Armed police have removed the Australian crew of the bulk alumina carrier CSL Melbourne and escorted on board a foreign crew to sail the ship out of Australian waters.
A large contingent of police raided the ship in Newcastle, NSW, at 8.45am on Friday, telling the five Australian crew members they must leave their ship immediately. 
"About 18 police came on board and ordered us to leave," crew member Jason Donnellan said. "It was very intimidating. I'd estimate they were about 50 police altogether, with lots of them on the wharf, in paddy wagons and in two boats circling the ship.
"We asked if we could take our bags, but they said they would be brought off the ship afterwards. I can't believe this - a company using police to get rid of Australian workers."
A NSW police spokeswoman said officers boarded the ship after being invited by the ship's captain to help with the safe removal of the crew.
"The five men left the ship without incident at the invitation of the captain," she said. "No persons were arrested or detained."
The crew had been protesting over their imminent dismissal by occupying the ship and refusing to sail to Singapore.
It is the second time in a month that Australian seamen have been forcibly removed from ships hauling alumina on Australian coastal routes, and replaced by low-paid foreign crew.
At 1am on   January 13, about 30 security guards boarded Alcoa's ship, the MV Portland, which was berthed in the west Victorian harbour of Portland, and removed the five Australian crew members who were sleeping on board.
They were immediately replaced by a foreign crew that sailed the ship to Singapore, where it is to be sold.
The CSL Melbourne was chartered by Pacific Aluminium, a wholly-owned Rio Tinto subsidiary. It has been hauling alumina from Gladstone in Queensland to Newcastle for smelting at the nearby Tomago Aluminium plant.
The company that owns CSL Melbourne plans to transfer it to international operations out of Singapore, and replace it with a foreign-flagged ship with foreign crew members, which the Maritime Union of Australia says are paid as little as $2 an hour.
Both Alcoa and Pacific Aluminium have recently gained "temporary coastal licences" from the federal government, allowing them to replace their ships with foreign-flagged ships and foreign crews. This is despite the Senate late last year denying proposed legislation to open Australia's coastal routes to foreign ships.
A spokesman for the Canadian-owned shipping company, CSL, said the five crew members were peacefully escorted from the ship , and that the CSL Melbourne would now depart for Singapore.
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