Foiling Oil Down Under

Out of Brisbane harbor last week sailed the coastal tanker Millers McArthur, carrying a cargo of crude oil from the fields at Moonie, Queensland, to a refinery in Kwinana, Western Australia. The tanker's long coastal voyage earned it a special distinction: it was the first Australian ship ever to carry Australian oil. Its journey also marked the high point in a one-man crusade to save Australia's $118 million coal industry from an onslaught by foreign oil companies, which have been saturating the market with vast quantities of low-cost, waste-product fuel oil from their Australian refineries.

Asians & Costs. The challenger of the oil giants is Roderick W. Miller, 53, a coal tycoon who is motivated equally by patriotism and enlightened self-interest. When he inherited his father's coal mining and distribution company in 1958, Miller found that his Australian-built colliers and their unionized Australian crews could not compete economically with the dilapidated foreign-flag tankers and their low-wage Asian crews. He told the oil companies that unless they used Australian tankers, which would raise their costs and thus make coal more competitive, he would go into the oil-tanker business himself. Says Miller: "They had good warning."

He was not bluffing. Blocked in his efforts to buy tankers through local ship brokers, he purchased one through an intermediary in Hong Kong and two more in London and sailed them Down Under. Before he could put his tankers to work against the oil companies, Miller was forced to appeal the prohibitively high import duties and bonding requirements imposed on them by Australian authorities. His persuasive arguments with top government officials not only won him a reduction but also nearly precipitated a split in the Australian Cabinet, got him widespread publicity and forcibly called attention to the coal industry's dilemma.

The repercussions were greater than even Miller could have anticipated. Last July, Australia decreed that all coastal tankers would have to be Australianbuilt and Australian-manned, limited the total number of coastal tankers to twelve, and allotted three of them to Coalman Miller. As a result, the oil companies will be forced to spend an extra $4,500,000 annually on tanker operating costs, another $2,500,000 to bring crew accommodations up to Australian standards and $42 million on new Australian-built tankers--in addi tion to channeling some of their business to Millers ships.

Beer & Mine. While Miller's actions have benefited Australian shipbuilders, sailors and coalmen, they will bring the greatest return to R. W. Miller, Ltd., a holding company with assets of $29 million. It owns nine coal mines, fleets of colliers and trucks, 42 hotels, an engineering firm, a brewery (Millers Beer), and an insurance company. Miller will use his tanker profits to underwrite coal costs, but he apparently has no fears for the future of the industry. Next March, in New South Wales, R. W. Miller, Ltd. will inaugurate its newest enterprise: another coal mine.

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