Issue 205 may/jun 2010
Search for outstanding Filipino seafarers
Los artículos en español aparecen en las páginas 6y7 Статьи на русском языке приводятся на стр. 6 и 7
ITF website for crews translated page 3 Eyes over the oceans pages 4-5 Steps to take when abandoned page 6
UK registered charity no: 212432 Scottish charity register no: SC039211
The Sea is published by The Mission to Seafarers
Editor: Gillian Ennis News: David Hughes It is distributed free of charge to seafarers through chaplains and seafarers’ centres. However, if you want to be sure of getting it regularly, send us £3.50 or $5 for post and packing and we will mail it to you for a year (six issues). It is available from: Kathy Baldwin The Sea, The Mission to Seafarers, St Michael Paternoster Royal, College Hill, London EC4R 2RL. Tel: +44 20 7248 5202 Fax: +44 20 7248 4761 Email: pr@missiontoseafarers.org Website: www.missiontoseafarers.org
A RAFT of new ship designs and technologies to increase fuel economy and reduce CO2 emissions are coming off the drawing board, including Det Norske Veritas’s Quantum containership concept, pictured above. One of its features is the aircraft carrier-style overhang shape to increase container capacity. See story on P3
Increased naval presence sends pirates further out to sea
Hijackings continue despite tough action T
HE number of hijackings by Somali pirates increased slightly in the first quarter of this year despite a more active approach by the world’s navies operating off the Horn of Africa. In the now very heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and Arabian Sea the number of attacks dropped from 41 to 17, although the number of ships seized went down by only one, to four vessels, according to International Maritime Bureau (IMB) figures. Informed sources told The Sea that the vessels hijacked within these areas had not been sailing within the patrolled areas or with naval escorts. The increased naval presence in the Gulf of Aden and close-by areas appears, however, to have sent the pirates even further out into the Indian Ocean. One attack, on the bulk carrier Melina 1, took place over 1,000 miles out and closer to the Indian than the Somali coast. That attack was thwarted by the intervention of the Indian navy, but of 19 attacks in the Indian Ocean six resulted in successful hijackings. By early April, 12 ships and 253 seafarers were being held off the Somali coast.
Broadly speaking, as ransoms were paid and ships released others were taken in their place. In April, calmer conditions following the end of the
route to Mogadishu, which was attacked off the Somali coast some 60 miles south of Haradere. According to the EU Naval Force (EU Navfor)
THE Iranian dhow, which the pirates left without water, food or fuel, alongside the Spanish warship Navarra. (Photo: EU Navfor) monsoon appeared to spark a resurgence of pirate activity. Three more vessels had been hijacked by the middle of the month, although one, a dhow, was released within days. But while ships continue to be hijacked at much the same rate as last year, the pirates have not had it all their own way as the navies have taken an increasingly active and robust line. In some cases, too, merchant ships have successfully repulsed even very determined attacks. One example was the UAE-owned Panamaflag cargo ship Almezaan, en
the attack was successfully repulsed and the pirates broke off their attack. All the crew were reported to be well. In the case of the 36,318 dwt Turkish bulker Yasin C, which was attacked 250 miles east of Mombasa in early April, it appears the 25-strong Turkish crew thwarted the pirates by locking themselves in the machinery space and stopping the engine. The pirates caused major damage to the accommodation and the bridge was burnt out before they abandoned the vessel after two days on board. In March, the EU Navfor
Spanish warship Navarra rescued the crew of an Iranian dhow who had been left without food, water or sufficient fuel to return to shore. The men told their rescuers that pirates had boarded the vessel and kept them tied up for two days without food or water. When the pirates left they looted the vessel and also took the crew’s possessions. The warship provided the crew with sufficient food, water and fuel to ensure that that they could make it back to the nearest harbour. A few weeks earlier, in what is probably a first, a French fishing vessel collided with a pirate mother ship, sinking her. The incident happened after the Torre Giulia was attacked in early March and two other fishing vessels, the Trevignon and Talenduic, went to her rescue. EU Navfor says that the pirate mother ship collided with one of the fishing vessels and sank. The fishing vessel immediately stopped to rescue the pirates in the water. Only four pirates were found initially but a search and rescue operation, including a Spanish maritime patrol aircraft, located the remaining two pirates who were taken on board the Torre Giulia. Continued on P2
A SEARCH is on in the Philippines for “outstanding Filipino seafarers”, as a way of paying tribute to the men and women who work in the country’s maritime sector to mark the International Maritime Organisation’s Year of the Seafarer. It has been launched by the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment to acknowledge seafarers’ contribution to the growth of the maritime industry and of the Philippine economy in general. In an official circular, labour and employment secretary Marianito Roque said that the award would be for Filipino seafarers in the domestic trades and the international merchant fleet. A search committee will oversee and manage the selection process for the award. Members include the administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the president of the Association of Marine Officers and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines, and the chairman of the Joint Manning Group.
Boost for MLC 2006 as Spain signs up IMPLEMENTATION of the International Labour Organisation’s Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) has received a boost with Spain becoming the seventh country and the first in the European Union to ratify it. Spain joins a group of signatories that together account for over the 33 per cent of the world fleet which is required to bring it into force. However, the MLC 2006, which consolidates international conventions on employment standards and welfare at sea, also requires the backing of 30 countries. With Spain having taken the lead, it is hoped that all 27 EU member states will sign up to it by the end of this year. It will come into force one year after reaching the required number of ratifications.