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Welcome to the Maritime Union

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand was formed in 2002 when the New Zealand Water­front Work­ers’ Union and the New Zealand Sea­far­ers’ Union joined togeth­er. We rep­re­sent water­front work­ers, sea­far­ers and relat­ed work­ers in New Zealand.

Concerns for crew of former ferry at anchor in Tasman Bay

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) is voic­ing its con­cern regard­ing the wel­fare of under­paid sea­far­ers onboard the ves­sel Vega (for­mer­ly the Aratere), which is sit­ting at anchor in Tas­man Bay for over 50 days.

Maritime Union expresses condolences following Cook Strait incident

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Welling­ton Branch Sec­re­tary Fiona Mansell says the Union is deeply sad­dened after a pas­sen­ger fell over­board from the Kaiarahi fer­ry in the Cook Strait overnight.

Dismissal of Gibson Appeal a Major Win for Workers’ Safety

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has wel­comed the High Court’s deci­sion to dis­miss the appeal of for­mer Ports of Auck­land Chief Exec­u­tive Tony Gib­son, call­ing the rul­ing a major vic­to­ry for work­ers.

Government Gambling with Safety – keep an Emergency Tug on Cook Strait!

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) is urgent­ly call­ing on the Gov­ern­ment to reverse its deci­sion to ter­mi­nate the con­tract for the MMA Vision, the only ded­i­cat­ed emer­gency ocean response ves­sel cur­rent­ly pro­tect­ing the Cook Strait.

Kaiarahi failure proves urgent need to retain emergency tug

The union rep­re­sent­ing Kiwi sea­far­ers says the tech­ni­cal fail­ure of the Inter­is­lander fer­ry Kaiarahi in the Cook Strait on Fri­day night is a “red flag” that the Gov­ern­ment can­not ignore, prov­ing the need to keep an emer­gency ocean-going tug on stand­by.

Holcim lashes out and threatens New Zealand Government for following maritime laws

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand has con­demned glob­al cement giant Holcim’s threats to use 500 trucks a month to trans­port cement on New Zealand roads, rather than crew a ship with New Zealand sea­far­ers.

Victory for Kiwi jobs as Government rejects foreign cement ship exemption

NovaAl­go­ma Cement Car­ri­ers’ (NACC) appli­ca­tion to oper­ate a for­eign-flagged ves­sel car­ry­ing Hol­cim cement on the New Zealand coast has been declined by the Gov­ern­ment.

Trans-Tasman Maritime Union Federation Ratified: A New Era of Unity for Maritime Workers

The Mar­itime Union of Aus­tralia (MUA) and the Mar­itime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) have for­mal­ly rat­i­fied a Trans-Tas­­man Fed­er­a­tion that unites mar­itime work­ers across Aus­tralia and New Zealand in a sin­gle, coor­di­nat­ed indus­tri­al and polit­i­cal force. The rat­i­fi­ca­tion by the MUNZ Nation­al Coun­cil fol­lows res­o­lu­tions passed at the MUA Qua­dren­ni­al Nation­al Con­fer­ence. It marks […]

Holcim fails on social responsibility in New Zealand

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand has con­demned glob­al cement giant Hol­cim after the com­pa­ny issued for­mal notice of ter­mi­na­tion for the entire New Zealand crew of the cement car­ri­er MV Buf­fa­lo, effec­tive on 28 Decem­ber 2025.

Move to axe emergency tug months early by Government

Gov­ern­ment plans to pre­ma­ture­ly end the con­tract for the coun­try’s sole ded­i­cat­ed ocean-going emer­gency tow ves­sel, the MMA Vision, risks lives, the mar­itime envi­ron­ment, and nation­al ener­gy secu­ri­ty.