A five-member team of Australian and New Zealand Maritime Trade Operations (MTO) personnel provided a vital link to the commercial shipping industry during Kakadu 2018.
Four of the MTO members were embedded within Darwin Port to brief merchant ships on a regular basis on Kakadu movements. The team also provided support to the Kakadu Exercise Control centre headquarters located at RAAF Darwin.
MTO Team One Operations Officer Lieutenant Timothy Martin said the commercial ships welcomed the briefings, as it allowed them to conduct trade with a minimum of interruption. For Exercise Kakadu 2018, it allowed the exercise to proceed without interference from a wide array of merchant traffic that routinely transits and operates within the North Australian Exercise Area.
“Commercial maritime shipping through the Port of Darwin is typically high-value trade such as liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas exports, so there is a strong commercial incentive to ensure the trade proceeds unhindered,” LEUT Martin said. “Our team has been averaging three to four briefings per day throughout Exercise Kakadu. We will talk to the master of the ship so that we know their intended routes and movement scheduling, and we can also provide notices and alerts around the clock.”
