This to me looks like a back-door government bailout of the local shipping industry, with the "sweetner" to keep crews passive:
...and giving seafarers income tax concessions when they travel on international trades for Australian operators.
From the original article
Consider the Dry Baltic Index:
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is a number issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange. Not restricted to Baltic Sea countries, the index tracks worldwide international shipping prices of various dry bulk cargoes.
The index provides "an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea. Taking in 26 shipping routes measured on a timecharter and voyage basis, the index covers Handymax, Panamax, and Capesize dry bulk carriers carrying a range of commodities including coal, iron ore and grain."[1]
...
On 20 May 2008 the index reached its record high level since its introduction in 1985, reaching 11,793 points. Half a year later, on 5 December 2008, the index had dropped by 94%, to 663 points, the lowest since 1986;[8] though by 4 February 2009 it had recovered a little lost ground, back to 1,316.[9] These low rates moved dangerously close to the combined operating costs of vessels, fuel, and crews.[10][11]
By the end of 2008, shipping times had been already increased by reduced speeds to save fuel consumption, but lack of credit meant the reduction of letters of credit, historically required to load cargoes for departure at ports. Debt load of future ship construction was also a problem for shipping companies, with several major bankruptcies and implications for shipyards.[12][13] This, combined with the collapsing price of raw commodities created a perfect storm for the world's marine commerce.
During 2009 the index recovered as high as 4661, but then bottomed out at 1043 in February, 2011, after continued deliveries of new ships and flooding in Australia.[14]
Note, log scale
Of course, it serves also serves the "globalisation agenda" as discussed in
Globalisation, debt & banking of lowering the West employment pay and conditions to the third world standard, rather that boosting the third world up.