Foreign coastline ships to get sinking feeling from carbon tax

The Gillard government will impose its carbon tax on foreign ships operating along Australia's coastline, a move miners fear intensifies Canberra's crackdown on cheaper overseas vessels and will saddle them with higher costs.

Steve Knott, from the peak Australian Mines and Metals Association lobby group, said the extra costs were unwelcome because "our competitors can go elsewhere and are not saddled with the additional costs".

Knott said because of the fall in the merchant shipping fleet, the reliance on cheaper foreign-flagged vessels "has, by dint of reality, increased" and the extra costs could jeopardise projects.

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