Nautilus Telegraph - March 2014

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Beating the bullies Nautilus launches new drive to end harassment at sea 22-23

Open for business College open days show lots of interest in seagoing careers 19

NL nieuws Twee pagina’s met nieuws uit Nederland 34-35

Volume 47 | Number 03 | March 2014 | £3.50 €3.70

Shipping hit by storms cargoship Luno, left, was one F of the maritime victims of stormy The Spanish-flagged general

conditions which swept across the UK and continental Europe last month. The French officers’ union FOMMCGT has expressed concern about the circumstances of the ship’s loss when it broke in two after hitting a breakwater at the entrance to the port of Bayonne. Investigators are looking into reports that the 3,466gt vessel suffered electrical failure causing a loss of propulsion and manoeuvrability. Luno — which was in ballast at the time — was driven onto the breakwater by waves up to 6m high. Eleven crew members and a local pilot were airlifted to safety and the Dutch salvage firm Smit was called in to remove some 127 cu m of fuel oil from the ship’s tanks. Nautilus is calling for a full investigation into the death of a passenger on a cruiseship that was struck by waves during a storm in the Channel — see page 44. Picture: Reuters

Owners panic over Filipino certificates Nautilus says threat of EU de-recognition should prompt a return to ‘tried and tested’ sources

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Nautilus has rejected calls from leading ship managers for countries such as the UK and the Netherlands to issue certificates of competency to Filipino officers facing de-recognition by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The international ship managers’ association, InterManager, expressed concern last month following new reports suggesting that Filipino officers could be banned from working on EU-flagged ships as a result of EMSA investigations into the standards of training and certification in the Philippines. Owners are preparing for the worst after EMSA checks showed some academies still falling short of STCW standards. Belgian owners have even threatened to flag out of Europe if they are prevented from using Filipino officers. Philippines senate leader Franklin Drilon warned that 80,000 Filipino seafarers could lose their jobs if the EU goes ahead

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with the threat to withdraw recognition of their STCW certificates. Speaking as the Philippines Congress began to debate a bill to overhaul the nation’s maritime administration last month, he called for urgent agreement on the plans to create a single authority with responsibility for the training and certification of seafarers in an effort to address some of the issues identified by EMSA. But InterManager has urged companies to ‘put in place sensible contingency plans to guard against a worst-case scenario’ if the latest EMSA audit rules that the Philippine Maritime Administration is not effectively implementing all the provisions of the STCW Convention. InterManager says companies should ‘mitigate the immediate impact of any possible ban’ by ensuring that their existing Filipino officers extend the validity of their CoCs before any de-recognition comes into force. ‘The EU has indicated that, if ever a ban

were to take effect, this would not be levied against valid and active CoCs,’ InterManager pointed out. ‘By extending the validity of their CoCs, the Filipino officers are able to gain a maximum five year period of grace. Should the EU ever implement a ban, a subsequent resolution may likely be found within the five year grace period. Georgia, which has recently been subjected to a similar ban, resolved its shortcomings within two years.’ It said owners and managers should also hold discussions with port state control authorities to extend this five year window to Filipino officers serving on non-EU flagged vessels which may call on EU ports. And it revealed that discussions are currently underway with a number of countries such as the UK, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium, to allow their recognised schools to assess cadets for their CoC — so allowing those cadets to qualify onboard EU-flagged ships.

InterManager president Gerardo Borromeo said: ‘The message we are giving out as responsible ship managers is that our primary duty is to ensure that ships continue to sail safely and efficiently, which means we will put the right people onboard these ships and, in the case of Filipinos, we will work with the right crewing institutions and entities to ensure these officers are properly trained and certificated.’ But Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson said the industry should take a much more constructive response to the situation. ‘Rather than adopting shortterm sticking plaster solutions, owners and managers should reflect on the repeated findings from EMSA audits of the Philippines and recognise that this demonstrates the shortcomings of pursuing low-cost crewing policies,’ he added. ‘The potential crisis facing the industry could easily be avoided by investment in traditional tried and tested sources of seafaring expertise,’ he said.

Inside F Bound for glory

How the Outward Bound Trust is helping to keep cadets on track — page 20 F On the map

Maritime careers map package aims to ease the path from ship to shore — page 21 F Viking conquest

Recruitment firm starts work on new training centre in Dover — page 25 F Sex and the sea

Maritime museum stages adults-only exhibition about seafarers’ sex lives — page 27

19/02/2014 17:32


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