

At the ANU National Security College, Jennifer Parker sees the issue as part of a far broader picture of national vulnerability.

“There are three key trends fundamentally impacting Australia’s security,” she said.

“The first is the breakdown of the multilateral system. The second trend is the increasing use of military force by countries to achieve foreign policy objectives … and the third trend is technological developments, changing how we think about security.

“People think Australia is relatively safe because of our distance, but they misinterpret what Australia’s vulnerabilities are.

Ms Parker said the current plan for the strategic fleet was “underwhelming”, and while a step forward it does not address the wider ecosystem of risk.

She has written and spoken extensively on the issue, advocating for a “fundamental rethink”, for the government to own its own ships, and the creation of a dedicated maritime council to coordinate defence, border, commercial shipping, energy, and food supply interests within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

“I think we should do it as an absolute priority … then you could start getting at the problem at the scale that we need,” Ms Parker said.

Fleet secures future

Arthur Rorris, secretary of the South Coast Labor Council, said the push for a national strategic fleet hits close to home in Port Kembla, a port built on generations of seafarers moving steel, ore and bulk cargo.

In 2016 he stood with the then-shadow transport minister, Anthony Albanese, and railed against the loss of Australian crews from the MV Portland.

Mr Rorris said Australia’s maritime decline has left communities like Port Kembla exposed, especially as recent global crises have highlighted the need for the nation to have its own vessels.

Retired Vice Admiral Peter Jones, an adjunct professor with the Naval Studies Group, said the pilot was a positive sign as part of an initial step.

The Naval Institute has prepared a series of reports on the issue recommending the government explore a range of measures, from incentivising foreign-flagged vessels to securing Australian investment in shipping lines, possibly through the nation’s large superannuation funds.

Global trade risks

Mr Jones said the delay in progressing the pilot comes at a moment of heightened global volatility, with recent events showing how quickly Australia’s trade can be disrupted — including the recent Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“Cutting off the Red Sea route added another ten days of passage for containers moving from Europe to Australia via Singapore,” he said.

He also referred to Australia’s LPG exports to Japan and South Korea, which are vital to both countries’ energy security and a major Australian export earner.

“In periods of tension you’d imagine the ADF would work closely with Japanese and South Korean defence forces to maintain that merchant traffic,” Mr Jones said.

“You don’t have to own those ships, but you have to work cooperatively.”

Mr Jones said such coordination already occurred under longstanding regional defence arrangements, including Cold War-era frameworks for protecting merchant shipping.

He said the South China Sea remained central to this effort, with the ADF and partners conducting freedom-of-navigation operations to maintain “unfettered passage” for military and merchant vessels in one of the world’s busiest trade corridors.