The Alexander Spirit was berthed in Devonport for three weeks after the crew discovered it would be replaced with foreign workers upon the ship's arrival in Singapore. The ongoing dispute attracted a lot of media attention. The clips, of some of which are available to view below:

The below statement from the Alexander Spirit crew members was read out at the community protest in Devonport tonight.

The ship is scheduled to depart at 0300hours Wednesday 22nd July and a vigil is being held at the assembly point this evening and along the foreshore at the early hours of tomorrow morning.

As you can appreciate, emotions will be high as we see yet another Australian-manned vessel sail off into the horizon.

It will not be forgotten.

MUA officials and members will now escalate the campaign to make jobs and job security an election issue and win back the coast.

The below statement from the Alexander Spirit crew members was read out at the community protest in Devonport tonight.

The ship is scheduled to depart at 0300hours Wednesday 22nd July and a vigil is being held at the assembly point this evening and along the foreshore at the early hours of tomorrow morning.

As you can appreciate, emotions will be high as we see yet another Australian-manned vessel sail off into the horizon.

It will not be forgotten.

MUA officials and members will now escalate the campaign to make jobs and job security an election issue and win back the coast.

By Shadow Transport Minister Anthony Albanese.

The Coalition’s attitude to workplace reform is threatening to seep in through Australia’s waterfront. Anthony Albanese takes a look at the slippery slope current Transport Minister Warren Truss is taking the local shipping industry down.

A crowd a couple of hundred strong made the trek out to the Kurnell refinery to tell Caltex that its treatment of the Alexander Spirit crew and the wider working public was unacceptable.

In addition to Maritime Union of Australia members, the group was made up of supporters from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, the Transport Workers’ Union, the Australian Maritime Officers Union, the Fire Brigade Employee’s Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

A crowd a couple of hundred strong made the trek out to the Kurnell refinery to tell Caltex that its treatment of the Alexander Spirit crew and the wider working public was unacceptable.

Shadow Employment Minister Brendan O'Connor joined a number of other high profile speakers at a Devonport rally in support of the recently sacked Alexander Spirit crew. Below is the transcript of his doorstop. 

The sun shone down as 300 people descended on the picket at East Devonport in a show of solidarity with the crew of the Alexander Spirit.

The fate of the ship and its crew has been in limbo for more than fortnight after oil major Caltex announced it would replace the loyal Australian workers with a cheap foreign crew on the same week it gloated about a $375 million half-year profit.

The sun shone down as 300 people descended on the picket at East Devonport in a show of solidarity with the crew of the Alexander Spirit.

The fate of the ship and its crew has been in limbo for more than fortnight after oil major Caltex announced it would replace the loyal Australian workers with a cheap foreign crew on the same week it gloated about a $375 million half-year profit.

The remaining crew members of the Alexander Spirit have been holed up on the ship for more than two weeks after the ship’s charterer, Caltex, announced that their upcoming voyage to Singapore would be their last.

Rally details here.