March 2009

In this issue:

HOSTAGE RETURNS

ALARM OVER AGENCY

BGM SPECIAL REPORT

Nautilus member James Grady talks about his 57-day ordeal held hostage by pirates

Cuts at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency pose a threat to the UK flag, says a new report

Full details of the Union’s upcoming conference in our special supplement

page 19

pages 22-23

pages i-iv

Telegraph

the journal of

Volume 42 ● ✪ Number 03 ● ✪ March 2009 ● ✪ £2.75

Space is scarce as lay-ups boom PICTURED right are some of the ships in lay-up in the river Fal, Cornwall, last month as the global economic downturn prompted a surge in the number of idle ships.

Authorities in the port of Truro, responsible for the lay-up berths on the Fal, say demand for space is at the highest level in decades — with bulkers, car carriers and refrigerated cargoships among the vessels in the river.

Ships are also being laid-up in Southampton, at Scapa Flow in Orkney, and off Piraeus, Greece, Singapore and the Philippines.

A sign of the scale of unemployed tonnage was revealed by the analysts AXSAlphaliner last month, who

reported that the number of containerships in lay-up rose by 69% between January and February — with more than 300 ships of 800,000TEU lying idle by the middle of last month.

In response to the trend, classification societies and P&I clubs have been issuing detailed guidance to owners on the safety aspects of laying-up their ships — in some cases, the first such advice to be issued in almost two decades.

Guidance published by the UK P&I Club and BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys warns that seafarers may face increased risk of accidents on laid-up ships because of the associated additional maintenance and repair duties.

PICTURE: SAM MORGAN-MOORE/APEX

‘SHORTAGE SET TO GROW’ New research shows that officer skills crisis is continuing to drive increases in pay and conditions THE GLOBAL shortage of ships’ officers is set to carry on growing despite the slump in seaborne trade, a new study suggests.

And the research — published by Drewry Shipping Consultants (DSC) last month — predicts that pressure for improved pay and conditions will also continue to mount over the next few years.

Nautilus has welcomed the report’s findings. Assistant general secretary Mark Dickinson commented: ‘This study demonstrates the scale of the skills crisis and the need for companies to pursue positive and proactive recruitment and retention policies.

‘Short-term cuts in crewing and training budgets will simply serve to fuel a long-term deterioration of the existing

problems, and leave the industry in an even bigger mess when the shipping markets recover,’ he added.

The DSC/Precious Associates Manning 2009 report says that whilst officer numbers have risen by almost 11% since 1990, the world is presently short of some 33,000 officers.

On recent trends, it adds, the gap between supply and demand could rise to 56,000 by 2013. Even if the economic downturn results in 10% of orders being cancelled and scrapping rates going up by 10%, the worldwide officer deficit will still rise to 42,700 within the next four years.

Although there are some signs that the downturn has eased seafarer supply problems, Drewry says the evidence shows that

some companies are finding it hard to obtain suitably experienced officers — particularly with certain key specialisms.

The research says the shortages resulted in ‘significant wage escalation’ in the past year, with companies reporting ‘multiple increases being paid within a year and increases of over 25% being paid for some nationalities’.

The report notes that some companies have been poaching officers, and adds: ‘There is evidence that the current wage increases have moderated, but there is still significant competition for experienced seafarers, particularly in more specialist areas.’

Although there is considerable uncertainty as a result of the credit crunch,

Drewry predicts that the scale of the officer shortage will remain ‘substantial’.

The labour market pressures have resulted in an increasing trend towards ‘regional salaries’, the report states, which has had the effect of reducing differentials between nationalities.

It says there is also evidence of employers offering a range of non-salary benefits tailored to officers’ differing needs.

And it notes an increased focus on incentives designed to retain skilled staff — such as return or ‘loyalty’ bonuses, promotion and development packages, annual bonuses or increased study pay.

Drewry found that an ‘encouraging’ increase in the number of cadets being taken on seems to have been maintained

— but it warns owners and managers against cutting back on training to mitigate costs. ‘If they do,’ it adds, ‘the manning problem is likely to return to bite them, particularly given the length of time it takes to bring a seafarer to officer class.’

The report also highlights concerns that the skills shortage is piling on pressure for officers to be promoted rapidly, with consequent doubts about the levels of experience in senior ranks.

The Far East is presently the biggest single source of officer supply — 36% — but the report says that officer supply from western Europe appears to be staging a recovery, now accounting for 16% of the world total. ✪More information: www.drewry.co.uk

✪ newsfront 2–13 ✪ ● letters 16–18 ✪ ● reports 19-33 ✪ ● international 14–15 ✪ ● appointments 36–41 ✪ ● crossword 34 ✪

2● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

RISK AGREEMENT EXTENDED AGAIN NAUTILUS has agreed to a further extension of a ‘high risk’ zone agreement covering seafarers serving in the Gulf of Aden on vessels operated by UK Chamber of Shipping member companies.

Under the agreement reached between owners and unions at

PLA’S MARINE SERVICES GETS NEW MANAGER

the Warlike Operations Area Committee, the high risk zone in the Gulf of Aden between 45°E and 53°E, and north of a straight line connecting Cape Guardafui and the western tip of the island of Socotra, will remain in force for a further three months.

The agreement covers special payments to all crew members, in respect of each day or half-day during which the ship is in the high risk zone, and recommends use of the MSPA transit corridor.

PICTURED left is Nautilus member Geoff Buckby, who has just been appointed as the Port of London Authority’s new marine services manager, with a range of responsibilities including maintenance of

moorings and navigational buoys, oil spill clearance, and salvage operations.

Mr Buckby started his seagoing career in 1964 as a cadet on HMS Worcester, and served on Ben Line general cargo and containerships from 1968 to 1982, when he transferred to the company’s oil operations as master and installation manager aboard jack-up oil rigs and semisubmersibles.

He left the oil industry in 1997 to join the PLA as assistant marine services manager, and with his promotion he now heads a team of 64, made up of boat crews, divers, and shore staff, based at the PLA’s facilities at Denton Wharf near Gravesend, Kent.

‘With the development of the London Gateway port facilities and the increase in shipping it will bring, life looks set to get even busier,’ he said.

nautilus uk at work

UNION URGES RELEASE OF HOSTAGE MEMBER

Big step forward for the ‘bill of rights’

Concerns raised with Foreign Office over case of master held captive in Nigeria

NAUTILUS has welcomed significant steps forward on the adoption of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) — the so-called ‘bill of rights’ for seafarers.

Norway last month became the first European country to ratify the convention, joining Liberia, Panama, the Bahamas and the Marshall Islands in signing up to the 2006 International Labour Organisation measure.

The MLC has now passed one of the two hurdles required before it enters into force globally. It needs to be ratified by at least 30 ILO member states, accounting for at least 33% of world gross tonnage.

One of these conditions is now met — with more than 40% of tonnage now falling under the convention — and the ILO says it is confident that 30 member states will ratify it in time for entry into force by 2011.

‘Ratification by Norway is significant in that it is the first European country to do so,’ said ILO director-general Juan Somavia. ‘Its ratification will give a strong signal to other European countries to continue their efforts towards ratification and promoting decent work in the shipping industry.’

Nautilus general secretary Brian Orrell said he was encouraged to see the progress. ‘The MLC will introduce many safeguards, including enforcement mechanisms, that should help to prevent the exploitation of seafarers and uphold their rights to decent working conditions.

‘With the economic downturn having a serious impact on seaborne trade and the shipping industry, it is more important than ever that we put the MLC into practice,’ he added.

Areas covered by the MLC include hours of work and rest, wages, leave, repatriation, and safety and health protection.

NAUTILUS has expressed concern about the plight of a member who has been held hostage in Nigeria for more than five months.

The Union has written to foreign secretary David Miliband urging him to ensure the Foreign & Commonwealth Office is doing all it can to secure the release of Captain Robin Hughes, who was serving on the St Vincent-flagged anchor handling tug supply vessel HD Blue Ocean when it was attacked by gunmen in the Niger Delta last September.

Together with another Briton — diver Matthew Maguire — two South Africans, a Ukrainian and eight Nigerian crew members, Capt Hughes was taken ashore and then seized from their original captors by members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

The other crew members have been freed, but Capt Hughes and Mr Maguire have been held captive ever since.

General secretary Brian Orrell said the Union’s concern about Capt Hughes has increased, and we are now extremely worried about his wellbeing following reports that one of the two British hostages is very ill.

He has asked Mr Miliband for assurances that the FCO is making representations to secure the release of Capt Hughes.

MEND says it is holding the men to broker the release of their suspected leader, Henry Okah. He went on trial for treason and gun running late last month.

MEND — which last month released a picture of the two Britons to prove they are alive and well — also demanded an end to Britain’s involvement with the training of Nigerian soldiers.

Capt Hughes’s brother —

The photograph released by the Nigerian rebel group MEND showing its two British captives, Captain Robin Hughes and diver PICTURE: REUTERS Matthew Maguire, who were seized from the support vessel HD Blue Ocean last September Nautilus member Mark Hughes — said he was worried and frustrated by the continued lack of progress in securing the release of the two men.

‘It has gone on and on, and it is very difficult to find out information and what the demands of

MEND are,’ he told the Telegraph.

‘Recently, there was a French ship hijacked and their crew were released in just a few days — but he has been there for months now.

It is a nightmare really.’

Mr Hughes said his MP, Gwyn Prosser, had been supportive —

but he wanted to maintain pressure on the Foreign Office over the efforts being made to secure his brother’s release.

‘The money is there to pay a ransom, but it seems that they will not be freed until the MEND leader is released,’ he added.

MEND released pictures of Capt Hughes and Mr Maguire in January, and said at the time that the two were ‘alive and well’ But a week later it said the men had been moved to another location after what it claimed was a botched rescue attempt by government troops in which civilians were hurt.

‘Barry has been at sea since starting as a cadet with the New Zealand Shipping Company after leaving school,’ Mr Hughes said.

‘He is a very large character and that is why the recent photos shocked me. He certainly looked very tired.

‘Barry lives in Brazil with his wife and daughter, but has worked out in Nigeria few times. He was expected back in the UK last November to renew his discharge book,’ he added.

Mr Hughes said the HD Blue Ocean is managed by a Nigerian company, HydroDive, who have also been supportive. ‘Although we do not know if the reports on one of the hostages being very ill are true, it is very worrying,’ he added.

There has been a marked increase in both the number and the severity of attacks on shipping and oil installations off Nigeria in recent months. Since January 2006, 44 Britons and more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped. The surge in violent attacks has seen Nigerian oil production cut to some 2m barrels a day, compared with 2.6m in 2006.

Mr Orrell told the foreign secretary that the plight of Capt Hughes underlines ‘the appalling risks encountered by our members whilst serving on ships across the world’ and showed the need for them to be given better protection whilst going about their duties.

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪3

VIRTUAL TRIALS FOR TEES PILOTS PICTURED right is a scene from a ‘virtual’ model of PD Ports’ planned new Northern Gateway Container Terminal on Teesside — which pilots have been using in vital safety tests.

More than 30 pilots from the port have been carrying out simulations at South Tyneside

OWNERS WARNED ON STRIKE COSTS

College to examine turning circles, berthing, maximum vessels sizes, and the number of tugs that will be needed to safely bring in certain containerships.

PD Ports project director Frans Calhe said the ‘invaluable project’ had enabled the pilots to test out the limitations of the terminal in a safe environment.

They were able to examine critical navigation issues, he said, and establish if any further development work is needed.

THE STRIKE Club — which provides owners with insurance against delays caused by industrial disputes and other problems — has warned that companies with poor loss records will have to pay more.

Announcing a 15% increase in rates for the new policy year, the

Club said owners with unsatisfactory loss records will face a further rise in premium and deductibles.

Mutuals are trying to maintain adequate reserves in one of the toughest renewal periods ever experienced, said chief executive Bill Milligan.

‘Shipping operations are undergoing cataclysmic changes, which means that the claims environment will remain extremely volatile,’ he added.

nautilus uk at work

UNIONS ON THE ALERT briefly...

AS ABANDONMENT CASES START TO RISE

Hebei campaign: Indian seafaring unions have warned that South Korean ships visiting the country’s ports will be subjected to an intensive inspection campaign in protest at the continued detention of the master and chief officer of the VLCC Hebei Spirit. They have called for Korea to release the two men, who are due to come before an appeal court later this year.

Antarctic accident: a rescue mission was mounted last month after the Bahamas-flagged passengership Ocean Nova ran aground in Antarctic waters. More than 70 passengers were onboard the 2,183gt Danish-crewed vessel when it ran into difficulties a mile from an Argentine supply base.

Case shows need for crew ‘safety net’ agreement, says Nautilus NAUTILUS UK has expressed concern at an increase in the number of stranded seafarers — highlighted by a case last month in which the operators of a Russian ship effectively abandoned their crew in the port of Liverpool.

NautilusUK/ITF inspector Tommy Molloy has been working in an attempt to recover more than four months’ unpaid wages for the 14 seafarers on the 4,643gt general cargoship Stalingrad.

The Russian-flagged vessel was arrested in the Port of Liverpool by other creditors, who are also owed significant sums of money, on 19 December 2008, and the crew have since added their claim for owed wages to the list.

Mr Molloy said the seafarers were owed more than S85,000, and did not even have the money to pay for a cup of coffee ashore.

‘The owners have effectively abandoned the crew, and are no longer feeding the crew or taking care of any of their basic needs,’ he added.

The Admiralty Marshall has been providing food and water, and fuel for heating and cooking.

And volunteers at the Merseyside Fire Museum, based at Crosby fire station, were so moved by the crew’s plight that they organised a food appeal to boost provisions and morale.

Late last month, one of the main creditors, Dan Bunkering, applied for the judicial sale of the vessel, which is owned by SakhalinMor Trans LLC, of Russia. Mr Molloy said he hoped the company would ensure that any proceeds for the sale go towards the crew repatriation costs.

‘It is important to note that

The Russian cargoship Stalingrad and some of its stranded crew last month their problems will not end once they are off the ship,’ he pointed out. ‘Their families have been

expected to live off nothing, and they will be going home with no wages to show for their work.’

Nautilus says the Stalingrad case — one of a number being dealt with by UK-based ITF inspectors last month — underlines the need for governments to back the proposed IMO/ILO agreement to protect abandoned seafarers.

Crucial talks on the measures — which would provide a ‘safety net’ for back pay, repatriation home and owed wages — are due to take place this month.

In response to the expected rise in downturn-linked abandonments, the ITF has issued guidelines on how to tackle the problem to its inspectors and affiliated unions, and set up a crisis management team.

The ITF has also urged operators to enter into dialogue with the unions if they run into financial problems. Maritime coordinator Stephen Cotton said the case of the UK company Britannia Bulk was an example of how working with the ITF can ease the impact of the credit crunch on seafarers.

Unions helped to secure more than US$1.4m in wages for some 300 seafarers affected by the collapse of the company.

‘We can offer help, especially if we’re involved at an early stage,’ said Mr Cotton.

‘After all,’ he stressed, ‘we usually share the same aims — that good companies continue trading and employing seafarers.

‘And even if all else fails and the company is unable to continue trading, then we can call on our expertise and resources to make sure that the seafarers who might otherwise face penury and abandonment actually get home,’ Mr Cotton added.

Tyneside home: the government has announced that

Tyneside is to be the home of a new body to regulate and manage the sea around England. The Marine Management Organisation headquarters is to be sited in Tyneside, and the body is expected to begin work in April 2010.

Plymouth freedom: the Merchant Navy Association and the

Royal Naval Reserves are to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Plymouth in a ceremony on 22 March. The honour has been granted in recognition of their ‘critical and strategic roles, particularly in times of conflict’.

Gas call: the tanker owners’ organisation Intertanko is urging

the International Maritime Organisation to update inert gas regulations for new oil and chemical tankers. It wants the rules to be made simpler and more consistent, and is also seeking enhanced training for crews.

Mariners honoured: more than 100 merchant mariners were presented with public service awards in New York City last month in tribute for their role in rescuing 155 passengers and crew from a US Airways jet that ditched in the Hudson River in January.

LD launch: French ferry operator LD Lines has launched its new service between Dover and Boulogne and Dieppe almost six months ahead of schedule. The company is operating two return sailings daily using the vessels Seven Sisters and Cote d’Albatre.

Scrapping boom: a marked rise in ship scrapping has taken

place in response to the global economic downturn, with 200 large vessels being broken up in the last three months of 2008, a conference in London heard last month.

Sea Containers comeback: Sea Containers announced last

month that it had emerged from bankruptcy after transferring its maritime container interests to new business.

Ramsgate link: UK-based Euroferries has announced the opening of a new route between Ramsgate and Boulogne, set to start later this month using a 98m fast craft.

4● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

RED FUNNEL GOES YELLOW FOR IKEA DROPPING its traditional red and white livery for the first time in its long history, the Isle of Wight ferry operator Red Funnel has caused something of a stir with the introduction of alternative markings on one of its vessels.

After running with a ‘Red

STRIKE CONSULT OVER P&O PAY

Squirrel’ banner for much of last season, the 3,953gt UK-flagged Red Osprey now sports a striking yellow and blue paint scheme — pictured right — making her more akin to a canary than a raptor.

The livery has been applied to promote the opening of a new IKEA furnishings store in Southampton and will be highlyvisible on the SouthamptonCowes route for the next 12 months.

REPORT & PICTURE: GARY DAVIES

MEMBERS serving on P&O Ferries’ shortsea, North Sea, Irish Sea and western Channel services are being consulted about the possibility of being balloted on strike action in protest at the company’s imposition of a 2% pay award.

Management applied the

increase with effect from 1 January, citing ‘exceptional’ economic and commercial challenges facing the company.

But industrial officer Jonathan Havard said the Union was disappointed by the company’s failure to continue negotiations on the Union’s claim, and said members have been asked if they wish to take strike action, or action short of a strike, in protest at the move. Results were due on 23 February.

nautilus uk at work

briefly...

Northern rejection: a 3% pay offer has been imposed on

members serving with the Northern Lighthouse Board after the chief executive, Roger Lockwood, rejected union calls to improve the package or consider a three-year deal. In a letter to Nautilus and the T&G, Mr Lockwood said that bonuses would boost the value of the offer to between 3.75% and 4%, which was fair in the light of public pay policy constraints.

IoMSP revision: members serving with Manx Sea Transport

(Guernsey) on Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessels are being consulted on a revised pay and conditions offer, worth 4%. Industrial officer Steve Doran said the figure was the best that could be achieved in the current economic climate, and members were urged to accept it.

Maersk deal: a pay and conditions offer giving a 2.85%

increase on basic pay has been accepted by Nautilus after consultations with members serving on Maersk container vessels. A similar increase was also overwhelmingly supported by members employed by Maersk Offshore (Bermuda).

BP Oil submission: Nautilus has submitted a claim for an

across-the-board 5% pay increase for members employed by BP Oil (UK). The Union has also offered the possibility of a longer-term pay deal, and has requested a meeting with management.

EMS freeze: members serving with EMS Ship Management

UK are being consulted on a proposed pay freeze. Industrial officer Steve Doran said the Union had pressed the company to explore alternatives, but without success.

HAL meetings: Nautilus is conducting a series of Holland

America Line ship visits before a further meeting with management this month following the rejection of the company’s ‘full and final’ 1% pay offer.

Bibby deal: a 4.25% pay offer has been accepted after

consultations with members employed by Bibby International on Andrew Weir vessels showed a unanimous majority in favour.

Shell aspirations: members serving with Shell International Shipping Services have been asked to submit views on the contents of the forthcoming pay and conditions claim.

Union claim: following feedback from members employed by

the Union Transport Group, Nautilus has lodged a claim for a 5% pay increase.

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THE ULTRA large crude carrier BW Bauhinia is pictured above as it sailed into Merseyside just over a month ago, becoming the largest ship ever to enter the Port of Liverpool.

Operated by BW Fleet Management of Singapore, and sailing under the Hong Kong flag with a British master and chief engineer, the 158,569gt vessel overtook the record previously held for nearly two decades by the 153, 517gt Nisa.

After offloading some cargo in mainland Europe, the doublehulled 301,019dwt Bauhinia carried 82,000 tonnes of crude oil from Angola — the first cargo in a new traffic for the Shell Stanlow

Refinery in Cheshire. The oil was offloaded at the port’s Shell Tranmere Oil terminal, from where it was piped overland to the refinery. ✪Pay talks for members serving with BW Gas are on hold pending the outcome of negotiations with the Norwegian maritime unions.

Industrial officer Ian Cloke said talks on the Nautilus claim had been held in Oslo last month, but the company had indicated that progress could not be made until its other discussions were resolved.

The Union has been assured that any increase will be backdated to 1 January.

RULING ‘WILL BOOST SEAFARERS’ RIGHTS’ Crucial judgement on foreign flag dismissals NAUTILUS has welcomed an important employment appeal tribunal judgement that bolsters the rights of many UK-based seafarers working on foreign-flag ships.

Under the ruling, which was announced by the tribunal last month, seafarers serving on foreign-registered ships are entitled to the protection of UK employment law if their work is judged to be based in the UK. The tribunal upheld an appeal brought by chief officer Peter Diggins against an earlier ruling that he was not entitled to bring an unfair dismissal claim against his former employer, Condor Marine Crewing Services.

Mr Diggins had worked on Condor’s ferry service between Portsmouth — where his tours of duty began and ended each day — and the Channel Islands, and he was dismissed with effect from 1 April 2007.

The original tribunal rejected his unfair dismissal claim,

upholding Condor’s argument that Mr Diggins was not covered by the provisions of the 1996 Employment Rights Act (ERA 96) because he was serving on a Bahamas-registered vessel.

But the appeal tribunal last month ruled that the original tribunal had ‘erred in law’ and that Mr Diggins was entitled to bring his claim under the definition of a ‘peripatetic employee’ — established in the 2006 Lawson v Serco test case.

Applying that test, Judge Jeffrey Burke QC maintained that the key question was not where Condor was based but where Mr Diggins was based — and that was clearly in the UK. A similar judgement was applied in a case involving UKbased airline pilots three years ago.

Welcoming the decision, Nautilus legal director Charles Boyle commented: ‘It at last clarifies the law and establishes that mariners who work on foreign-

flagged ships may have access to the employment tribunal in respect of unfair dismissal claims, if their employment is based in the UK.’ He said that a key factor in Mr Diggins’ favour was a 1999 amendment to section 96 (2) of the 1996 Employment Relations Act. Before that, Mr Boyle pointed out, ‘the scope for mariners on foreign-flagged ships to bring an unfair dismissal claim was more limited’.

However, once section 96 was repealed, ‘there was no express limitation on the general territorial scope of ERA 1996, which is now governed by the Lawson principles,’ he added.

‘This now means that mariners who live in Great Britain and habitually join and disembark their foreign-flagged ship there, may well have the right to sue their employer for unfair dismissal (regardless of which country the employer is based in) in the British employment tribunals.’

Carnival in ‘final’ 2% offer MEMBERS serving on Carnival UK ships have been consulted on an improved pay offer, giving a 2% increase with effect from 1 January.

The Union is strongly recommending acceptance of the package, which was tabled during intensive negotiations in Southampton last month.

National secretary Paul Keenan commented: ‘We know some members will be disappointed that the figure falls short of their aspirations, but we had three meetings to press the case for our claim, and it is clear that this is the final offer.

‘We have to recognise the impact of the global economic downturn, and the fact that if we were to prolong negotiations the offer could go down,’ he stressed. Industrial action would not be wise in the current climate, the Union believes.

Subject to acceptance, the company is then committed to the establishment of a rotation planning review group to involve sea staff, operational and HR management and the Union, Mr Keenan added.

RFA members accept three-year package THE LONG-running negotiations on the 2008 Royal Fleet Auxiliary pay and conditions review have ended in agreement on a threeyear deal valued at around 10.5%.

Consultations with members showed a majority of 198 to 161 in favour of accepting the package, which provides a 1.9% uplift in basic pay in each of the three years, together with the introduction of a non-consolidated bonus award scheme.

National secretary Paul Keenan said he was

pleased the protracted discussions were over.

‘We have done the best we can within the government’s public sector pay policy, and it is just disappointing that it took so long to get there,’ he added.

Mr Keenan stressed that the Union will continue to pursue the full leave harmonisation claim through the business review — ‘where we believe we have a better chance of getting the right rewards and recognition for our members’ work’.

✪Following a ballot of RFA members, David Gatenby has been elected by a big majority to serve as the new full-time Nautilus liaison officer. He will take over the position from Martin Troman on 1 April, and will serve a three-year term.

‘We are really grateful to Martin for all his hard work in the job,’ said Mr Keenan. ‘He has raised the profile of the liaison officer position so successfully that seven members stood for election.’

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪5

MORE TALKS ON STENA LOSSES NAUTILUS officials and liaison officers were due to meet Stena Line management late last month for more talks on jobs losses arising from the company’s decision to withdraw the Stena Transporter from the HarwichRotterdam route.

A total of 11 officer jobs are at

NEW SAFMARINE SHIP IS NAMED

risk as a result of the move, and the Union has received assurances from the company that no redundancies will be compulsory.

National secretary Ronnie Cunningham said discussions so far have centred on redundancy payments and selection procedures if there is a surplus of officers applying for voluntary redundancy.

It is anticipated that the jobs will go with effect from 30 April.

SAFMARINE’S newest vessel, the 35,835gt Safmarine Bayete, was named at the Hanjin Heavy Industries yard in Busan, Korea, last month. Pictured at the event, left to right, are: chief engineer Robert Lawson; CEVA Americas and Global Freight Management president Joe

Bento; Teri Bento, the ship’s godmother; Captain Stuart Almond; and Safmarine CEO Ivan Heesom-Green.

The UK-flagged Safmarine Bayete will be deployed on the SAMBA (South America-Middle East) service. ✪ Following further negotiations with management, Nautilus has accepted a 2% pay offer and increased leave for members employed by Maersk (Safmarine).

nautilus uk at work

FALKLAND FOLLY Union protests to MoD over charter threat to UK seafarers’ jobs NAUTILUS has urged the Ministry of Defence to re-think a move to end a 26-year contract for a UK-flagged ship in the Falkland Islands.

The Union has written to defence minister John Hutton to protest at the decision to terminate the contract for the general cargoship Saint Brandan — which poses a threat to the jobs of 16 UK seafarers.

The ship is used to supply military posts in the Falklands area with fuel and stores, assists in military exercises, and supports a dive team.

Nautilus fears the MoD made the move on the grounds of cost. It is understood that the ship that will be brought in to run the service employs cheaper foreign crews.

JA Gardner, the Glasgowbased company which operates the Saint Brandan, said the ship is likely to be sold or scrapped as a result of the move and it has begun consultations with the Union over possible redundancies.

Nautilus assistant general secretary Mark Dickinson said the MoD decision demonstrates a lack of ‘joined-up thinking’ by government departments on the employment of British crews.

‘It is appalling that after more than a quarter of a century of loyal service, the seafarers on this ship are to be rewarded with the dole,’ he added. ‘At this time of economic gloom, we believe the government should be doing all it can to safeguard the jobs of British seafarers — not to take the lowest common denominator route of selecting crews on the basis of low cost.

‘It seems almost incredible that one government department can be undermining the stated policy commitments of another depart-

Norfolkline pledge: Nautilus is seeking a meeting with

Norfolkline management early this month to discuss concerns about changes in fleet operations on the Irish Sea. The Union has been promised that the moves will not impact on members, but industrial officer Ian Cloke said further assurances are being sought over new arrangements for the crew management contract. The 2.5% pay offer has been accepted after consultations showed a majority against being balloted for industrial action.

Cemex claim: following consultations with members, Nautilus has presented Cemex UK Marine with a claim for a substantial increase in pay. Industrial officer Jonathan Havard said the Union is also seeking assurances on the company’s commitment to the long-term future of UK seafarers, and to address ‘divisive differentials’ in salary rates.

The Saint Brandan is pictured above at work in the Falklands. Pictured below are some of the members who serve on the ship

UECC concern: Nautilus has met UECC (Guernsey)

management to discuss the possibility of 13 officer redundancies following ‘realignment’ of the company’s fleet.

Industrial officer Gavin Williams said the Union is seeking to mitigate the position, and has tabled counter-proposals with the company.

Coastal Bulk: Nautilus is seeking to recover outstanding wages for members affected by the collapse of Coastal Bulk Shipping in December. Industrial officer Ian Cloke said members need to supply information about the amount of money they believe they are owed.

Bibby settlement: following negotiations with Bibby Ship

Management (Guernsey), Nautilus has secured agreement on a 4.3% uplift in daily rates for members serving on the company’s accommodation units. ment to expand the employment and training of British seafarers,’ Mr Dickinson added.

In its letter to the defence minister, the Union has asked for information on the reasons why the contract was terminated, and has urged the MoD to reconsider the move.

Nautilus has also been in contact with East Dunbartonshire MP Jo Swinson, who has raised the issue in Parliament and raised concern that processes set out in the tendering document had not been properly followed.

Union presses CalMac for an improved offer NAUTILUS officials and liaison officers are due to meet Caledonian MacBrayne management later this month for crucial talks on pay and conditions.

Members have rejected a revised package offering either a one-year deal worth 5% or a three-year deal that provides additional improvements to various allowances and benefits.

Consultations on the offer showed a three to one majority against, and members say the company has failed to reflect their

briefly...

contribution to its success, or the increased workloads they have faced in recent years.

Members say there has been an increase in sailings on some routes, together with additional duties such as security and environmental officer work, as well as an erosion of differentials.

The Union is warning that an improved offer is essential if the company wishes to avoid a loss of skilled and experienced officers.

Members are also seeking a harmonisation-related bonus.

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6â—? âœŞ Nautilus UK Telegraphâ—? âœŞ MARCH 2009

CROMARTY GETS LAID-UP RIGS PICTURED right are some of the laid-up drilling rigs at anchor in Cromarty Firth, Scotland, last month.

Captain Ken Gray, port manager at the Cromarty Firth Port Authority, reported an increase in the number of requests to anchor rigs in its

REDUNDANCIES AT GULF OFFSHORE

waters, or to come alongside the Invergordon Service base.

Last month, there were three semi-submersibles in the port — Transocean’s Arctic II and Sedco 712, as well as Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Guardian.

Also anchored in Cromarty Firth last month was the hull of the Hutton tension-leg platform, which was put into lay-up following the collapse of a Spanish company’s deal to covert it into a drilling rig.

NAUTILUS is negotiating with Gulf Offshore (Guernsey) management after the company announced a total of 11 officer redundancies following a decision to put the Clwyd Supporter and Highland Sprite into lay-up as a result of poor market conditions.

Industrial officer Steve Doran said the Union is doing all it can to assist members, and the company’s proposals had been assessed by the legal department.

Nautilus has urged the company to seek volunteers from across the fleet, and to offer an enhanced severance package over and above the statutory provisions.

A response from management was awaited late last month.

offshore bulletin

briefly...

Seahorse pressed: Nautilus has met Seahorse Maritime management following the rejection of a 4.5% pay offer by members serving on Sealion vessels. Industrial officer Ian Cloke described the meeting as ‘positive and productive’ and said a written response from the company was expected late last month.

Saipem rejection: members serving with Saipem UK have overwhelmingly rejected the company’s 3% pay offer. The Union has requested a further meeting with management, arguing that the package does not reflect the company’s performance.

Maersk meeting: Nautilus UK’s partnership at work committe meeting is due to begin discussions this month on the pay and conditions claim for members serving on Maersk supply vessels.

Subsea deal: members serving with Subsea 7 have

accepted the company’s revised 7% pay offer, which also gives a pension benefit with effect from 1 January 2009.

Farstad call: members serving with Celtic Pacific on

Farstad vessels have been asked to submit views on the contents of the forthcoming pay and conditions claim.

Swire submission: Nautilus is arranging a meeting with Swire Pacific Ship Management (North Sea) to discuss a pay and conditions claim for members.

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JOBS AT RISK IN N SEA, SAY OPERATORS Tax breaks call to avert slump UP TO 50,000 jobs could be lost from the offshore oil and gas industry over the next two years unless the government steps in with urgent measures to prevent a collapse in drilling activity, the operators’ organisation Oil & Gas UK warned last month.

The operators said the combination of the global recession, low oil prices and a lack of funding from banks for offshore projects means that the number of wells drilled in the North Sea could drop by two-thirds.

It warned that at today’s oil price and development and production cost levels, two-thirds of potential new field developments would struggle to break even.

According to the Oil & Gas UK 2008 Activity Survey, which summarises planned expenditure on the UK continental shelf by 75 oil and gas companies, investment in the sector could more than halve over the next two years.

Capital investment in new and existing fields fell from a peak of ÂŁ5.6bn in 2006 to just under ÂŁ5bn in 2008, despite the rise in oil prices over the period, and the organisation estimates that it is on track to fall to between ÂŁ3.5-4.5bn in 2009 and to as low as ÂŁ2.5bn in 2010.

Oil & Gas UK estimates that the total future potential of the UKCS is up to 25bn boe — but warns that the recovery of the last 15bn boe will require maintaining sufficient exploration activity to access all the reserves. ‘Exploration and appraisal activity in 2008 (109 wells) was

roughly the same as in 2007,’ it said, ‘however a rapid reduction in 2009 is feared.

A year ago, it was anticipated that up to 113 wells would be drilled in 2009, whereas the latest survey predicts 77 wells, of which only 34 have a committed drilling rig.’ Oil & Gas UK chief executive, Malcolm Webb said operators had managed to slow the rate of decline in the North Sea over the past couple of years, but the sector was now at a crossroads. ‘There is a broad range of commercial opportunities which could attract investment in the right circumstances,’ he said, ‘but, in the short term, we need to concentrate on mitigating the effects of the downturn.’ The industry is seeking tax breaks from the government to encourage investment and to provide particular support for smaller oil companies seeking to develop marginal fields. ‘Our research shows that if investment could be sustained at around ÂŁ5bn per annum, the industry could hold production decline at 4-5% a year on average,’ Mr Webb said. ‘However, if investment falls, that decline will again accelerate.’ The scaling back of activity has already seen support vessel charter rates fall to around half the level of the peaks recorded last year, and the analysts Offshore Shipbrokers predict ‘lower average rates, lower vessel utilisation, and far less volatility in rates when compared with 2008’.

Aberdeen visits NAUTILUS officials Ronnie Cunningham, Steve Doran, and Gary Leech are pictured during a series of ship visits conducted during a week-long recruitment and organising event in Aberdeen.

Vessels visited during the week included: VOS Crusader; VOS Pioneer; VOS Guardian; VOS Lismore; VOS Patrol; Far Strider; Far Fosna; Far Scout; Far Scimitar; Far Superior; Ocean Swan; Ocean Scotsman; Ocean Clever; Bibby Aquamarine; Toisa Independent; Scotia; Volstad

Viking; Seven Pelican; Havila Faith; Hrossey and Safmarine Aberdeen. ‘This was a very worthwhile event, in which we were able to meet a wide range of members and potential members,’ said national secretary Ronnie Cunningham. ‘We learned a lot from the seafarers that we spoke to, and hope that our visits will also have been of great benefit to the new and existing members that we met,’ he added.

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Norway acts on AHTS safety NORWAY’S Maritime Directorate (NMD) has signalled its intention to secure international changes in the rules governing the safety of anchor-handling operations.

The authority says it is planning to seek significant national and international regulatory changes in response to the findings of investigations into the loss of the AHTS vessel Bourbon Dolphin off Shetland in April 2007.

In a 74-page follow-up report to the Ministry of Trade & Industry, the NMD puts forward a series of recommendations arising from the conclusions of the royal commission of inquiry on the accident.

The authority issued a series of measures in the immediate aftermath of the incident — including action to improve planning and safety management on vessels used for anchor handling — and is now tabling further action to address such issues as AHTS stability, construction, certification, equipment and requirements for owners.

New procedures including criteria for control limits and the handling of critical situations have been put forward, as well as requirements for calculations to be made of wire and chain forces and tensions, and heeling moments.

NMD acting director Sigurd Gude said the authority is now starting ‘the important work to get the measures and recommendations in the appropriate national regulations and making proposals to the IMO to get the same international regulations’.

The Bourbon Dolphin’s owners, Bourbon Offshore Norway AS, were fined £480,000 in January in response to the findings of the inquiry, which blamed factors such as poor safety management and the inexperience of the crew as key issues. The company was given until the end of February to decide whether it wished to appeal against the penalty.

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪7

CRUISING TO AID OCEAN RESEARCH THE PASSENGER Shipping Association and the Southampton-based National Oceanography Centre (NOCS) have signed a partnership agreement that should boost research into the role of the oceans in climate change.

Under the agreement, the 54

QE2 PROJECT ‘IS STILL ON COURSE’

cruise and ferry companies in the PSA will collaborate on the collection of water samples from their ships to support climate change-related studies of ocean temperature, salinity and CO2 content.

Pictured, left to right, following the signing of the agreement are: Penny Guy, PSA; Garth Halanen, PSA; Cdr David Lewis, NOCS; Bill Gibbons, PSA; Allan Bentley, Enviromar; and Jacky Wood, NOCS.

REPORTS that the conversion of the former Cunard liner QE2 into a luxury hotel in Dubai may be scrapped because of the credit crunch have been denied by the vessel’s new owners.

The government-owned Dubai investment company Nakheel dismissed media claims that the

planned refit to turn the iconic vessel into a six-star hotel has been shelved as a result of the economic downturn.

Some reports suggested the company could sell or even scrap the QE2 because of a shortage of funds for the scheme, but Manfred Ursprunger, CEO of Nakheel’s QE2 Enterprises, told the Khaleej Times the project will go ahead as planned. ‘We are not selling the ship,’ he added. ‘We are still in the planning stages.’

news

OWNERS HIT OUT AT LACK OF ACTION ON JOBS PLAN Chamber of Shipping says policy doubts have cost the UK register some 70 ships UNCERTAINTY over government shipping policies has cost the UK register more than 70 ships in the past year, owners warned last month.

And, speaking at the Chamber of Shipping’s annual dinner in London, president Martin Watson criticised the continued failure to respond to the industry’s proposals for increasing the training and employment of British seafarers.

Mr Watson said the ‘bold step’ of introducing a tonnage tax regime back in 2000 had resulted in a fivefold increase in the UKflag fleet and had made shipping once again a major UK industry.

But, he warned, uncertainty over the fiscal and employment environment for the industry in the UK has been ‘forcing member companies to re-evaluate their commitment to basing their ships here. And that was during the good times’.

Faced with a ‘shocking collapse’ in freight rates, Mr Watson added, owners are looking for stability — and ships are very movable assets.

‘Sadly, changes over the last year to the business environment for UK-based shipping — both actual and threatened — have given rise to instability and uncer-

Transport minister Geoff Hoon speaks to guests at the Chamber of Shipping’s annual dinner in London last month tainty that has led to a major slowing of growth in the UK-based fleet,’ he continued.

The ‘inconsistency’ of government maritime policies meant two Chamber member companies had decided to switch 70 large vessels to other registers.

‘Some of these ships could still

join the UK-fleet if a belief in stability can be restored,’ Mr Watson stated. ‘Without that, other future opportunities may also be lost, or others may go further and leave.’

The Chamber leader said that whilst the slump in shipping markets may provide some shortterm relief to the skills crisis, the

industry should continue working to attract a new generation into maritime careers.

‘The international shortage of officers, estimated at 35,000, is a serious long-term problem,’ he stressed. ‘It brings with it a risk that standards in training and professional competence will suf-

fer in the face of shipowners’ need to recruit and retain.

‘It also poses a risk of spiralling wage costs that may result from the supply-shortage,’ Mr Watson added. ‘The UK is not isolated from any of this. There is a crucial responsibility on the industry — employers and unions — and also on government to ensure that training and employment processes in Britain are competitive, while maintaining the high quality for which our mariners are renowned.’

Mr Watson argued that there is a joint responsibility to ensure that, as far as possible, jobs are available for all newly-qualified personnel. ‘So it is disappointing that, over the last few years, government has not found a way to address the area of training cost competitiveness — even though practical training proposals from the Chamber and the maritime unions have been before it throughout,’ he added.

Policy and regulatory stability and certainty is essential, Mr Watson stressed. ‘If we can’t control the markets, we can at least drive our own fate in terms of policy. We have come so far in this country in the last eight years — it would be tragic to throw it all away!’

Alarm at deadlock in global pay talks NAUTILUS has expressed concern at the failure to secure agreement last month on improvements to the international minimum wage for seafarers.

Talks arranged by the office of the International Labour Organisation ended in deadlock when the shipowners’ group said it was unable to make any increase in the light of global economic conditions.

The meeting was presented with an ILO report which showed that the US$545 current ILO basic monthly minimum wage of an able seafarer (AB) should be increased by 19% to US$648 to maintain seafarers’ purchasing power.

The owners said they were willing to reopen discussions ‘if the contours of the economic situation show any improvements’ or otherwise to meet again in February next year.

However, Nautilus general secretary Brian Orrell said he was concerned at the owners’ failure to negotiate in good faith. ‘It is simply not good enough for them to turn up at the meeting and say that they can’t afford to pay,’ he added.

‘The agreed collective bargaining processes require meaningful discussions, and we do not accept that the poorest paid seafarers should have to suffer as a result of the mistakes of others.’

8● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

ABU DHABI SHOW AIMS TO DEFY DOWNTURN COULD it be the new uber-cool international yacht show for the jet set or, in these tough economic times, a damp squib? The inaugural Abu Dhabi Yacht Show, scheduled to run from 12-14 March looks set to be a dazzling extravaganza of both luxury and wealth.

Just 20 of the world’s most outstanding and spectacular yachts, ranging in size

NAUTILUS THE SUPERYACHT

from 30m to 100m, will be displayed at an event that seems to defy the messages about the global economic meltdown.

The event will take part in two adjacent locations, with the yachts mooring stern to the marina, which has been purposely designed, dredged and constructed solely to host the show.

Organisers are hoping that more than 100 yachting industry companies will be showing off their products and services in the exhibition hall, which is linked to the marine by a specially constructed footbridge.

PICTURED left is the proposed new 50m superyacht Great Nautilus, currently under construction at the Sultan Marine yard in Bodrum, Turkey.

Due to be launched later this year, the vessel is designed to ‘blend the classic grace of a large sailing yacht with the luxury of a motor yacht’, and will accommodate up to 12 passengers and 10 crew.

The vessel has some 900 sq m of sail area, and Sultan Marine says it will be able to achieve more than 12 knots with minimal heel.

large yacht news

YACHT CAPTAIN MURDERED Crews seek security assurances from authorities in Antigua after robbers shoot captain onshore

Captain Drew Gollan — killed while ashore in Antigua

PICTURE: FRANCES HOWORTH

✪ by MICHAEL HOWORTH CONCERNS over the safety of superyacht crews in the Caribbean island of Antigua have been raised following the murder of a captain in the area surrounding English Harbour, where most of the island’s superyacht activity is centred.

Capt Drew Gollan — master of the 50m Perini Navi sailing yacht Perseus — was shot and killed in what appears to have been an unsuccessful robbery. Just days later Sara Kuszak, who worked as a chef aboard another yacht, was murdered in Puerto Rico after being kidnapped and bundled into the back of a car.

Capt Gollan had been walking

Credit crunch fears fail to halt yard expansion plans PENDENNIS, the Falmouthbased yacht building and repair yard, has recently announced its plans to go ahead with the construction of a new steel-framed shed to expand facilities for yachts seeking undercover refit slots.

The company says the new facility will be perfect for a variety of work, including full paint jobs, structural alterations, engineering and interior joinery programmes.

New land has also been purchased adjacent to the company’s 6.5 acre site to expand capacity.

Joint MD Mike Carr explains: ‘We are so confident in our refit offering that expanding our facilities at this time of uncertainty

within the industry doesn’t cause us concern at all.’

In fact, he argued, the falling value of the pound will make the UK refit slots particularly attractive to US and European clients.

In recent years the yard has made significant inroads into the refit sector, with heavy investment in its infrastructure including a state of the art refit complex, complete with two 75m dry docks and paint facilities, as well as a 400tonne travel hoist with 1,500sq m of supporting hard standing.

Pendennis is also continuing to operate its newbuild business, with three sailing yacht projects ranging from 30m to 50m currently on the books.

✪Mediterranean yard Monaco Marine is pushing ahead with its development strategy despite fears that superyachts will reduce the frequency of their dockyard visits in the economic downturn.

Due to be completed by mid2009, the company’s expansion plan will bolster its network of six strategically-placed shipyards offering complete refit and repair service in the Mediterranean, for yachts of between 6m and 100m.

The repair company was founded in Monaco in the mid1990s as a service firm focusing on luxury yachts. Its six shipyards serviced more than 100 yachts of over 40m between May 2007 and January 2009.

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SUPERYACHT losses are fairly few and far between, but in a recent accident the motor yacht Parranda was lost to a fire while cruising in the Galapagos.

Built in 1965 by the Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay, New York, this 38m steel-hulled yacht carried 16 guests and a crew of seven.

At the time of the accident the yacht was carrying a full complement of passengers, including the presenter, writer and comedian Griff Rhys Jones. All passengers and crew were rescued without serious injury.

back from a local bar with his girlfriend, Alena Sitkova, and their 21-month-old child when they were approached by a man with a gun demanding money.

When Capt Gollan tried to prevent the attack, reports said he was shot three times in the chest.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital in St John, the island’s capital.

Police later charged a local man, Sylvester Lindsey, with murder in relation to the shooting.

Yacht captain Ian Cridland was among four people who were tortured and killed in a raid on their vessel off Antigua’s sister island, Barbuda, in 1994. Now, as was the case then, yachts are leaving the

island despite pleas from local companies that service the yachting industry declaring it was a one-off event.

In a meeting chaired by John Duffy, president of the Antigua & Barbuda Marine Association, more than 100 concerned members of the local business community and visiting captains and yacht crew met and called on the authorities to declare what the government and police were going to do to improve security.

Minister for tourism Harold Lovell urged yacht crews to stay on the island and the island’s prime minister promised that extra police would be deployed in the area.

The second attack happened near Puerto del Rey marina in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, when a man approached and kidnapped American yacht chef Sara Kuszak.

From the boot of the car that carried her off she was able to use her mobile phone to call her captain, Cheshire McIntosh, and give him a description of the man who captured her and car she was travelling in.

The FBI was able to track the car using cellphone signals — but by the time it was found it was too late to save the woman, whose throat had been cut.

A man has been arrested and is helping local police with their inquiries.

SUNSEEKER LAUNCHES ‘TOTAL CARE’ ADMIN AND OPERATIONS SERVICE A NEW service to provide superyacht owners support with all aspects of vessel administration and operation has been launched by the UK company Sunseeker.

Founded by a superyacht captain, Ben Young (pictured right), Sunseeker Superyacht Management aims to offer owners a ‘one-stop shop’ for the administration, maintenance and operation of Sunseeker yachts.

Capt Young — who holds a Class IV, 3,000-tonne certificate — commented: ‘For the first time, every aspect of owning a superyacht will be taken care of — under one roof.

‘Take the worldwide shortage of adequate crew and berths, which can be a real problem for owners.

Sunseeker Superyacht Management will not only help the owner recruit the right captain and crew, we’ll also train them, to ensure the service the owners receive is second to none.

‘In addition,’ he said, ‘we’ll help secure both home and visiting berths, so that the yacht’s passage is seamless and problem-free.’

Believed to be the world’s first superyacht management service offered by a boat builder, Sunseeker Superyacht Management is based in Port Camille Rayon, in the South of France, and will also take care of classification, flag state

matters, mini-ISM and financial administration.

‘It’s no secret that a properly managed and maintained yacht retains a much higher value long-term,’ Capt Young said. ‘With our

specialist knowledge we can provide exceptional management support — reducing the risk of incidents onboard and making financial savings in the day-to-day running of the vessel.’

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪9

TUC WARNS OVER UNEMPLOYMENT WITH UK unemployment nearing the 2m mark, the TUC has described the situation as ‘a national emergency’ and has urged the government to do more to tackle the problem.

Figures released last month saw the jobless total hit 1.93m — the highest level in almost a

NEW TONNAGE ON IRISH SEA ROUTE

decade – and TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the government must act as boldly on unemployment as it has on the banking sector.

‘Benefits and redundancy pay need to be raised to cushion the financial blow to the newly unemployed,’ he added.

‘The government needs urgently to introduce a short-time working subsidy to help companies avoid redundancies in the first place.’

PICTURED left is the Clipper Panorama, the second of eight new ships being introduced by Seatruck Ferries, which came into service on the WarrenpointHeysham route last month.

The 14,759gt Cyprus-flagged vessel is operating alongside sistership Clipper Point on the

service — boosting annual capacity to around 120,000 freight units.

The third and fourth ships in the series — Clipper Pace and Clipper Pennant — are set to come into service this month and in May on Seatruck’s Liverpool-Dublin route.

The company says the 22knot vessels — the first purposebuilt vessels for the Irish Sea in 20 years — will cut crossing times from nine to seven hours.

news

Woolly thinking supports seafarers

SEAFARERS onboard the Norwegian research vessel Seisquest are pictured in Aberdeen helping to show off the ‘woolly hat week’ staged by the maritime charity, Sailors’ Society, last month.

Organisers urged companies to encourage their staff to take part in the ‘Wear your woolly hat to work week’ and send in donations to help the Society provide assistance to seafarers in ports across the world.

Fund-raising director Jan Webber said the event aimed to raise awareness of the plight of many seafarers, and said the Society would be sending some 10,000 hats to Ukraine to be given to seafarers visiting the eight ports serviced by its chaplains.

SAFETY MEASURES BLOCKED AT IMO Union concern over opposition to ‘human factor’ proposals NAUTILUS has expressed concern that important proposals to improve ‘human factor’ safety issues are being blocked at the International Maritime Organisation.

The Union fears that progress on key issues such as minimum safe manning, hours of work and rest, and training requirements is being frustrated during discussions on the revision of the IMO’s Standards of Training, Certification & Watchkeeping Convention.

Following five days of intensive talks last month, members of the IMO’s standards of training and watchkeeping sub-committee failed to agree on proposals to end the ‘two-watch’ system linked to fatigue by requiring at least three deck officers, including the master, on ships that currently operate with just a master and mate.

Delegates also failed to agree on plans to bring the IMO work-

ing time rules into line with ILO requirements, by extending the weekly hours of rest from 70 to 77 hours.

Nautilus UK senior national secretary Allan Graveson commented: ‘It should be in the interests of the shipping industry and flag states to address such issues, yet once again safety considerations have been made secondary to economic considerations.’

He pointed out that much of the opposition had come from EU member states voting together.

‘This is the height of hypocrisy when many of these countries have been the ones complaining of pollution, collisions and groundings,’ he added.

‘The “three-navigator” proposal could have been one of the most significant steps to improving safety at sea, addressing the extensive evidence showing the role of fatigue on such ships,’ Mr Graveson said.

Another proposal that ran into opposition was a move by India to increase the number of training berths onboard ships. While supporting the idea in general, some delegations raised concerns over the proposal to amend the 1969 Tonnage Convention to exempt accommodation of training berths from tonnage calculations.

Nautilus welcomed the UK government’s decision to oppose German proposals to make masters responsible for drug and alcohol checks on their crew members.

However, delegations gave general support to the concept of a new mandatory, international blood-alcohol content limit of just 0.05% — well below the existing non-mandatory level of 0.08%.

In a joint letter to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, Nautilus and the Chamber of Shipping warned that no justification has been given for the tougher limit, and that the implications for ship-

board releations of making masters responsible for random tests could be very serious.

Mr Graveson also expressed concern at the lack of agreement on the recognition of electrotechnical officer training and certification. ‘There have been totally unrealistic suggestions that it could be addressed as a set of competencies for chief engineers,’ he added.

With so many areas of the STCW revision still to be agreed, delegations have asked for an additional intercessional working group to resolve the remaining issues ahead of their next meeting in January 2010.

However, IMO secretary-general Efthimios Mitropoulos said he remains confident that the Organisation is on track to complete its review of the STCW Convention and Code — with the aim of adopting amendments in June 2010.

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EU proposes task force to look at crew cost issues NAUTILUS has given a cautious welcome to a new 10-year maritime policy plan revealed by the European Commission last month.

Key elements of the package include support for further action to safeguard EU maritime skills, and an investigation into ways of addressing the competitive position of European seafarers.

The maritime transport policy strategy documents aim to ‘promote safe, secure, clean and efficient shipping’ and the ‘long-term competitiveness of European shipping and related maritime industries in world markets’.

Announcing the package, transport commissioner Antonio Tajani commented: ‘The financial crisis and its impact on the maritime transport sector demands decisive action. We need to look ahead and provide answers to the many challenges we face today, from keeping EU seamanship capacities, combating piracy and reducing the environmental impact of shipping.’

The policy documents stress the importance of shipping for the EU, pointing out that a substantial increase in the Community’s internal and international maritime trade is likely over the next decade.

They note ‘a genuine European interest in making maritime professions more attractive to young people and thus improving employment of seafarers’ — and argue that this can be supported through such measures as: promoting career prospects in the maritime clusters; enhancing the image of shipping; supporting the work of the IMO and ILO on the fair treatment of seafarers; and

reducing the administrative burden on masters and senior officers.

‘We can give a guarded welcome to the package,’ said Nautilus senior national secretary Paul Moloney. ‘It certainly incorporates many of the issues raised by the Nautilus Federation in its response to the policy green paper.

‘The position of European operators is often undermined by social dumping and discrimination in seafarer employment practices,’ he added, ‘and we are pleased that the Commission has announced a task force to look into unfair competitive advantages and the need to ensure that European shipping established a balance between good social standards and competitiveness.

‘It is important to know who will be on the task force, and the really big question is how it will address the issue of terms and conditions onboard EU vessels reflecting those in the nations where the vessels operate,’ he added. ‘This one simple change would do more than any other measure to protect the job security of Nautilus NL and UK members serving on ships operating within the EU.’ Philippe Alfonso, political secretary of the European Transport Workers’ Federation, said it was good that the Commission had accepted the need for urgent action to protect EU seafaring employment.

But, he added, the ETF did not accept the claims that the current state aid guidelines have generated increased jobs for European seafarers and it wants to see ‘a better system of incentives aimed at encouraging EU employment in the maritime sector.’

10● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

PENINSULA AIDS THE MISSION

SHIPHANDLING CHAMPIONSHIP

the need to support ships’ crews and valued the work the Mission carries out on their behalf.

MtS secretary-general the Revd Canon Bill Christianson said such support was welcome at a time when demands on the charity’s services are growing.

Pictured left to right are: Peninsula manager Chris Bamford; the Revd Canon Christianson; MtS corporate partnership officer Kosta Kirgianis; and Mr Bassadone.

PICTURED right is the presentation of a £7,000 donation to the Mission to Seafarers by the marine fuels supplier Peninsula Petroleum.

Managing director John Bassadone said the company had decided to make the donation because it recognised

A US seafarer training centre, the Northeast Maritime Institute, has launched an annual international shiphandling championship — with some $50,000 in prize money on offer.

Fifty licensed and professional mariners will have a chance to win a cash prize by displaying

their shiphandling skills on four different vessels in four different virtual locations on Transas simulators. The first prize is $30,000, $15,000 for second, and third prize is $5,000.

The event takes place at the Northeast Maritime Institute facility, in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, between 5-7 June this year. Only 50 spaces are available — and application forms can be downloaded from: www.shiphandlingchampion.com

news

Skipper failed in death fake bid

Unions to Seatrade award for join G20 Cunard’s longest summit serving four-striper protests TRADE unions, development agencies, faith and environmental groups are planning a major demonstration at the end of March to tell world leaders attending the G20 summit that fair and sustainable policies are needed to lead the world out of recession.

The alliance — which includes the TUC, Oxfam, ActionAid, Friends of the Earth and CAFOD — is calling on people to join a ‘march for jobs, justice and climate’ in London on Saturday 28 March, just five days before the summit.

Under the banner ‘Put People First’, the groups will demand decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty and inequality, and a green economy.

The organisations backing Put People First say: ‘Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos.’

The march will assemble on the Embankment en route to Hyde Park for a rally to be addressed by speakers and celebrities from the UK and around the world.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘People are angry at the job losses caused by this recession made in the world’s banks and at the slow response of world leaders to the challenges of poverty and climate change.

‘But while these are going to be desperately tough times,’ he added, ‘the collapse of free market fundamentalism and the big changes already brought about by President Obama provide the hope that world leaders can change course and start to build a fair and sustainable world.’ ✪More information on the website: www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk

PICTURED right is Nautilus member John Duffy receiving the Seatrade Insider ‘Seagoing Employee of the year’ award last month.

Mr Duffy — pictured with Christopher Hayman of Seatrade and Cunard president Carol Marlow — is Cunard’s longest-serving ‘four stripe’ officer and received the award in recognition of his long and distinguished service with the company and his service onboard Queen Elizabeth 2.

Born in Aintree, Liverpool, in 1944, Mr Duffy joined Cunard Line in 1965 and became the company’s youngest hotel manager in

DVD GOES GLOBAL IN RECRUITMENT DRIVE Employers to distribute 10,000 copies of seafaring careers film LEADING global seafarer employers are set to launch a new DVD that seeks to encourage a new generation of young people to take up a career at sea.

Some 10,000 copies of the Careers in International Shipping DVD are to be distributed around the world by members of the

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1978 at the age of 33.

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‘This award is well deserved by John, who has served Cunard with distinction since joining the company in 1965,’ said Ms Marlow, ‘and we look forward to his joining our flagship Queen Mary 2 in March 2009.’

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International Shipping Federation — which celebrates its centenary this year.

Due to hit the streets this month, the film is likely to be made available in an online version, and the English-language original will be dubbed into the official International Maritime Organisation languages — Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

Developed by ISF with the maritime training company Videotel, the film has been produced as part of the worldwide ‘Go to sea!’ campaign being run by the ISF, ICS, IMO, ITF, Bimco, Intercargo and Intertanko.

‘Produced to promote careers in shipping amongst young people, it should be remembered that this has been produced for a global audience, including potential recruits in developing nations,’ explained ISF secretary general Tony Mason.

Natasha Brown, IMO spokesperson, added: ‘In the face of a grave looming manpower crisis, it is important to reverse the trend, to portray shipping as an industry that can provide a career path that

‘Vital to have sufficient seafarers’ — ISF president Spyros Polemis matches the aspirations of the ambitious and capable young people it urgently needs to attract and retain.’

Well received by guests at a preview showing last month, the film points out that shipping is ‘at the heart of globalisation’ and is ‘by far the most efficient and environmentally friendly form of commercial transport’.

It stresses that seafarer training ‘does not have to mean a lifetime at sea’ — giving examples of

the many professional jobs in the shipping industry ashore.

ISF secretary Natalie Shaw said there was very little evidence yet of companies requiring fewer seafarers as a result of the economic downturn and the organisation’s member associations recognised the importance of training.

‘What I think will become more important is finding that we’ve got the right seafarers in the right place at the right time,’ she stressed.

‘People do need raw materials and finished products, even in a downturn,’ said ISF president Spyros Polemis. ‘Of course, shipping is not going to be as active as it was in the last few years, but shipping continues, because of the demands of society.’

In his opening address marking the 100 years since the ISF was founded as an international employers’ organisation in response to growth of organised labour and increased coordination among seafarers’ unions, Mr Polemis said it was ‘vital we have a properly trained workforce in sufficient numbers’.

A FISHING vessel skipper faked his own death in an attempt to evade fines of up to £1m for flouting fishing quota regulations.

Derek Atkins wrote his own obituary and had it published in an industry magazine as part of a plot to get out of an interview with Marine & Fisheries Agency (MFA) inspectors.

But he failed, and last month was jailed for two and a half years for a series of criminal charges including perverting the course of justice, deception and fraud, 20 offences of failing to submit proper landing log book declarations, and failing to alert the authorities of a change of name while on the sex offenders’ register.

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency also reported Atkins for obtaining five certificates of competency by deception and sailing as an unqualified person under Section 52 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

Portsmouth crown court heard that the MFA suspected Atkins had been failing to log fishing trips according to legal requirements.

The fishing vessel skipper initially wrote a letter to the Agency — purporting it to be from his partner, Lynda Flynn — asking it to halt prosecutions because he had died from a heart attack.

He then wrote his obituary, which was published in good faith by the weekly trade newspaper, Fishing News, in June 2007.

‘You are a determined identity fraudster who used a false name to earn income as an unqualified skipper, who with some limited experience endangered not just yourself and the vessel but the crew and other vessels,’ Judge Ian Pearson told Atkins, sentencing him to a total of six-and-a-half years — some of which will run concurrently, meaning that he will have to serve a total of 30 months.

Speaking after the case, Captain Andrew Phillips, of the MCA’s enforcement unit, commented: ‘Mr Atkins had absolutely no qualifications whatsoever to sail as a skipper of a UK fishing vessel. In doing so he put at risk fishermen, his vessel and the integrity of the environment. He also put at risk insurance cover for any vessel he worked on.’

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 11

FRENCH FLAGSHIP TO BE BROKEN UP IN THE TEES THE KLYNE Tugs AHTS Anglian Earl is pictured towing the 32,780gt former French aircraft carrier Clemenceau to the UK last month.

The 52-year-old vessel was towed for 713 miles from the French port of Brest to the Tees estuary, where it is to be broken up at the Able UK Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre.

SAFETY FIRST FOR NEW P&O FERRIES

Green campaigners had sought to prevent the ship from coming to the region because of health fears about the toxic materials onboard — including 700 tonnes of asbestos.

But Able UK chairman Peter Stephenson said the demolition will be carried out under strict safety and environmental conditions.

He said the £10m contract would create 200 jobs in the region and put the company ‘at the forefront of an industry which has enormous potential for growth and job creation’.

P&O HAS announced that two new cross-Channel ferries being built in Finland will be the first in the world to comply with new international ‘safe return to port’ requirements.

The 49,000gt vessels are set to enter into service on the DoverCalais route in 2010 and 2011

and are being built in line with the new IMO principles, which require all ships built after 1 July 2010 to ensure that basic services are provided and key systems remain operational to enable a ship to return to port after an incident.

P&O Ferries fleet director John Garner commented: ‘There will be many firsts in the design and construction of these two ships, and this is a particularly significant one.’

health and safety

Bid to cut lifeboat accidents THE NORTH of England P&I Club has launched a new DVD and poster campaign in a bid to cut the number of accidents during lifeboat drills and operation.

Entitled ‘Lifeboat Safety: Managing the Risks’, the 18minute DVD and an accompanying 12-page guidance booklet aim to boost the confidence of seafarers and improve levels of safety when crew undergo lifeboat training.

It explores common causes of lifeboat accidents — such as not being able to release the lifeboat painter — and explains the growing use of fall-preventer devices to reduce serious incidents following inadvertent release of on-load lifeboat hookrelease mechanisms.

‘Accidents during lifeboat drills cause death and serious injury to seafarers,’ says North’s head of loss prevention, Tony Baker. ‘We fully support the maritime administrations and other organisations that are seeking to promote the use of fall-preventer devices as an interim safety measure.’

The DVD and the set of eight posters are both available to non-Club members for £30 each, from Anchorage Press — www.anchoragepress.co.uk

INSURERS FEAR SAFETY WILL SUFFER IN SLUMP Fears that ‘maritime maelstrom’ could lead to cuts in training and maintenance SAFETY at sea is set to slump as owners seek to cut costs in response to the downturn in shipping markets, marine insurers warned last month.

A combination of commercial pressures and collapsing freight rates has created a ‘maritime maelstrom’ which means operators could skimp on maintenance and prune operating costs, leaders of the International Union of Marine Insurance said.

However, the shipping slump could help to ease the global seafarer skills crisis, IUMI president Deirdre Littlefield suggested, and it might even lead to an increase in the amount of ageing substandard tonnage being sent to the breakers.

Speaking after IUMI’s annual winter meeting, Ms Littlefield said the all-time historic profits made by owners in the last five years had been ‘helped in no small measure by driving ships and crews as hard as possible’.

Such a strategy will inevitably have a huge impact on insurance claims,’ she stressed. ‘We expect that many ship repairs and onboard unit replacements, which have been deferred or ignored during the skyhigh profit years, will start to surface, along with the results of skimped maintenance, leading to a further escalation of claims’ she added.

IUMI is disturbed at shipping safety trends over the past few years — with total losses in 2007

INVESTIGATIONS were launched last month into the cause of a collision between a chemical tanker and a 1,440TEU feeder containership off the United Arab Emirates coast.

A fierce fire broke out onboard the 45,003dwt Kashmir, left, after two of its cargo tanks were ruptured in the collision with the Singapore-flagged containership Sima Saman in the approaches to Jebel Ali. Inflatable booms were placed around the damaged Maltese-flagged tanker to prevent spillage of its cargo of 30,000 tonnes of oil condensates, but no pollution and no injuries were reported.

The incident occurred in reduced visibility, but both vessels had pilots onboard at the time.

PICTURE: REUTERS up by around 10% from the previous year, and major losses up by more than one-third over the same period. They expect last year’s figures to be even worse.

‘Whether or not shipowners will carry on the same level of maintenance and employ the same crewing and training standards remains to be seen,’ said Peter McIntosh, chairman of IUMI’s ocean hull committee.

‘The experience of the last two shipping recessions is that claims

trends tend to increase,’ he pointed out.

Mr McIntosh promised that insurers would seek to ‘get under the skin’ of owners by pressing them on issues such as crewing and maintenance policies.

‘We have got to ask the right questions and assess the information coming back and do our risk assessments accordingly,’ he added.

‘The risk is reflected in terms of the premiums charged.’

Shake-up for ship design?

NAUTILUS has voiced concern about a new ‘risk-based’ approach to the design of ships and their systems, unveiled last month following a four-year European project.

The A20m Safedor project was established to investigate the feasibility of the alternative design approach, and it has resulted in guidelines that seek to take advantage of potential flexibility in the SOLAS convention rules.

Backed with EU money and support from more than 50 maritime companies and organisations — including Carnival, STX Europe, Germanischer Lloyd, The Ship Stability Research Centre, SAM Electronics and the Danish Maritime Authority — the Safedor project aims to pave the way for designs that

can demonstrate lower risk and prove to be less costly.

A concluding working group meeting in Germany last month heard that existing rules prevent the adoption of some designs — including new bridge layouts — even though manufacturers can prove that they are equivalent or even lower risk than existing systems.

In a bid to address these issues, the project created a framework for risk-based design, documented in a handbook for naval architects and marine engineers. It also developed an approval process for ‘risk-based ships’ which is being submitted to IMO. The project also produced a series of ship and system designs that seek to show the prac-

ticability of the Safedor approach, with formal safety assessment studies and ‘novel design’ assessment studies submitted for five key ship types: cruiseships; ro-ro/ro-pax vessels; gas tankers; oil tankers; and container vessels.

Dr Pierre Sames, chair of the Safedor steering committee, said ship designers are able to use increasingly sophisticated methods to support risk-based ship design, and risk evaluation criteria is increasingly accepted by maritime administrations.

However, Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said the Union is concerned about the project’s emphasis on cost-reduction, and had questions about the make-up of the Safedor working group.

Ms Littlefield said IUMI is concerned at the way in which criminalisation and piracy could fuel further recruitment and retention problems.

Fritz Stabinger, IUMI’s liaison officer with the United Nations, said the romantic public perception of pirates should be changed, and they should be seen as common criminals.

‘Pirates are vermin,’ he added, ‘they are nothing more than terrorists.’

✪Some 70% of Lloyd’s List readers fear that shipping industry safety standards will be hit by the global economic crisis, according to a recent poll in the maritime industry title.

News editor Richard Meade said insurers and regulators are concerned about a ‘flight from quality’ as they seek to cut costs.

‘A collective maritime industry response on quality standards is becoming more essential with each passing day,’ he added.

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12● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

PILOT PREVENTS TANKER DISASTER A SHIP pilot was praised last month for helping to avert an accident when a tanker lost power and drifted towards rocks near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, pictured right.

The 68,600dwt Overseas Cleliamar lost propulsion and steering while leaving the port in

NAV DEFECTS ON 20% OF SHIPS

ballast. Pilot Dave McCloy ordered the crew to partially lower the starboard anchor, which stopped the ship and allowed a tug to secure a line.

Captain Peter McIsaac, president of the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association, said Mr McCloy had done ‘a great job’.

The US Coast Guard said initial investigations indicated that the loss of power had been caused by blocked fuel lines on the tanker.

PICTURE: US COAST GUARD

NAVIGATIONAL safety deficiencies were discovered on 20% of the ships checked in a concentrated inspection campaign in European ports.

Provisional results of the three-month programme undertaken by the 27 member states in the Paris MoU on port

state control show that a total of 1,872 ‘safety of navigation’ deficiencies were detected during 6,331 inspections.

Inspectors said 81 checks resulted in a detention, and the most commonly found detainable deficiencies were related to charts, nautical publications, and voyage data recorders.

Flag states with the most detentions were Albania (28.6%), Egypt (18.2%), and Syria (14.29%).

health and safety

Diver missed VSP blades by 3m CALLS for improvements in International Safety Management Code procedures have been made after a diver came within just 3 metres of the rotating blades of a crane barge’s propeller — pictured right — in the Channel last June.

The incident occurred when the diver’s air supply line got caught up in the Voith Schneider propeller (VSP) of the Belgian vessel Norma during an operation to replace a line marking the position of a sunken German submarine off the Varne Bank.

The diver was dragged towards the propeller after the ‘umbilical cord’ got snagged, and was just 3m from the blades when the vessel’s chief engineer stopped the propulsion motor. He was

Alert over fake units THE SWEDISH marine safety equipment manufacturer CM Hammar has issued an alert after fake copies of its H20 hydrostatic liferaft release units were discovered on a number of ships.

‘We have tested several of the copies. Not a single one of them worked properly according to SOLAS specification,’ it warned. ‘The fake H20 will definitely not release a life raft or an Epirb. We see this as a very serious situation.’

The company is urging seafarers and owners to check that their ships are not carrying the pirated parts. Serial numbers and production dates can be verified by contacting the company at: info@cmhammar.com

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rescued after cutting himself free and swimming to the surface.

Accident investigators found that the vessel’s aft VSP had been left idling on zero pitch, rather than being stopped as intended. Although the Dutch OOW had turned the steering control switch to the off position, this disengaged the control of the propeller pitch but did not stop it rotating.

The officer did not know that the VSPs could only be stopped from within the engineroom or by activating the emergency stop. Neither the OOW nor the master verified that the propellers were stopped, or informed the engineroom that diving operations were about to commence.

But investigations also revealed

that the propulsion control system had only recently been installed, and no procedures for its use had been developed. No guidance on its operation was available, and officers had received no familiarisation training.

A Marine Accident Investigation Branch report on the case highlights a number of shortcomings in the safety management of the 2,371gt Norma, stating that ‘fundamental requirements’ of the ISM Code had not been met. Although diving operations were a core element of the vessel’s work on the wreck, references to them in the safety management system lacked detail and were not sufficiently robust.

Diving operations had not been identified as a key shipboard opera-

tion by the ship manager or by external audit, and the MAIB also raised concern about the thoroughness of the shipowner’s internal ISM audit — as an interim DoC audit conducted just two days later raised 15 observations.

The report urges the Maritime & Coastguard Agency to take a lead in improving the guidance for diving operations conducted from, or within close proximity to, merchant vessels.

It also recommends that the International Association of Classification Societies highlights to its members the need to identify key shipboard operations for vessels’ intended and potential employment, and to ensure that associated procedures have been developed.

UK FERRY FIRM TOLD TO REVIEW FLEET SAFETY MAIB ordered urgent checks following ‘chaotic’ scenes in Seatruck emergency A UK ferry firm was told to make urgent checks on the safe operation of its fleet following a grounding incident last year in which accident investigators highlighted chaos and complacency onboard one its vessels.

A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report on the blackout and subsequent grounding of the Seatruck Ferries vessel Moondance last June uncovered problems including lax onboard routines, insufficient bridge and engineroom manning levels, and poor communications, partly as a result of language and cultural problems between British and Polish seafarers.

The Bahamas-flagged vessel grounded following an electrical blackout while shifting from a layby berth to the ferry linkspan at Warrenpoint in June last year.

There were no injuries, but the vessel suffered severe distortion of the port and starboard rudder stocks.

Investigators said the blackout occurred when the temperature of the freshwater cooling system exceeded the trip threshold, causing the generators to stop.

They said the isolating valve for the cooling system had been left shut or only partially opened during the system reconfiguration for departure.

Investigators said a better safety management system could have prevented last year’s grounding of the Moondance, above The report describes the poor ergonomics of the valve — pointing out that if it had been more accessible, and at waist or chest height, it would have been easier to operate and to notice that it was in a wrong position.

But it also criticises checklist

procedures on the 5,881gt vessel — noting that engineers were in the habit of carrying out the port departure procedures from memory, and filling in the form on return to the control room.

It says the second engineer became ‘overwhelmed’ because he

was working under pressure and unsupervised during the critical time of preparing to leave the berth, and had failed to alert the chief engineer or master when the generator alarm went off.

The report also criticises the ‘potentially dangerous actions’ of

the chief and third engineers in stopping the main engines without approval from the bridge, or knowing the navigational situation.

Describing the ‘chaotic’ scenes in the engineroom, the report says the British chief engineer had difficulty establishing his authority because the Polish engineers discussed fault-finding options in Polish without consulting him.

Adding to the problems was a lack of lighting, because the emergency generator had failed to start automatically as a result of a longstanding defect that the chief engineer was unaware of.

The report highlights a series of ‘significant’ failures in the safety management system, including lack of guidance on bridge and engineroom manning levels, the use and management of checklists, poor communications, and no advice on the CPP default pitch position.

As a result of the investigation, the MAIB chief inspector wrote to Seatruck Ferries calling for immediate action to verify the safe operation of all its vessels — and in particular to ensure they operate at all times with adequate reserves of stability — and to conduct an urgent review of its safety management system.

MARCH 2009â—? âœŞ Nautilus UK Telegraphâ—? âœŞ 13

GROUNDED SHIP’S MASTER ‘TRYING TO DO FOUR JOBS’ A FLAG of convenience general cargoship ran aground off the Danish coast because its master was trying to do four jobs at once, according to an investigation into the accident.

The Maltese-registered

Mirabelle is pictured left after grounding at low speed soon after leaving the port of Svendborg with a timber cargo last December. The 3,113gt vessel was refloated two days later, and no damage was found.

But a Danish Maritime Safety Authority report on the incident recommends changes to the ship’s safety management system to ensure masters are assisted on the bridge during departures and arrivals.

Investigators said the master of the Norwegian-operated Mirabelle had been alone on the bridge because two other officers and the three ABs were on the deck for mooring operations.

He was unfamiliar with the area, it was dark, the channel was narrow, and the depth of the water was close to the ship’s draft, the report states. ‘He was manoeuvring the ship, he was helmsman, he was navigating in the leading lights and using the

searchlight to see the dark buoys, which marked the boundaries of the fairway.’ The Mirabelle grounded after making a turn some 300m before the planned turning position.

Investigators said the master was unable to explain why this happened — but the report blames the accident on the fact that he was doing four things at once.

The report calls for the use of pilots in such circumstances.

health and safety

SEAMANSHIP ALARM OVER ANCHOR-DRAGGING CASES Tanker grounding case off the Isle of Wight sparks MAIB call for improvements in officer training STANDARDS of seamanship have been called into question following a report on the grounding of a tanker which dragged its anchor in severe weather off the Isle of Wight last year.

Nautilus UK says the incident — which involved the 11,300dwt Swedish-flagged tanker Astral — highlights problems with the use of crewing agencies in the global maritime labour market.

And the Marine Accident Investigation Branch has responded to the case by issuing a safety flyer to the industry, expressing concern at the number of anchor-dragging incidents and calling for improvements in company procedures.

The MAIB said the frequency of such accidents — 21 cases of ships grounding in UK waters after dragging anchor since 1992 alone — indicates ‘the possibility of an absence of knowledge among many deck officers in the seamanship and navigation procedure required for safe anchoring’.

The Astral incident occurred in the early morning on 10 March 2008 as the ship — which was carrying a 9,800 tonne cargo of diesel oil — was waiting to berth at the Fawley terminal.

The MAIB criticised the anchoring procedures adopted on the tanker Astral, above As the wind increased to force 10, Astral began dragging anchor — but investigations found that the watchkeeping officer was not aware of this until contacted by Southampton vessel traffic services, and the vessel had been moving for 20 minutes before the

OOW alerted the master and asked the engineers to prepare the engines.

Despite efforts to proceed to sea, the Astral continued to drift and grounded on Princessa Shoal.

The hull was dented and there was extensive damage to the rudder

‘Bad habits’ blamed for blaze on containership ACCIDENT investigators have blamed the ‘bad habits’ of a containership crew for causing a potentially catastrophic fire on their ship last year.

They found that seafarers serving on the Marshall Islandsflagged MSC Lugano had been smoking in the engineroom against company policy and that a discarded cigarette butt was a likely cause of the blaze.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) probe concluded that the fire probably started in an area where old oily rags and cotton waste that had

been used to clean up the engineroom were being stored.

The report notes that it was an ‘extremely dangerous practice’ to keep such waste in the engineroom — with the risks of fire being increased because the storage drums were kept near other drums containing hot ash from the ship’s incinerator.

The ATSB said the crew’s attempt to control the blaze with the use of fire hoses was ineffective and a delay in closing a skylight allowed the fire to continue to grow in size and intensity.

The report criticises the mas-

ter for not using the carbon dioxide fire-extinguishing system until 50 minutes after the alarm had been raised. The 3,032TEU MSC Lugano lost power as a result of the blaze, and came within five miles of grounding on rocks off the west coast of Australia.

Investigations also revealed that the ship’s emergency electrical power distribution system did not meet SOLAS requirements. As a result, the fire interrupted the supply of electrical power to the emergency fire pump.

PICTURE: MAIB

and steering gear, but the ship remained watertight and there was no pollution.

The MAIB report on the incident highlights a lack of anchorage planning, ineffective monitoring of the ship’s position, and the vessel’s inability to depart

Leisure sailors to face ‘drinkdrive’ rules THE UK government has launched a consultation on plans to bring in ‘drink-drive’ rules for leisure mariners.

The Department for Transport says it plans to subject those responsible for the navigation of leisure vessels to the same rules that govern merchant seafarers — an alcohol limit of 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.

The consultation seeks views on proposals to exempt non-professional mariners on ships which are less than 7m and a maximum design speed of 7 knots or less.

Announcing the consultation, shipping minister Jim Fitzpatrick said the government took alcohol abuse at sea very seriously.

the anchorage when required.

Also questioned is the Swedish master’s decision to remain at anchor in winds forecast to exceed that in which the vessel could safely recover anchor and leave.

Another factor was the Filipino OOW’s difficulties in fully comprehending the VTSO’s English. ‘While the inference of the VTSO’s language would normally be understandable to a native English speaker, the implications of the operator’s questioning were not recognised by the Filipino 2/ON and vital minutes were lost before he took effective action,’ the report says.

The MAIB said the Astral’s owners, Rederi AB Veritas Tankers, had experienced recruitment problems because of fleet expansion.

On the Astral, the senior officers were all European — mainly Swedish — permanent employees, but all junior officers and crew were Filipinos sourced through manning agents.

The report says the ship’s managers have undertaken to ‘conduct an additional pre-employment assessment of all officers recruited via manning agencies’ and have taken action to improve anchoring procedures on their vessels.

It calls on owners and operators to review their ship safety management system procedures for anchoring, and on ABP Southampton and the Portsmouth harbourmaster to provide guidance to their VTSOs on the use of language and terminology.

It also urges the International Association of Marine Institutes, and the Association of Marine Educational and Training Institutes Asia-Pacific Regions, to ensure that deck officers gain ‘effective’ instruction on navigation planning for anchoring, the limitations of anchoring systems, and command considerations for safe anchoring. ‘Such recommendations should not be necessary for marine professionals, and are all covered in UK certification training,’ Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson pointed out.

The incident, he added, ‘once again demonstrates a failure of the ISM Code and auditing procedures, as well as the potential problems associated with employing officers by a manning agency where cost considerations rate higher than professional skills and professionalism’.

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14● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

OFFICERS FINED FOR OILY WASTE FALSIFICATIONS

BROSTRÖM BOTHER

years and was ordered to pay a $500 fine.

The two Filipino seafarers could have been jailed for up to 11 years for the offences, which came to light after a US Coast Guard inspection of the 14,600dwt Quantum in the port of Philadelphia last July found evidence that the pollution prevention equipment was not working properly and that the ship had discharged oily waste directly overboard for at least the previous two months.

The vessel’s Greek managers, Pendulum Shipmanagement Inc, were fined $1.3m for conspiring with the crew to falsify the oily waste records.

THE MASTER and chief engineer of a flag of convenience bulk carrier have been fined by a US court after admitting the falsification of oily waste records.

Capt Nestor Alcantara, master of the Panamanian-flagged vessel Quantum, was sentenced to three years’ probation, and fined US$1,000. Chief engineer Alfredo Onita was also put on probation for three

PICTURED left is the French-flagged chemical tanker Bro Etienne, one of 24 Broström France Tankers. The seafaring union CGT has expressed concern about the jobs of French officers in the fleet following the takeover of the Broström fleet

by Maersk Product Tankers. The union fears the deal — which makes Maersk the world leader in refined products transport — will result in rationalisation of the two fleets and job losses.

PICTURE: ERIC HOURI

international news

briefly...

Mixed results: French Channel ports have reported a mixed set of results for 2008. Calais passenger loads fell 4.5% to 11m, while freight was down 2.3% to 37.4m tonnes. Boulogne fared badly, with a 26% freight traffic fall, and Caen-Ouistreham recorded a 7% slump in freight. Dunkirk said freight was up by 1%, and Dieppe announced a 21% rise in freight and 1.1% more passengers.

Czech lead: the landlocked Czech Republic has sought the help of France and Sweden to chair the European Union’s maritime working groups during its presidency. The three countries are expected to agree to a joint approach on such issues as revision of the Marco Polo shortsea scheme and progressing the EU’s long-term maritime policy package.

Wärtsilä slump: leading ship engine maker Wärtsilä could

lose up to S800m as a result of cancelled orders. Although the current orderbook is at a record high, around 11% of the total — which includes engineering services and shore power plants — has been cancelled in response to the downturn.

SNCM addition: Marseilles-based ferry operator SNCM has

added a new vessel to its Mediterranean fleet following the S75m purchase of the 29,968gt Pasiphae Palace from Greek operator Minoan Lines.

Breaking up: the ‘big three’ Japanese car carrier operators are

reacting to the financial crisis by sending their oldest tonnage to be broken up — resulting in some 10% of their joint fleets being scrapped.

Grimaldi expansion: Grimaldi Naples — Europe’s largest roro company — has increased by nine to 30 the number of its Mediterranean ‘motorways of the seas’ routes.

CMB delays: the Belgian dry bulk specialist CMB says it may

have to delay delivery of some of the vessels it has on order following a fall in profits.

French cuts: nine French seafarers have lost their jobs

following the sale of the La Navale Française chemical tanker fleet to Eitzen of Norway.

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PICTURED right is the new Brittany Ferries’ vessel Armorique, which entered into service on the PlymouthRoscoff route last month.

The company said the £100m ‘cruise-ferry’ signals its confidence in the route — which was the first to be launched by Brittany Ferries, some 37 years ago — at a time of economic gloom and uncertainty.

Built at STX Europe’s Helsinki yard, the French-flagged vessel operates with 120 crew and can carry up to 1,500 passengers, 60 articulated lorries, and up to 500 cars, with a service speed of 23 knots.

Specially designed for the Plymouth-Roscoff service, the 22,542gt vessel features a hull design and state-of-the-art equipment to maximise fuel efficiency and minimise CO2 emissions.

Amorique’s two joint masters — Capt Patrick Denez and Capt Lionel Barbançon, both of whom joined the company in 1986 — said that they and the crew were very happy with the quality of the equipment and facilities onboard which are ‘beyond expectations’

BRITTANY NEWBUILD BEGINS WORK

JAILED OFFICER DIES Coral Sea’s chief mate was ‘a victim of criminalisation’, says ITF UNION officials have paid tribute a Lithuanian ship’s officer who has died within a few months of being released from prison in Greece after drugs were found in a cargo of bananas unloaded from his ship in July 2007.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation said it considered that Konstantin Metelev — chief mate of the refrigerated cargoship Coral Sea — had been ‘another victim of the undeserved criminalisation of seafarers’.

Together with the master and bosun, Mr Metelev had been detained in Greece for a year and refused bail after cocaine was discovered in a shipment of bananas discharged from the Coral Sea. Mr Metelev and the bosun were both acquitted at trial last July — but the ship’s master, Capt Kristo Laptalo, was sentenced to 14 years in jail. He served four months of his sentence before being freed last November after an appeal court quashed his con-

Union alarm over SeaFrance jobs SEAFARERS serving with the Channel operator SeaFrance have expressed concern at plans to make up to 650 redundancies as part of a cost-cutting scheme.

In a letter to the company’s employees last month, new SeaFrance chairman Pierre Fa said the firm expects its 2008 result to show a S27m deficit and needs to restructure its CalaisDover operations in response to the economic downturn.

The restructuring plan would lead to the withdrawal of the SeaFrance Cézanne and the older freight ferry Nord-Pas-deCalais from service — reducing the fleet to the three newest passenger ferries.

According to the letter, this would mean a reduction of 650 of the operator’s 1,700 jobs — affecting both seafarers and shore staff.

SeaFrance had originally proposed a total of 300 job losses, but the board of its parent company, SNCF, rejected this and called for a more radical restructuring.

Meanwhile, while rumours abound as to the possible sale of SeaFrance to a private operator.

Thierry Roy, the CGT union’s representative on the board, said SeaFrance must stay in SNCF to be able to fulfil its role as an intermodal link to the railways.

viction and cleared him of all charges.

Although he was acquitted in July 2008, Mr Metelev was unable to return home to Croatia immediately because of ill health. He had been transferred to the prison’s hospital ward in April, suffering psychiatric problems.

ITF Croatia coordinator Predrag Brazzoduro said the officer had ‘shut himself off from the outside world’, and been refusing food and medical treatment.

‘Due to irrational charges brought against him, Konstantin was convinced there were no means whatsoever to prove that he had not been and couldn’t have been aware that there were narcotics hidden inside the cargo, and consequently he responded with another irrational act,’ he said.

‘As for me and all the seafarers around the globe, the question is: how many more lives are yet to be lost for seafarers to get protection from criminalisation?’, he added.

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MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 15

DANISH UNION IN BATTLE OVER TAX THE DANISH navigators’ union has joined a broad range of maritime organisations opposing proposals to make seafarers serving under the country’s DIS international register eligible for a special 8% labour market tax.

A government-appointed tax commission has recommended

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that seafarers on DIS-flagged ships should pay the tax — introduced to raise additional revenue on top of income tax — along with the rest of the population.

But the union has warned that the proposal could lead to a loss of jobs for Danish seafarers — who currently pay no income tax under the national net wage agreement — as it would make them more expensive in the international labour market.

PICTURED left is the 9,660TEU newbuilding CMA CGM Butterfly, arriving in the French port of Le Havre on its maiden voyage last month.

The 113,000gt Liberianflagged vessel — which is one of the largest ships in the French company’s 389-strong fleet —

was built in South Korea by Hyundai, is powered by a Sulzer 12RTA96C main engine, and has a 24-knot service speed.

CMA CGM Butterfly has been deployed in the company’s FAL2 Asia-Europe service, which is operated in partnership with the China Shipping Container Line.

Vessels on the FAL2 service have been adding seven days to transit times to avoid the cost of sailing through the Suez canal.

STORY & PICTURE: ERIC HOURI

international news

SEA MALTA SEVERANCE briefly...

FIGHT GOES TO COURT

Channel concern: the future of HD Ferries’s services between

France and the Channel Islands looks increasingly uncertain.

The high-speed services were suspended last September and the company, established in January 2007 following the withdrawal of Emeraude Lines from the routes, claims they will resume this spring but has given no further details.

Nautilus backs European Parliament protest over denial of rights SEAFARERS have gone to the courts in the latest stage of a long-running battle to secure severance payments following the liquidation of the ferry company Sea Malta more than three years ago.

A Maltese appeal court hearing before three judges last month heard the case for the seafarers, including several Nautilus members, to be paid their terminal benefits in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement.

Officers and ratings employed by the stateowned ferry firm lost their jobs when the Maltese government controversially decided to privatise the services, which link Malta with France, Italy and Tunisia.

Sea Malta — which had run the services for more than 30 years — was replaced by the Italian operator Grimaldi. Sea Malta seafarers said that the crews on the new services were

employed on far less favourable conditions than those provided for in the ITF affiliated General Workers’ Union (GWU) collective bargaining agreement with Sea Malta.

The seafarers have been forced to take a series of costly court challenges in an effort to recover the money — including having to fight two court appeals by the liquidators and a continuing claim in respect of the proceeds from the auction of the vessel Maltese Falcon.

At last month’s hearing, their lawyer argued that the court should uphold the MLira1.04m (£2.11m) awarded by a previous court judgement — and to reject counter arguments that it is not a ‘privileged claim’ in accordance with the Merchant Shipping Act. This would ensure that the seafarers are ranked before all other creditors seeking a share of the sale of Sea Malta’s assets.

The court of appeal was adjourned for judgement, which is expected to be delivered on 27 March.

Nautilus UK assistant general secretary Mark Dickinson described the case as ‘outrageous’ and said it was clear that the Maltese authorities had sought to derail the seafarers’ claim with the use of delaying tactics and complex legal processes.

‘It was bad enough that they were put out of work, but then they have been forced to fight for what should be theirs by right, and natural justice demands that they are paid their entitlements,’ he added.

Some of the seafarers were Nautilus members, and the Union is now supporting moves to take the seafarers’ case to the European Parliament, to highlight the breach of their rights under local, EU and international laws.

German switch: German owners say they have honoured their pledge to bring more than 500 deepsea ships back to the national flag following the government’s agreement to continue providing tonnage tax and employment support measures. But they have warned that the economic downturn may make it hard to add a further 100 ships this year.

Japanese pledge: ten Japanese shipping companies — including the three largest: NYK, MOL and KKK — have promised to switch almost 100 ships to the national register over the next four years after a tonnage tax scheme is brought in next month.

LD boom: French ferry firm LD Lines reports a ‘very good year’

on its Le Havre–Portsmouth route, with a 57% increase in passenger numbers in 2008. Freight traffic was up by 10%.

Italian strike: dock workers in Italy staged a one-day national

strike last month to protest about poor workplace safety, which has led to a series of deaths in the country’s ports.

New service: a new shortsea shipping service between Italy

and Spain has been established with some S4m of European Union backing to shift freight from roads to water.

Norwegian dispute: Norwegian seafarers sailing under the country’s NIS international register were set to take industrial action late last month after pay talks broke down.

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Chinese crew rewarded for fighting off pirates A SHANGHAI shipping company has rewarded 30 seafarers with US$10,000 each after they successfully fought off a pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden.

The seafarers were onboard the 26,650gt heavylift vessel Zhen Hua 4 in December when nine pirates, armed with rocket launchers and machine guns, boarded their ship off Somalia.

The seafarers locked themselves in cabins, and used fire hoses and improvised molotov cocktails to keep the attackers at

bay for six hours. Foreign warships and helicopters were contacted and eventually helped the crew of the St Vincent-flagged vessel to force the pirates back to their boats some five hours after the attack began.

The crew received their rewards in a ceremony at Changxing Island Port, after their vessel returned to Shanghai last month, to be welcomed by a big crowd.

Guan Tongxian, president of the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery

Company said the rewards reflected the courage of the seafarers.

The ship’s master, Captain Peng Weiyuan, said the response was the result of careful training, with the crew being drilled on counter-piracy procedures more than a week before Zhen Hua 4 entered the high-risk waters.

China has since sent two naval destroyers and a supply ship to the Gulf of Aden to protect Chinese merchant vessels and crews.

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US seafarers protest over medical delays US SEAFARERS are being urged to protest over delays in their medical certification procedures which have caused a backlog of more than 4,000 cases.

The Masters, Mates & Pilots (MMP) union says changes to the system mean that the time taken to process mariners’ medical evaluations has more than doubled — from fewer than 40 days to 89 days.

MMP says the hold-ups are the result of a

US Coast Guard move to introduce centralised medical vetting procedures in the second half of 2008. Under the new system, the agency’s National Maritime Center determines seafarers’ ‘fitness for duty’ based exclusively on test results, without ever actually seeing the mariners.

MMP, other seafaring unions and some industry groups had warned the USCG that the medical review system would quickly become

blocked by the volume of applications and the unnecessary medical tests and evaluations it requires.

The union — which warns that the delays could mean lost work opportunities and financial hardship for mariners and their families — is backing proposals for new legislation to create a designated list of qualified medical examiners to perform physical exams and certify mariners as being fit for duty.

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16 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

Have your say: online Last month’s poll asked: Do cases such as the jailing of the ‘Hebei Two’ cause you to question your future at sea? As the Telegraph went to press, the poll showed an emphatic result:

This T month, we want your views about the research into v the th officer shortage (page 1):

68.9% Yes 31.1% No

Do you agree with the D D Drewry research report cconclusion that officer sshortages will continue to d drive up wages?

V now, on Vote www.nautilusuk.org w

Father rose to the top without sitting a ticket I WAS very interested to read the ships of the past article by Bob Wilson regarding the ss AngloCanadian in last month’s edition.

My father, Robert John Robertson, served on her as

AB and latterly bosun. There are six entries in his discharge book from 21/4/31 to 16/4/34.

The various entries include South Shields, Birkenhead, Sunderland, and Hull, and all are listed as foreign going and one notated as Australia and New Zealand.

He was born in Yell, Shetland, in 1908 and died in 1990. After finally leaving her, he got a job on the Earl of Zetland, which traded from

Lerwick round the north isles of Shetland, until he was appointed assistant harbour master at Lerwick in 1948, until he retired in 1973.

He never sat for a ticket, but such was his knowledge that he was left in charge of the port for six months when the harbour master, Captain Inkster, went on extended vacation to New Zealand about 1952.

CECIL ROBERTSON mem no 997048

What’s on your mind?

Tell your colleagues in Nautilus UK — and the wider world of shipping — through a letter to the Telegraph.

Keep to a limit of 300 words if you can — though longer contributions will be considered. ✪ You may use a pen name or just your membership number if you don’t want to be identified — say so in an accompanying note — but you must let the Telegraph have your name, address and membership number. ✪ Send your letter to the editor, Telegraph, Nautilus UK, 750-760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB, or use head office fax 020 8530 1015, or email telegraph@nautilusuk.org

HMRC to blame for attack on our tax IN RESPONSE to the OM’s letter that was published in the Telegraph letters page, January 2009.

‘My’ boat (or should I really say ‘the company’s’ boat) enjoys an excellent relationship between the project and marine crew. We work together as a team, to complete projects safely and profitably.

Laurence’s comment on the choice of vessel destination — being ‘his and not the master’s’ — is odd. There are very few masters in any part of the shipping industry who choose the vessel’s next destination; this is up to the charterer/client. In terms of the offshore industry, the OM is effectively the client and therefore decides on the destination (this is accepted on any offshore vessel I have worked on, and is not envied).

As far as the disparity of wages between project and marine; I agree that this shouldn’t be a ‘bone of contention’, as people who are so annoyed about it should do what is available to anyone working in the industry, and vote with their feet. However, Laurence cannot disagree that there are a lot of offshore companies who treat the marine crew as a necessary evil, and not an integrated part of the company.

Whilst I agree with most of the contents of

SED rules THE new HMRC SED guidelines are due out this month — more on the website: www.nautilusuk.org

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Laurence’s letter, I find it unusual that he is ‘surprised’ by comments made by my fellow seaman since the PSA case came to light (and the subsequent threat of removal of the SED). I, personally, do not blame project personnel for the threatened removal of the SED — I blame HMRC. The SED was originally provided to encourage merchant seaman back to sea, to ensure that the necessary maritime skills were available in times of conflict. The fact that some non-marine personnel use a loophole to claim the SED is fine by me (I would probably do the same). However, the government wishes to close this loophole, and in doing so, will affect the very people that the SED was introduced for. Obviously, this is going to annoy some people!

Yes, a united front is desirable at this moment in time. However, please don’t be offended if Nautilus members continue their support of the Union’s goal — the SED just for merchant seaman, regardless of their industry.

To be surprised is to be uninformed.

IAIN SINCLAIR Chief Engineer, mem no 180233

COST-CUTTING CAUSING CARGO LOSS? ONCE again we see this business of a ship losing her deck cargo (mv Sinegorsk, February Telegraph).

Until my retirement, I was shore rigger superintendent in Sheerness docks. My lads were the best in the country, notwithstanding that on many occasions we were directed and told what requirements were in securing the cargo by the cargo superintendent, only to be told by the master or chief mate to cut back on grounds of cost — despite the time of the year and destination.

A reunion for radio officers

Shabby treatment of seafarers PLEASE find enclosed a copy of a letter I have written to Lloyds TSB with regard to the shabby treatment that we, as merchant seamen, receive from major banking establishments.

I feel sure that other seamen and persons who work offshore encounter similar problems. The major financial establishments, as far as I know, have no understanding of the difficulties we endure with communications when at sea.

I feel that many financial problems fellow seamen encounter are not necessarily caused by negligence on the seafarer’s behalf, but by the lack of understanding of their predicament by the establishment.

Is there any way we can change this?

Further to my previous complaint dated 9 November 2007, I unfortunately have encountered an even greater problem of late.

I have returned from sea and have received my first ever bank statement from my international account to this address. I have,

to my knowledge, informed Lloyd’s TSB of my change of address at least twice many months ago.

It has only just come to my knowledge that a standing order for the amount of 300 pounds sterling has mysteriously ceased. This was agreed by your collection department to pay off my outstanding credit card arrears. I am now obviously concerned that a huge amount of interest may have accrued without my knowledge.

My point is this… who authorised my standing order to be annulled? Why didn’t that person contact me for my authorisation? Is the nincompoop responsible going to pay the interest, if any, that has accrued on that account? I am categorically informing you now that I refuse to pay any charges or interest that have been added to that account without any person informing me of changes to my status. I will fight your establishment tooth and nail with as much power as I can muster in the way of ombudsmen, merchant seamen

The losing of deck cargo is down to both the chief mate and the master, for not seeing that the cargo has sufficient lashing and securing claims.

All deck cargo should be secured by claims, and the people I found in my time to be the most particular in wanting just about everything were Indian and German. You name it, they wanted it.

As I see it, and read it in the Telegraph, the problem is the owners — who, unlike yesterday, want blood and flesh. Nothing seems to alter.

E.W. SHANNON

union, lawyers and government if it should so be!

I telephoned long distance last week to try to resolve this matter, and, after being put on hold and queuing for the best part of half an hour, the best result I could achieve was for somebody to investigate and correspond with me when a result is established. The cost of the call is phenomenal and I will produce the phone bill if requested. I asked for your operator to return the call, but, was refused. This grieves me as I am trying my hardest to get to the bottom of this problem, but, your establishment will only cooperate at my expense!

I am currently awaiting orders to return to sea any day now so any correspondence coming my way will not be addressed until my return… Back to the old problem, eh?

Please, I beg you to investigate this situation and put my mind at rest before I go completely insane!

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R. JENKINS mem no 428009

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MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 17

Privates on parade before being allowed ashore in US THE CURRENT difficulty with obtaining shore access in the now paranoid USA affords me a wry smile.

The reason is that during my early days at sea we were warmly welcomed at US ports and granted unlimited shore access. However, there were a few ports where granting shore access to a seafarer depended solely upon what he carried in his trousers. I cannot speak for female seafarers, as I didn’t sail with any.

On arrival at such ports, the ship’s complement were lined up on deck and ordered by an immigration official to expose their genitals. These were then visually examined by a doctor, aided by prodding each set with a stick. The master and officers were examined and prodded in private, of course.

Those who showed no signs of what are now euphemistically called ‘sexually transmitted infections’ were granted shore access.

Seafarers being seafarers derived enormous amusement from this practice, naming it ‘short arm inspections’.

Carefree days!

J.R. DURNFORD Master Mariner (retd)

Shipmates reunited WISH you’d kept in touch with that old colleague?

Why not try Shipmates Reunited? Nautilus UK’s electronic friend-finding noticeboard is still going strong after seven years, and it gets regular hits from seafarers all round the world. Maybe someone’s looking for you. To find out, go to www.nautilusuk.org and click on the link from our homepage.

And if you want to put a posting on Shipmates Reunited, simply send your message and your contact details to webmaster@nautilusuk.org

letters The view from Muirhead

Fatigue remains the greatest risk at sea AS ALWAYS, I was pleased to receive my latest copy of The Telegraph and was most interested to read the letter from member 180282 (‘Safety slip-up marred an excellent TV show’ — February).

When working in an engineroom, gloves can actually be a hazard, as they do not always provide a firm grip on one’s tools. They can also get caught up on projections, etc, but in some circumstances they do have their uses. Long sleeves are also hazardous as they can also get caught up in moving machinery.

In the days of the old steam reciprocating engines nobody would dream of wearing long sleeves when feeling around the bottom end bearings of a rotating engine, as one was required to do, at half hourly intervals.

This was to ensure that bearings were not overheating, and a sleeve would have been

Case shows need for good anchor watch MUCH has been written about the outrageous treatment meted out by the Korean courts to the ‘Hebei Two’, who I understand have now returned to their loved ones on bail.

However, the reasons for this treatment appear to have been generally ignored — but I have read in one publication that the ‘court’ considers that the incident could have been avoided if the Hebei Spirit had slacked back on her anchor cable. Thus, the implication is that the vessel was not in fact

C 5 x 2.indd 1

maintaining an anchor watch. If this is so, then the Koreans have good grounds for their actions.

In my experience, it seems that many ships nowadays only maintain a gangway watch and the seamanlike practise of having an officer of the watch on the bridge with a lookout has been abandoned. This is certainly the case in the Ko Sichang Deep Sea Anchorage, where I reside...

ROGER WOMERSLEY mem no 310660

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caught up and dragged the operator into the machinery.

Incidentally, my maternal grandfather lost an arm when his overall sleeve was dragged into a printing press he was operating, in 1908. Hard hats can be most uncomfortable, especially in very hot conditions. But ‘toetector’ shoes should always be worn rather that flimsy footwear.

The article on enclosed spaces is also of interest. During my early days at sea some ships in which I served carried a couple of miner’s safety lamps. These were used to test the atmosphere of enclosed spaces before any entry was attempted. A bit crude, perhaps, but very effective.

In my later years in a tanker, we had some quite sophisticated gas testers to check for various gases and those who were

to enter first wore breathing apparatus and carried a pocket-sized low oxygen alarm.

These alarms could only be switched off by removing the battery, by means of a special key. The batteries were removed after use and maintained on a charger, to ensure that they were always fully charged before use.

The greatest hazard, at sea, is still fatigue, and I campaigned on this matter for many years, including my 22 years service on Council. Recent surveys have shown that a drowsy, or fatigued, driver is a greater road hazard than a drunken one! Surely this also applies to a ship operator, deck or engineroom.

Keep up the good work and get some sort of international rule on this matter.

HENRY TOPPING mem no 46178

Belgian flag is an FoC WITH reference to the article

about the Belgian merchant marine published in the December issue of Nautilus UK Telegraph, I wonder whether it is meant to be sarcastic or if you are genuinely sharing the hypocrisy of the so called ‘experts’ you are referring to. Here is another expert opinion, mine, a Belgian master of 30 years.

That word, competitive, is used without moderation in the shipping industry.

Competitive at what price to the European seaman, when calculated in human misery and disappointments?

Is it possible that you do not know that millions of tons of bulk carriers under the Belgian flag are sailing without one Belgian on board, not because there are no candidates, but because Belgians are considered too expensive.

The company which operates these bulk carriers, as well as those of other Belgian owners, accept our CVs when we apply for a job but never follow up. The

27/1/09 16:00:53

branch manager, a woman, told me that they had assured their principals that they would not employ any Belgians...

There are Belgian reefers without one Belgian master, and no Belgian officers are employed there. Then, what about a well-known ferry company operating between Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. They have ferries sailing under the Belgian flag with Ukrainian masters and crew and they have ferries under the Luxembourg flag, some with a few Belgian masters, remnants of a former disused parent shipping company. All this because the owners of that ferry company do not want new Belgian officers and they refuse to have anything to do with the official Belgian employment body: the Belgian pool for seamen, which may as well be relocated to the maritime museum.

What else is left to say?...

That there is something rotten in the kingdom of Belgium?

That the people of Antwerp

know no shame? It is certain that everything there is for sale, including a so-called ‘tough trade union’. The few remaining good guys, like the Maritime Police no longer have a say anymore. All orders come from Brussels, rue d’Arlon.

I have been talking to these shipping company directors and apparently we do not understand ‘The Great Plan’.

Certainly too many

irregularities are committed there in the name of economic competition. It is sickening.

Where are the laws protecting the Belgian seaman? Are the regulations just for show?

It is the opinion of many Belgian masters that the Belgian flag should be declared a flag of convenience instead of being waved as a flag of success.

Capt CHRISTIAN ROSE

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18 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

Offensive letter is not the sort of thing this industry needs IN THE January Telegraph there was a letter from a ‘Laurence’ relating to SED. Is this letter fabricated by the Union to stimulate readers’ response? Or, is this guy real? More important, I very much doubt he is a member of our union and, if such is so, I would like to know why the letter was published?

I would also like to know his address, not so that I can go and visit him, but to actually find out where ‘Cuckoo Land’ is!

I find the letter offensive, I find the man ignorant with

Not a Mickey Mouse job...

ideas way above his station in life (certainly above his station onboard) and I think this is not the type of blatant troublemaking that we, in this industry, need. He does not have a boat as he puts it, and after that letter he certainly does not have any marine friends either. mem no 148241 The editor replies: the answer is that we do publish letters from non-members if they are judged to be of interest or relevance to members. In this case, the debate over the government’s latest move to restrict SED entitlements had initiated a lot of correspondence on the reasons why the concessions were introduced, and about the abuse of the system by non-seafarers. As a result, it was decided the letter would be of relevance in giving the views of a non-seafarer.

NAUTILUS UK member Trevor Boult took this photograph of some super-efficient ratguards being used by the passenger ship Thomson Celebration.

Do they work? Have you seen better? The Telegraph letters’ pages would love to hear more from members...

readers’ letters

What is MCA policy towards solo yachting and colregs?

I AGREE wholeheartedly with D. Gresham’s letter and I took the trouble to write the MCA to ask what their policy is on long distance single handed yachtsmen. I received the attached reply which I will let members make up their own minds what they think of it in comparison to the quite correct strict adherence the MCA require of Colreg 5 from British Merchant ships. I am particularly amused by the ‘sleep deprivation training’ as I have sailed with so many people who simply ‘die’ when they turn in.

Capt A.B. FERGUSON mem no 062885

Your letters of 12 January to Peter Cardy and 22 December to the Chief Nautical Surveyor have been passed to me for response. I apologise that it has taken so long to respond to you, but I only received your letters today.

Long distance single handed yacht racing has been undertaken for many years, however after Ellen MacArthur completed the Vendee Globe event in 2002, it was felt appropriate for the MCA to have an agreed approach to single handed races.

Rule5 of the COLREGS requires a lookout to be maintained at all times. When an incident has occurred and failure to maintain such a lookout has contributed to it, the

MCA will investigate and when appropriate prosecute such breaches. This is irrelevant of whether the vessel is large or small or manned by many or just a single person.

The issue of concern of course is when a single handed yachtsman undertakes a voyage exceeding approximately 18 hours, when it becomes impractical for them to maintain a continuous watch for longer than this period. I will point out that the UK only has jurisdiction over UK vessels and other vessels when they are within our 12 mile territorial limit. In developing the policy line the MCA took the view that it is better to have some degree of control over these activities than to attempt to ban them completely with the likely result that the vessels will register abroad and then claim not to commit any offences whilst within the UK waters.

The policy that was formulated and still adhered to is: 1) Allow organised events, that have an accepted safety regime, to take place.

This includes items such as active radar transponders, routes that clear shipping lanes as quickly as possible and sleep deprivation training, which enables controlled ‘cat napping’.

2) Allow other single-handed operations

to take place provided they comply with normal race requirements.

3) Investigate and where appropriate prosecute all single-handed Masters who have been involved in a marine incident.

This last point equally applies to any incident and upon completion of an investigation each case is considered on its own merits against the tests outlined in the Code for Crown Prosecutors and only if it passes both parts of that test does the matter go forward to a prosecution.

Since 2002 I have only been made aware of one incident under UK jurisdiction involving a long distance single handed yachtsman. That incident (a collision) was investigated, however although the matter passed the evidential test, it did not pass the second part of the test, involving the public interest. The matter was therefore closed by means of a caution issued in compliance with Home Office guidelines.

I hope the above explains the MCA position on these activities, but if you require any further explanation on this or why we rejected different approaches to the issue, I am happy to discuss.

JEREMY SMART Enforcement Unit Maritime & Coastguard Agency

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widening horizons

27/1/09 15:56:58

NAUTILUS ADDRESS AT MARITIME VOLUNTEERS’ AGM NAUTILUS industrial officer Garry Elliott, pictured above, was one of the speakers in a packed one-day programme at the Maritime Volunteer Service’s AGM at the Gateway Hotel, Nottingham, in January.

He made a presentation to the meeting explaining the relevance of Nautilus membership to the volunteer mariners who operate a substantial fleet of small craft based around the UK coast.

‘Like Nautilus, MVS is adapting to meet the challenges presented by the many changes within the maritime sector,’ Mr Elliott said, ‘and there are many similarities and synergies between the two organisations.’

A wide range of topics were covered at the AGM. In the ‘official business’ part of the agenda, changes to the MVS Articles were considered — including the appointment of external trustees. Several delegates wondered out loud whether any retired or shore-based Nautilus members would be interested taking on this role.

Chairman Malcolm Guyatt said that when he moved on, he wanted to hand over a ‘happier and healthier MVS’ to his successor. He wanted the MVS to be a happy and focused, well administered organisation where volunteer members found enjoyment and satisfaction; and where, as a result, there would be new members forming a queue to join. And at the end of the AGM he assured delegates that he believed great progress was being made towards his goals.

Recently appointed Chief Staff Officer, and master mariner, Elfyn Hughes gave brief details of his visits to several units since his appointment last summer. He hoped to visit all 30 or so units around the country in due course, but was mindful of the cost implications.

Other presentations reflected the large amount of activity that is going on at units around the coast and the potential for playing a larger role in contingency response, and also a possible role during the Olympics in 2012.

During the past year MVS volunteers around the country had provided safety cover at maritime events, large and small, supported the MCA during the Ice Prince incident, been involved in training youth groups and taken part in maritime careers events — all in addition to carrying out unit training at regional and national level.

As always, the MVS is keen to welcome experienced seafarers — serving and retired — into its ranks. In addition, right now, to help take the MVS forward the charity is particularly looking for people with financial and administrative expertise who could take voluntary positions in its national administration, including as treasurer. Nautilus members wishing to find out more should call 0845 3700701 or visit the MVS website: www.mvs.org.uk

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 19

piracy

MIKE GERBER talks to a member held by pirates for 57 days...

NAUTILUS member James Grady was safely back

at home in Scotland last month following a 57-day ordeal in which he was held captive by Somali pirates on the VLCC Sirius Star.

The second engineer officer was one of two British seafarers — the other was chief engineer Peter French — taken hostage when the 318,000dwt Vela International Marine-owned tanker was seized off the coast of Kenya in November.

The 25 crew — which also included Polish, Saudi Arabian and Filipino nationals — were held captive on the ship — which was carrying about 2.2m barrels of oil worth some $100m — while ransom negotiations were thrashed out.

‘It started on 15 November. By about 8.55 the pirates were onboard and at 09.12, there was an order from the bridge to stop,’ recalls James. ‘It wasn’t a total surprise. They were first spotted about an hour before they got onboard, about two miles away, in a speedboat, specks in the ocean.’

What was surprising was where the invasion took place — some 450nm SE of Mombasa, far to the south of the world’s ‘hottest’ pirate zone off Somalia.

‘Initially we were all scared about what was going to happen next,’ James says. ‘We had visions of being locked up in one cabin.’

But to the crew’s relief, that never happened.

However, the pirates soon got busy. ‘They started doing the stealing, going round the cabins taking mobile phones, cash, etc. They did that several times. I was visited five times by them personally,’ says James. ‘I had hidden most of my stuff, but I lost about £100 in cash, various currencies, my wallet and watch.’

Pirate raids on the engineroom were less frequent. ‘We told them it was too dangerous to go round on their own, and they were always scared when they came down. They only came down about four times, just to rummage through drawers in the control room for mobile phones, cash, not

Pirate boats at the stern of the Vela Maritime VLCC Sirius Star PICTURE: US NAVY during the ordeal off the coast of Somalia

Sirius Star second engineer officer James Grady took these pictures of pirates onboard his vessel. The orange canister contains the ransom money that was paid to secure their release tools. When they took mobile phones, they gave the sim card back. They weren’t interested in credit cards.’

Sirius Star was made to sail some 500 miles to the pirates’ anchor zone. ‘Once we were off Somalia, we didn’t know how many people were onboard, because we weren’t allowed outside, except about five minutes,’ James says. ‘So we never got to see how many there were, but my guesstimate is there were about 20 to 25 at any one time. They did shifts; they changed about every four days. I think it was very much a cottage industry, no big cheese ashore, just the guys we could see. There were 33 left on the ship onboard in the last two days, because I took photos of them from the funnel.’

Relations varied with the pirates during the 57-day ordeal, but mostly they treated crew members quite well, James feels. ‘We went about normal daily business without too much trouble, running the engine as normal, jobs that they could not do. A lot of it was making up jobs to keep the lads busy, to keep their minds off the situation they were in.’

Colleagues on the bridge were under greater stress, James could see. ‘They [the pirates] were with them all the time, they slept up there, they ate up there. The bridge weren’t at all happy about it, were quite stressed about it, you could see it in them.

‘These guys were going about with Kalashnikovs, and the guns would fall off their shoulder onto the deck. The biggest fear we had was that someone would get shot by accident. They shot one of their own guys by accident. We don’t know what happened to that guy, we heard a burst of automatic fire, and they brought him in to see the chief mate with an injury to his arm, the bullet still in it.’

Much of the time, the pirates chewed on a drug

called mirra (or khat). This, says James, made them ‘spaced out’ and calm. ‘When they had plenty of mirra, life was sweet. When they were without it, they were a bit more twitchy.’

The hairiest incident, he remembers, was on the night of 2 December. ‘There had been a shift change, five new guys onboard, and they thought they were being attacked from the stern.’ What made them jumpy was that they had spotted a light flashing to the stern. In fact, the beam was coming from a lighthouse about 15 miles away.

‘Stupid bandits,’ says James. ‘The captain persuaded them it was a lighthouse because he showed them the chart. That night I was the duty engineer, and I got phone call from bridge, and when I got there I found Somalis very, very nervous. It took a long time to persuade them — they always thought we were up to something. That was a very scary night; that really brought it home to us what they were. It calmed down again the next day.’

Crew members were worried about what their families were feeling. ‘They couldn’t see the day to day situation, and imagination runs away with you.’

Occasionally, the pirates allowed calls home from the bridge. ‘The primary thing to convey that was that we were safe and in no immediate danger, because the pirates’ main thing was the ship; we were an inconvenience in a way,’ James adds.

‘They were supplying their own food most of time; towards the end they ate more and more of our food, but we were never short of food or water.

The last few weeks they allowed us to go fishing, forward of the accommodation on the main deck.

It did help food last longer.’

The crew’s ordeal finally ended when $2m ransom money was air-dropped to the pirates. ‘We

were aware of the negotiations, but weren’t party to it at any time. They [Vela] really were concerned about our safety — that really came across, because when the money was being dropped on 9 January, we were all on deck, 10ft apart so that plane could count us to make sure we were all there, and then it passed a second time and dropped half the money by parachute into the sea. Then about two in the afternoon, the plane came back again with the second half of the money.

‘Half of them departed about 4.30 that afternoon, then there was a boat accident, one of their boats capsized, at the time we were told there were four guys missing. Because the boat capsized, that delayed us. The remaining pirates left on 10 January.’

Seafarers tend to be stoic; James believes Peter French put it well in a Mail on Sunday interview: ‘At sea shit happens, and you deal with it.’

Even so, Vela has employed an occupational therapist to advise crew members about the possibility of post-traumatic stress.

‘The doctor told us that sometimes this kind of thing can happen months later,’ says James. ‘For the present, I know the five Europeans [crew members] are happy with their lot; the company has compensated us for the loss of personal gear and money.’

James says he supports the deployment of more warships to deter piracy. But the Sirius Star crew were furious about an incident they learned about while being held hostage. ‘A German warship caught pirates, and on orders of the German government, they disarmed them, according to the BBC, and sent them back to Somalia. This made us very annoyed that they should just disarm them and send them back, that they should let them off so lightly, because they just get new guns and come back again.’

20 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

safety at sea

The cargo manifest of one severely damaged container decleared the contents as toys, but in fact contained Thiourea Dioxide

MIS-STOWAGE and mis-declaration of containers and their contents are presenting increasing risks to the safety of ships and their crews. Evidence shows that as many as half of all loads are up to 20% overweight or 15% underweight — and on modern ‘mega’ boxships, such discrepancies can mean the difference between a stable or an unstable vessel.

This was one of the alarming findings presented to a seminar on the safe stuffing, stowage, and o ssecuring of cargo transport units on ships, hosted by the SE of o England Branch of the Nautical Institute.

Dr Chris Foster JH Burgoyne & Partners

The event followed on from the success of an earlier seminar, entitled ‘undeclared hazardous goods: causes and consequences’ and attracted a most encouraging delegate attendance from several disciplines in the transport industry.

The keynote address was delivered by Captain John Leach, Maersk Line’s general manager of global dangerous cargo management, who asked the question ‘Is trust enough?’.

He illustrated in detail the chain of responsibility in the stuffing and carriage of container cargo, which starts with the

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manufacturer being responsible for the classification of dangerous goods as per the IMDG Code.

The links include the consignor/ shipper and the consolidator (aka stuffer) before the container is presented for shipment.

It is then the carrier’s responsibility for correct stowage and declaration — but if there is a break in the trust in the chain, there is the risk of liability of anyone in that chain for their own failure.

Keith Bradley, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s hazardous goods advisor, gave information on changes in the IMDG regulations in the form of amendment 34-08, which came into force on a voluntary basis from 1 January 2009 and will be mandatory from 1 January 2010.

The significant change is the mandatory need for training for anyone involved in the shipping of cargo subject to IMDG, and for training records to be maintained.

Persons under training are required to work under supervision until suitably qualified.

Changes are also to be made in the categories and the labelling of marine pollutants.

‘What happens when things go wrong?’ was a graphic presentation by Dr Chris Foster, of JH

Burgoyne and Partners, whose company has the task of causal investigation into marine casualties. Many of his slides showed containers severely distorted due to decomposition and extensive contamination — not to mention the severe damage to the ship in way of the stowage position.

We were introduced to a substance declared as ‘Tjoptrfa Dopxod’. It was alleged that a Chinese manufacturer had renamed Thiourea Dioxide to disguise its true identity.

The cargo manifest of one severely damaged container declared the contents as toys, but in fact contained Thiourea Dioxide. Such is the consequence of the betrayal of trust.

Jim Chubb, from BMT Marine and Offshore Surveys, described the damage caused to containers by the inappropriate stowage of cargo within the container. Some of the examples clearly showed a total lack of understanding of the shipping process and the rigours of sea transport.

Peregrine Storrs-Fox, risk management director at the TT Club, said as many as one in three containers hold incorrectly stowed cargo but, if cargo is securely packed, it can survive almost anything. The cargo must be adequately prepared for or

PICTURE: REUTERS

protected from all the motional forces likely to be encountered during carriage, reasonable mishap (eg rough seas) and climatic changes.

However, the loss of a 4,419TEU containership in the English Channel in January 2007 was caused by hull failure in heavy seas. Analysis showed that there was a weight mis-declaration of some 1,250 MT, and there were mis-stowed or mis-declared deck containers.

In another case in February 2007, in the Baltic Sea, heavy seas caused seven 30ft containers to collapse. The maximum allowable stacking weight had been exceeded by a considerable amount.

The prime objective of this seminar was educational, and it was hoped that delegates left with increased knowledge and a formalised plan improve or seek to improve the safe carriage of cargoes within container transport units. The SE of England Branch believe that the objectives were achieved, and would wish to place on record our appreciation of the generous support from our sponsors — the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, NorfolkLine (Dover-Dunkerque Ferries), Stena Line, and the Port of London Authority.

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 21

health and safety

In the dark: shipping operations run right around the clock, but Nautilus says that is no excuse for seafarers not being able to get their rest entitlements FATIGUE continues to be a major campaign issue for Nautilus — with mounting evidence to show it presents a serious threat both to safety and to the health and wellbeing of seafarers.

Concerns over the scale of the problem — and the industry’s failure, so far, to address it — were discussed by members attending last month’s Nautilus professional and technical committee.

The Union is now part of a Europe-wide project to produce new research into the ways in which long hours impact on safe operations, and officials are also lobbying the authorities for better enforcement of the national and international regulations that seek to control work and rest hours at sea.

Considerable work is also being carried out by the seafaring unions as part of the International Maritime Organisation’s review of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention — with concerted efforts to improve the way in which minimum safe manning levels are determined.

‘Seafarer fatigue is a scandal, and continues to feature as a key cause in far too many maritime accidents,’ said general secretary Brian Orrell. ‘We are ensuring that there is a very robust and proactive approach being taken in the IMO discussions ‘However, it is clear that the EU has been coordinating member states to oppose any radical change in the existing arrangements and we believe that it is abrogating its responsibilities for seafarers.

‘There is now a wealth of evidence to show that crew numbers must be made to properly reflect the realities of operating demands at

sea,’ he added. ‘It is evident, too, that major efforts must be made to check compliance with the existing regulations — with port state control inspectors treating work and rest hour requirements with the same sort of priority given to structural defects onboard ships.’

At present, ILO Convention 180 requires flag states to fix maximum limits of hours of work or minimum rest periods for seafarers on their ships. The rules also require schedules of service at sea and in port (including maximum hours of work or minimum periods of rest per day and per week) to be drawn up in consultation with the crew, or their representatives, and to be posted onboard, where all seafarers can see them. Records of hours of work or rest periods must be maintained, and must be examined by the flag state. If such records show evidence that the hours of work provisions are being infringed, the competent authority should require measures to be taken in response — including, if necessary, the revision of the manning of the ship.

The European working time rules for seafarers set minimum rest periods of 10 hours per day and 77 hours per week — allowing maximum daily working hours of 14, and 91 over a week.

However, more than 2% of Nautilus NL and UK members surveyed in 2007 said they worked 16 or more hours per day and 2.4% more than 100 hours a week. More than 30% were unable to regularly get 10 hours rest in every 24, and almost 12% were unable to get at least six hours of unbroken rest in every 24.

Another study, recently published by the Finnish accident investigation board, showed 17% of seafarers had fallen asleep at least once whilst on watch, and more than 40% had

been close to nodding off whilst on watch at least once in the previous five years.

Around 12% of those taking part in the Nautilus Federation survey said their working hours were always or frequently misrecorded, and a further 28.3% considered this to be the case at least occasionally.

‘It really is essential that members keep accurate, truthful and contemporaneous records of their hours,’ says senior national secretary Allan Graveson.

‘Not only is this required by national and international regulations, but such records may also be an important defence for members unfortunate enough to be involved in an incident,’ he points out.

‘Members should not be frightened to record hours in excess of the regulations,’ Mr Graveson says. ‘Often there is a feeling that it is not what the company wants to hear — but false records can be a very serious offence in some countries, and in the US you could be looking at up to 10 years imprisonment if found guilty.

‘If the limits are being regularly exceeded, it should be brought to the attention of shore management, and masters should be prepared to ask for additional resources,’ he adds, ‘and an effective ISM process should also identify the recording of hours of work and rest.’

Members with concerns about fatigue should raise them through onboard safety committees, or with the ISM designated person ashore, the Union advises.

If the problems persist, members should approach the Union in confidence, or use the Confidential Human factors Incident Reporting Programme (CHIRP).

WHY YOU NEED TO GET YOUR SLEEP...

SLEEP is essential for health and safety at sea. Lack of sleep has serious effects on the brain’s ability to function, reducing key cognitive skills such as speech, memory, and flexible thinking.

After just one night without sleep, concentration becomes more difficult and attention span shortens considerably. With continued lack of sufficient sleep, the part of the brain that controls language, memory, planning and sense of time is severely affected, practically shutting down.

In fact, 17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (two glasses of wine) — the legal drink driving limit in the UK. One American study found that tired junior doctors were nearly six times more likely to make serious diagnostic errors than those who were not tired.

Long-term lack of sleep can also have serious consequences for overall health and well-being, leading to a greater risk of a number of diseases, which include: ✪ heart disease ✪ depression ✪ diabetes ✪ obesity There is no set amount of time that everyone needs to sleep, since it varies from person to person. Research suggests that most people sleep anywhere between 5 and 11 hours, with the average being 7.75 hours.

An ICM research survey commissioned by Horlicks showed: ✪ 75% of the UK population wake up exhausted each day ✪ six out of 10 people in the UK do not wind down regularly ✪ 42% of people sleep badly some or most nights ✪ 64% of people get less than 8 hours sleep each night; 32% of people get less than 6 hours ✪ adults get an average of 7 hours sleep per night — at the turn of century, the average was 9 hours ✪ approximately one-third of people who visit their doctor complain about their sleep

22 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 23

MCA cuts ‘a threat to UK flag quality’ safety at sea

THE Maritime & Coastguard Agency is ‘struggling’ to meet inspection targets, says an official report...

With fewer surveyors, the Agency is now struggling to inspect the increased fleet, which could put at risk the quality advantage of the UK flag Tim Burr Auditor General National Audit Office

NAUTILUS UK concerns that the standards of the red ensign fleet are being undermined by the rapid influx of foreign-owned tonnage have been upheld in a report by the government spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office inquiry into the Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s response to the growth of the UK merchant fleet warns that ‘there are signs that the quality advantage of the UK flag, which came from its high standing in international rankings, is starting to erode’.

It also warns that shortages in surveyor numbers meant that the Agency failed last year to meet inspection targets for the first time, and is set to do so again in the current year.

‘Failure to meet its targets will increase the risk that UK vessels which do not comply with regulations operate without detection in UK ports and waters,’ the report adds.

The NAO report was produced in an attempt to assess the way in which the MCA has handled the expansion in the merchant fleet following the introduction of the tonnage tax in 2000, while continuing to assure the quality of the UK flag.

It points out that ‘the Agency faces significant challenges as its capacity to meet ship inspection targets is stretched; international competition for skilled mariners intensifies; and competing flags improve their performance, eroding the UK’s quality advantage’.

The scale of the challenges is underlined by figures showing that the number of UK merchant ships increased from 1,050 to 1,518 since the launch of the tonnage tax and the end of 2007.

And, to match the growth of the fleet, the number of certificates of equivalent competency being issued by the MCA rose 46% between 2003-4 and 2007-8.

Even though owners had pledged to switch significant numbers of ships to the UK flag if the tonnage tax was approved, the NAO found that that MCA had failed to make specific plans for handling the workload associated with potential growth before the scheme was launched in 2000.

No assessment was made by the MCA of likely fleet growth on its workloads and resource requirements — and it failed to carry out any detailed work to forecast potential fleet growth until 2006.

‘The Agency has no plans for dealing w with any further increase in the merchant f fleet,’ the report points out. ‘Its response to w workload pressures has been a mixture of d delegation of some survey work to classificcation societies, and annual prioritisation o of inspections between broad classes of

Under pressure: Nautilus says the NAO report has upheld its concerns that surveyor numbers have failed to match the increasing demands for ship survey and inspection vessels at national level.’

In fact, ship survey and inspection work rose by some 33% between 1999-2000 and 2007-8. The MCA also took on a number of new responsibilities, including implementation of the International Ship & Port Facilities Security Code, an extension of the ISM Code to cargo vessels trading internationally, and the domestic passenger safety management code.

The NAO said inspection demands have been added to because the trading pattern of UK ships has changed — with more than half of the fleet not calling in to UK ports in 2007, compared with onethird in 2000. As a result, the MCA carried out some 25% of its survey and inspection work for merchant vessels overseas in 2007-8 compared with just 5% in 2000-1.

Workload was also increased by the number of seafarer certificates having to be issued for seafarers serving on the ships coming to the UK register. Between 2003-4 and 2007-8 alone, the total rose

The NAO looked at issues such as certificate GRAPHICS: NAO procedures and detention rates

from around 6,400 to 7,700 — although the NAO points out that this was ‘almost entirely attributable to growth in the issue of UK CECs’.

Although the MCA still retains in-house all the inspection work and the survey work related to safety standards, the amount of statutory survey work being delegated to classification societies has risen from around 80% in 1999 to some 85% now.

The report notes concerns among surveyors and some owners and operators that ‘if the Agency delegated more of its survey work it would run the risk of losing the core capacity essential to maintaining a strong flag state role’.

MCA surveyors told NAO investigators that shortages are ‘constraining their ability to undertake comprehensive surveys and inspections, and to achieve targets’.

The number of marine surveyors in post in 2007-8 was 158, compared with a complement of 178, while the marine

offices had a staff complement of 141, but only 122 staff in post.

The report warns that recruitment and retention problems are set to increase, with more surveyors heading for retirement, a reduction in the pool of suitably qualified personnel, and difficulties in competing on pay and conditions (around one-third of the surveyors who resigned in the past four years gave pay as a reason).

Industrial action over pay in 2007-8, the report adds, had ‘compromised the Agency’s ability to undertake inspections of high-risk overseas flagged vessels at weekends’.

The NAO notes that in 2007-8 the MCA failed to meet its targets for the inspection of UK and dependent territory vessels — with the inspection shortfalls affecting small passenger and fishing vessels in particular.

It expresses concern about indications that the quality of the UK fleet is being eroded, with the gap between UK detention rates and those of other flags narrowing in recent years. ‘The proportion of UK vessels detained overseas because they are not fit to go to sea remains amongst the lowest for any flag state, but the rest of the world is catching up,’ the report adds.

The NAO found that since the start of 2002, the MCA blocked a total of 91 ships from joining the UK register because of concerns about their quality. However, the report notes, ‘there is a legacy of poorer quality vessels from the early period of growth when flagging-in tests were not as demanding’.

And, it warns, ‘It is not only legacy ships, however, which are found wanting at overseas inspections. Between January 2007 and March 2008, nine of the 18 UK vessels detained or found to have more than 10 deficiencies when inspected by a Paris MoU member state had joined the UK fleet since 2003.

NAO investigators also examined the checks carried out by the MCA when considering applications to sit officer examinations, or to be issued with CECs or certificates of competency, and reviewed a sample of applications to ensure that these checks are working.

The investigation also included a survey of ship masters, carried out with the support of Nautilus, which found that 80% of those responding felt the overall standard of MCA inspections and surveys was good — broadly similar to a similar survey conducted in 2000.

MCA URGED TO MEET CHALLENGE THE National Audit Office report makes a series of recommendations for the MCA to more effectively meet the challenges it is facing, including: ✪ assess the prospects for the size and composition of the UK fleet over a rolling five-year period, and develop regularly updated plans for carrying out its core responsibilities as a flag state which consider the likely range of scenarios ✪ develop a recruitment strategy to fill its current surveyor vacancies, aimed at filling surveyor posts at all levels of experience, including a graduate ✪ recruitment scheme ✪ make effective use of surveyors’ time by seeking to schedule survey work in advance through liaison with ship owners and operators ✪ in the face of difficulties in recruiting and retaining enough skilled surveyors to meet its workload, the Agency should adopt a strategic method for delegating more survey work to classification societies, rather than using delegation to cover gaps as they arise ✪ work with the Department for Transport to review survey and certification fees regularly and

set them at levels more likely to achieve full cost recovery ✪ monitor inspection results to identify deficiencies on UK ships discovered by overseas inspectors which the UK does not appear to pick up ✪ analyse and advise surveyors on the reasons for increases in the deficiency rate of UK vessels in the North Atlantic trading area ✪ use data systems to identify risk trends and patterns, so that the Agency can target survey, inspection and assurance activities ✪ increase the proportion of inspections of UK merchant vessels which are performed on high-risk vessels ✪ highlight deficiencies found during inspections of detained or heavily deficient UK vessels which classification societies should have picked up during a recent survey

NAUTILUS has welcomed the NAO report on the MCA — arguing that it demonstrates the need for the government to boost the Agency’s staffing and resources.

‘State spending on shipping lags behind other transport sectors, despite its increasingly significant contribution to the national economy,’ said general secretary Brian Orrell. ‘We are concerned that the relatively low level of government spending on the maritime sector translates through to severe economic pressures on the MCA, which in turn have resulted in proposals for changes in the way it delivers its services.’

The Union argues that the significant expansion of the UK merchant fleet, coupled with the growth in the issue of CECs and the additional survey and inspection demands generated by the surge in seaborne trade over the past decade, should have led to a matching increase in the survey and inspection resources at the MCA. In fact, surveyor numbers have fallen — and the Union fears this reduces the ability of the MCA to enforce key safety regulations, including seafarers’ hours of work and rest, and onboard working conditions.

Mr Orrell said Nautilus does

MCA chief executive Peter Cardy said he is planning to address recruitment issues not agree with the NAO’s call for more MCA work to be done by classification societies. ‘Already, some 85% of statutory survey work is delegated by the MCA and we are concerned that this dilutes the Agency’s ability to directly monitor and enforce safety standards as well as removing such responsibilities from a “state” framework which is both independent and free from commercial or competitive pressures.’

Mr Orrell said he was disappointed that the NAO report had failed to analyse in depth the impact of the increasing num-

UNION’S EVIDENCE SHOWED PRESSURE FACING SURVEYORS NAUTILUS presented the National Audit Office with extensive evidence to back up its concerns about the increasing pressures faced by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency in upholding high standards on UK ships.

The Union warned of practical problems in responding to the additional survey and certification requirements arising from the influx of tonnage to the UK flag, and highlighted the long-term impact of financial pressures on the MCA. It highlighted the way in which the number of surveyors involved in survey and inspection work has fallen at a time of continued increases in demands on MCA professionals.

Nautilus told the NAO that it believes cuts in MCA staffing and restructuring of operations announced last year amount to cutbacks, which were driven by financial pressures.

The Union said that while UK-flagged vessels have a markedly superior safety record than the world fleet average, and the UK register also boasts one of the world’s best port-state control inspection/ detention ratios, ‘there is no room for complacency and that there are a number of recent trends (supported by significant case histories), which give cause for concern’.

It pointed to a rise in the rolling average of crew deaths on UK registered merchant vessels (from 2.7 in 2000-2 to 4.0 in 2004-6), and an increase in the three-year rolling average of accidents involving UK-registered merchant ships from 132 in 2000-2 to 150 in 2004-6

A Maritime & Coastguard Agency surveyor at work. Nautilus said their numbers must increase to cope with new regulations, such as the Maritime Labour Convention (although this masks an improvement in the rolling average per 1,000 vessels at risk).

‘Nautilus is proud of the UK ship register’s long record as a flag of quality and believes that the favourable loss and detention records are a testament to the skills and professionalism of seafarers, and of the MCA’s commitment to maintaining standards in the face of intense pressure on resources,’ the submission stated. ‘However, whilst the PSC and loss rates are generally exceptional, we do note with concern the statistics showing that the percentage of UK-registered ships found with deficiencies rose from 37.3% in 2005 to 40.7% in 2006, whilst the percentage detained rose from 1.8% to 2.6% in the same period.’

bers of CECs being granted by the MCA. ‘The MCA is meant to ensure that holders meet certain basic standards, however Nautilus is concerned that even these low level checks are failing to ensure the application of fundamental safety principles,’ he pointed out.

However, if the issue of CECs is restricted to the numbers actually required by shipping companies, the administrative burden on the MCA will be significantly reduced, Mr Orrell pointed out.

Tim Burr, head of the NAO, said the report had shown that ‘with fewer surveyors, the Agency

is now struggling to inspect the increased fleet, which could put at risk the quality advantage of the UK flag. Better recruitment and succession planning will be needed, along with more strategic delegation to the classification societies’.

MCA chief executive Peter Cardy said the NAO had shown how the Agency had supported the growth of the merchant fleet without significant extra resources.

‘Rightly, the NAO report also drew our attention to increased workloads and surveyor shortages, which will mean that the Agency needs to improve its planning of work and resources,’ he admitted.

Mr Cardy said the Agency is planning to improve its recruitment to address the difficulties in finding and retaining people with the right skills, and the competition for experienced maritime surveyors.

And, he added, ‘In difficult and challenging economic times, the Agency, like many other organisations, will find it difficult to make long term predictions and plans. Our aim will be to remain flexible and adaptable to changes in the shipping industry, while still leading globally in customer focus and service.’

Nautilus UK said it was disturbed by signs that the MCA is under growing political and commercial pressure to attract tonnage to the UK flag, and that its role in promoting the UK Ship Register can inherently conflict with its role as safety watchdog.

It also highlighted the cases of the Hyundai Dominion (where an MAIB report revealed problems such as breaches of the working time rules, communication difficulties amongst the multinational crew, and deck officers unable to use the engine controls on the bridge), the Morning Miracle (where the Union contended that fire-fighting arrangements breached the intentions of the IMO International Safety of Life (SOLAS) Convention 1974 as amended), and the Maersk Doha (where an MAIB report highlighted safety issues including communication difficulties among the multinational crew and shortcomings in maintenance, emergency drills and procedures).

The Union said there is a serious need for measures to address low morale and to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of skilled and experienced professionals. ‘MCA surveyors and coastguards provide vital safety and emergency support and it is unacceptable that their conditions of service are such that they feel it necessary to embark upon industrial action,’ the submission added.

‘Given the recent adoption of the ISPS Code and a growing trend within port state control to focus on “human factor” issues, Nautilus would question whether there has been further resources and support to assist with the enforcement of regulatory initiatives in these areas,’ it argued. ‘The commitment to adopt and implement the ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention 2006 will significantly increase the need for surveyors to have competence in dealing with a very wide range of “human element” and social measures — ranging from terms and conditions of employment to hours of work and rest — and it is essential that there are sufficient surveyors, suitably trained and experienced, to police these standards.’

The Union told the NAO inquiry that shipping remains an essential industry for the UK, and given the huge potential costs, environmental damage and loss of life that can arise as a result of maritime accidents, it makes economic sense for adequate investment in the MCA to ensure the safe and efficient operations of all shipping running in and out of UK ports.

24 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 25

New drive to push shipping careers training

TRIALS of a planned new scheme to promote MN careers in a positive and consistent way took place in London last month.

Mike Gerber met the members taking part in the project...

training

The Careers at Sea Ambassadors get stuck in at their training workshop VOLUNTEERS in a pilot scheme to enlighten young people about shipping careers know now what they’ll be walking into when they visit secondary schools this spring — organised chaos!

But, far from being deterred, the eight ‘Careers at Sea Ambassadors’ who attended an inaugural training workshop on the scheme last month are eager to get out there and promote awareness of the excellent education, training and career oppor-

tunities in the Merchant Navy.

The Careers at Sea Ambassadors pilot project was set up by the Merchant Navy Training Board (MNTB), with support from Nautilus and The Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC), and part-funding from the Department for Transport.

The project aims to ensure that a clear and consistent message about MN careers is given to young people, and last month’s meeting evaluated the effective-

ness of a PowerPoint presentation and other resources that have been produced for the ambassadors to use with their target audiences.

T he new promotional resources were produced for MNTB by the educational consultancy EBC, who will evaluate the pilot project based on feedback from the ambassadors and from separate questionnaires distributed to teachers, other group leaders, and to the target

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audience. This will ensure lessons can be learned from the pilot before the scheme is rolled out nationally from September.

Careers at Sea Ambassadors’ resources will then be made available to anyone interested in raising awareness about MN careers in their local area.

All pilot ambassadors have extensive seafaring experience, though some now work ashore and others are retired. Their aim during the pilot will be to deliver presentations to one or two target audiences between March and May — which may include school visits, and youth, church, scout and guide groups, sailing clubs and army cadets, and Duke of Edinburgh award events.

Mike Ahlquist, EBC’s managing director, advised the ambassadors that schools may seem like ‘organised chaos’ — but assured them that they are actually very highly structured environments.

‘This isn’t only about young people,’ said Glenys Jackson, MNTB head of education, training and careers. ‘Because as a Careers at Sea ambassador, you’re an ambassador anytime you’re alongside any group of people. So do take whatever opportunities you get to talk to people. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Women’s Institute, because they’re going to have children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces.’

And Beth Richmond, MNTB careers coordinator, said the ambassadors could present many positive messages — including degree-level training without the costs faced by most other students.

All the training routes are sponsored, she added, and on qualification trainees will get early responsibility and salaries starting at between £20,000 to £25,000.

Other key messages will include the use of high-tech equipment, the variety of the work, and

the wide range of marine-related opportunities ashore.

‘But you do need to remember that we’re not just putting a gloss on the whole thing,’ concluded Glenys Jackson. ‘We need to tell it as it is.’ ✪ The Telegraph asked Careers at Sea Ambassadors at the pilot project workshop why they had volunteered.

Steuart Barlow, a Nautilus member serving on Falkland Islands Fishery Patrol vessels, said he faced problems in finding good careers advice when he wanted to join the MN a decade ago. ‘Because of my experiences of finding how hard it was to join the MN with no information about it, I thought well it would be good for me to go round the schools.’

Nautilus member Captain Emma Tiller, first went to sea 20 years ago as a Trinity House cadet and now works ashore as BP marine superintendent at Hamble Terminal, Southampton.

‘I think it’s very important that we excite young people about the sea because it is a great opportunity to be part of this massive maritime industry,’ she said.

‘When you go to sea you learn a lot of skills and trades which will help you in shore-side employment. When I came ashore I didn’t really know what was out there, and there wasn’t that much help given to me. So it took me a while to find a job which I could do and adore.’

Another member, Rick Rouse, began his MN cadetship aged 18 then worked for Holland America.

Six months ago he was recruited as second officer working on a 2,000-tonne Saudi royal yacht with 24 other crew. ‘I’m an apprentice with the Honourable Company of Master Mariners who have helped me a lot over the years with support from my mentor. So I wanted to give a little bit back. They contacted me and asked me if I’d do this. I thought I could use my connections, as my step-mum is a head-teacher.’

Other ambassadors at last month’s pilot meeting included Ian Spreadborough, formerly at sea, and now MD of the Ship Safe Training Group (SSTG). His involvement in the project came about mainly through his work with his local Sea Cadet unit in Gillingham. Nautilus member James Langley, now manning and training adviser at the International Shipping Federation, volunteered to be a Careers at Sea ambassador, as has MSSC director (Merchant Navy) Capt Ian Smith, retired officer Neville Cresdee, and retired member Capt Peter Swift — who commented: ‘I would love to introduce young people to something that, for me, has been a fantastic career.’

REVEALED: A SCHOOL PUPIL’S VIEWS ON SHIPPING Glasgow g College g of Nautical Studies cadets get g their taste of life at sea onboard the CalMac ferryy Caledonian Isles last month

CALMAC GIVES CADETS THEIR SEA LEGS CALEDONIAN MacBrayne has once again helped to give Glasgow Nautical College cadets a taste of life at sea.

A total of 28 phase one deck cadets last month completed two round-trips onboard the CalMac ro-pax vessel Caledonian Isles, which operates on the Ardrossan-Brodick route.

During their time onboard, the cadets were able to make supervised visits to the bridge, engine control room and passenger areas. They also got the chance to view a typical officer’s cabin, as well as the ship’s office, mess rooms and other domestic facilities.

The cadets were shown mooring operations during docking and undocking operations, and were taken on to the vehicle deck to be shown vehicle stowage, mezzanine decks, vehicle securing arrangements and fire-fighting installations.

Accompanied by Greg Maitland, from GCNS, and Jim Downie and Lesley Blanch from Clyde Marine Training, the cadets were welcomed onboard by CalMac’s marine and training manager Captain Norman Jones, and company training officer Stephen Horne.

Mr Maitland said the visit gave the cadets — many of which had not set foot on a ship before — a good insight of what they might expect when they join their first vessel. It also helped to put into perspective much of what they had been learning at college. The cadets certainly asked many questions and showed great enthusiasm for the event.

Capt Jones said he was particularly grateful to Captain Colin Bain, chief engineer Jim MacAuley, onboard services manager Alistair Gillies, and the officers and crew for making the event a great success.

FOURTEEN-year-old London school pupil ESTHER COLLINS, above, spent a week with Nautilus last month gaining some work experience. We asked her what she knew about the shipping industry, and what the industry could do to make it an attractive career choice for young people...

1. Before coming to Nautilus, what did you know about the shipping industry?

I didn’t know much — in fact I knew barely anything about the industry, except it was massive and ships were routed going from one side of the world to the other!

2. Do you think it is right to describe it as an invisible industry for young people?

Well I think the only recognition of the shipping industry by young people would be if they ever ordered something from another country — or even through certain TV programmes, in which I have seen cargo ships and workers being involved.

3. Can you have a guess what percentage of Britain’s imports and exports come and go on ships?

I would estimate around 55% perhaps? Or even slightly more.

SIGNS of growing interest in seafaring careers have been reported by South Tyneside College — which has reported a three-fold increase in numbers attending its annual marine ‘open day’ this year.

Following a marketing campaign that included TV, press and online advertising, more than 300 potential recruits from all over the UK visited the event — with some coming from as far away as Belfast and Kent.

Potential students got the chance to talk to major maritime employers — including Carnival, Ship Safe Training Group, James Fisher, Maersk, Viking Recruitment, Trinity House, Royal Fleet Auxiliary,

Clyde Marine Training and Bibby International, — as well as meeting experts from the Merchant Navy Training Board, and having the chance to try out the college’s marine simulators.

Gary Hindmarch, head of the marine college, said: ‘We have been overwhelmed at the success of our marine recruitment campaign. Last year’s event attracted 120 people — the highest number for many years — but on Saturday this record was well and truly shattered with a staggering 310 youngsters through our doors.

‘We’re confident that the vast majority of these youngsters will go on to sign up for a maritime career.’

4. What sort of jobs do you think the shipping industry offers to young people?

Off the top of my head, I would say engineering possibly and anything involved in keeping the ship afloat and loading the ship up with cargo and so on.

5. Have you ever heard of the sort of jobs that are on offer in the maritime sector?

No, I am afraid to say, I haven’t.

6. Would you think they are well paid?

Probably not, it doesn’t seem like the sort of job that offers a lot of pay.

Serving Merchant Navy officers helped to promote maritime careers at South Tyneside College’s open day last month. Prospective officer trainees travelled from as far away as Northern Ireland and Kent to attend the event, with overall numbers up threefold from the previous year

7. What sort of things do you think would be good about working in the shipping industry?

Travelling would be good, and taking in all that fresh air, plus you know you are doing something to help out other people in a way because you are delivering items that people need.

8. …and what things would be bad?

Maybe being far away from home/families would be a drawback, plus if something were to go wrong then I’d be slightly put off by the concept.

9. What do you think the shipping industry should do to attract young people?

Maybe if they went around to schools and did workshops that involved the children getting a feel for what it’s like working in the industry, or perhaps a competition that would be publicly advertised around schools, shopping centres, libraries, etc.

10. What sort of things would make you think about working at sea?

Definitely things like pay, which locations I would be going to, and possibly sick leave or something along those lines.

11. Do you think it is a good idea for seafarers to go to schools to talk about their jobs and let young people know about life at sea?

Yes in many ways, it may inspire children or begin their interest in shipping 12. If you thought about working at sea, where would you go to find out information?

I would use the internet probably — it’s usually reliable and easy to use.

13. Would you describe shipping as a high-tech or low-tech industry?

I don’t know enough about it to start judging it, but at a guess I would say low-tech if you class jobs like a nuclear physicist high-tech!

14. Any other thoughts about careers at sea?

None come to mind — maybe what’s the age of retirement?

26 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

safety at sea

SEAFARERS need to be properly trained and supported if the transition from paper to electronic charts is to be safe and successful, the International Maritime Organisation was warned last month.

In what Nautilus described as a ‘milestone’ agreement, the IMO recently agreed a sixyear timetable for the phasing-in of mandatory requirements for Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) carriage, starting in July 2012.

And in a presentation at the IMO’s standards of training and watchkeeping sub-committee, Nautical Institute technical manager Captain Harry Gale said the switch to ECDIS needs to be handled very carefully if it is to be successful.

‘The ECDIS concept is a total change from using paper charts and the transition from paper charts to electronic charts will pose a challenge for the industry, particularly for those who have no current experience of electronic charts,’ he explained.

Research conducted by the NI has shown that those using electronic charts consider the positive aspects of ECDIS as: ✪ easier voyage planning ✪ simpler chart correction ✪ continuous monitoring of depth safety contours and soundings ✪ readily available information when approaching busy ports or navigational areas However, they also identified potential problems for seafarers: ✪ too much information on the screen can be distracting

✪ sub-menus can be very complex ✪ the size of chart displayed on the screen monitor is very much reduced compared with the paper chart ✪ some symbols are open to misinterpretation due to unfamiliarity ✪ automatic position plotting can lead to complacency ‘Mariners should be aware that ECDIS is more than just a digital version of a paper chart,’ Capt Gale told the IMO meeting.

‘Important bridge procedures are significantly affected, and these require careful analysis and consideration if ECDIS-assisted groundings are to be avoided.’

‘It is important that traditional navigation skills are not lost and that navigators become confident, but not overconfident, in the use of ECDIS,’ he warned.

‘All of this technology will be of very little benefit in enhancing navigational safety if the watchkeeping officer is not fully trained and

properly qualified in its use.’

Capt Gale said there is a danger that many officers may place unquestioning trust in ECDIS displays. ‘The need for bridge watchkeepers to remain vigilant and continuously monitor a vessel’s position in relation to navigational hazards remains valid, regardless of the electronic aids available,’ he added.

ECDIS should not become a substitute for good seamanship, nor used as a replacement for trained and experienced navigators. ‘To ensure the safety of navigation, it is imperative that the shipping community acknowledge that the training and experience of watchkeepers are critical factors in mitigating the risk of collisions and groundings,’ said Capt Gale.

‘However,’ he warned, ‘ECDIS requires a different way of thinking for the mariner, and this will not be immediately picked up by attending an ECDIS course lasting only a few days.’

The Nautical Institute says the move from paper to electronic charts, above, may cut watchkeeper workloads, and ease voyage planning and chart corrections — if PICTURES: ERIC HOURI seafarers are properly trained in the use of ECDIS THE NAUTICAL Institute has published guidance to the industry on the transition to help p navigating officers meet these challenges. ‘From Paper Charts to ECDIS — A Practical Voyage Plan’ includes contributions from serving seafarers with ECDIS experience, as well as trainers and students at maritime colleges. It is aimed at shipping companies and their crews, and is intended to augment an IMO safety of navigation circular.

The guidance urges owners and operators to address training needs when making the switch to ECDIS, and to ensure there are clear procedures in place which take system limitations into account.

They should also ensure that systems have sufficient back-up, are approved by the flag state, and use official hydrographic data.

Masters are urged to ensure that watchkeepers are familiar with the restrictions and procedures for the use of ECDIS, and that training and familiarisation are carried out in accordance with STCW requirements. They should also advise companies if the level of training or familiarisation is deemed to be inadequate.

The guidance explains some of the key differences between paper charts and ECDIS — including displays and symbols, and stresses the need for good use of safety contours, zoom and scroll facilities, and the need to be aware of the limitations of the equipment.

It argues that generic training needs to be given so that officers understand the principles of ECDIS, its overall constraints, and the supporting systems. Only after generic training should they receive type-specific training to become familiar with the layout, menus and functions of the particular system in use onboard ship.

The guidance says it is particularly important that officers know what the vector system means, what layering of information is, and when and why to switch on and off certain layers.

‘ECDIS is a system that is meant to help the watchkeeper to make informed decisions,’ Capt Gale stressed. ‘It is not infallible, nor a replacement for sound judgement. The watchkeeper should be aware of information overload when using ECDIS, and set the display level accordingly.’

The 22-page NI guide also gives detailed advice on loading and updating ECDIS charts, and using them for passage planning — and in particular the need to make use of the inbuilt check functions provided by ECDIS when validating and approving the voyage.

Capt Gale said there is already evidence the electronic charts will reduce workloads — although this will require watchkeepers to remain alert and engaged and not to become distracted or complacent. ✪ From Paper Charts to EDIS — A Practical Voyage Plan by Captain Harry Gale FNI, (ISBN 978 1 870077 98 9) costs £15, and is available from The Nautical Institute — www.nautinst.org/publications

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 27

A case for status nautilus at work

COUNCIL member Malcolm Graves, a senior second officer serving with NERC National Marine Facilities, considers the need to promote the professional status of seafarers in the modern Merchant Navy…

THERE HAS been much talk about cutting numbers of sea staff to reduce costs — but who has looked at ways of reducing shore-based office space, where ‘six-figure’ sums could be involved?

It follows that a new management model should be examined to make better use of seafarers’ management skills! Perhaps an interested maritime organisation would agree to help commission the necessary research?

At the 2007 Nautilus UK Biennial General Meeting, I proposed the motion: ‘This BGM moves that Council should develop a policy to further enhance the professional status of mariners and, more importantly, to obtain more recognition of their experience as managers, in a modern Merchant Navy.’

I have also participated in the work of the Union’s resolutions committee during the past two years, when this was one of the issues addressed. On such an occasion, the need for an article was suggested with scope to establish the background and principles that are proposed.

There are already initiatives, through various organisations, to enhance the high international standing of Nautilus UK members’ qualifications and training standards, so as to include managerial qualifications.

However, many of these mariners are already not only highly qualified, but have up-to-date sea experience and job skills. The question therefore arises, how should these seafarers’ skills and qualifications be employed in future? Surely there is the need for a cultural change to complement current initiatives to enhance seafarers’ qualifications and to recognise their skills as managers?

I suggest that a cultural change should recognise, respect and properly reward the professional status of mariners. I believe that those organisations and individual directors ultimately responsible for the direction of a modern Merchant Navy should perhaps consider new management models that could employ mariners to better effect than at present.

As a seafarer since 1968, appointed at sea by a variety of British shipping companies and

With modern communications there are many management functions which can now be fulfilled onboard, perhaps more objectively than from ashore Malcolm Graves

Seafarers can offer valuable management skills employers, I have noted a number of problems inherent within — and in some cases created by — shore management. I feel that if the mistakes of the past could be properly recognised and addressed, British and European shipping interests could be ready to provide the management skills needed to help lead the world in a future trade resurgence.

For instance, I feel that it is a mistake for shore management to adopt its own agenda to such an extent that its objectives are obscure to sea staff. As a Nautilus UK liaison officer, some members have expressed to me concerns that they have been treated with contempt by shore management and that their morale has been affected.

In my view, the senior officers of a vessel should not be put in a position where they can be overruled by relatively inexperienced shore managers.

Furthermore, financial decisions are usually made by shore staff that can directly affect the safety of a vessel. However, if there should be a consequent failure onboard, then shore management should not be allowed to escape attributable blame. It would be a disgrace, for instance, if shore management should fail to provide senior officers with all the support that they would require, in the event of an incident.

It should be remembered, in the event, that it is usually ship’s staff that would be required to provide the MCA inspectors with statements and could be charged with an offence, under some circumstances. Consequently, there should be more respect and rec-

PICTURE: GARY DAVIES/MARITIME PHOTOGRAPHIC

ognition for the responsible role of sea staff.

It should be remembered that the skills and knowledge of shore managers gained at sea would fade, in time, so they will depend heavily upon advice from senior sea staff.

Also, there may be considerable pay differences between shore-based superintendents and senior ships’ officers. Therefore, it is likely that less experienced personnel will be attracted to a shore role and that could have a detrimental effect within the decision-making heart of a business.

Perhaps these anomalies could be resolved through establishing an understanding that certain senior sea and shore-based management roles are interchangeable, in order to lend and update upon ship knowledge, respectively.

I feel that in the event of any shore-based organisational changes affecting shore management the operational support function towards the vessels should not be neglected. Shore managers should not necessarily regard themselves as superior to sea staff, within a remote office environment. To do so would ignore the qualifications and experience of sea staff which are under constant test and renewal, by the sea itself.

This article should not detract from the contributions to the industry of shore managers that have provided exceptional service. The case of the Sea Empress disaster off the west Wales coast in 1996 comes to mind — where a shore manager, Captain Cooney, kept the media appraised in a

Malcolm Graves: moved a motion on the status of seafarers at the last BGM most authoritative and impressive way, as though he was the captain of the ship herself!

It is clear that with modern communications and internet technology there are many management functions which can now be fulfilled onboard, perhaps more objectively than from ashore.

Instead of reducing the numbers of ship’s staff, perhaps the chief officer could perform a wider management role, while relieved from watchkeeping and on day work, while a training berth could be made available for

a junior watchkeeping officer.

If more management functions could reasonably be fulfilled within the design of modern vessels, then corresponding office space ashore could be relinquished. Such economies in property ashore could amount to six-figure sums, in comparison with five-figure sums in the cutting back of sea staff!

Management ashore are unlikely to take such an altruistic view of such suggestions, so I believe that the cultural changes referred to will not be without the support of the leaders of the

Industry themselves.

Faced with the projected manpower and skills shortages within the Merchant Navy, there are compelling reasons for offering to young people a profession with enhanced status and with training berths onboard, as suggested.

It is hoped that this article will inspire the further research and consideration necessary to enable the management skills of seafarers to be employed more effectively and to promote the Merchant Navy as a worthwhile career.

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28 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

THE growing legal and societal pressure to be ‘green’ is stoking up stress among ships’ crews, according to a

study carried out by Mohab Abou-Elkawam, left, at the Seafarers’ International Research Centre in Cardiff...

members at work

Rules ‘add to stress’ SEAFARERS are being placed under increasing levels of stress in struggling to comply with the growing weight of environment-related rules, according to a new research report.

A study carried out by Mohab Abou-Elkawam, from the Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) at Cardiff University, warns that crew members are facing conflicting pressures of stricter regulation and patchy provision of waste reception facilities.

His paper — presented to the SIRC-Nippon Fellow maritime conference last month — says that while most seafarers see illicit dumping as nonprofessional and non-ethical, they often face commercial and operational pressures in complying with marine pollution regulations.

In the bin: the SIRC study found that seafarers are keen to PICTURE: DANNY CORNELISSEN support environmental initiatives

The study was based on in-depth interviews with 40 seafarers from different parts of the world, and conducted as part of a research project examining how maritime professionals perceive and experience the global growth in environmental concerns.

‘At the shipboard level, the argument is that seafarers are experiencing a number of difficulties in their daily interactions with complex technology in their attempt to fulfil their statutory and professional environmental protection obligations,’ Mr Abou-Elkawam concludes.

‘On the wider global, national, and institutional compliance levels, seafarers are also affected by the different — and occasionally deficient — environmental enforcement strategies of various flag states, port states, and shipping companies,’ he adds.

The study warns that the way in which most regulation relies upon an assumption of a homogenous international shipping sector creates ‘chronic implementation and compliance problems for countries, companies and seafarers’.

It says seafarers’ trust in the regulatory framework can be undermined by the cost-cutting practices adopted by some shipping companies and the unwillingness, or inability, of some governments to meet their MARPOL Convention obligations.

‘For example,’ it explains, ‘where companies attempt to save on the expense of installing reliable technical equipment and display a reluctance to use shore reception facilities, some seafarers see such behaviour as providing an excuse to resort to dumping oily residues at sea.’

The research found that most seafarers recognise the need for action to protect the environment and are supportive of marine pollution regulations.

However, it became clear that many are linking the issues of global warming, greenhouse gases and the role of the shipping industry ‘in a rather confused way’.

Media attention, combined with public and political awareness, means ‘seafarers are considering the rising demands to save the environment as another sort of moral pressure exerted on them as

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Good reception: collecting waste from ships in Southampton — but the quality of port reception facilities varies dramatically individuals that is added to their professional obligations’, the report adds.

Masters and officers fear that increasingly stringent marine environmental regulations are adding to ‘their daily compliance difficulties and could even lead to them being prosecuted’.

Mr Abou-Elkawam said his research showed that perceptions about the varying levels of international compliance with the regulations can lead to negative assumptions being adopted by seafarers — with concern that waste can be dumped in some countries’ ports and territorial waters without risk of detection or prosecution.

‘As a consequence, this leads to more distrust and despair in the validity of the marine environmental legal system in general, opening the window for more non-responsible environmental behaviours in certain parts of the world,’ the report warns.

‘This study also suggests that feelings of helplessness either by seafarers from developed or developing countries usually result in complacency towards the witnessed pollution activities, as some seafarers conclude that they have no role to play in rectifying the deteriorating situation,’ it adds.

Seafarers taking part in the research often linked the political will of coastal and port states to protect their waters from pollution with the availability of economic resources to monitor the shipping movements in their territorial waters using costly surveillance technologies.

Similarly, at company level seafarers often differentiate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ companies in terms of their will to spend money on installing new equipment onboard or according to their policy regarding the use of port reception facilities.

The report says the continued lack of adequate reception facilities — even in many ‘developed’ areas — ‘puts many seafarers in a critical professional situation’.

One European chief officer working on a ship trading in EU waters complained of the limited

availability and high cost of appropriate facilities in many of the ports his ship visits.

He also talked about the multiple difficulties that seafarers face in trying either to treat the oily effluents onboard tankers using old versions of oily water separators or in legally discharging them using oil detector monitoring systems.

Crews on ships operated by companies with poor environmental and safety management policies are exposed to additional pressures, which ‘in turn results in feelings of tension, anxiety, contradiction, confusion, and distrust,’ the study adds.

‘It is important to highlight that even seafarers working in precarious conditions onboard FoC ships in the developing world voiced very similar concerns to their European peers,’ it stresses. ‘They all felt that they needed to have a role in protecting the marine environment but they felt in despair at discovering their inability to participate practically and “do their bit” for the sake of their children, their country, and future generations.’

Mr Abou-Elkawam said new regulations usually result in new inspection and audit schemes, or the use of high-tech equipment that seafarers are unfamiliar with.

‘Clearly, both choices are perceived problematic to seafarers who are already complaining from being over-regulated and over-inspected,’ the study points out.

‘Such divergent perceptions of environmental risk between seafarers and policy-makers not only alter preferences for environmental decision-making onboard ships, but also aggravate disparities, confusion, and the general sense of distrust in the legitimacy of the legislation,’ it adds.

The report recommends that regulators make more of an attempt to understand how seafarers are affected by the rules — warning that crews are increasingly ‘fearful of their future capability to comply with the growing number of such instruments’.

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 29

Better by degrees members at work

A NAUTILUS member tells how he secured another Master’s qualification — through the Open University

I thoroughly recommend the Open University Business School route to anyone considering further education Capt David Turner Nautilus member

CELEBRATING its 40th anniversary this year, The Open University is the UK’s largest university — boasting a student and teaching alumni that includes UK prime minister Gordon Brown, comedian Lenny Henry and writer Bill Bryson.

More than 2m people have studied with the OU since it began in 1969 and, in that time, the OU has grown to develop an international reputation for its quality of teaching, leading research and innovative educational methods.

Many of the OU students have been seafarers and the Marine Society, which played a part in the foundation of the OU, has been running its exams at sea and providing underpinning logistical support for its programmes ever since.

The Society recently got OU agreement to offer academic credit for seafarers’ HNDs in Nautical Science or Marine Engineering. This is a significant step that will benefit seafarers who wish to continue their education with all providers, such is the perception of the OU as a gold standard in terms of academic credit transfer.

The method of teaching which the OU has developed is called ‘supported open learning’ and this gives students an entirely flexible way to study. Students receive course books, DVDs and access to course-based websites, but there is also an assigned tutor to guide their studies, and occasionally face to face tutorials and residential schools.

The time taken to complete an OU course can vary from student to student. Generally, an entry level 10 point course would take between six and eight hours a week, for 20 weeks. Most students complete 60 points a year and set aside around 16 hours a week for study. If you completed 60 points a year, you would take six years to complete a degree with honours (360 points), or five years without honours (300 points).

The flexible nature of studying with the OU is one of the reasons many people choose this particular route to higher education.

Over 70% of OU students have a O full-time job and study in their f own o free time and it is an economical i way of gaining qualifications.

The typical cost for an undergraduate degree for instance, g

depending on courses selected, is between £3,150 and £4,225.

Those who study whilst still working are able to develop the advanced skills they need for their career development, and at the same time apply their new abilities straight away to their workplace.

Working with professional bodies has led to a number of courses being designed specifically for industry needs. The OU has an agreement in place with the Marine Society & Sea Cadets, which means the student members of the organisation can receive 10% off Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses. Each course takes around 30 hours to complete and offers new skills, knowledge and ideas that can be applied in the workplace. There are currently 70 courses offered, but this is a growth area.

To mark this 40 years of partnership, the OU has launched a BA/BSc Open Degree expressly for seafarers, with a focus on business, leadership and management. The degree programme comprises pre-selected, recommended strands that are seafarerfriendly and tailored to the needs of the maritime sector.

The degree has been mapped for credit transfer against a seafarer’s HND and attracts a very generous 120 points at Level 1 and a further 60 at Level 2. That makes the qualification achievable within just two years and far more affordable than would otherwise be the case.

Also on offer is a similar arrangement in respect of a degree programme billed as ‘International Affairs & Cultural Understanding’.

The OU has pioneered online learning resources, developing its own YouTube channel, providing downloadable podcasts for iTunesU and spearheading free educational content with OpenLearn and Open Research Online. Online learning has evolved into web-based seminars, remote access to field based study, and a community of like-minded learners who are able to share experiences and support each other.

A long-standing partnership with the BBC also provides educational television programmes, which sometimes form part of course materials as DVDs.

Captain David Turner celebrates his graduation from the Open University’s Business School NAUTILUS member Captain David Turner is a recent Open University graduate — and is pictured after being awarded his Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) at a ceremony held at the Palais de Congress, in Versailles.

Capt Turner began his OU Business School studies whilst still serving as chief officer on ro-ro ferries in 1993. He was awarded a professional certificate in management in 1997, and progressed to a professional diploma in management in 2000.

‘The hardest part of undertaking an MBA by distance learning is trying to find a time each day when you are not too tired or wound up by the day’s events to settle down and open the books,’ he told the Telegraph. ‘Luckily, my wife is a teacher and is the most patient person I have ever met.’

Capt Turner’s career began in 1977, as a deck cadet with P&O Steam Navigation, serving on general cargo, reefer, container, tanker/ore carriers, and passenger vessels.

Although web-based routes to learning are becoming more popular, the University can work around challenges of students with limited access to the internet. Course materials which are posted online are downloadable, and iTunesU lectures can be put on an iPod and listened to anywhere.

In the past, students have

After his cadetship, he joined P&O Cruises and served on Canberra, Uganda, Island Princess and Royal Princess, including two tours of duty to the Falklands on the troopship Uganda.

He left P&O to work on high-speed passenger catamarans in the early 1990s and then to British Channel Island Ferries, working from Poole.

In 1997 he moved to P&O Ferrymasters, where he served until retiring from the sea as master of the ro-ro ferry Elk (later Tor Baltica).

After 25 years at sea, and having reached the age of 40, he moved ashore into the cargo risk management business for 18 months before joining the Maritime & Coastguard Agency in 2003, where he is presently human element policy manager.

‘I thoroughly recommend the Open University Business School route of study to anyone considering further education,’ he adds, ‘and wish to thank all those who have supported me along the way — especially my lovely wife Nicki!’

studied with the OU whilst on submarines, ships and naval vessels, and sat exams overseas by prior arrangement where this has been necessary. Generally, an individual approach is arranged wherever there are special circumstances and each student’s tutor will help organise the solution.

The Open University’s grow-

ing recognition and reputation since it was established 40 years ago means that qualifications awarded by the OU are recognised by academic institutions across the globe. ✪ For more information go to: www.open.ac.uk www.ms-sc.org/ou www.ms-sc.org/cpd or email: education@ms-sc.org

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30 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 31

Coal trade left a legacy for ships maritime history

The difficulties of the navigation of the Coal Trade give the seamen derived from it an incontestable superiority Report to Parliament 19th century

maritime history

THE SAILING colliers of England’s east coast were regarded as humble craft in their day. Yet the existence of such a great fleet engaged in the domestic coal trade to London and ports south had profound effects on many aspects of maritime development around the world — the legacies of which we take for granted today.

The same can be said for the crews. A report to Parliament at the beginning of the 19th century reminds us: ‘The difficulties of the navigation of the Coal Trade give the seamen derived from it, in point of skill, expertness, patience of fatigue, and hardship an incontestable superiority over those drawn from other maritime trades.’

It was from the arduous and dangerous conditions under which the collier crews laboured, and the protracted grassroots campaigns to improve the seaworthiness of the ships — instigated from coal-trade interests on Tyneside rather than by national government — that many advances in maritime safety were made.

The River Tyne coastal comm munities of both North and South S Shields were, by the late 1800s, m made up substantially of coastal sseamen and their families — rreflected to a lesser degree in

neighbouring Blyth and Sunderland.

The regular delivery of coal from the pits to the riverside loading shutes was bedevilled by difficulties — mines could flood, and the fleet could be hampered by foul winds or storms. All conspired to herd the ships and crews together in ways not generally seen in ocean trades.

Such gatherings afforded the rare opportunity for a whole section of the community to voice and discuss any work grievances.

Quietly aware of their contribution to the nation’s well-being, they sought counsel and evolved forms of industrial action — doubtless inspired by the historic example of the river keelmen who were unswayed by the emotive term ‘mutiny’ levelled at them by the authorities.

Suffering the effects of undermanning and low wages — and the prospect of poverty if overtaken by wreck or infirmity — the seaman found solidarity in such a mass movement. However, owner-captains encouraged the victimisation of the union leadership. It was well into the 19th century that civil authorities bandied the threat of the press-gang against collier seamen, to aid in breaking strikes over poor conditions.

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In the dark: port and starboard lights for ships came about as a result of problems with the coal fleet In contrast, it was the exceptional qualities of earlier colliers that attracted notable explorers of the age to look no further than the sturdy north country collier barks of Whitby for their missions. Captain James Cook himself — who first went to sea in the east coast coal trade — stipulated such a vessel. The collier Earl of Pembroke, which had spent some four years in the coal trade, was acquired by the Navy in 1768 and was to become the Endeavour, of lasting fame.

Cook knew that to successfully conduct an expedition into uncharted seas, remote from any aid, survival relied principally on the vessel’s abilities. An honest collier was built specifically to endure the harshest of treatment and be repaired easily. They were flat bottomed, with ample storeroom in the hull. Although slow, they were sturdy, seakindly and safe — even in rough weather.

Another collier — the 1796built bark Fram, later Xenophon — also undertook great voyages of discovery, after becoming the expedition ship Investigator.

Commanded by Matthew Flinders, Investigator became the first vessel to circumnavigate Australia, charting and surveying the entire coastline.

At home, the sailing collier

fleets traversed a challenging route off the east coast of England.

The extensive areas of shoaling sands were a perpetual hidden hazard. Largely unmarked until the 19th century, they could be lethal in thick weather, especially when tidal sets ran across them.

Storms claimed huge numbers of vessels: in 1692 nearly 200 ships succumbed in one night on the east coast. Scarcely any of the crews were saved.

If the journey was perilous, so too were the destinations.

Crossing the infamous Tyne bar brought disaster to many colliers, and the approaches to the Thames Estuary claimed many victims.

At the Tyne entrance, from the vantage above the Black Midden rocks or on the Herd Sands, the plight of colliers fighting a losing battle for life often provided a harrowing sight.

As a response it was here, at South Shields, that William Wouldhave and Henry Greathead jointly designed and built the world’s first self-righting lifeboat.

Called Original, for 40 years this dedicated craft saved hundreds of lives from colliers. Further south at Redcar, the oldest surviving lifeboat in the world — the Zetland — is exhibited with pride at the waterfront museum.

Boats such as these, and their

PICTURE: DANNY CORNELISSEN

supporting stations, were to multiply. By the 1850s a chain of lifeboat stations spanned the NE coast. For rescues in the approaches to the Thames Estuary, where offshore sands posed an equal menace, the east coast sailing and pulling lifeboats evolved. Out of a specific desire to save lives from sailing colliers was spawned the service that eventually became the RNLI. Those vessels driven to within sight and sound of the shore also provided the impetus to develop the rocketline and breeches-buoy.

Witness to such disasters, Captain George Manby of Great Yarmouth began what was to be a lengthy quest to devise a practical solution. By the mid-19th century this method of rescue was officially recognised and improved sufficiently for the Coastguard to be equipped with the apparatus.

The coming of steam power and the appearance of paddle tugs at the northern coal ports found these versatile new craft assisting the lifeboats, as well as inaugurating the techniques and practice of towing vessels. They were to become as important as the collier fleet, which now found that they could depart for sea against head winds or in airs. If conditions at harbour mouths were dangerous, the tugs could

tow the colliers into safe water; 1818 is the date which records the first commercial vessel to be towed across the Tyne bar by steam power.

To a sailing collier master, the problems of navigation offshore were meagrely alleviated by the provision of guiding lights which marked only the worst hazards. A commentator considered the lighting on the coast ‘inadequate and conducted with a cynical disregard for the service it provided to mariners’ — despite the fact that the huge volume of the coal trade contributed heavily to their upkeep through dues.

The principal dangers of hidden shifting sands lying off a low and featureless coast could only be marked by buoys and lightvessels, which could be repositioned as required. It was largely left to private enterprise to prove that ‘floating lights’ were a sound proposition. The first lightvessel to be built was stationed at the Nore Sand, in the middle of the Thames Estuary, in 1732 — an innovation opposed by Trinity House, which saw it as challenging its monopoly. The undoubted success of the Nore eventually prompted Trinity House to adopt the station and provide lightvessels of its own at key locations.

Their names became instilled in the navigational psyche of the colliers, and of today’s coastwise mariners: Dudgeon, Happisburgh, Newarp, Cork.

The collier fleet suffered the disadvantage of being almost exclusively a one-way traffic for the carriage of coal between the staithes of the loading ports and the quays and hythes of the Thames. Solid ballast needed to be taken onboard, to stiffen the ships for their otherwise empty passages north, and laboriously discharged before cargowork

The HM Bark Endeavour — a modern-day version of the north country collier adapted by Captain James Cook for his legendary explorations could begin again.

The demand for ballast was thus insatiable. It continued to be gathered from the Thames river bed, but in an inefficient, timeconsuming and archaic manner.

Disposing of the solid ballast at the coal ports traditionally took place at official ballast quays, selfevident by their ever-expanding hills of grimy gravel. By the mid19th century almost one million tons of ballast was grudgingly brought into the Tyne each year.

It was at this time, possibly

The Plimsoll mark owes much to campaigning by the Tyneside shipping community

driven by desperation, that the idea of using water for ballast was explored. Canvas bags were filled with water before being lowered into the hold. These would eventually be discharged into the bilge and then pumped out by hand.

The process was still laborious, but nevertheless marked an improvement on using solid ballast. Such early use of this new form of ballast acted as a precursor to the later development of dedicated tanks and pumping arrangements for water ballast in early iron vessels designed as colliers — an innovation which was to benefit all other ships in the future.

The first successful sea-going, iron-constructed screw propelled collier was the Tyne-built John Bowes. Her hull incorporated double-bottom tanks for water ballast, which was pumped out by her main engines. A further design innovation was a lengthy cargo hatch to facilitate loading.

The vessel could be ranged fore and aft under the loading shute, thus avoiding the time-consuming and expensive manual trimming of cargo.

Such modern features in design, operation and speed would have largely been negated if the John Bowes and others of her ilk arrived for discharge and been forced to rely on the gangs of coal whippers and their restrictions on the quantity of coal that could be handled in a day. It was to the efforts of another Tyneside

pioneer — William Armstrong — that efficiencies in cargo handling advanced significantly. He had erected a clutch of hydraulic cranes on the quay of the West India collier dock. These discharged coal into railway wagons, with the capacity to deliver up to 2,000 tons a day.

Iron steam colliers came to revolutionise and ultimately save the trade in seaborne coal, and contribute to the prosperity of regions north and south. Supply was always notoriously fickle as long as the trade depended on sail.

A damning observation was made of East Coast sailing colliers in the early 17th century that ‘for thrift’s sake’ they carried dangerously small crews. To this

could be added that they also overloaded and were woefully maintained, with rotten hulls and poor cordage and sails. It was not till some 250 years later that reformers of the age took serious steps to address these issues.

Particular colliers found their way onto Samuel Plimsoll’s ‘Black List’ of ships presented to the Board of Trade in 1873, to support his allegations of sea-going death traps.

Concern had been raised by others before Plimsoll. In 1866 James Hall, a Tynemouth shipowner and insurer, had made representation to the Board of Trade, suggesting that government inspectors of shipping should be stationed at all principal ports. He proposed that all

A painting of the world’s first self-righting lifeboat, the Original

PICTURE: RNLI

vessels be subject to examination, with permission to proceed to sea being conditional on the result.

Many complicating factors frustrated progress towards legislation, especially to what was considered the crux of all shipping reform — a means of determining a ‘line of extreme loading’.

It was the combination of Hall’s methodical gathering of facts combined with Plimsoll’s determined pressure in Parliament that finally produced results. In 1890 the compulsory load line was enacted. It has been suggested that the Plimsoll line could as justly be called the Hall mark.

During the period of transition between sail and steam in the coal trade, another situation had become critical. More surprisingly, it took nearly as much discussion and lobbying to devise rules governing the use of navigation lights at sea. Confusion and damage were caused to sailing colliers working to windward by steamers driving through the fleet. Sailing vessels were not obliged to carry any form of warning lights prior to 1858. After that, a simple lantern at the masthead or at the end of the bowsprit was thought sufficient.

The red and green sidelights almost universally displayed by all classes of vessel today, which so effectively indicate the aspect of approach, owe their origin to a North Shields mariner. Captain James Whitehead was the ownermaster of a collier-brig and no stranger to the sense of terror induced at hearing the thrashing approach of a screw-ship in the darkness, with no way of ascertaining its course.

Whitehead relinquished his command to devote his full-time efforts to bring his cause to official notice, and boarded all vessels entering the Tyne to seek support and endorsement of his petition. He had a sympathetic listener in the MP for Tynemouth, William Lindsay, who successfully brought the proposals before Parliament. In due course, they became incorporated into the Rules for the Prevention of Collision at Sea. Much of maritime worth is owing to the extraordinary nature of the centuries-old east coast seaborne carriage of ‘black diamonds’, the collective effort and loss of countless individuals, the stoicism of communities and the championing pioneers of names dimmed by the passing of time and, not least, the humble workaday colliers at the heart of the coal trade.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author kindly acknowledges the material assistance of Roger Finch and the Local Studies Centre at North Shields Library.

32 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

HOW DO women seafarers cope with working in such a male-dominated industry as shipping? Research by Momoko Kitada, right, has

examined the different ways in which they deal with the issues — and suggests ways in which the industry could make things better for them...

women at sea

Minority report...

ATTEND any conference f on the th worldwide ld id shorth t age of seafarers and the need to attract more women to work on ships — particularly as officers — will inevitably come up. And, sure enough, an increasing number of women are choosing seafaring for a career, while more are being encouraged to do so — not only by employers, but also such organisations as Nautilus through its involvement with the Merchant Navy Training Board, and in its visits to schools, colleges and careers fairs.

But women that do go to sea inevitably find themselves working in what is still very much a male-dominated environment — so how do they deal with that?

The answer is that women seafarers tend to ‘feel a need to minimise signs of femininity onboard the ship’, new research, presented at the 2009 SIRCNippon Maritime Conference, reveals.

Many then encounter problems having to adjust to gender-specific roles, such as being a wife or mother, when they return home.

And as the title of this study — ‘Risking marriage and family: the maintenance of women seafarers’ gender identities — suggests, the domestic consequences can be heartbreaking. Momoko Kitada, the study’s author, explores how women seafarers cope.

Ms Kitada, whose research was conducted at the Seafarers International Research Centre at Cardiff University, previously trained as a deck cadet after graduating in Japan from the Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University.

What women seafarers require is industry and wider community support, she argues. As she explains, shipping is not unique: ‘It is often reported that women or men in the non-traditional occupations are likely to be masculinised or feminised to a certain extent in order to fit into the workplace where the opposite sex is dominant.’

But there was very little prior research on women at sea, Ms Kitada found. She notes that there is very little information about women seafarers in general, and practically nothing on how many are actually working at sea.

A 1992 IMO estimate suggested that only 1 or 2% of the total global seafaring workforce were then women. The figure is likely to be slightly higher today, but women are still very much a minority aboard ship.

The only significant research on women seafarers — a 2003 International Labour Organisation study — revealed that many of them found it difficult to work on the male-dominated ships because their gender often became an issue.

How women coped with the situation was an unknown, but there were clues from studies of other traditionally male occupations — including engineering organisations — where women ‘defeminised their appearance to be regarded seriously by male colleagues’ and kept a low profile ‘to make themselves as invisible as possible’.

Ms Kitada observed a similar phenomenon in her research on women seafarers, but points out: ‘There is a crucial difference… between seafaring and other similarly “male” jobs, namely, that women seafarers are required to work away from home for an extended period. Importantly, this work-related absence limits their opportunity to fulfil certain domestic roles, such as being a wife and/or a mother.’

Women remain very much in the minority within ships’ crews — and the shipping industry should do more to support them in PICTURE: ERIC HOURI their careers, says researcher Momoko Kitada During her fieldwork, in 2006 and 2007, she contacted 36 women currently or previously at sea, mainly from Sweden, Germany and Portugal. All were heterosexual, almost half were married or cohabiting, a third were mothers, some two-thirds worked in the navigational department, including a third who held a captain’s licence, and the rest were engineers and radio officers. Nearly half had more than 10 years’ sailing experience.

Vicki, 20, a German deck officer trainee, described how aboard ship she managed her appearance to deflect attention from her femininity: ‘I always tied up my hair. Always no make-up, nothing.’

Marina, another German deck officer trainee, 22, ‘tried not to show emotions and feelings’ when onboard. That, she felt, would be viewed as too womanly. On returning ashore, she found it difficult to display her emotions and feelings with her boyfriend ‘because you are not used to it any more’.

Some women assumed a masculine-type identity at sea, including Sue, a 45 year old Swedish engineer, who did so because she had experienced unwanted attention from male colleagues. ‘I have been more macho than many men actually… if they are rude, I am a bit ruder. If they swear, I can swear too’.

These masculinised women, also ‘experienced difficulties when attempting to switch out of their shipboard mode of behaviour,’ writes Ms Kitada.

Another finding was that the nature of seafaring work inhibited the women from forming lasting

relationships. If their partner is shore-based, he may not understand why his girlfriend leaves him to travel with other men. ‘The men I meet now are very suspicious about this strange work,’ confided senior deck officer Vera, 54, from Sweden.

If their partner is a seafarer and the couple’s shifts do not match, they rarely see each other. The relationship will almost certainly wane, yet many women married seafarers ‘because they could understand this unusual lifestyle,’ the study says.

Maintaining a balance between seafaring and marriage presents women with ‘a significant and unique challenge’, it shows. Ghanaian captain Sisi, 52, encountered problems with her husband: ‘…he felt that when I come home, I like to control everybody. I try not to… It is difficult trying to play two roles.’

Leaving children behind for several months is tough regardless of a seafarer’s gender, but because of social pressures, far more so for seafaring mothers — so much so that Gloria, a German trainee deck officer, at 22 had ruled out the possibility of combining a career at sea and having a family.

Junior engineer Olivia, aged 36, from Sweden, commented that a mother seafarer would be criticised as irresponsible: ‘…society does not allow girls (to) go away for three months… the neighbour sometimes or family would think that you are a bad mother’.

Mothers with a seafaring background tend to feel ‘they are very “selfish” if they… leave their children

b behind’, hi d’ th the study t d shows. h Portuguese P t captain Vidonia was intent upon continuing at sea when she disembarked seven months into her pregnancy: ‘However, the minute I looked at my baby I realised that I was being foolish and irresponsible. Children need care, emotional stability.’

Swedish senior deck officer Rebecka resolved things after childbirth by getting a shore-based job in the industry. Sisi, the Ghanaian master, remained at sea but discovered that, as a consequence, her children got emotionally closer to the father than to her. ‘At sea costs me love of my children… I realised until I (stopped sailing and) came home’.

There are instances where both parents are seafarers and the father is the one that sacrifices his seagoing career — for example, a father who took a job ashore because he was lower rank and a lower earner than the mother. But such instances are ‘very rare’, the study says.

As Ms Kitada makes clear, the difficulties faced by female seafarers present ‘an extreme version’ of those experienced by women in other male-dominated workplaces, while also requiring even greater adjustments in their homes lives.

‘The real issue underlying this series of problems is a lack of suitable support,’ she argues.

The problems for women seafarers caused by prolonged absence from home could be eased with the implementation of shorter or more flexible work patterns, she suggests: ‘For example, some of the more forward-thinking companies allow seafarers to opt for a particular length of trip with those working shorter contracts earning relatively less but more time for family.’ Companies could also consider allowing them to work part-time during the early years of child-rearing.

Other ideas the study puts forward include: the introduction of internet and email services in women seafarers’ cabins to help families stay in touch; organising gatherings of seafarers’ families to share experiences, perhaps taking the form of a webbased company forum; and owners deploying women seafarers on the same vessel.

From her research, Ms Kitada says it is clear that many women see absence from sea during childrearing as a temporary phase in their seagoing careers.

The industry, she argues, could be encouraged to facilitate their ongoing service by providing shorebased employment or helping them return to sea.

‘For example, companies could be encouraged to provide loans or supernumerary positions onboard to allow women seafarers to revalidate their certificates of competency.’

Finally, the study addresses society’s attitudes towards women seafarers, suggesting that social support could be provided by governments — for example, reduced rates for using nurseries, and national (or alternatively company) insurance for seafarers’ families. ‘Such benefits and support will encourage both male and female seafarers to stay at sea for a longer period.’

All the women seafarers Ms Kitada interviewed asserted that they were proud of their profession and enjoyed working at sea, but ‘further sustained consideration’ had to be given to their needs. It would, she concludes, ‘be to the shame of the industry if, because of the difficulties associated with the need to manage their gender identity, women were prevented from continuing their career’.

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 33

Leden Holland Amerika Lijn wijzen eindbod af

kwam. Onder het mom van de kredietcrisis en de economische problemen voorspelt HAL een bijzonder somber 2009, terwijl 2008 nog als ‘goed’ jaar de boeken ingaat.

DE leden van zowel Nautilus NL als Nautilus UK hebben met overgrote meerderheid van stemmen het CAO eindbod van de maatschappij afgewezen.

Al eerder in dit blad publiceerden wij over de onderhandelingen tussen de twee Nautilussen met de Holland Amerika Lijn (HAL), waarbij het niet eens tot een goede inhoudelijke bespreking van de voorstellenbrief met de maatschappij

Gesloten beurs Aanvankelijk was het tegenvoorstel om de CAO met gesloten beurs een jaar te verlengen. Na aandringen was de rederij bereid een algemene loonsverhoging van 1% aan te bieden plus een diensttijdverhoging van 0%, 1% of 1,5% afhankelijk van de beoordeling. De CAO van HAL kent namelijk geen automatische diensttijdverhoging meer.

Negatief eindbod Na diverse pogingen tot onderhandelen bleek dit écht het eindbod, dat overigens voor de in Engeland woonachtige officieren nog slechter uitpakt dan voor de in Nederland wonende officieren, simpelweg omdat de inflatie in Engeland veel hoger is.

Nautilus UK en Nautilus NL besloten dit eindbod van de rederij schriftelijk ieder aan hun eigen achterban voor te leggen. Zowel in Engeland als Nederland leidde dit tot afwijzing door de leden. Niet alleen wezen veel leden het bod af, ook lichtten zij de reden van afwijzing toe. Natuurlijk passeerden verschillende argumenten de revue, maar

vaak werden het enorme tekort aan officieren en het verloop bij HAL genoemd. Ook werd gewezen op het feit dat de cruise-industrie zich volgens diverse publicaties nog redelijk staande houdt in de economische malaise.

Vervolggesprekken Na afwijzing van het eindbod deden de vakbonden een klemmend beroep op HAL om toch weer aan te schuiven aan de onderhandelingstafel en met een beter aanbod te komen. De onderhandelingsdelegaties hopen de vervolggesprekken medio maart te hebben, voorafgegaan door vlootbezoek.

netherlands news

NAUTILUS NL SHIP VISITS EXPAND WELL BEYOND ITS BORDERS JAGER’S LINKS PROVE USEFUL TO UNION Ship visitor Peter Jager has become an important link between Nautilus and seafarers on board ships. With his father being a seafarer, Peter was literally born into the trade and his experience has been highly beneficial to the Union.

Mr Jager’s core business is to visit ships across The Netherlands, as well as Antwerp in Belgium, and seek the needs of Nautilus members. His role is to also serve as a PR contact between the Union and potential members. Two key aspects examined while onboard are communication and safety. He has expressed how small gangways without railings can pose fatal consequences to river barge crew.

Nautilus NL hopes that its members will meet Mr Jager at some stage during his visits and voice their praise and concern so that he may bring these factors to the attention of the Advisory Board. In turn, Nautilus can continue dialogue and negotiations with shipowners, government, tertiary institutes and other organisations

related to the maritime industry in The Netherlands.

financial front. The unions now urge HAL to reenter negotiations.

HAL REFUSES NEW DEAL Nautilus UK and Nautilus NL members recently received a blow with regards to a final offer for a new collective bargaining agreement by Holland America Line (HAL). Under the cloak of the credit crunch, HAL resisted negotiations and only offered to extend the present terms. An overwhelming majority rejected the proposals.

Continuous pressure brought a 1% raise and, dependent on a positive assessment and period of service-related raises of 0%, 1% or 1,5% are offered. UK members are worse off due to larger inflation in the country. ‘Not fair,’ say members, ‘If you take into account that there is a worrying shortage of officers and a high turnover of sea personnel.’

According to Nautilus NL, despite the constant media coverage of the global credit crunch, the cruise ship industry is not doing too badly on the

FNV WATERBOUW EXPANDS BUSINESS Since January of this year FNV Waterbouw (dredging industries branch of the FNV union) expanded. Nautilus ship visitor Willem Grooff also supports FNV Waterbouw now. Grooff returned as fleet visitor in Singapore since he left there in the 1990s.

Most of the employees of the merchant fleet in Singapore are already familiar with the ship visitor. The birth of FNV Waterbouw has been a good occasion for Grooff to pay the dredgers a visit.

The employees who met with the ship visitor were enthusiastic that someone representing ‘the union’ came aboard. In the meantime some of the questions that needed deeper investigation have already been sent to FNV headquarters. Grooff also seized this opportunity to visit a colleague who had been admitted into a Singapore hospital. A highly appreciated personal touch.

FNV WATERBOUW BREIDT WERKGEBIED UIT SINDS begin 2009 heeft FNV Waterbouw zijn werkgebied uitgebreid. Zoals u in het januarinummer van NMM heeft kunnen lezen, is Willem Grooff weer als vlootbezoeker in Singapore teruggekeerd.

Behalve schepen van de koopvaardij zal Willem ook namens FNV Waterbouw schepen van de baggervloot bezoeken.

Veel werknemers op de koopvaardijvloot die Singapore aandoen, zijn inmiddels bekend met het fenomeen vlootbezoeker. De medewerkers die al langer in deze wereldstad komen, kennen Willem vast wel van de periode dat hij daar verbleef in de jaren ‘90. Ook toen stapte de vlootbezoeker geregeld aan boord van de daar werkende en in dok liggende baggerschepen. Maar met de oprichting van FNV Waterbouw is er natuurlijk echt een goede reden om de baggeraars eens op hun schepen een bezoek te brengen.

Ledenbehoefte In de afgelopen weken heeft Willem al enkele baggerschepen in dok bezocht. Deze bezoeken waren nu nog vooral bedoeld als een eerste kennismaking en om te horen wat er zoal leeft aan boord van de schepen.

Door te horen wat er speelt, kan FNV Waterbouw inspelen op de behoefte van leden en zo zijn dienstverlening op een zo hoog mogelijk niveau houden. Juist in deze tijd hebben de leden legio vragen die zij aan de bond willen stellen. Veel van deze vragen zijn onder het genot van een kopje koffie te beantwoorden.

Indien meer uitwerking of onderzoek gewenst is, zal de vlootbezoeker per e-mail contact zoeken met de Nederlandse kantoren van FNV Waterbouw.

Op prijs gesteld De medewerkers op de reeds bezochte schepen lieten weten verheugd te zijn om iemand van “de Bond” aan boord te krijgen.

Ondertussen zijn ook de vragen die nader onderzoek vergen naar Woerden gezonden.

Onze vlootbezoeker werd aan boord van een van de schepen geattendeerd op een collega die een paar dagen voor het bezoek was opgenomen in een Singaporees ziekenhuis. Willem heeft deze collega vervolgens opgezocht en dat werd zeer op prijs gesteld. Het moge duidelijk zijn: de dienstverlening van FNV Waterbouw gaat dus zo ver als

maar nodig is.

Aanvragen voor het vlootbezoek kunt u doen via de website van FNV Waterbouw (www.fnvwaterbouw.nl) of per e-mail: info@fnvwaterbouw.nl Gezocht: Contactpersonen aan boord FNV Waterbouw heeft een kadergroep van betrokken leden die regelmatig in de Raad van Advies de gang van zaken bespreken en het bestuur en de bestuurders adviseren. Dit vergt de nodige inzet van de leden en niet iedereen beschikt over voldoende tijd.

Daarom is FNV Waterbouw op zoek naar contactpersonen aan

boord van de schepen, mensen die de bond kunnen informeren over zaken die spelen aan boord en binnen het bedrijf. De bond kan op zijn beurt de contactpersonen informeren over de ontwikkelingen binnen waterbouw.

Op deze manier ontstaat er een goede en heldere communicatie tussen FNV Waterbouw en de leden aan boord waardoor zaken nóg beter geregeld kunnen worden. Wilt u zich aanmelden als contactpersoon?

Stuur dan een emailbericht naar info@fnvwaterbouw.nl. Wanneer u twijfelt of nog vragen heeft, dan kunt u natuurlijk altijd contact opnemen via de waterbouwlijn, telefoonnummer: 088- 575 77 60.

VLOOTBEZOEKER PETER JAGER: DÉ SCHAKEL TUSSEN NAUTILUS NL EN DE LEDEN AAN BOORD DE vaste vlootbezoeker komt op elk type schip in de binnenvaart en zeescheepvaart. Peter Jager fungeert als ogen en oren van Nautilus NL. Zo informeert hij de medewerkers aan boord over de laatste ontwikkelingen en neemt tips, adviezen en klachten mee terug naar het bestuur. Dankzij zijn jarenlange werkervaring kent Peter Jager het klappen van de zweep waardoor hij een uitstekende gesprekspartner is.

Als zoon van een stuurman in de koopvaardij kreeg de vlootbezoeker het varen met de paplepel ingegoten. De jonge Peter was vaak aan boord en tijdens vakanties mocht hij meevaren. Al snel was de liefde voor het vak geboren. Een liefde die nooit meer overging, want in 1979 begon Peter zelf als matroos bij passagiersrederij Köln-Düsseldorfer (KD) op de Rijn. ‘Hier kreeg ik de smaak te pakken’, vertelt Peter enthousiast. ‘Na een half jaar varen en militaire dienst heb ik ruim drie jaar op de grote handelsvaart (bananenvaart) gevaren als bediende/matroos bij Dammers & van der Heide.

Vervolgens terug naar de KD als matroos. Na drie jaar varen probeerde ik het aan de wal als beveiligingsbeambte. Maar toen ik als gangway wacht werd ingezet op Afrikaanse zeeschepen lonkte het varen weer.’ Peter ging wederom aan de slag bij de KD, waarna hij achtereenvolgens stuurman werd op een Rijncruiseschip en duwsleepboot. Peter: ‘De vaart met duwbakken had iets bijzonders en puurs; het vergde fysiek veel van je en je was toch vooral op jezelf aangewezen. Hierna volgde een interessante periode met een tankduwbak. Ook leerde ik in deze jaren het werk in de machinekamer. Een mooie tijd.’

Waardevolle bezoeken De vlootbezoeker heeft inmiddels bijna alle takken van sport meegemaakt, want na een periode bij de Stena Line eindigde hij als matroos op een kleine zeegaande hopper vanuit Breskens. ‘Juist dankzij mijn brede ervaring kan ik de bond goed vertegenwoordigen’, zegt Peter. ‘Ik begrijp wat er speelt bij de leden aan boord en spreek dezelfde taal.’ Peter is alweer bijna negen jaar vlootbezoeker van Nautilus NL. Hij reist het hele land door — en pakt Antwerpen er net zo makkelijk bij — om aan boord van zowel binnenvaart- als zeegaande schepen te horen wat zich allemaal afspeelt. ‘Zo informeer ik de werknemers over ontwikkelingen in de CAO of in de scheepvaart en koppel zaken die aan boord spelen terug aan het bestuur’, vervolgt de vlootbezoeker. ‘Ook klachten omtrent de ISPS-Code geef ik door.

Verder breng ik de bond onder de aandacht van niet-leden én leden die onvoldoende op de hoogte zijn van onze activiteiten. Sinds 1 juli 2007 behartigt Nautilus NL namelijk ook de belangen van de werknemers Rijn- en binnenvaart, maar nog niet iedereen is zich daar even goed van bewust. Ik zie het als mijn taak om de vakbond helder onder de aandacht te brengen.’

Naast gesprekken die Peter met leden voert kijkt hij hoe het met zaken als veiligheid en communicatie is gesteld. Zo maakt de vlootbezoeker zich onder meer zorgen over het ontbreken van een reling op binnenvaartschepen met smalle gangboorden en hoge den.

‘Veel binnenvaartschepen beschikken niet altijd over een reling waaraan opvarenden zich kunnen vasthouden als zij hun evenwicht verliezen. De kans dat iemand overboord slaat is erg groot. Helaas verdrinken hierdoor nog altijd mensen. Dit zou absoluut niet mogen gebeuren.’

Binnenkort kunt u Peter wellicht ook bij u aan boord verwachten.

Zaken die u aan het scheepvaarthart gaan kunt u dan bij hem kwijt. De vlootbezoeker geeft zijn bevindingen door aan het vakbondsbestuur waarna deze eventueel worden meegenomen in gesprekken met bijvoorbeeld werkgevers, maritiem onderwijs of de overheid.

34● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

50 YEARS AGO AMONG the working parties set up by the Ministry of Transport to consider what revisions, if any, are required to the existing International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea, is one dealing particularly with the rules of the road at sea. For the time being, the proceedings are confidential — but it is very obvious, however, that the

question as to whether or not there should be amendments to the collision regulations has aroused an intense interest among those who are likely to be affected by them. One shipmaster who has put himself on record is Captain A.G. Graham, of the United States Lines, who has called for clarity over the interpretation of ‘moderate’ speed in Rule 16.

— MN Journal, March 1959

25 YEARS AGO General secretary Eric Nevin has renewed the MNAOA’s campaign for more British ships to be used in the south Atlantic. He has written to armed forces minister John Stanley complaining about the defence ministry’s continued refusal to discuss details of its chartering policies. And the issue has been taken up in parliament

by Labour MP Tam Dalyell — a

persistent critic of the government’s ‘Fortress Falklands’ developments. Speaking in the House of Commons last month, Mr Dalyell criticised the government for ‘taking refuge’ on the grounds of commercial confidentiality when presented with straightforward questions on the issue by the MNAOA, and said he ‘passionately believe that British ships should be involved’.

— The Telegraph, March 1984

10 YEARS AGO BRITAIN’s biggest shipowner could double the volume of its tonnage under the red ensign if this month’s Budget approves policy proposals for the introduction of a UK tonnage tax. As NUMAST joined owners last month to meet Chancellor Gordon Brown to stress the vital importance of the measures, P&O gave the clearest

demonstration of how the support package could rejuvenate the UK flag and boost British seafarer recruitment and training. P&O chairman Lord Sterling said the company — which presently has 55 ships under the UK flag — is actively examining how many vessels it would bring back to the red ensign if the tonnage tax gets given the green light by MPs. — The Telegraph, March 1999

ships of the past

Hard life under sail ✪ by BOB WILSON

750–760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB, or fax 020 8530 1015.

Closing date is Wednesday 11 March 2009.

You can also enter by email, by sending your list of answers and your contact details to telegraph@nautilusuk.org by the same closing date.

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QUICK CLUES General details Year built: Original name: Built by: Owners: Type: Tonnage: Dimensions:

1868 MEDEA Barclay, Curle, Glasgow A. & J.H. Carmichael, Greenock Iron full-rigged ship 1,066 Length 217ft 2in; Breadth 34ft 6in; Depth 21ft

miles south of the equator and took six weeks to move a mere 40 miles — becoming short of water as well as running low in provisions — and life onboard was anything but comfortable.

Medea eventually made it to St Helena, where fresh provisions were taken on. The voyage ended at Glasgow, and the crew paid off.

A new captain was appointed — a brute of a man, and life on the Medea took a turn for the worse under his command. After leaving the Clyde, the ship proceeded to Liverpool to load general cargo for the Talcahuano on the west coast of South America, and at the end of summer 1889 Medea left

The Quiz 1. There are two UK ports in the list of top 20 European container ports — what are they?

This month’s Telegraph cryptic crossword is a prize crossword!

The winner of this month’s cryptic crossword competition will win a copy of the book The New Cunard Queens (reviewed on the facing page).

To enter, simply complete the form below and send it, along with your completed crossword, to: Nautilus UK Telegraph Crossword Competition, Oceanair House,

THE MEDEA was a typical

example of a British sailing ship of the 1860s. Although she was of no great size, her iron hull was strongly built and her owners, Carmichael’s of Greenock, had a reputation for the quality of their fleet of fine full-rigged ships.

She enjoyed a long life — narrowly escaping destruction in 1883 after being caught in the vicinity of Krakatoa when the volcano ‘blew’.

With her iron hull decorated with the traditional painted ports, and the main skysail adding a touch of class, she was a wellproportioned ship and very pleasing to the eye.

The Medea cost £15 a ton to build and was an immediate success. On her maiden voyage she crossed the line at 21 days out and arrived at Bombay 80 days out. In three round voyages to India and the West Indies, she cleared £10,000 profit. Carmichael’s were offered £18 a ton for her from rival London shipowners, but declined the offers.

A description of two voyages that the ship made in 1888 and 1889, complied from notes written by one of the apprentices, describes very harsh conditions — although similar experience were common enough in the days of sail.

Medea left Penarth, Wales, in August 1888 with a cargo of coal for Sourabaya, Java. Although the ship had made some good passages in her time this particular one was to prove rather slow — with the outward voyage being made in 110 days. During this passage one of the apprentices died and was buried at sea, casting a gloom over the ship.

On the homeward run, the ship was becalmed some 60

Telegraph prize crossword

4. What is China’s busiest container port?

5. How is the title donkeyman thought to have originated?

2. Roughly what proportion of the world’s ferry fleet are passenger-only vessels?

6. In which year was the Marine Society founded?

3. Which country’s shipowners have the largest number of ships on order?

✪ Quiz and quick crossword answers are on page 42.

Liverpool bound for Cape Horn.

The ship made good progress down the Atlantic, but received a severe beating off the Horn — struggling for five weeks to round the infamous Cape. After unloading in Talcahuano, they sailed down to Iquique to load for the UK. On this voyage, they ran into mountainous seas and winds so fierce that they could not stow the topsails and so had to set them again. For a whole week the Medea ran before the storm, averaging 15 knots, but often making far more than that. The remainder of the voyage was uneventful, but they were all kept hard at work. Even going up the English Channel in mist and drizzle, the apprentices were at work during their supposed afternoons below. On arrival at Ostend, most of the crew left and at least one of the apprentices had had enough of Carmichael’s Medea had his indentures transferred to another company.

The Medea was eventually sold to Sweden about the turn of the century and reduced to a barque by removing the square sails from the mizzen mast. After a long and successful career, she was broken up in 1910.

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Across Scots cloths (6) Angry (6) Capital punishment (7) Want (6) Commercial law (6,3,6) Vintner’s dregs (4) Meeting (10) Battle craft (10) Photographed (4) Blood cells (5,10) Covered with metal (6) Tide after Sunday (7) Drawer (6) Stand up to (6)

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Down Vintner’s extractor (9) Cut oneself off from mainland (6) One who agrees to document (9) Dulled (5) Old gunfire (8) ‘Goodbye --- Jean’ (5) Scots weed seeds (11) Commercialism (11) Destructive capability (9) Believer in nothing (9) Author Joseph (8) Cerebral power (6) Lazybones (5) Of yore (5)

CRYPTIC CLUES Across 1. Superior able-bodied black horse (6) 5. Let USA transform as a gesture to the military (6) 9. Where communists can be left or right wing, in Belgrade … (3,4) 10. … United — no longer so (6) 12. … Victorian edifice as venue for Crewe and Crystal FCs (9,6)

13. ‘makes us rather bear those --- we have/ than fly to others we know not of’ (Hamlet) (4) 14. Grail cult I was thrown out of for worshipping in public (10) 18. Latest denture for vampire showed the way in fashion (10) 19. Catch on branch, that’s a hold-up (4) 21. Does he carry the rack or the victim?

(9-6) 24. Taleteller of early English poet — or late American playwright (6) 25. Replace Ben as he is over the hill. (3-4) 26. Individual identified by male offspring (6) 27. To give Russian flower, then dined on it (6) Down 2. Often a strange acquaintance for a sleeping partner (9)

3. Tattered net and hard blow enough to effect dodgy arrest (6) 4. Papers are taken in by this security process (9) 5. Bob, junior scout with article of diving gear (5) 6. Try Helga, though in a state (8) 7. A letter from Greece (5) 8. Genesis of a belief system (11) 11. Hostile ringer, one example overturned and torn (11) 15. Dug up plug with only two wires? (9) 16. Similar to grunt, once broken down (9) 17. Until USA became a Union (8) 20. Add a little relish to spring (or summer etc.) (6) 22. Splashed about in her river … (5) 23. ... on her reemerging a wader (5)

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 35

MEMBER PICKS UP ON PIRACY AS THEME OF RATTLING NEW NOVEL WITH PIRACY and armed attacks on shipping at long last generating some intense public interest, and with the subject combining crime and intrigue, it was perhaps only a matter of time before an author picked up on the topic as the basis for a novel.

In fact, it’s actually a Nautilus member who is first off the press with a fictional — or should that be ‘factional’? — tale of modern-day piracy. Captain Archie Coulter says his book, Shadow on the Moon, is drawn from his experiences sailing to west Africa in the 1980s.

Set largely in Nigeria, it’s a grimly compelling tale of crime and punishment that moves between Lagos, London, New York, Hong Kong and Antwerp as the action unfolds.

Following one particularly brutal attack that finally prods the United Nations into action, setting Interpol on the hunt for a vicious and ruthless pirate gang, a valiant British cop sets out to crack the case operating in disguise as a P&I club surveyor.

The old Merchant Navy & Airline Officers’ Association even gets a passing role, supplying vital briefing information, as the police inspector gets to grips with the enormity of the crime he is confronting.

It’s a rattling yarn, in which Archie Coulter combines evocative descriptions of Nigeria and authoritative scenes of shipboard operations, with pages full of twists and turns right up to the final paragraphs. ✪Shadow on the Moon by Archie Coulter (ISBN 9781425 121822) is published

by Trafford Publishing. Copies are available, price £14 including UK p&p, from Capt Archie Coulter, 100 Chapel Lane, Hale Barns, Cheshire WA15 OBP — www.archwayvideo.co.uk

books

Fine tribute for Conway ✪by MICHAEL HOWORTH THERE can be few schools that long after they have closed their doors to pupils will evoke emotion enough to produce a book, let alone a definitive volume that traces the school’s history from its inception to closure. But then, there are few schools that match the standards of HMS Conway and the achievements of those who served aboard the famous Merchant Navy Training School.

It is probably right and proper therefore that someone from the back end of her career as a wooden mother to shiploads of apprentices, deck and engine cadets should take the time and effort to record, for generations to come, the history of what was a very proud school indeed.

Former Conway cadet Alfie Windsor has done a sterling job in creating the most splendid and

LOVELY GUIDE FOR LEISURE SAILORS IF YOU’RE one of the many merchant seafarers who enjoy yachting while on leave, you’ll love The Sailing Bible, which comes out this month.

It lives up to its billing as ‘the complete guide for all sailors from novice to experienced skipper’ in style, and could hardly be better conceived or produced.

The book is a hardback packed with 400 magazinesized pages of clearly explained, well organised practical information with such sections as starting out; dinghy sailing; cruiser sailing; navigation; weather; maintenance; and safety at sea. It’s laid out on silky, impressively designed pages, with full colour photographs and other graphics that not only make the book look attractive, but also very effectively underpin the guidance given to sailors in the text. ✪The Sailing Bible: The Complete Guide for all Sailors from Novice to Experienced Skipper, (ISBN 978 1 4081 0249 7), price £24.99, published by Adlard Coles Nautical — www.acblack.com

detailed history book which details the founding of the ship on the River Mersey, her contribution to two world wars, her move first to Bangor North Wales and then onto her final demise as a shore establishment inside the grounds of the estate owned by the Marquis of Anglesey.

Despite being in Focsle Division (the reviewer served as a Foretopman when he was onboard), Alfie Windsor has faithfully recorded every nuance and political wrangle that went on behind the scenes to create out of nothing a sea training ship that set the standards for pre-sea and onboard cadet training that prevails even today.

His chapters that detail the loss of the vessel that was HMS Nile and the one that served as the last of three wooden-hulled ships the school used must be the

most concise and accurate account of one of the most fascinating shipwrecks of modern times, detailing as it does what went wrong as the ship was towed through the Menai Straits and was lost during the voyage.

She eventually broke her back and was ultimately destroyed by an accidental fire.

Cadets, however, continued to train in a brand new purpose-built shore establishment opened in May 1964 by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, who has returned to the subject by writing the forward to this well written and meticulously researched book. ✪HMS Conway 1859-1974

by Alfie Windsor (ISBN 978 1 9053331 31 4) is published by Witherby Seamanship International, price £40, with discounts for former Conway cadets.

Recollections from training in the MN’s ‘golden years’ MANY seafarers have written their memoirs for publication, but John Perry’s Quit Ye Like Men is a bit different. Because although his maritime career has lasted more than 50 years, Mr Perry focuses entirely in his book on his inauguration as a cadet, followed by his three years at sea as a P&O apprentice.

He subsequently worked as a P&O officer, was a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, then moved ashore into shipping management and ports sales and marketing, and is now involved in marine consultancy.

But the era Mr Perry evokes with vivid recollection, from the perspective of a trainee officer, is the 1950s and early 1960s, which, as his friend Captain K.H. Davie says in the foreword, are looked back upon as ‘golden years of the British Merchant Navy’.

These were years, Capt Davie writes, when the UK fleet was rapidly expanding following the loss of so many ships and

seafarers during world war two ‘and there were exciting careers and opportunities for young men of the time in all aspects of shipping’.

Mr Perry recalls: ‘Merchant Navy training ships were then the spawning grounds for Merchant Service, and were largely dependent for sponsorship upon

those shipping companies that would in turn draw their graduate products to officer their ships.

That they have now disappeared is yet another function of an end of an era.Training ship vied with training ship in much the same way as public schools… to keep the pipeline full and the fees rolling in.’

The last five chapters capture Mr Perry’s experiences on P&O cargo ship runs to India, the Far East, Australia, and on the company’s Mediterranean cruises. He appreciates how lucky he was to be indentured to P&O, stating that the company ‘went about its business of creating their new officers in a dedicated and professional manner, allowing them a dignity that was seldom seen in other merchant fleets…

The easiest course was to have Cadets, cheap labour as could be considered, doing or achieving nothing but deckhands’ work with but the occasional view of the navigating bridge… this course

was indeed followed by too many companies to their great detriment, and indeed disgrace’.

The author brings the period alive with anecdote. Such as the story of the cadet, newly joined to a ship Mr Perry was assigned to, who while acting on anti-pilferage duty, was duped by a ‘clothcapped, smiling and friendly’ London docker.

‘You’re too smart for me, mate,’ the docker assured the conscientious cadet. ‘Several weeks later,’ writes Mr Perry, ‘at destination discharge, four empty whisky cases were found behind the stacked goods and to add injury to insult, two dozen empty beer bottles languished in their opened cardboard cartons having been casually consumed in London to keep throats various free from dust!’ ✪Quit Ye Like Men, by John W Perry, (ISBN 978 1 84104 193 3), costs £12.50, and is published by The Memoir Club — www.thememoirclub.co.uk

Cunard’s changes into the spotlight EVEN THOUGH it is titled The New Cunard Queens, a considerable proportion of Nils Schwerdtner’s new book is devoted to the company’s history and setting the context in which Queen Elizabeth 2, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria were developed.

Well produced and lavishly illustrated, it provides extensive detail on the company’s evolution, and the technical, industrial and political background to the design and production of the new vessels — demonstrating the mix of tradition and radical change that has transformed the Cunard fleet over the past 30 years in particular.

These changes, Mr Schwerdtner writes, have not always gone smoothly — sometimes as a result of the innate conservatism of passengers, or sometimes (as in the case of the inter-mixing of Cunard and Princess staff) the traditionalism of seastaff. The author notes the demise of the ‘pure’ Cunard officer, and he also offers up an interesting interview with Captain Paul Wright which touches upon this subject. ✪The New Cunard Queens by Nils Schwerdtner (ISBN 978 1848320109) costs £25 and is published by Seaforth Publishing — www.seaforthpublishing.com

TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCTS & SERVICES IN THE TELEGRAPH CONTACT

Redactive tel: 01727 893 894 email: ollie@centuryone publishing.ltd.uk

42● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

The face of Nautilus UK: Mike Quinn, Council member ROYAL Fleet Auxiliary navigator Mike Quinn is standing for re-election to the Nautilus Council in May — but strongly hoping one of his RFA colleagues gets voted on instead.

It’s not that he hasn’t enjoyed representing members on Council from 1999 to 2007 — including several years on the NUMAST Welfare Committee — and now as a co-opted member of the general purposes committee.

Co-opted because, he explains, though he stood down in 2007, ‘due to not enough people standing for election I

was immediately back on’. He now thinks it’s time someone else had a go.

Mike’s from Manchester, still his home. His father had served in the Royal Navy during the Korean war, but when Mike expressed a wish to go to sea, paternal advice was to join the Merchant Navy. ‘He had long periods in Portsmouth and Plymouth. He thought if you wanted to go to sea, you should go to sea most of the time.’

So Mike went to sea with Booker Line, working on general cargo ships from Liverpool to the West Indies.

Telegraph Incorporating the merchant navy journal and ships telegraph

ISSN 0040 2575 staff editor: Andrew Linington production editor: June Cattini reporters: Sarah Robinson/Mike Gerber web editor: Matthew Louw

advertising managers Redactive Media Group 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP Sales Executive: Claire Barber tel: +44 (0)20 7880 7668 fax: +44 (0)20 7880 7553 email: claire.barber@redactive.co.uk website: www.redactive.co.uk Although the Telegraph exercises care and caution before accepting advertisements, readers are advised to take appropriate professional advice before entering into any commitments such as investments (including pension plans). Publication of an advertisement does not imply any form of recommendation and Nautilus UK cannot accept any liability for the quality of goods and services offered in advertisements. Organisations offering financial services or insurance are governed by regulatory authorities and problems with such services should be taken up with the appropriate body.

Published by Nautilus UK, Printed by College Hill Press Limited, 37 Webber Street, London SE1 8QW.

Nautilus UK meetings with members: diary dates NAUTILUS UK has always had a firm commitment to dialogue with its members and that commitment continues to this day, with the Union placing a high priority on contact between members and officials.

Officials make regular visits to ships, and a variety of different meetings are held by the Union to encourage a healthy exchange of views.

The Union also offers the chance for members to meet Nautilus UK officials when they make regular visits to ships in ports and nautical colleges, or stage specialist forums around the UK. These visits aim to give members the chance to get advice on employment and other problems that cannot easily be dealt with by letter or email. Times and venues for meetings in the next few months are:

COLLEGE VISITS Nautilus UK’s recruitment team is now holding regular meetings with trainees and members at all the UK’s maritime colleges. Contact Steve Doran or Garry Elliott at the Wallasey office for visiting schedules and further details.

M–Notices

station or similar crewed space, and the detector heads must comply with a recognised standard, and be capable of being tested for correct operation and restored to normal surveillance without renewal of any component.

External areas on passenger ships have routinely been assumed to have little or no fire risk, so till now their design has not needed to comply with the SOLAS requirement applicable to interior spaces. But the guidance note points out: ‘While this assumption may be accurate for general open deck areas, the continual evolution of new types of passenger amenities on open deck areas may be introducing levels of fire risk.’

Guidelines have been developed to provide administrations and designers with a tool that may be used early in the design process to assess the fire risk of external areas. Risk assessments should consider such factors as: what the space is used for, including who has access to it, and any restriction of access due to security reasons; presence of combustible materials, and of sources of ignition; ready accessibility for fire-fighting operations; ease of escape; proximity of ventilation intakes; proximity to essential systems; the possibility of an external fire spreading to more than one internal fire zone; and relationship to escape routes, assembly stations and evacuation routes to survival craft.

Recommended mitigation measures to be used in conjunction with the risk assessment are also covered in the M note.

M-Notices, Marine Information Notes and Marine Guidance Notes issued by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency recently include: general secretary Brian Orrell

head office Oceanair House, 750–760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015 telex: 892181 DIAL G (marked for the attention of Nautilus UK) website: www.nautilusuk.org

northern office Nautilus House, Mariners’ Park, Wallasey CH45 7PH tel: +44 (0)151 639 8454 fax: +44 (0)151 346 8801

department e-mail addresses general: enquiries@nautilusuk.org membership: membership@nautilusuk.org legal: legal@nautilusuk.org Telegraph: telegraph@nautilusuk.org industrial south: industrialsouth@nautilusuk.org industrial north: industrialnorth@nautilusuk.org central services: centralservices@nautilusuk.org welfare: welfare@nautilusuk.org professional and technical: protech@nautilusuk.org In order to better serve the membership efficiently and cost-effectively, Nautilus UK has started to compile a list of members’ email addresses.

It would be helpful if members with email addresses could notify them to the IT Department, indicating their membership number.

Nautilus UK also administers the NUMAST Welfare Funds and the J.W. Slater Fund, which are registered charities.

He then worked outside the industry for several years, including at Granada TV: ‘Various administrative jobs, nothing very exciting — I wasn’t in Coronation Street.’

In 1992, he returned to sea with the RFA, initially as third mate, the same rank he finally held with Booker Line. ‘The basics of pointing a ship in the right direction were the same,’ he says, ‘but because of the differences in what the RFA do with the military aspect and the rank structure, it must have taken me about a year to think “I actually know what I’m doing”!’

MGN 382 (M) — Fire Protection of Balconies and Other External Areas of Passenger Ships Amendments to the SOLAS global safety of life at sea regulations entered into force on 1 July 2008, applying to cabin balconies on passenger ships. The changes are detailed in this marine guidance note, and are applicable to new ships constructed on or after that date, and to existing ships on the date of the first subsequent survey.

The International Maritime Organisation has also produced guidelines for evaluating the fire risk of other external areas, which are also covered in the M note.

The regulatory amendments affect the design requirements for balcony fire detection and fire suppression systems.

They require divisions between individual balconies to be of non-combustible material in existing and new ships, and capable of being opened on new ships to allow access from adjacent balcony or deck areas.

Surface finishes, except for hardwood decking, must be of low-flame spread type, as defined in IMO resolution A.653 (16). Such finishes other than for deck coverings must be limited to calorific potential on existing and new ships, measured in line with ISO 1716.

On new ships, surface finishes must also be incapable of producing excessive smoke and toxic products of combustion. And primary deck coverings must be incapable of producing smoke, toxic or explosive hazards.

On new and existing ships, balcony furniture and furnishings should comply with restricted fire risk specifications, or else fire detection, fire alarm and fixed pressure water spraying systems should be fitted.

The Marine & Coastguard Agency recognises that some shipowners may have installed fire detection or extinguishing systems on cabin balconies before IMO adopted the relevant circulars. Such systems, provided they remain effective, can continue top be used on UK ships provided they meet the following requirements.

Water-spraying fire extinguishing systems must be able to demonstrate effective spray coverage of the deck area of any balcony, and the system flow rate should be sufficient to simultaneously supply three or more adjacent balconies.

And fire detection and alarm systems should be operated by heat, smoke or other product of combustion, or by flame on each balcony. They must also be arranged to give a visible or audible alarm at a crewed control

SHIP VISITS If you have an urgent problem on your ship, you should contact Nautilus UK (enquiries@nautilusuk.org) to ask for an official to visit the ship. Wherever possible, such requests will be acted upon by the Union and last year more than 200 ships were visited by Nautilus UK officials as a result of contact from members. If you need to request a visit, please give your vessel’s ETA and as much information as possible about the problem needing to be discussed.

MIN 343 (M+F) — Changes to MCA’s 2002 SOLAS V Publication, Arising Out of Amendments to SOLAS Chapter V This M note gives guidance on the survey, certification and compliance implications for ships required to transmit LRIT long range identification and tracking information, under changes to SOLAS regulations implemented in the UK on 31 December 2008.

In advance of published European LRIT policy and UK legislation, the note provides information on the requirements for onboard provision and testing of functional LRIT systems. The UK has appointed authorised testing application service providers (ATASP) to carry out conformance testing. On completion of successful testing, ATASPs issue conformance test reports on the MCA’s behalf. The reports should be completed within a suitable period prior to the date of the first radio survey after 31 December 2008, the note points out.

To comply with minimum requirements, shipborne radio equipment forming part of the GDMSS global distress and safety system should: be capable of automatically transmitting, without onboard human intervention, the ship’s LRIT information at six-hour intervals to a LRIT data centre; be capable of being configured remotely to transmit LRIT information at variable intervals; be capable of transmitting LRIT information following receipt of polling commands;

SCOTLAND Members employed by companies based in the west of Scotland should contact Nautilus UK at Nautilus House, Mariners’ Park, Wallasey CH45 7PH (tel: +44 (0)151 639 8454). Members employed in the offshore oil sector, or by companies based in the east of Scotland, should contact +44 (0)1224 638882. This is not an office address, so members cannot visit in person.

Future dates and venues for Nautilus UK meetings of the National Professional & Technical and National Pensions Forums include: ✪ National Professional & Technical Forum — deals with technical, safety, welfare and other professional topics relevant to shipmaster and

interface directly to the shipborne global navigation satellite system equipment, or have internal positioning capability; be supplied with energy from the main and emergency sources of electrical power; and be tested for electromagnetic compatibility taking account of IMO recommendations. Exemptions and equivalence will be considered on a case by case basis, says the note.

It also contains information on port state control and detentions relating to LRIT, including what should happen if a ship is not transmitting due to outside failure of the LRIT system. In such circumstances, contracting governments should ‘not impose sanctions… no grounds arise for either delaying or detaining the ship’ as long as its conformance test report and related radio certificate are valid, the note says.

The ship should notify the port state of the situation, but to do so the ship needs to be made aware of the failure of the system or the circumstances involved.

‘Those causing the failure of the system or those involved in the prevailing situation should advise the ship accordingly,’ the note adds. And it suggests that administrations should determine the maximum duration of such failure beyond which the ship would need to inform the contracting governments.

MIN 341 (M+F) — MCA Occupational Health and Safety Leaflets and Posters This lists the MCA’s occupational health and safety leaflets, and its posters, which are available in A4 or A3 size. These can be ordered free of charge from: MCA Customer Line, EC Group, Europe Park, Magnet Road, Grays, Essex RM20 4DN; tel: 0845 6032431; fax: 01375 484556; email: mca@ecgroup.uk.com MIN 344 (M) — Boatmasters’ Licence Regulations: General Exemption Vessels in the circumstances given in this note are exempt from the Boatmasters’ Licence Regulations.

The notice relates to vessels operating commercially on inland waterways and in limited coastal areas. ✪M-Notices are available in three ways: a set of bound volumes, a yearly subscription, and individual documents. ✪A consolidated set of all M-Notices current on 30 July 2007 (ISBN 9780115528538) is published by The Stationery Office for £195 — www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp ✪Annual subscriptions and copies of individual notices are available from the official distributors: Mail Marketing (Scotland), MCA, PO Box 87, Glasgow G14 0JF. Tel: +44 (0)141 300 4906; fax: +44 (0)141 950 2726; email: mca@promo-solution.com ✪Individual copies can be collected from MCA offices, electronically subscribed to or downloaded from the MCA website — www.mcga.gov.uk — click on ‘Ships and Cargoes’, then ‘Legislation and Guidance’.

chief engineer officer members. The next meeting is being held at the Nautilus UK northern office, Mariners’ Park, Wallasey, on Tuesday 21 April, starting at 1300hrs. ✪ National Pensions Forum — established to provide a two-way flow of information and views on all pension matters and pension schemes (not just the MNOPF). This forum is open to all classes of Nautilus UK member, including associate and affiliate. The next meeting will be held at Best Western Churchill Hotel, Dover Waterfront, Dover, Kent CT17 9BP, on Wednesday 1 April, starting at 1100hrs.

All full members of the relevant rank or sector can attend and financial support may be available to some members by prior agreement. For further details contact head office.

Quiz answers 1. Felixstowe (sixth place) and Southampton (ranked 13) are the only two UK container ports in the European top 20.

2. Just over 47% (3,094 ships) of the world ferry fleet are passenger-only vessels.

3. Germany’s shipowners have the largest number of vessels on order — a total of 1,189 at the start of this year.

4. Shanghai is China’s busiest container port, handling some 28m TEU last year.

5. The term donkeyman is derived from the related duties of tending the auxiliary engines (or donkey engine or donkey boiler) in port.

6. The Marine Society was founded in 1756.

Crossword answers QUICK ANSWERS Across: 1. Tweeds; 5. Fuming; 9. Hanging; 10. Desire; 12. Supply and demand; 13. Lees; 14. Conference; 18. Destroyers; 19. Shot; 21. White corpuscles; 24. Plated; 25. Whitsun; 26. Crayon; 27. Resist.

Down: 2. Winepress; 3. Enisle; 4. Signatory; 5. Faded; 6. Musketry; 7. Norma; 8. Thistledown; 11. Advertising; 15. Firepower; 16. Nihilists; 17. Priestly; 20. Brains; 22. Idler; 23. Olden.

This month’s cryptic crossword is a prize competition. The answers will appear in next month’s Telegraph. Congratulations to the February crossword winner — Nautilus UK member George Matthews.

CRYPTIC ANSWERS FROM FEBRUARY Across: 1. Galilee; 5. Compact; 9. Ringo; 10. Animation; 11. Arresting; 12. Wheel; 13. Denim; 15. Terrified; 18. Open-ended; 19. Extra; 21. Lewis; 23. Whalebone; 25. Gastropod; 26. Tweed; 27. Dreamer; 28. Dilated.

Down: 1. Garland; 2. Long-range; 3. Looms; 4. Emaciated; 5. Cling; 6. Meanwhile; 7. Alive; 8. Tangled; 14. Maelstrom; 16. Red-handed; 17. Introvert; 18. Obliged; 20. Amended; 22. Waste; 23. Wiper; 24. Extol.

MARCH 2009● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ 43

Stick up for Nautilus UK’s Sea Sense campaign!

Indicators

NAUTILUS UK offers a range of free stickers to help you show your support for British shipping.The ever-popular Sea Sense car stickers have been spotted all over the world — why not put one in your back window? We also have some smaller paper Sea Sense stickers to put on envelopes.

There is also the ‘delivered by ship’ selection, showing the variety of products that reach our shops thanks to merchant ships and seafarers. These are ideal for handing out at schools and festivals.

LATEST figures show a further fall in the UK inflation rate, but the level of wage increases remaining relatively stable.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics last month showed that consumer price inflation (CPI) fell in January to an annual rate of 3%, down from 3.1% in December. The modest decline was less than most commentators expected.

The headline retail prices index (RPI) — normally used as the basis for pay talks — fell to

All the stickers promote Nautilus UK’s special campaign website www.seasense.co.uk, designed to raise public awareness of the need for maritime skills — and where you can sign an electronic petition urging the government to take more effective measures to support British shipping and seafarers.

If you’d like some free stickers, simply contact Nautilus UK’s Central Services department and let them know how many you need. Call Central Services on +44 (0)20 8989 6677 or email centralservices@nautilusuk.org

0.1% from December’s 0.9% to hit the lowest level since 1960. RPIX inflation — the ‘all items’ RPI excluding mortgage interest payments — was 2.4% in January, down from 2.8% in December.

The ONS also revealed that the annual rate of growth in average earnings, excluding bonuses, was 3.6% in the three months to December 2008 — unchanged from the three months to November.

Including bonuses, it was 3.2%, also unchanged from the previous month.

Figures from the independent Labour Research Department showed pay deals in January averaging 3.5% — but also warned of an increase in the number of pay freezes.

10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BE A NAUTILUS UK MEMBER… 1. Pay and conditions Nautilus UK negotiates on your behalf with an increasing number of British and foreign flag employers on issues including pay, conditions, leave, hours and pensions. The Union also takes part in top-level international meetings on the pay and conditions of seafarers in the world fleets.

2. Legal services With the maritime profession under increasing risk of criminalisation, Nautilus UK provides specialist support, including a worldwide network of lawyers who can provide free and immediate advice to full members on employmentrelated matters. Members and their families also have access to free initial advice on non-employment issues.

3. Certificate protection As a full member, you have free financial protection, worth up to £102,000, against loss of income if your certificate of

competency is cancelled, suspended or downgraded following a formal inquiry. Full members are also entitled to representation during accident investigations or inquiries.

4. Compensation Nautilus UK’s legal services department recovers more than £1m every year in compensation for members who have suffered work-related illness or injuries.

5. Workplace support Nautilus UK officials provide expert advice on work-related problems such as contracts, redundancy, bullying or discrimination, non-payment of wages, and pensions.

6. Safety and welfare Nautilus UK plays a vital role in national and international discussions on such key issues as hours of work, crewing levels, shipboard conditions, vessel design, and technical and training standards. The NUMAST Welfare Funds charity runs

a 15-acre welfare complex in Wallasey providing homes and care for retired seafarers, and administers welfare pensions and grants to seafarers in need. Nautilus UK has a major say in the running of the Merchant Navy Officers’ Pension Fund and the Pension Plan. It also launched The Maritime Stakeholder Plan to meet the needs of seafarers and others working in the shipping industry, at sea and ashore, who are unable to participate in the MNOPF or MNOPP. 7. Savings Being a Nautilus UK member costs less than buying a newspaper every day and gives you peace of mind at work, with access to an unrivalled range of services and support.

It’s simple to save the cost of membership — by taking advantage of specially-negotiated rates on a variety of commercial services ranging from tax advice to credit cards, and household, motoring, travel and specialist insurance.

8. In touch As a Nautilus UK member, help is never far away — wherever in the world you are. Officials regularly visit members onboard their ships and further support and advice is available at regular ‘surgeries’ and college visits throughout the UK. 9. Your union, your voice Nautilus UK is the voice of more than 16,000 maritime professionals working in all sectors of the shipping industry, at sea and ashore. As one of the largest and most influential international bodies representing maritime professionals, the Union campaigns tirelessly to promote your views.

10. Get involved!

Nautilus UK is a dynamic and democratic union, offering members many opportunities to be fully involved and have your say in our work — both at local and national level.

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This guarantee should be detached and retained by the Payer

The Direct Debit Guarantee ✪This guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that take part in the direct debit scheme.

The efficiency and security of the scheme is monitored and protected by your own bank or building society. ✪If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change Nautilus UK will notify you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. ✪If an error is made by Nautilus UK or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid. ✪You can cancel a direct debit at any time by writing to your bank or building society. ✪Please also send a copy of your letter to us.

44● ✪ Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

UK CLUB MOVES TO CUT GROWING RISKS OF MOORING ACCIDENTS SEAFARERS are facing a growing risk of death and injury as a result of a long-term increase in mooring-related accidents.

That’s the warning from the UK P&I Club, which has just published special advice in an attempt to cut the rising toll.

The Club said mooring-related claims

rose from around 4% of the total in the period between 1987-97, to around 14% over the following decade. It said there is also evidence that injuries suffered in mooring incidents tend to be more severe than in other types of accidents — with 14% resulting in death.

In a special advisory newsletter — ‘Understanding mooring incidents’ — the Club calls for risk assessments to be made of all mooring areas onboard to highlight potential hazards.

It stresses the need for mooring operations to always be undertaken with

sufficient crew to do the job safely — at least two people for each mooring station.

It urges seafarers to take special care in the snap-back zone when a mooring line is under tension and to wear personal protective equipment during mooring operations.

The guidance emphasises the need for mooring equipment, rope and wires to be inspected regularly. It also warns of the need for care to be exercised in mooring arrangements, and says masters should protest to port authorities if there are insufficient mooring arrangements ashore.

news

MINISTER WARNED ON POLICY DELAYS Unions come together to voice concern at the lack of positive action for shipping CONCERNS over the lack of government action on key maritime policy matters were raised when Nautilus UK — together with officials from the TUC and RMT — met shipping minister Jim Fitzpatrick last month.

In talks with the minister and Department for Transport officials, the union officials expressed their frustration at the failure to secure progress on the shipping industry’s joint proposals for seafarer employment and training — which were submitted almost two years ago.

The unions also highlighted continuing disquiet about the exploitation of foreign seafarers — presenting evidence of foreign crew members being paid less than one-third the UK National Minimum Wage on one ship operating between two UK ports, and as little as £1.63 an hour on an offshore support vessel running out of Aberdeen.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the government was still not in a position to address the issue, because interdepartmental talks have failed so far to secure a unified position on the legal implications of applying the UK minimum wage to foreign ships in UK waters.

But the minister did, however, provide assurances of longawaited action on the Race Relations Act, which presently permits pay discrimination between seafarers on UK ships on the grounds of their country of residence.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the government plans to include measures with the Single Equality Bill, which is likely to go before

Assistant general secretary Mark Dickinson presents the shipping minister with a Nautilus briefing on maritime policies Parliament some time after Easter.

Nautilus assistant general secretary Mark Dickinson said the

hour-long meeting reflected the unions’ strong disappointment at the absence of any new positive measures to support British ship-

ping and seafarers during the past two years.

‘Action on the employment and training package is needed more

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than ever in the current economic climate,’ he added.

‘And it is incredible that, in the 21st century, we are still having to make the case for government measures to deal with discrimination against seafarers purely on the grounds of their nationality,’ he said.

The unions also urged the government to do more to promote shortsea and coastal shipping as an environmentally-friendly alternative to road transport, and Mr Dickinson expressed concern at new figures showing a marked fall in the amount of UK freight being carried by water.

He told the minister that Nautilus is disturbed by a reduction in the level of government support for new ‘green’ shipping schemes, and at a 30%-plus fall in the volume of freight carried by UK-flagged ships — a figure that is likely to increase with the demise of the British operator Coastal Bulk Shipping.

‘The government’s approach seems to be hands-off, when it should be matching other EU member states in proactively identifying ports and routes that can serve as motorways of the seas,’ Mr Dickinson added.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the government remains committed to its ‘modal shift’ objectives, and said the shipping industry had failed to take up the support available through the freight facilities grant system to promote new waterbased services.

The minister admitted that the grants scheme was cumbersome, but pointed out that it was bound

by European state aid rules.

‘Safety at risk from credit crunch’ FEARS that the global economic problems could prompt a decline in shipping quality have been raised by the head of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

Outlining the Agency’s 2009 work programme last month, chairman Jørgen Hammer Hansen warned that the credit crunch will undoubtedly put ‘significant economic pressure on the maritime industry’.

Quality operations could be squeezed as shipping companies cut costs to survive, he predicted.

‘Some may postpone maintenance and installation of new equipment, or otherwise jeopardise safety, security or the environment,’ Mr Hansen added.

The EMSA chairman said the EU ‘faces an important challenge in ensuring quality shipping and compliance with international and European legislation, and at the same time making it as easy as possible for the industry to meet the required standards in a costeffective way’.

This year’s EMSA work programme covers such developments as the launch of the vessel traffic monitoring tool SafeSeaNet and the Long Range Identification and Tracking data centre.

It is also stepping up work to check on training and certification standards in some 50 key seafarer-supplying countries outside the EU. ✪Insurers voice alarm at downturn — page 11

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MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪i

BGM 2009 uniting maritime professionals nautilus at work THIS year’s Nautilus Biennial General Meeting will make a bit of history and general secretary Brian Orrell would like you to be there...

WOULD you like to help make history? Come to the Biennial General Meeting (BGM) this year, and you will be there for the launch of a pioneering new union — Nautilus International.

The BGM takes place every two years, and it is the forum for full members of the Union to help determine policies and to debate the key issues affecting the industry in which you work.

And this year’s BGM — which takes place over three days in May — will mark the creation of the new trans-boundary union for maritime professionals, with the formal coming together of Nautilus NL and Nautilus UK at the end of the meeting.

Following the success of the 2007 BGM, which was staged in Liverpool, we have once again decided to locate the meeting in a major maritime centre — with this year’s event being held at the Newcastle Gateshead Hilton Hotel.

Members will assemble for the meeting on the afternoon and evening of Monday 11 May, with the conference business taking place on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and members departing on the morning of Friday 15 May. We’ve done more to listen to feedback from members attending past BGMs, so we have once again chosen a maritimerelated venue, streamlined the debates, and provided more relaxed opportunities for you to participate in the proceedings.

This special supplement gives you a taste of what to expect at the conference, including the motions submitted by members for consideration at the meeting.

From the skills shortage to maritime safety, from training to pensions, you can see that these address some of the most critical issues affecting masters, officers, cadets and other mari-time professionals.

These are tumultuous times for the shipping industry, and the BGM is your chance to shape the future of your Union and the sector in which you work.

And don’t forget that the BGM is not just about business. It will include speeches from leading figures in the shipping industry, as well as offering opportunities to socialise with other maritime professionals.

We have once again lined up a series of VIP speakers from the maritime and trade union world — including shipping minister Jim Fitzpatrick, International Transport Workers’ Federation leader David Cockcroft, the head of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, Stephen Meyer, the president of the Chamber of Shipping,

Notice of Nautilus RGM Notice has been given under the Rules for a Rules General Meeting of Nautilus UK to be held at the close of BGM business on Thursday 14 May 2009 at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead Hotel.

FINANCIAL AID

attendance at BGM 09

This form should be completed and returned to Peter McEwen, deputy general secretary, Nautilus UK Head Office, 750-760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB. I wish to apply to attend the 2009 BGM under the arrangements made

by Council for full members to receive assistance towards the costs of attendance.

Please complete in BLOCK CAPITALS Name Address (for all BGM correspondence)

Postcode Tel no.

Membership no.

Company Rank Present ship

Selection will be made from the categories below. Please circle the one that applies to you.

FG = foreign-going; NCVA = near-coastal voyage area

and Philippe Bourgogne-Verney, of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (DG-TREN).

We want you to be there — to contribute your views, your experience and your ambitions to debates and discussion that will have a significant impact on the Union’s work at local, national and international levels.

The form on the right is your chance, as a full member, to get financial assistance to attend. Nautilus UK provides this support — the payment of hotel costs and a contribution towards UK travel expenses — to ensure that a broad cross-section of full members from all sectors the industry are able to attend.

Nautilus has done much since the last BGM to deliver on the policies agreed by members in 2007. From fighting the case for an employment link to the tonnage tax, to highlighting the dangers posed by fatigue, there is much that we have achieved and much that we can be proud of.

But we must never be complacent and never stand still. The battle to increase the recruitment and training of maritime professionals has never been more important.

And in the present economic climate it is increasingly important that we continue the fight to ensure that maritime professionals get the pay and conditions they deserve.

That’s why Nautilus UK needs you — please come and join us at the BGM and take the new union into the future with policies fit for the challenges that confront us.

Please use these opportunities to get involved!

A

Master FG

I

Purser/catering NCVA

B

Master NCVA

J

Radio officer FG

C

Engineer FG

K

Radio officer NCVA

D

Engineer NCVA

L

Electrical officer FG

E

Cadet (all trades)

M

Electrical officer NCVA

F

Deck FG

N

Shore staff

G

Deck NCVA

O

Ratings — FG

H

Purser/catering FG

P

Ratings — NCVA

Please give details of involvement with Nautilus, eg as a liaison officer or honorary delegate, or if you have attended a Nautilus Education course or a previous BGM.

ii ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

MARCH 2009 ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ iii

It’s time to second that motion... nautilus at work

NAUTILUS UK policy is discussion at the 2009 determined by the Union’s Biennial General Meeting. membership — and these Make sure you are there are the motions that — fill in the form on page i have been submitted by to apply for financial members for debate and assistance to attend...

BGM 2009 uniting maritime professionals 12-14 May Hilton Newcastle Gateshead Hotel

The BGM is your chance to shape the future of the Union and the industry in which you work Brian Orrell General secretary Nautilus UK

A. LIAISON OFFICER TRAINING Congratulates Nautilus UK on securing funding from the Government’s Union Modernisation Fund for a series of three Liaison Officer Training Courses held at Ruskin College, Oxford. This BGM recognises the significant role that Liaison Officers play in the functioning of the Union and the importance of ensuring that they have access to the right training for that role. This BGM therefore calls for a continued commitment to provide Liaison Officer training in the future.

B. TELEGRAPH This BGM acknowledges the work undertaken by the Telegraph Department of this Union in producing a world class paper for the membership and the shipping industry.

This BGM further acknowledges the high quality of editorial and the commitment of the staff to its monthly production. In so doing acknowledges the attention in detail in articles of industrial, legal, professional and technical, and welfare issues affecting the membership.

This BGM calls upon this Union to ensure that the Telegraph Department is adequately resourced in terms of staff and information technology so as to ensure it maintains its position as a leading union and shipping paper.

This BGM further calls upon this Union to widen the distribution of the paper to more ships, companies, colleges, administrations and other maritime organisations, and increase the number of copies sent to each ship where numbers justify this.

C. ETO QUALIFICATION This BGM acknowledges the work undertaken by this Union in successfully setting up of an Electro Technical Course (ETO) at South Tyneside College, and its subsequent adoption by Warsash Maritime Academy.

This BGM further acknowledges the work undertaken by this Union in order to achieve international recognition of ETOs by placing the issue of Certification on the agenda of the International Maritime Organisation in its review of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention 1978 as amended.

This BGM recognises the limitations of the current course, in the United Kingdom, that includes both an EOOW

Certificate and ETO qualification and calls upon this Union to pursue an ETO qualification at the operational and managerial level to meet the challenges faced by the industry from new technology.

This BGM further calls upon this Union ensure that the ETO qualification in the United Kingdom is aligned to both Foundation Degree and/or Honours Degree so as to ensure equal standing with Deck and Engineering Officers.

D. GENERAL MEETINGS This BGM notes that members who supported the creation of the new Union with Nautilus NL had no choice but to support the change from a General Meeting every two years to one every four years.

This BGM further notes that this means members will only be able to influence the policy of the new Union once every four years and recognises that members who may be at sea and miss a General Meeting will only get the chance to attend and influence the work of the Union once every eight years.

This BGM believes this is an unacceptable reduction in members’ rights and calls on Council to urgently review this decision with a view to reverting to a General Meeting every two years as soon as possible.

E. ENCLOSED SPACES RISKS This BGM expresses grave concern over the continued loss of life in ‘enclosed’ spaces’.

This BGM call upon the Union to work for the compulsory carriage of O2 Testing Equipment.

This BGM further calls for mandatory pre-entry drills on all ships and additional training at Nautical Colleges.

F. MANDATORY CARRIAGE OF DEFIBRILLATORS This BGM proposes that carriage of an automated external defibrillator be made mandatory aboard all vessels.

G. SCOTLAND’S FERRY SERVICES This BGM notes with concern the decision of the European Commission to investigate the lifeline subsidies paid to

Caledonian MacBrayne and other ferry companies in Scotland.

The BGM believes this represents another attempt to undermine the provision of good quality, safe and reliable ferry services in Scotland.

This BGM therefore calls upon Nautilus to continue to campaign against attempts to attack any of Scotland’s publicly owned ferry routes. This campaign should involve other unions through the STUC, and should seek to ensure that EU action does not undermine the ability of the Scottish Executive to provide publicly owned, publicly accountable lifeline ferry services.

that members are not adversely affected either by being forced to accept low pay increases, or through job losses.

This BGM therefore calls on Nautilus to conduct a detail-ed analysis of the likely effects for members of this downturn and then to put in place strategies to ensure members terms and conditions and job security are fully protected.

increase in cadet numbers, the total of UK officers is set to halve over the next 15 years The BGM therefore calls for Nautilus to step up its campaigning on maritime skills and use every opportunity to lobby the government for policies to further encourage the employment and training of British seafarers.

K. PIRACY AND ATTACKS ON SHIPPING

N. SEAFARERS EARNINGS DEDUCTION

This BGM notes that the past few years has seen increased industrial unrest at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and a high rate of turnover amongst senior experienced professional staff. The BGM notes these developments with great concern and urges Nautilus to lobby the government to ensure that the MCA has the resources and staffing required to discharge its increased responsibilities for the safety of ships, the marine environment and decent work for seafarers, including the requirements of the MLC 2006.

This BGM expresses its concern at the continuing increase in the rate of pirate and armed attacks on shipping and at the increase in the levels of violence and intimidation against seafarers.

The BGM condemns the general failure of shipowners to invest in adequate security measures, including increased crew levels.

The BGM welcomes the deployment of naval forces off Somalia, but reiterates concern at the lack of effective rules of engagement to combat piracy in a proactive manner.

The BGM therefore calls on Nautilus to redouble its efforts to secure political action at national, European and international levels to tackle the threat and to convince ship-owners to improve the levels of protection for seafarers and the standards of security on their ships.

I. ETF FERRY CAMPAIGN

L. FATIGUE

This BGM congratulates Nautilus UK on the leading role played in the European Transport Workers’ Federation Campaign to enhance the job security of EU Seafarers.

This BGM notes the need to focus this campaign on the EU Ferry Sector and supports activity to create a sector of excellence in which low cost competition is eradicated.

This BGM also notes recent announcements of job losses in the ferry sector and calls on Nautilus to ensure this campaign continues to bring an end to competition based on wage dumping and discrimination, in favour of fair competition based on quality and safety.

This conference notes the continuing high levels of fatigue within the shipping industry. It also notes with profound alarm the continued failure of the authorities to deal with the resulting risks to health and safety.

The BGM therefore calls upon Nautilus to increase its work to secure improved enforcement of hours of work and rest regulations and to lobby governments and the IMO for more realistic manning levels.

J. JOB SECURITY

The BGM records its concern at: ✪ the government’s lack of action on the joint shipping industry proposals for an employment link to tonnage tax ✪ increasing evidence of serious skill shortages, undermining safety at sea and in UK ports and waters ✪ UK seafarer statistics which show that despite the recent

H. THE MCA

This BGM recognises that shipping has not been immune from the global economic downturn following the credit crunch and Stock Market crashes last year.

This BGM calls on Nautilus to continue to work to ensure

M. EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING

This BGM notes with concern the judgement in the Pride South America case and with outrage the HMRC decision to attempt to extend the judgement to remove many seafarers in the offshore sector from qualifying for the SED. This BGM recognises the work already done by Nautilus UK to protect the interests of members affected by this unilateral and damaging ruling and forcing HMRC to withdraw the original decision. However the BGM also notes that some seafarers have had the SED removed at a cost to them and the sector.

This BGM therefore calls upon HMRC to end the confusion that now surrounds SED by making clear that any seafarer employed in that capacity will qualify for SED regardless of which type of vessel they serve on.

SED was reintroduced, as a result of pressure from the Union, in the early 1990s to protect the UK’s maritime skills.

The need to protect these skills is more important than ever and this BGM therefore calls on Nautilus to campaign vigorously to have the government amend the relevant legislation to give effect to the original policy objective of providing support to all seafarers with foreign earnings.

O. INLAND NAVIGATION This BGM notes that once Nautilus International is established the union automatically becomes a major player in the inland-navigation sector of mainland Europe.

This BGM also notes that the European inland-navigation sector is in the process of standardising important issues such as social security, hours of work and rest regulations and the quality of educational systems.

This BGM further notes that the maritime professionals active in the European inland-navigation sector are poorly unionised and could therefore be considered as an important potential for recruitment.

The BGM therefore calls on Nautilus to play a proactive role in the European inland-navigation sector and to find ways to increase membership levels of Nautilus International in this sector.

Motions from the National Pensions Forum approved by Council for submission to the MNOPF BGM underand BGM MNOPP Standing Order 2.

This BGM notes that one result of the current economic crisis is the seeming long term reduction in the market values of pension fund investments including those of the MNOPF and MNOPP. The BGM further notes that the welcome improvement in the life expectancy of scheme members increases the level of liabilities and that both factors, together, put pressure on the finances of pension funds.

The BGM urges the Council to ensure that the pensions within the MNOPF are maintained, that active members are allowed to continue contributing and every effort made by the Trustee Board to make discretionary pension increases when finances permit.

Efforts should also continue to increase the employer contributions into the MNOPP to significantly improve the amounts available to purchase pensions on retirement.

NAUTILUS PENSIONS ASSOCIATION This BGM strongly supports the Council decision to establish the Nautilus Pensions Association (NPA) and its launch in late 2008. The NPA will encourage many more seafarers and their dependents to become involved in their own pension arrangements including an opportunity to propose to Council two persons to become trustees of the MNOPF. The BGM believes that the Council should continue to support the NPA and help it to expand to include a high proportion of the members of the various maritime pension funds and thus, through Council, expand even further member involvement in pension issues.

iv ✪● Nautilus UK Telegraph● ✪ MARCH 2009

life at sea competition DON ’ T miss this DON’ chance to take a share of the prize money for the best shots of life and work at sea ARE YOU handy with a camera? If so, don’t

miss this last chance to share in the £1,500 prize money being offered in the Nautilus/ Endsleigh Insurance Services ‘life at sea’ photography competition.

Closing date for entries is Wednesday 1 April 2009 — so don’t delay if you want your shots to go before the judges.

As in previous years, there will be very stiff competition for the three top prizes. Entries have been pouring in — many of a very high standard. Can you do even better than the examples on this page?

The theme of the competition is ‘life at sea’ — which you can interpret in any way you wish.

Nautilus and Endsleigh stage the contest to help show the wider world what life at sea is like — the good and the bad (and the ugly!).

Remember, having a good idea is just as important as high technical standards. Judges will be looking for originality just as much as artistic merit.

Generous prize money totalling £1,500 is on offer for the winners — with £750 for the top photo, a second prize of £500 and a third prize of £250.

The prizes will be presented at the Nautilus 2009 BGM (don’t worry if you can’t make it!) and the event will feature an exhibition of the best entries. To enter the competition, you can submit shots in colour or black and white, and as prints, slides or electronic images. Slides and prints should be sent, along with the completed form top right, to Nautilus UK/Endsleigh Photo Competition, The Telegraph, Oceanair House, 750-760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB. If you want to enter electronic images, please email JPEGs (300dpi preferred) to telegraph@nautilusuk.org, marking your entry Nautilus UK/Endsleigh Photo Competition.

Your email will need to include the information in the form top right: your name, your address, your home telephone number, your email address and your membership number if applicable.

Please don’t forget to send us the official entry form or equivalent information by email, as we must be able to contact you if you are chosen as one of the winners. We look forward to hearing from you by 1 April.

Nautilus UK / Endsleigh Insurance Services Photo Competition 2009 Name:

........................................................................

Address:

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..................................................................................... ..................................................................................... .....................................................................................

Home tel:

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Email: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mem no.:

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Photos to be returned: YES / NO TOP LEFT: the‘full monty’ is performed by shipmates for the entry from Michal Kwiatkowski

BOTTOM LEFT: a Coastguard helicopter comes in over the Far Turbot at Dover, by Lee Patten

CENTRE: one of a series of pictures submitted by Laura Hughes from a portfolio that she feels best captures her three years of working at sea. ‘It’s nice to share them so others can see what I see,’ she says

BELOW: what could be called ‘seal life’ — a marine mammal finds a good place to rest in this picture taken in the Ribble Estuary in early February 2009 by Nautilus member Clive Corder