The union-backed body’s national co-ordinator, Dean Summers, said on Friday that a 38-year-old Chinese national, Zhu Jian, had died  this week on board the Yangtze Oasis, a bulk carrier that berthed at Carrington to take copper concentrate from three mines.

Mr Summers said Mr Zhu was a junior officer in the  all-Chinese crew.

“We understand that a special police maritime investigation team travelled to Newcastle to investigate and have subsequently referred the death to the NSW coroner,” he said.

He said efforts to find the ship owners, operators and managers had been blocked by the ship’s agents and others.

‘‘The ability for foreign operators to effectively hide behind this heavy veil of secrecy is a real problem, not only for the ITF but also for government authorities, including national security agencies,’’ Mr Summers said. ‘‘I mean, you’d want to know who owns the ships that come into our waters, wouldn’t you?’’

Mr Summers said that when ITF affiliates went to the Singapore and Hong Kong addresses named on the ship’s paperwork they found ‘‘a sophisticated network of front companies that had no relationship with the maritime industry’’.

They were ‘‘sham shops’’ used to hide the real owners of the vessel.

Mr Summers said the Department of Immigration and Border Protection told a Senate inquiry that flag of convenience shipping had ‘‘the potential to create vulnerabilities’’ for Australian law enforcement.

He said the ITF was calling on Border Force to ‘‘immediately investigate’’ the Yangtze Oasis before it finished loading in Newcastle.