Nautilus Telegraph April 2016

Looking ahead Safety fears raised at conference on navigation trends 21

Make spaces safer How can industry cut death toll in enclosed spaces?

22-23

NL nieuws Vier pagina’s met nieuws uit Nederland 34-37

Volume 49 | Number 04 | April 2016 | £3.50 €3.70

DFDS gets new ships Channel capacity with the F addition of two former MyFerryLink DFDS has boosted its cross-

vessels, which entered into service on the Dover-Calais route last month after refit work at the Damen yard in Dunkirk, pictured left.

The 33,796gt Côte des Dunes and the 33,940gt Côte des Flandres have increased the company’s crossChannel fleet to six ships, with up to 30 daily crossings between Dover and Calais, and 24 between Dover and Dunkirk.

Work carried out by Damen on the two ships included new livery, extensive interior renovations, and new facilities for commercial drivers.

The yard also drydocked the three ‘D-Class’ ferries — Dover Seaways, Dunkerque Seaways and Delft Seaways — overhauling propulsion, stern and bow thrusters, rudders, and engines.

Insurers warn on depth data risks Union endorses concerns over growing hazards posed by outdated hydrographic information

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Nautilus International has backed a report from a major maritime insurance firm which calls for urgent action to address disturbing shortcomings in vital hydrographic information in many parts of the world.

Research published by the London-based broker and risk advisor Marsh warns that accurate bathymetric data is inadequate or non-existent for vast areas of national and international waters.

Many busy shipping routes — including parts of the Channel — have not been re-surveyed since lead-line soundings were used to measure fathoms nearly a century ago, the study notes.

The lack of reliable data is posing an increasing threat to safety in the era of ‘mega ship’ services,

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it warns. ‘Having ever more valuable and complex cargoes sailing through areas of the world where the salvage industry is illequipped to handle such large casualties is a concern for operators, insurers, salvors and environmentalists alike,’ it adds.

Former seafarer Steve Harris, now VP of Marsh’s global marine practice, said International Hydrographic Office data showed that only 49% of UK coastal waters up to 200m have been surveyed to modern standards. The figure is just 35% in Australia, 20% in Nigeria, 25% in Panama and 46% in Japan. The picture is even worse in other parts of the world, the report notes. In Bermuda, only 1% of coastal waters have been adequately surveyed, and 95% of Arctic waters — increasingly used by cruiseships and cargo vessels

— have either not been surveyed to modern standards or not surveyed at all.

However, Mr Harris stressed, the performance of some countries puts others to shame. The US has surveyed 75% of its waters to modern standards, India has a 100% record, and Germany, Spain, China, Singapore and Iran are all on 90% or more.

Marcus Baker, chairman of Marsh’s global marine practice, said ships should not assume that established trading routes are safe. ‘They may have been safe up to now, but as we have longer, wider ships drawing a greater draught, there may be a false confidence,’ he stressed. ‘The known safe depth for the navigation of many is only as good as the draught of the largest, deepest vessel ever to have used it.’

The report warns that the dangers will increase as larger ships will transit the widened Panama and Suez Canals, and with the increasing use of electronic charts that are based on questionable bathymetric information.

‘There is an over-reliance on technology, and my concern is that ship’s officers believe what they read when they see officiallooking charts,’ Mr Harris said.

‘The fact is, we are not altogether sure how accurate that data is in all circumstances.’

The report — titled Plumbing the Depths: Hydrographic Concerns for Modern-Day Large Vessels — calls for governments to show more urgency in tackling the threat by investing more in systematic hydrographic surveys and collaborating to conduct far more extensive bathymetric sur-

veys of international waters. Mr Harris suggested that the International Maritime Organisation could use its new flag state audit powers to check whether countries were meeting their SOLAS Convention responsibilities to collect and provide hydrographic data. He said shipping companies should also share the bathymetric data collected by their ships, rather than regarding it as commercially sensitive information.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson welcomed the report. ‘The surface of Mars is mapped more accurately than the coastal waters of Earth,’ he pointed out. ‘Investment in hydrographic surveying to 21st century standards not only improves safety but if made openly available can add significantly to a country’s GDP.’

Inside F College calls

Nautilus takes its message to the new generation of British officers — page 19 F Knocked for six?

US seafaring union questions research into six-on/sixoff watchkeeping safety — page 20

F Voluntary work

Maritime training and community service charity seeks new recruits — pages 30-31

14/03/2016 16:41

02 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

NAUTILUS AT WORK

Boat crew training deal at EU Plan to cut waterways skills shortage

Nautilus support for P college open days F

Nautilus senior assistant organiser Lee Moon is pictured above with Annette Coughlan, the maritime liaison officer at the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI), during a visit to the centre last month.

The Union held two induction meetings for NMCI trainees, covering issues including life at sea, drug and alcohol policies, bullying and harassment, and social media.

Mr Moon also told trainees about the history and structure of Nautilus and the benefits of membership.

Nautilus also held a drop-in session for members at the college, giving them the opportunity to discuss any questions or problems they have.

Mr Moon also met NMCI resident counsellor Paul McCarthy during the visit and agreed to maintain long-term contact and cooperation on issues of common interest or concern.

‘Annette and I agreed a new structured way forward which will see us continue to support the college at its popular open day, along with many other organisations such Chevron, Princess Cruises and Lloyd’s List,’ Mr Moon added.

‘We also agreed that Nautilus would hold a drop-in session the day after the open day, along with a visit later in the academic year to induct the year one trainee officers, as was done during this visit,’ he said.

Nautilus International senior assistant organiser Lee Moon talks to officer trainees during the Union’s induction visit to the City of Glasgow College’s Riverside Campus last month Picture: Hans Walthie

Young members seek progress on diversity F

Nautilus International’s Young Maritime Professionals Forum met in Southampton last month — and, in a ‘first’ for the forum, the event was live-streamed for members who were unable to attend.

The meeting was chaired by the Forum’s vice-chair, Louis StephensRamsden, and members discussed topics including each of the motions that will be voted on at the upcoming TUC Young Workers’ Conference.

Members also discussed the Union’s motion on equality and diversity, passed at the General Meeting in October last year, speaking of the need to keep the momentum going on such a positive development.

Further topics included how

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young maritime professionals in the Union’s Netherlands and Switzerland branches can get involved in the forums, and elections for the positions of chair and vice-chair — details for this will be issued to members in a bulletin shortly.

The meeting also discussed the ‘All in the same boat’ initiative, which is looking at the production of specialist advice to all members on career progression and development.

The next Young Maritime Professionals Forum has been scheduled for Saturday 25 June, in London. If you would like to attend, or have any further questions about the forum, please email ymp@ nautilusint.org, or search for the Forum’s group on LinkedIn.

Nautilus International has welcomed a longawaited agreement that aims to harmonise training standards in the European inland navigation industry and to attract a new generation of crew to the sector.

The European Commission has adopted a proposal for the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation, which aims to overhaul the existing outdated legal framework and to introduce new competencebased qualifications.

The measures is intended to improve labour mobility in the sector, to enhance its attractiveness and to put an end to illegal practices that threaten the ‘level playing field’ on conditions in the industry.

The draft directive notes that the potential of inland waterways is undermined by the sector’s skill shortages and problems of labour mobility.

‘Varying minimum requirements for professional qualifications across the member states do not provide sufficient assurance for individual countries as regards the recognition of professional qualifications of crew from other member states, in particular as this also affects the safety of navigation,’ it states.

The directive will extend the scope of recognition of professional qualifications beyond the level of boatmasters to all crew

involved in the operation of vessels, including on the Rhine river, with safeguards introducing standards for assessment of competence, approval of training programmes and monitoring and evaluation of certification and training.

The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) has backed the directive, pointing out that the inland navigation industry has been facing persistent labour shortages for many years, with current demographic trends suggesting that these will get worse.

It warns that these shortages pose a major obstacle to policy aims to increase the use inland navigation as an environmentally friendly alternative to road transport.

Unions hope that the directive will be adopted by the European Parliament by the end of this year.

Nautilus international officer Nick Bramley, who serves as president of the ETF’s inland waterways section commented: ‘This is another important building block on the way to a modern and standardised sector offering quality training and employment.

‘The ETF will now closely monitor the further legislative process to avoid the proposal gets watered down and to ensure a directive will be put in place that makes skilled and trained workforce available and allows the sector to take up its role as a sustainable and safe transport mode,’ he added.

MNOPF members switch to Ensign Pension Fund (MNOPF) is F closing its defined benefit (DB) fund The Merchant Navy Officers

to future contributions with effect from 31 March 2016 — with the 600 affected members switching to the industry-wide defined contribution (DC) Ensign Retirement Plan (ERP).

The move has been agreed following extensive discussions between Nautilus and company representatives after the scheme actuary advised that employer contributions would need to rise from the current 20% to 25.8% and member contributions would have to increase from 12.2% to 15.7% to maintain existing benefit levels.

Members will transfer to the Ensign Retirement Plan (for the MNOPF) on ERP on enhanced terms, with contributions totalling 30% — 20% from employers and 10% from employees.

Affected members will also receive an enhanced annual increase in their preserved DB benefits of 1.5% above the statutory revaluation and will

retain their entitlement to existing ‘in-service’ death and ill-health early retirement benefits. The Ensign Retirement Plan will also provide them with access to the flexibilities introduced under recent changes to DC pensions.

MNOPF Trustee chair Rory Murphy said: ‘Whilst closure to future DB accrual can often be interpreted as a bad news story, in the case of the MNOPF we do not believe that this is the case. Our discussions with both employers and employees have indicated encouraging levels of support among both groups, and I am delighted that we are making this transition in a way that is supported by both members and employers.

‘There are very few DC pension scheme members in other pension schemes, who will see their retirement pot benefit from a monthly contribution of 30% of pensionable salary and this will ensure that our members continue to receive valuable benefits from their MNOPF membership,’ he added.

Equality report launched Jonathan Havard, Danny F McGowan and Lisa Carr are pictured Nautilus representatives

above at the TUC headquarters last month for the launch of the report of the tenth annual survey of equality in trade unions.

Nautilus contributed to the survey, which is published by the Southern & Eastern Region of the TUC, and which examines work being done by unions to ensure equality and diversity in the participation,

policy and management of their organisations.

The report — which was launched on International Women’s Day — also contains examples of best practice and innovative strategies.

Nautilus personnel marked the 105th annual International Women’s Day with a video-linked communal lunch to focus on the achievements of women at sea and the wider equality issues being addressed by the Union.

Nautilus International industrial organiser Lisa Carr and Women’s Forum member Dawn Franklyn are pictured at last month’s Women’s TUC conference in London. The three-day meeting discussed issues including the threats posed by the government’s Trade Union Bill, the gender pay gap, and women’s health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace.

Picture: Debbie Cavaldoro

Port safety secrecy queried by Union over the results of ‘health A checks’ on UK harbour authorities

Nautilus has expressed concern

which found that three out of the eight unnamed ports inspected last year failed to meet recommended standards.

The inspections were made by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency to assess levels of compliance with the Port Marine Safety Code (PMSC), which was introduced in response to the 1996 Sea Empress disaster.

During 2015, the MCA conducted checks on one private port, three municipal ports and four trust ports throughout the UK. Three were deemed non-compliant with the Code and will get follow-up visits this year.

Problems uncovered by the inspectors included: lack of awareness of the roles and responsibilities

of duty holders under the PMSC; shortcomings in risk assessment procedures; marine safety management systems not in place or not being used, and having no review frequency; no marine/navigational guidance for users.

The MCA report notes a number of examples of best practice that were observed during the checks, and it urges the industry to consider which measures might be applicable to their organisations.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson commented: ‘Hospitals and schools are identified for such failings, but not ports. This is taking “light touch” regulation to the limits and beyond. Seafarers, shipowners, port users and the public have a right to know, how safe are their ports?’

14/03/2016 18:29

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 03

NAUTILUS AT WORK

shortreports MERSEY OPENING: UK shipping minister Robert Goodwill has formally opened the first phase of the new Maritime Knowledge Hub in Birkenhead, jointly operated by Mersey Maritime and Liverpool John Moores University. The £15m centre aims to create a regional focal point for shipping-related innovation, research and development, education and training, and business support. During his trip to Merseyside, the minister also visited the site of the new Liverpool2 container terminal.

RFA AWARD: the amphibious support ship Lyme Bay has been named as the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s ship of the year in recognition of it drug busting and disaster relief work during a six-month deployment in the Caribbean. ‘The effort and professionalism of the commanding officers, officers and crew of Lyme Bay is to be applauded — they should be rightly proud of the accolade,’ said Commodore Duncan Lamb.

The four new Bibby/X-Press Feeders officer trainees, from left: Luke Jakes, Jonathan Jones, Conrad Dempsey and Claire Allan

Feeder firm takes on four cadets taken their first step towards a A career in the shipping industry after Four aspiring seafarers have

being accepted onto a three-year deck and engineer officer cadet training scheme sponsored by X-Press Feeders and managed by Bibby Ship Management.

Luke Jakes, Conrad Dempsey, Claire Allan and Jonathan Jones are the first recruits to the new

training programme which has been launched by X-Press Feeders as part of its programme to invest in a new generation of seafarers and potential shore-based commercial and operational managers.

The expanding Singapore-based company operates an owned and chartered fleet of almost 100 ships which carried more than 4.8m TEU last year, with services in northern

Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and central America.

X-Press Feeders North Europe operations manager Andrea Del Giudice said: ‘It’s fantastic to see young people come to Liverpool to embark on a career in the shipping industry. Luke, Conrad, Claire and Jonathan will learn a great deal over the next three years and contribute

to the growing pool of British officers.’

Bibby Ship Management training and cadet manager Julie Arnold added: ‘We are very excited to commence working on this scheme with X-Press Feeders and with these trainee officers, and all of us at Bibby Ship Management wish them well as they embark on their seagoing careers.’

Union to assess EU exit worries Owners and TUC raise concerns over the impact of UK withdrawal from EU

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British shipowners have warned that campaigners for a UK exit from the European Union have so far failed to do enough to explain what it will mean for the country’s economy.

As the debate over the June ‘in or out’ referendum intensified last month, the TUC also highlighted concerns over the workers’ rights that would be at risk if the public vote to leave.

The UK Chamber of Shipping said the ‘leave’ lobby had yet to present sufficient hard and factual analysis to back their case.

‘Their job is to set out, in clear terms, what the UK will look like outside the European Union, particularly how it will trade with its closest neighbours, and they have not yet done nearly enough,’ chief executive Guy Platten commented.

‘The British people are being asked to take a leap in the dark in voting to leave,’ he pointed out. ‘So for the Leave campaigners to suc-

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ceed they need to talk about jobs, investment and global influence, not just sovereignty and patriotism. The “it’ll be all right” mentality is not enough. They must set out a clear, detailed alternative.’

However, Mr Platten also criticised the lack of tangible proposals to improve EU competitiveness. ‘Unsurprisingly perhaps, there is nothing in the reform package that addresses long-standing concerns from the UK Chamber of Shipping that the EU has a tendency to gold-plate regulations agreed at a global level through the International Maritime Organisation,’ he said.

‘This adds cost and reduces the competitiveness of UK and European shipping companies.’

The TUC has published a report detailing the workers’ rights in the UK which are underpinned by EU rules — and would therefore be at risk if the UK votes to leave the EU. These rights — which include paid annual leave, time off for antenatal appointments and fair

treatment for part-time workers — are used every day by millions of workers, the TUC said. But if the UK votes to leave the EU, no one can say what will happen to them.

Decisions on which rights to keep — and which to amend or drop altogether — would be left to the government as it reviewed all UK laws linked to the EU. ‘Working people have a huge stake in the referendum because workers’ rights are on the line,’ said TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady. ‘It’s the EU that guarantees workers their rights to paid holidays, parental leave, equal treatment for part-timers, and much more.

‘These rights can’t be taken for granted,’ she warned. ‘There are no guarantees that any government will keep them if the UK leaves the EU. And without the back-up of EU laws, unscrupulous employers will have free rein to cut many of their workers’ hard-won benefits and protections.’

Nautilus general secretary

Mark Dickinson commented: ‘We welcome these contributions to the ongoing debate, as they highlight many of the serious issues that need to be considered in the EU in/out debate.

‘There can be no doubt that the European state aid guidelines have done much to provide a bedrock of support for shipping and European seafarers, and while there is scope for them to be improved, we need to reflect on where the UK fleet and British seafarers would stand outside of that framework,’ he added.

Mr Dickinson said the next meeting of the Nautilus Council will discuss a paper on the subject and the policy that the Union should adopt.

‘It is certainly clear from feedback from UK-based members — many of whom serve with European shipping companies— that a UK exit from the EU is generating debate to which Nautilus should make a considered contribution,’ he added.

ORDERS PLUNGE: the number of ships on order around the world has fallen by more than 90% over the past year, according to a new report. Statistics revealed

by IHS Fairplay last month showed just 12 vessels of 10,000dwt and above were ordered in the first two months of 2016, compared with 161 in the same period in 2015 and nearly 500 in the same period in 2014.

SHORTSEA FALL: the number of passengers travelling on cross-Channel ferry services has dropped to the third lowest level in 25 years, according to UK government figures. A report published last month shows a total of 21m shortsea passengers last year, compared with almost 37m in 1994. Numbers on the Dover-Calais route declined by 9% last year.

DISNEY EXPANSION: the Disney group has unveiled plans to expand its cruise operation, with a memorandum of agreement with Meyer Werft to build two new 135,000gt ships for delivery in 2022 and 2023 that will boost the capacity of the Disney Lines fleet by around 50%.

ARSON PROBE: Norwegian police are investigating new claims by a former Danish Maritime Authority inspector that two crew members on the ferry Scandinavian Star deliberately started the fire that claimed the lives of 159 people onboard in April 1990.

MLC BOOST: New Zealand has become the latest country to ratify the Maritime Labour Convention. It will come into force in New Zealand on 8 March 2017, and will apply to almost 900 foreign ships that visit its ports each year, as well as to some 30 domestic vessels.

SEATRUCK ADDITION: Irish Sea freight operator Seatruck Ferries has added a third and larger ship to its Liverpool-Dublin service. The deployment of the P-series vessel will almost double freight capacity and speed up turnaround times in port.

ZERO GROWTH: the number of UK workers on zero-hour contracts has risen by more than 100,000 over the past year, according to new government figures.

The TUC has criticised the increase, warning that such contracts are ‘a nightmare for workers’.

PEARL PURCHASE: the British-based operator Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) has acquired the 63,786gt Pacific Pearl from P&O Cruises Australia. The 1989-built vessel will begin operating in the CMV fleet in June 2017 as the re-named Columbus.

MAGNETIC CONSULT: the UK government has opened an industry-wide consultation on plans for the implementation of a European safety directive to minimise the exposure of seafarers to the risks arising from electromagnetic fields.

MANX WIN: the Isle of Man Ship Registry has been presented with the Global Reach Award during this year’s Mersey Maritime Awards in recognition of its work to attract clients from all over the world and its high standards of service.

14/03/2016 18:29

04 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

NAUTILUS AT WORK

shortreports NLB INCREASE: the Northern Lighthouse Board has advised Nautilus and the other recognised unions that members will be receiving a 1% pay increase due to the excessive time it has taken the Treasury to make a decision. The increase will be backdated to April 2015 for marine staff and August 2015 for shore-based staff.

A further meeting is being sought to discuss potential bonus payments and any remaining pay uplift, subject to Treasury approval.

FAIRMONT CALL: a claim for an above-RPI inflation increase has been submitted by Nautilus on behalf of members employed by Fairmont Shipping Vancouver and serving on MOL vessels. Industrial organiser Derek Byrne said he intends to meet the company at the earliest opportunity to discuss the claim.

SMIT SUBMISSION: Nautilus has submitted a claim for an above-inflation pay rise for members employed by Smit International (Scotland). The Union is also seeking talks about the east coast issues of standby, conditions onboard, and the general issue of increased workloads across all locations.

Lisa Carr and senior assistant F organiser Danny McGowan are Nautilus industrial organiser

pictured meeting members during a DFDS ship visit ahead of pay talks last month.

Following the meeting, members are being consulted on a 2% pay offer, effective from

1 January 2016, a 2% company pension contribution increase from 1 April 2015, and improved training and travel allowances.

The company has also offered a rise in increments, effective from 1 January 2017, along with an increase in the higher ticket bonus from 1 April 2016.

Nautilus industrial organised Lisa Carr is pictured with lay representative Iain MacDonald following a meeting last month to discuss a collective grievance for members serving with Global Marine Systems (GMSL) who are at risk of redundancy. The meeting covered members’ concerns over the GMSL 2014 fleet HR strategy plan and it was agreed that GMSL would share its 2016 plan ‒ although this is to be bound by a non-disclosure agreement. A further meeting between the company, Ms Carr and national secretary Jonathan Havard is now due to take place and members will be updated on the outcome via a bulletin.

NERC OFFICIAL: members employed by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) on ships operated

by NOCS-NMFSS will now be represented by industrial organiser Paul Schroder. Mr Schroder has taken on the responsibility from Lisa Carr who will continue to represent members in BAS. MERIDIAN INCREASE: a 1% pay increase has been accepted by Nautilus following consultation with members employed by Meridian Shipping Services on ro-ro and ro-pax ferries. The increase will be effective from 1 January 2016 and the next review will take place on 1 January 2017.

NORTHLINK MEETS: the next meeting between Nautilus and Serco Northlink Ferries will take place in Aberdeen on Wednesday 27 April 2016. The meeting will discuss the recent rejection of the revised terms and conditions by members.

PNTL PAY: following consultation with members employed by Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (INS), Nautilus has accepted a one-year deal for 2016/17. The agreement will give a 2% pay increase, with effect from 1 April 2016.

LCT VIEWS: members employed by LCT Support Services Limited (Newhaven) have been reminded to let the Union know of their priorities for the forthcoming pay and conditions claim.

STENA DATE: Nautilus is due to meet Stena Line and Northern Marine Management Services in Clydebank on 26 April 2016.

organiser Micky Smyth is F pictured above with P&O North Nautilus national ferry

Sea Ferries officer Nick Ingleby, before last month’s joint union/ management meeting onboard Pride of Hull. Mr Ingleby, who is set to stand down after many years of service as a liaison officer with

the company, has been a Nautilus member for over 40 years and will be retiring after one more trip during April. ‘It’s been a pleasure to work with Nick. Everyone at Nautilus, and the members, wish him a happy and long retirement and every success in the future,’ Mr Smyth said.

Pictured above are Nautilus representatives Lisa Carr and Duncan Mirams with Simon Cox and Eion Lyons from Absolute Shipping at a meeting to discuss this year’s pay and conditions claim for members. The company has told the Union it is not in a position to increase members’ wages at present, but has agreed to reconsider the position in September, with any increase backdated to 1 April 2016.

Unions warn over change at CalMac Report warns of threat to jobs and training if CHFS contract changes hands

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Nautilus International has backed the findings of a new independent report that highlights the ‘overwhelming’ case for keeping Caledonian MacBrayne’s Clyde and Western Isles ferry services in the public sector.

The study, written by Glasgow University economics lecturer Jeanette Findlay, warns that CalMac’s proven record in delivering safe and high standard services, along with quality jobs and training, could be at risk as a result of the tender process for lifeline routes. It says competition could be destroyed as an ‘unintended consequence’ if the company loses the contract to rival bidder Serco.

The report, commissioned by the RMT union, was launched at the Scottish Parliament today.

RMT national secretary Steve Todd said the study was a ‘ringing endorsement’ of the vital role played by CalMac staff. ‘Handing this jewel in the crown to Serco would be a scandalous betrayal of

Pictured above are Nautilus liaison officers Lee McDowell, Victor Burns, Alex Forrest, Archie MacDonald and Ross MacDonald with national ferry organiser Micky Smyth during a meeting with Caledonian MacBrayne Crewing (Guernsey) to discuss updates to members’ terms and conditions.

These will supersede the current collective bargaining agreement that was dated 1 January 2011, and have been the result of numerous meetings between the Union and CalMac representatives. The meeting also discussed STCW refresher training, pensions, and wi-fi connectivity.

CalMac workers and passengers, not to mention the Scottish taxpayer,’ he added.

Speaking at the launch event, Nautilus national ferry organiser

Micky Smyth said it was important to protect Scottish ferries from ‘the race to the gutter which has affected so many other sectors of the shipping industry’.

He said the repeated tendering process is ‘not only disruptive and unsettling, but is also unnecessary and expensive’ — with the 2007 tendering having cost Scottish taxpayers more than £15m.

‘Tendering opens the door to cut-throat operators and puts pressure on existing service providers to find short-term cuts that have long-term consequences,’ he added. ‘The effective privatisation of services that are essential to remote and isolated communities can give the green light to aggressive profiteering at the expense of passengers and service users.’

Mr Smyth said Caledonian MacBrayne has been a ‘rare ray of light’ for employment and training and this could be jeopardised if the contract changed.

The study was published to coincide with the deadline for the submission of bids for the CHFS contract. The winner is expected to be announced around the end of May, with the new contract starting in October.

14/03/2016 18:31

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 05

NAUTILUS AT WORK

1% imposed at RFA Members consulted on industrial action after rejected 2015 offer is applied

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Nautilus is consulting Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) members on whether they wish to be balloted for industrial action after a rejected pay offer was imposed on them last month.

Nautilus was notified of the decision to apply the 1% uplift to pay packets for the 2015 review — backdated to July 2015 — last month after lengthy discussions with management. Commodore Duncan Lamb told the Union that the RFA was unable to improve the offer in the light of the government’s policy on public sector pay restraint. He noted that members had rejected the offer, but added: ‘I am very conscious of the fact that the award was due in July 2015 and of the need to make payment this financial year to ensure that our employees and your members are not disadvantaged. Therefore, I have had to make the difficult decision to authorise payment of the

Nautilus national secretary Jonathan Havard is pictured above with members and the RFA’s policy administrative coordinator Steve Ashwell following the quarterly meeting between the Union and RFA management last month. It was Mr Ashwell’s final meeting, as he retired at the end of March after 10 years’ service in his current role. The meeting progressed a number of issues of concern to members including the new task 6, the future of solid support, pensions and senior officers’ tour lengths.

award (backdated to July) in March 2016 salaries.’

Nautilus national secretary Jonathan Havard said the Union will now consult members on whether they wish to be balloted

about potential industrial action.

‘Let me emphasise that this is an imposition by the RFA of the pay award and has not been agreed by Nautilus,’ he pointed out.

‘Bearing in mind the fact that

Nautilus followed all stages of the Avoidance of Disputes Procedure last year, without success, we see no benefit in going down this route again this year — not least because the employer is outwith procedure in imposing its award.

‘As it is clear that the employer is not prepared to take onboard any of the Union’s proposals to improve the 2015 offer, we are consulting our membership on whether they wish to be balloted on some form of industrial action under the appropriate legislation.

‘Apathy is our biggest enemy,’ Mr Havard warned. ‘A huge turnout in this consultation is vital in order to demonstrate to the MoD and the government that our members have had enough, following the degradation of their comparative pay, terms and conditions and pensions over the last few years.’

Results of the consultation will be known early in April.

Assurances offered on Bibby takeover F

Nautilus national ferry organiser Micky Smyth is pictured above right with Western Ferries management representatives Captain Eric Brown and Captain Alastair McLundie. Together with industrial organiser Gary Leech, Mr Smyth met the company last month to discuss this year’s pay and conditions claim.

Nautilus International has received assurances over members’ jobs, terms and conditions following the news that V.Ships is taking over Bibby Ship Management (BSM).

The Union contacted BSM officials last month to discuss the implications for seafarers of the deal. Industrial organiser Derek Byrne said there will be no immediate impact on members’ jobs, and a meeting had been arranged with management to discuss feedback from members following the announcement.

As part of the change of ownership it has been agreed that Foreland Shipping will acquire Foreland Guernsey Ltd, which was previously owned by BSM.

Bibby said the deal with the V.Group would create ‘the most extensive management capabilities across all sectors, at a crucial time when ship owners and operators are facing unprecedented challenges’.

BSM services all types of vessels, with a particular focus on the offshore sector. It also provides crew management, technical support services, marine travel, marine surveying, training and recruitment services.

The V.Group takeover of BSM — for an undisclosed price —consolidates its position as the world’s largest shipmanager, with 64 offices around the world. It supports more than 40,000 personnel in marine and offshore roles.

Marine Scotland cuts back Marine Scotland Compliance F after marine grade members were

Nautilus has called for talks with

Nautilus industrial organiser Lisa Carr and national secretary Jonathan Havard are pictured with Svitzer representative Roy Ferguson in talks on the terms of the FTS agreement and members’ understanding of which local agreement they are working to. A further meeting in Belfast resulted in an appendix to the local agreement being drawn up in an attempt to solve the ongoing issues. Members will be consulted in due course.

told that their pay supplement will be reduced by £3,000 a year in May. Marine Scotland announced a review of the payment last October and said it had been determined that as a consequence of the downturn in the North Sea oil industry, along with other changes in the wider marine sector and budget constraints, the £5,000 supplement is no longer appropriate.

Nautilus industrial organiser Gary Leech has requested a meeting with deputy director Cephas Ralph to discuss the issue.

Preliminary talks on the 2016/17 pay review have begun and dates in April (28), May (16) and June (2) have been set for scoping discussions to take place before the pay remit is approved. The informal initial discussions are being arranged to enable unions to present the potential priorities and concerns to management.

shortreports TRINITY RISE: a two-fold payment has been made to members employed by Trinity House as part of its 2015 pay and conditions review. Members received a consolidated pay increase of 1% — backdated to 1 August 2015 — as well as a 2% additional one-off non-consolidated payment during February 2016.

Nautilus and the Unite union have made it clear to Trinity House that they are still keen to negotiate further to give members a chance to vote on an improved pay offer.

CRUISES PENSIONS: Nautilus national secretary Jonathan Havard and industrial organiser Paul Schroder are in close consultation with the Union’s financial advisor over issues raised on the proposed changes to the P&O Princess Cruises Pension Scheme.

The Union has written to the pensions and benefits manager at Carnival UK seeking improvements to the scheme. Members are reminded to respond to the consultation on the changes by 11 April 2016.

ST HELENA JOBS: Nautilus has begun talks with Bibby Ship Management after the company advised last month of 34 potential redundancies arising from the withdrawal from service of RMS St Helena. Industrial organiser Lisa Carr said the Union is seeking to avoid as many job losses as possible and the company has given assurances that it is also seeking to do its best to mitigate the impact of the closure of the ship’s service.

ORKNEY OFFER: members employed by Orkney Ferries have accepted a pay offer for 2015 following consultations. Almost two-thirds of members voted to accept the two-year offer of 3%, which will be backdated to 1 April 2015. A further meeting has been arranged between the joint trade unions and Orkney Ferries management to discuss the findings of the Precious Alliance comparability study.

P&O TALKS: Nautilus national ferry organiser Micky Smyth and liaison officers from all sectors met management from P&O Crewing Services (Jersey) and P&O Irish Sea (Jersey) for a joint consultative committee meeting onboard Pride of Hull last month. Issues raised included the recent pay award, recruitment and retention, travel and STCW refresher training.

CARNIVAL CONSULT: a consultation with members serving as environmental officers and technical stores managers onboard Carnival UK vessels is underway to decide if they should, and wish to be, covered by the collective bargaining agreement between Nautilus and the company. Members have until midday on Friday 18 March to submit their views.

PLA PAY: members have accepted a new pay offer from the Port of London Authority (PLA) for its 2016 pay and conditions review. The offer was increased to 1.5% after members rejected an initial 1% rise, and will be backdated to 1 January 2016.

The Tube, 86 North Street Cheetham Hill, Manchester M8 8RA

DELIVERY WORLDWIDE

New series of HAL ship visits A Nautilus industrial organiser Lisa Carr and national secretary Jonathan Havard are pictured above with Heyn Engineering Solutions representatives Tommy Hanna (left) and Kevin Denvir (second left) during pay talks for members serving onboard RV Corystes. A formal response was awaited as the Telegraph went to press.

04-05_at work.indd 5

Nautilus International officials from the Netherlands and the UK are conducting a new series of ship visits to the Holland America Line fleet.

The meetings have been arranged to give members the opportunity to discuss the new collective bargaining agreement for 2016-2018 and any other issues they have. Officials will also be encouraging members to take

part in two working groups to consider new CBA rules and consolidated wages.

Meetings are scheduled onboard Rotterdam on 6 April in Southampton and 7 April in Rotterdam, onboard Eurodam in Barcelona on 17 April, onboard Amsterdam in Barcelona on 18 April, and onboard Zuiderdam in Rotterdam on 3 May.

Q Braids Q Work Wear Q Tropical Wear Q Cadet Uniforms Q Officers Uniforms

14/03/2016 18:31

06 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

OFFSHORE NEWS

shortreports GULFMARK HOPE: GulfMark Offshore says it sees signs that the North Sea downturn may be coming to an end. In a statement on the company’s fourth quarter operating results, CEO Quintin Kneen said the day rate had increased in this period as a result of occasional tightening in the spot market caused by fewer overall active vessels. ‘In addition, we reactivated two stacked vessels subsequent to year-end, which is a sign that the market is finding a bottom and allocating existing work to higher quality tonnage and companies,’ he added.

COASTELS SWITCH: members employed by Bibby Ship Management on the Coastels agreement have been advised that their employment is to be transferred. From the start of April all members on this agreement will be transferred to Bibby Maritime Crewing Services Limited. No changes are being made to contracts or terms and conditions, but the Union is seeking talks with the company on the issues.

SEALION CUTS: Nautilus officials Lisa Carr and Paul Schroder have met John Thomson, from Seahorse Maritime, to discuss the threat of 23 redundancies from the Sealion Shipping fleet following the lay-up of the platform supply vessel Toisa Intrepid. The Union has also taken legal advice about proposed changes to members’ terms and conditions and was due to meet the company again on 31 March.

DEEP DECLINE: deepwater expenditure is set to fall by 35% from previous estimates for the next four years, the analysts Douglas-Westwood said last month.

In a new report, the company said the prolonged low oil price has had a negative impact on the deepwater market, with operators considering alternative development options and delaying the sanctioning of new projects.

DSV PAY: Nautilus has accepted a pay freeze for members employed by Bibby Ship Management (Guernsey) on the on the DSV agreement, in recognition of the current economic climate in the UK oil and gas sector and a lack of desire from members to oppose the plan. The next reviews will be on 1 January 2017.

BP FREEZE: following consultations with members employed by Bibby Ship Management (Guernsey) on the BP Offshore Vessels Agreement, Nautilus has accepted the company’s proposals for a pay freeze. Industrial organiser Derek Byrne said no compelling arguments had been put forward against the plan.

DUNDEE DRIVE: Forth Ports has announced a £10m plan to put the port of Dundee ‘at the forefront of the North Sea oil and gas decommissioning and offshore wind sectors’. The scheme includes redevelopment of quayside facilities to offer increased heavylift capabilities and to boost berthing capacity.

FARSTAD LIAISON: Nautilus will be running a liaison officer training course next month for members serving onboard Farstad Shipping vessels. The sessions will take place at GFTU in Leicester on Wednesday 13 April, with one navigating officer vacancy available.

Biggest windfarm vessel delivered Great Yarmouth last month is A Seajacks Scylla — claimed to be the

Pictured right in the UK port of

largest and most advanced windfarm installation jack-up ever built.

The self-propelled jack-up is equipped with a 1,540T leg-encircling crane, can install components in water depths of up to 65m, and can transport monopoles and turbines of up 8MW capacity, with more than 5,000 sq m of useable deck space.

The Panama-flagged vessel can accommodate up to 130 crew and technicians, and can sail at up to 12 knots, powered by three 3,000kW forward thrusters and three 3,500kW stern thrusters.

Specially designed for work in northern European waters, the DP2 vessel was built by Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea and was carried to Gibraltar by the heavylift ship Osprey

Picture: Maurice Gray

Farstad drops crewing plan

Operators seek 20% tax break in Budget operators have urged the F government to take action in the UK offshore unions and

Union welcomes agreement not to bring in Asian crews

P

Nautilus is consulting members on the proposals, and Mr Leech urged them to engage in the process.

‘The original plans suggested

by Farstad would have been at a huge detriment to our members and would have set a precedent that such an unacceptable step was a suitable solution to the ongoing issues in the North Sea,’ he added.

‘We’re pleased that we have been able to sit down with Farstad and talk through our concerns,’ he continued.

‘In an ideal world, we wouldn’t be talking about a single redundancy,’ he added, ‘but as a Union we have been able to make progress with the company to work out ways to minimise job losses and protect the future employment of our members.’

Following talks with Nautilus, North Sea shipping company Farstad has agreed not to replace any British officers and ratings being made redundant with Asian seafarers.

The operator changed its position after the Union expressed shock and anger at proposals to make 45 UK officers and ratings redundant and to replace 27 of them with crew from Asia.

However, after a meeting between Farstad maritime personnel manager Eva Marie Fladmark, Nautilus industrial organiser Gary Leech, national secretary Steve Doran and liaison officer Peter Tipping, the figure has been reduced to 20 positions being made redundant.

The 20 posts are made up of one master, three chief mates, one second mate, four chief engi-

neers, four second engineers, three third engineers, three ABs and one cook. Of these, eight have asked for voluntary redundancy and the other 12 will be compulsory redundancies.

Farstad said its decision had been made as it is operating with rates that do not cover crew costs and it has had to consider vessel lay-ups. Far Spica and Far Splendour are currently on contract until October 2016, but will be considered for lay-up after that point, should costs stay the same.

The company told the Union it requires a 20% cut in crew salaries to balance cost and to secure the continued operation of the vessels. Nautilus has sought an assurance that any pay cut will be temporary and up for annual review, as well as being reviewed when the market conditions improve.

Installation job for Harkand

IMCA hears call for new DP standards

F

The UK-based operator Harkand has secured an installation contract for a US independent oil company in the UK sector of the North Sea. The project will see Harkand provide project management and engineering services for a scheme put new subsea equipment in place for Apache Beryl I Ltd in the Nevis South Field, using either Harkand Da Vinci or Harkand Atlantis dive support vessel.

Harkand previously performed tie-in work in 2015 for the Nevis S67 well at the Beryl field and a Beryl midline disconnect scope under the contract. It also supported Apache with phase 1 of its Aviat development, including preparation work and platform tie-ins.

06_offshore.indd 6

for five days of mobilisation works at the Gibdocks yard.

Seajacks Scylla sailed from Gibraltar to Great Yarmouth to start its first contract, on the Veja Mate offshore windfarm, off the coast of Germany, installing 67 XL monopiles, each exceeding 1,300 tonnes in weight. The vessel’s next contract — for DONG Energy at the Walney Extension offshore wind farm — is due to begin in 2017.

Blair Ainslie, CEO of Great Yarmouth-based Seajacks, said the arrived of Scylla was ‘another terrific achievement’ for the company’s newbuild. Seajacks now has a fleet of five self-propelled jack-up vessels and has carried out more than 300 wind turbine installations, as well as having the ability to work on North Sea wells and platforms.

positioning training are needed F to cope with the growing complexity New standards of dynamic

of systems, an International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) conference heard last month.

Global Maritime managing director Ekkehard Stade told IMCA’s Europe & Africa section meeting that DP systems have evolved from early models offering basic information, limited input possibilities, limited alarms, and limited logs and documentation to complex systems where information and alarm overload is a common problem.

In the early days of DP, when equipment had simple layouts,

gaining experience in operating systems was a fast process, he pointed out. Now, however, complicated systems have led to a lack of understanding and technical knowledge and complacency has grown as a result of increasing system autonomy.

Mr Stade said training needs to reflect changes such as increased hardware and software complexity and the wide range of input and configuration. In general, he added, a higher technical qualification would be required and personnel should have the ability to differentiate between important and less important alarms under pressure.

March Budget to secure the future of the UK Continental Shelf and to safeguard skilled jobs in the sector.

Oil & Gas UK called for the chancellor to include an urgent rescue package of 20% tax breaks in the March Budget, warning that the sector is ‘fighting hard for its survival’ as a result of the slump in oil prices.

And the Offshore Coordinating Group of unions, which includes Nautilus, said the government should not only introduce fiscal support measures but should also convene a summit on collaboration and innovation in the sector. ‘The industry has a future worth fighting for, but this will not be secured on the back of cutting wages, tearing up collective agreements and jeopardising the safety regime,’ the group warned.

Oil & Gas UK published new forecasts showing that, in the current economic environment, more than 1bn barrels of oil and gas will no longer be commercially viable to extract from the North Sea. It said firms have cut costs by around 40%, bringing down the cost of oil production from $29.30 a barrel in 2014 to just under $21 a barrel in 2015.

Oil & Gas UK warned that North Sea exploration is at an all-time low ‘with no sign of improving’ and a ‘significant permanent reduction’ in tax is required in the Budget next month to attract investment back into the mature sector.

Mike Tholen, Oil & Gas UK’s economics director, commented: ‘With investment approvals likely to fall to less than £1bn this year from a typical £8bn annually over the last five years, there is a real risk that fields due to cease production in the next five years will simply not be replaced by new projects.

‘Lost production puts at risk hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs, billions of pounds of tax revenues and the UK’s energy security,’ he warned.

14/03/2016 18:31

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 07

NEWS

EU urged PLA takes on new pilots as Thames traffic rises to boost A shortsea shipping The Port of London Authority (PLA) is recruiting 12 new marine pilots this year to help handle increasing shipping movements on the Thames.

The Authority is looking for candidates with Class 1 unlimited certificates, although it says it will consider other ‘suitably qualified’ seafarers who can ‘demonstrate experience relative to marine pilotage’.

Those selected will typically undertake a 28-week course consisting of training on the PLA’s ship bridge simulator and tug simulator, training in vessel traffic services and onboard tugs and ships, with regular reviews, assessments and oral exams.

This will qualify them as a Class 4 pilot, able to handle smaller vessels, with the opportunity to progress to being an unrestricted pilot.

The 12 new posts are ‘only the start of the PLA pilotage team recruitment

launched a new drive to boost F the role of shortsea shipping within European shipowners have

the EU — claiming that it help cut congestion and pollution.

The campaign kicked off at a top-level meeting in Amsterdam organised as part of the Dutch presidency of the EU and attended by owners, operators, government officials and European Commission representatives.

Niels Smedegaard, president of European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), told the meeting that it was time for a new policy to promote the use of shortsea shipping.

‘Despite many good initiatives, a number of long-standing problems have not been resolved; the market share of shortsea shipping has stagnated, and worse still, declined in recent years,’ he warned.

‘Moving goods and people by sea around Europe instead of using other modes will decongest land-based transport networks, ease pressure on logistics chains, and dramatically reduce air emissions,’ he added.

ECSA wants action to create a proper ‘single market’ for shipping, with less red tape and port-related paperwork, arguing that measures agreed in 2010 have failed in their aim to rationalise and streamline the administrative formalities for ships calling at EU ports. It is also calling for a new package of funding support for new shortsea services.

Commenting on this issue during the conference, the deputy director-general of the European Commission’s transport directorate, Fotis Karamitsos, said: ‘The EU Single Window is within reach. The technology is already available; it is now only a matter of political will. The shipping industry should continue its campaign for a more workable solution.’

UK cuts light dues again Goodwill has announced a A further cut in the rate of light dues paid UK shipping minister Robert

by visiting ships. The charge will be lowered by 1p to 38p per net registered tonne, effective from 1 April this year.

The cut is expected to save shipping companies around £2m a year — but UK Chamber of Shipping chief executive Guy Platten complained that UK light dues continue to appear high when compared internationally and owners will therefore continue to press for further reductions in General Lighthouse Authority costs.

Crews want improved IT Nautilus is set to launch shipboard comms campaign

P

Crew welfare comes way behind operational efficiencies when ship operators choose their shipboard communication systems, a new study has revealed.

Only 3% of companies rate seafarer wellbeing as the most important reason for fitting particular systems — compared with 47% who cite operational efficiency as the key factor in their choice, But the report, published by Future Nautics Research last month, also warns operators that the standard of shipboard connectivity is having an increasingly important role in seafarers’ choice of which companies to work for.

The study — based on feedback from 41 operators managing almost 4,300 ships — examines the growing scale of the maritime satellite communications market and changing trends in shipboard systems and usage.

It also drew on survey responses from around 3,000 serving seafarers — 72% of whom said the level of connectivity provided

onboard was a factor in their choice of company to work for.

Researchers found that crew members take an average of three devices to sea with them — the most popular being smartphones, laptops and external hard drives. Internet access is the service most demanded by seafarers, and the report says this reflects a strong desire to be able to use voice-calling and video chat services to talk with friends and family.

Feedback found that 79% of seafarers were on ships where crew email was available and around half had this service provided free of charge by ship operators.

The study says the services seafarers most want to see provided in the future are free port wi-fi, low-cost digital roaming SIM cards and low-cost satellite phones. ‘It remains clear that crew are not particularly looking for new and innovative service provision, but ways by which to reduce costs, which they see as unnecessarily high ashore,’ it adds.

We are able to offer competitive, specially negotiated fares for all types of air travel, be it UK Domestic, European or Worldwide.

The report also highlights the potential growth in the deployment of IT in functions such as electronic charts, weather routeing, navigation data collection, crew training and remote diagnostics.

However, shipping companies told the researchers that the only operational area in which they expect to see significant growth in data over the next few years is crew welfare.

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson said the findings were extremely interesting — although it was disturbing that operators view crew welfare as such a low priority.

He said Nautilus will soon be launching a major strategic campaign on the issue of crew communications. ‘It is increasingly evident that crew members will not tolerate being second-class citizens in terms of access to the services that are taken for granted ashore,’ he added, ‘and the industry needs to respond to these findings if it is serious about recruitment and retention.’

drive’, the Authority says. It expects to take on more to match its aim of increasing freight and passenger traffic in the port.

Last year saw a 2% increase in tonnage handled at the port, along with the visit of the largest vessel ever to call on the Thames: the 400m containership Barzan.

‘We are seeing a general increase in terminal traffic including containers, trailers, bulks like aggregates and cement, and oil products. And Thames terminals are investing in new infrastructure that is expected increase their throughput even more,’ said director of marine operations Peter Steen. ‘The new pilots will help us handle the increase in vessels visiting the Thames. This is an excellent opportunity for a career that offers challenges and a diversity of marine activities.’ g ‘River bus’ operator boosts numbers — see page 26.

Greens warn over ships’ emissions temperature targets for averting F climate change without stricter The world will not reach the

controls on shipping emissions, environmentalists have warned.

Seas At Risk and Transport & Environment said the 1.5C-2C warming limit agreed at the Paris climate summit late last year will be impossible to meet unless shipping cuts its contribution to global greenhouse gas output.

Shipping was excluded from the Paris agreement, but could be responsible for 17% of worldwide CO2 emissions in 2050 if left unregulated, the two organisations claimed. They said a European Parliament study

showed that shipping GHG emissions are up 70% since 1990 and are projected to grow by up to a further 250% by 2050.

Transport & Environment shipping officer Sotiris Raptis said the IMO should take action now, and the EU in parallel needs to include shipping in its 2030 reduction commitment or in a EU climate fund from 2021.

John Maggs, senior policy advisor at Seas At Risk, added: ‘There is no reasonable excuse to continue exempting the sector from the global and EU climate policies. That shipping needs to make its fair share of cuts to keep global warming well below 2 degrees is not negotiable after Paris.’

MCA standard-bearer state control inspector Katy F Ware, who has been appointed as

Pictured right is former UK port

the new director of maritime safety and standards at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

Ms Ware studied marine technology at the University of Newcastle and trained through the Lloyds Register graduate training scheme as a ship surveyor, specialising in ship repair and passenger ships.

She has worked for the MCA for 16 years, and in 2011 was appointed as the UK’s permanent representative to the International Maritime Organisation.

In her new post, she will be responsible for driving forward the MCA’s survey and inspection ‘transformation programme’,

and upholding the standards of UK-flagged ships and UK seafarers.

She will also have a key role in supporting the new director of the UK Ship Register, Simon Barham, in implementing a strategy to grow the red ensign fleet.

Contact us today for a quote vikingrecruitment.com/travel +44 (0) 300 303 8191 (opt 5) travel@vikingrecruitment.com

Staff employed in the marine industry, from crew and shore-based staff to spouses travelling to and from vessels, can make use of our extensive marine fare programme, while those seeking flights for other types of travel will benefit from our efficient and personal service.

07_news.indd 7

14/03/2016 17:58

08 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

LARGE YACHT NEWS

Nautilus stages inaugural meeting with UKSA cadets christened its new partnership A agreement with the UKSA training Nautilus International has

Pictured above left is top UKSA cadet Jordan Swindon and, right, the PYC trainees who have just graduated from the first phase of their cadetship

centre in the Isle of Wight with an inaugural visit to its Professional Yacht Cadetship students.

The PYC currently has 158 cadets out in the industry and a total of 28 PYC trainees have just graduated from the first phase of the course after beginning their training in October.

The course offers a foundation degree in operational yacht science, delivered in conjunction with Falmouth Marine School and validated by the University of Plymouth.

John-Paul Eatock, course manager at Falmouth Marine School,

Union holds MLC course in France Feedback shows crew are making increasing use of convention’s procedures

P

With increasing evidence that the Maritime Labour Convention is having a significant impact on the superyacht sector, Nautilus delivered another of its valuable MLC seminars last month on the Côte d’Azur.

The two-day event was attended by a number of captains and engineers, as well as representatives from recruitment agencies and management companies, to discuss how the MLC affects the daily lives of people working in the large yacht sector.

Held at the Université Internationale de la Mer (UIM) in Port du Cros-de-Cagnes, and delivered by the Union’s in-house MLC experts Charles Boyle and Jorg Wendt, the seminar was offered free as an additional benefit of Nautilus membership.

Members and guests discussed topics as varied as the public holidays that should be afforded to superyacht officers and crew, the apparent lack of payslips in the sector and the requirement for cabin sizes and recreational facilities.

A sign of the impact of the convention in the sector comes from the Isle of Man Ship Registry’s

The Nautllus MLC training seminar under way last month

annual MLC report. Two commercial yachts were among the 75 vessels inspected in foreign ports where MLC deficiencies were discovered. The report also details MLC-related complaints made by crew on commercial yachts — including two related to nonpayment of wages, one related to a Seafarers’ Employment Agreement and one arising from accommodation cleanliness.

Nautilus has also dealt with MLC-related complaints on behalf of members. One crew member wrote to thank Nautilus for ‘the very quick and effective actions’ to secure the payment of outstanding fees. ‘The odds of me

receiving my due monies were decidedly low if I did not have the support of Nautilus,’ he said, ‘so it is fantastic to have an organisation in the yachting sector who can support yacht crew when they are at the mercy of powerful corporations who have little accountability.’

Another member wrote to thank Nautilus official Paul Schroder for his assistance. ‘Being a member of the Union working in this evolving industry as a family man gives me the comfort of knowing that I have immediate legal support if needed. This could be related to employment matters or worst-case scenario in

the event of an accident. Too often still the yachting industry proves that it needs to further mature.

The intentions are there but as long as people with huge egos think that the law does not apply to them this process could take too long.’ z Details of future Nautilus MLC seminars will be published in the Telegraph and on the Union’s website events page. If your vessel or company would like a specific seminar to be delivered to your crew, email yachts@nautilusint. org. z Nautilus senior assistant organisers Danny McGowan and Lee Moon will be attending the Palma Superyacht Show this year, on 28 and 29 April.

Organised by the Balearic Yacht Brokers Association (BYBA) and running concurrently with Boat Show Palma in the heart of the city, the show attracted more than 60 yachts and over 36.000 visitors in 2015.

‘Any members or non-members who would like us to visit their vessel or their stand should email yachts@nautilusint.org to arrange a time, or look out for us as we tour the show,’ Mr McGowan said.

France unveils new labour law rules

by Michael Howorth

department has recently H published guidance on planned

The French maritime affairs

changes to the country’s labour law which would apply to commercial vessels under 650gt that operate between French ports.

If the rules are applied to yachts operating in French waters, owners and management would be required to: complete a ‘declaration of activity’; provide evidence of compliance with social security arrangements; give seafarers details of French labour inspection offices; and translate documents into French.

Seafarers’ Employment Agreements may also need revising to accommodate the changes.

With more than 4,500 yachts operating in the Mediterranean this season, owners of commercial vessels under 650gt will need to be mindful of the potential ramifications of the revised labour directives.

Shelley Dowie, compliance manager at Rosemont Yacht Management, commented: ‘650gt is interesting in itself. It is not a tonnage limit that we are familiar with in the yachting industry or in commercial shipping, as most regulations are applicable to those vessels over or under 500gt.’

Security training alert

by Michael Howorth

crew around the world are F being issued non-conformities, there As more and more Superyacht

are fears in the industry that training establishments may be misleading crew into sitting for qualifications that are not correct.

Research carried out by Michael Henson for the Yachting Pages Media

Group warns that crew who hold only the mandatory Proficiency in Security Awareness (PSA) certificate instead of the Proficiency in Dedicated Security Duties (PDSD) are more at risk of losing their jobs.

Mr Henson said it was important to note that any crew member with dedicated security duties or functions under the ship’s security plan should hold the PDSD certificate.

HOTLINE

Heesen’s biggest yacht

FOR YACHT CREW

christened last month is the F 70m Galactica Super Nova — the

Nautilus has established a dedicated phoneline in Antibes to offer advice and assistance:

+33 (0)9 62 61 61 40 Nautilus International, in strategic partnership with D&B Services, 3 Bd. D’Aguillon, 06600 Antibes, France.

08_yachts.indd 8

commented: ‘It is massively important for young people to have alternatives to university. This course has a 99% employment rate; it is a job that creates a fantastic work ethic. What I notice about the UKSA students is that they are so focused; the end point is always clear in their mind when they walk through the doors in October.’

Top cadet Jordan Swindon added: ‘I was an extremely keen sailor and this course was just perfect for me; although achieving high grades I was never motivated by my subjects at school. To train as an officer and work around the world with great people is very appealing. The last six months of learning have been amazing.’

Pictured above being

largest yacht yet to emerge from the Heesen yard in the Netherlands.

Featuring the revolutionary Fast Displacement Hull Form (FDHF) technology devised by van Oossanen Naval Architects, Galactica Super Nova is one of the fastest yachts for its size, with a third engine to power a booster jet that gives a top speed of more than 30 knots.

The vessel incorporates a 13,500

litre pool on the main deck aft and a ‘touch and go’ helipad that doubles as an outdoor cinema. Galactica Super Nova will accommodate 12 guests in six staterooms and will be extensively tested in the North Sea before being delivered to its owners in May. After its maiden voyage from the Netherlands to Montenegro, the vessel will cruise in the Mediterranean for the summer season before a public debut at the Monaco Yacht Show.

14/03/2016 17:59

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 09

NEWS

Shipping ‘slow to act on equal ops’ Sector needs to do more to recruit and retain women, conference is told

P

Human resources within the shipping industry are two decades behind other sectors, a maritime HR conference heard last month.

Speaking at a Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA) salary trends discussion in London, Karen Waltham, managing director for HR consulting at Spinnaker Global, said that the industry is lagging behind sectors such as science and technology in its recruitment and retention of women.

‘The maritime industry is about 20 years behind the rest of the world,’ she said. ‘HR has only been introduced to the maritime world in recent years and it sometimes does feel like pushing water

uphill with a fork. Businesses on a lot of occasions don’t know what they don’t know — and it can be hard for new ideas to be accepted.’

To date, minimal research has been undertaken on the gender pay gap in the sector, Ms Waltham said. However, she added, UK government statistics for the overall employment market show that women in their 20s are on average getting paid more than men — but this trend switches as people get into their 30s and 40s, with men earning substantially more than women of the same age.

As a way to help maritime firms address this issue, Spinnaker Global is including gender analysis as part of the Maritime HR Association annual salary sur-

Female first for Regent

impact,’ she added. ‘If you’ve got an advert where you’ve got pictures of a female officer instead of a male officer you may get girls saying “that could be me”. That might have the desired impact on a girl to make her consider applying for a role. But it’s also about getting management to think positively about their potential resources,’ she concluded. ‘It’s about encouraging women to not be afraid and getting men to understand that women have different things to offer and there is no reason why the same results, or better, can’t be achieved, albeit in a different way.’ g To find out more, contact Ms Waltham on +44 (0)1702 480 142 or hrc@spinnaker-global.com

Dental service is safe priority treatment for merchant F seafarers will not close, according to

An NHS dental service providing

the hospital that runs the service.

Nautilus members raised concerns that the dental section of the Dreadnought Medical Services Unit, based at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, was facing the threat of closure.

However, a hospital spokesperson said: ‘We are not planning to close

F

Pictured right is Captain Serena Melani, who has been appointed as the first female master in the fleet of the US-based cruise company Regent Seven Seas.

Capt Melani, who comes from Italy, took command of the 48,075gt Seven Seas Mariner last month, following two years as staff captain onboard the Bahamas-flagged vessel.

Capt Melani said she had chosen a seagoing career at an early age, and after studying at a maritime college she first went to sea in 1998, serving on a ro-ro vessel carrying cars and general cargo.

She went on to spend four years serving on oil tankers and gas carriers, before switching to the cruise sector. She joined Regent in 2010, quickly rising through the ranks from second officer to safety officer to staff captain.

‘Yes, I am a female in a traditional

vey. It is also developing generic and bespoke products to support the maritime industry in meeting regulatory requirements.

The company is hoping to encourage the industry to give more thought to the ways in which it goes about recruiting and succession planning. A small shift in recruitment practice and mentality could have a major impact on the future landscape of the sector, Ms Waltham told the meeting.

‘We’ve seen a massive rise in girls going into science or technology,’ she pointed out. ‘What’s the reason for that? Is it the schools, or is it more girly? Is it that they have women on the adverts? Just subtle changes may make a huge

male environment,’ she said. ‘But when you are onboard, you are part of a team. Regardless of your gender, you have a job to do. And you must do it well.

‘On cruiseships, you travel to more exotic places and get to meet so many interesting people,’ said Capt Melani, whose favourite cruise destination is West Africa. ‘The ship is like a small village, and I take pride in ensuring that all of our guests experience a unique and enjoyable journey.’

any services currently provided by the Dreadnought Unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’.’

Dreadnought Medical Services Unit gives merchant seafarers, marine pilots, tug crews and fishing vessel crews priority treatment so they can return to work quickly. The service is also available for shipping company shore staff essential to the function of the fleet, as well as family members in certain circumstances.

Nominate a winner seeking nominations for its F prestigious annual awards to honour A leading maritime charity is

bravery at sea.

The Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society will hold its 165th Skill and Gallantry Awards ceremony in October, paying tribute to outstanding rescues, feats of seamanship and indivdual heroism.

The awards aim to recognise those who have shown exceptional courage. The society’s chief executive,

Malcolm Williams, said they also raise awareness of ‘the professionalism and selflessness seafarers and rescue crews demonstrate in keeping others, whether they be seafarers or members of the public, safe from the sea’. g The closing date for nominations is Friday 6 May and they can be made via post — 1 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TL — or email general@ shipwreckedmariners.org.uk or telephone +44 (0)1243 789 329.

London Mint Office MD James Deeny presents the Battle of the Atlantic coin set to Merchant Navy veteran Ron Quested onboard HQS Wellington

Mint pays tribute to MN’s wartime role Aissued a special set of coins to The London Mint Office has

pay tribute to the role of Merchant Navy seafarers in the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign of the Second World War. And last month it donated a specially designed set of the coins to HQS Wellington in London — which serves as a floating museum and the livery hall of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners — where they will be on permanent display.

The coins are made from silver recovered from the wreck of the British India Steam Navigation merchant ship Gairsoppa, which was sunk by a German U-boat torpedo 75 years ago, with the loss of 85 lives.

They were presented at a ceremony attended by Trinity House deputy master Captain Ian McNaught, Merchant Navy Association chairman Captain John Sail and Battle of the Atlantic veteran Ron Quested.

Mr Quested said: ‘It’s so important that we keep alive the memory of all those serving in the Merchant Navy who lost their lives during the Battle of Atlantic. Their role in this vital victory often seems to be undervalued or forgotten.

I hope these coins will educate people, and especially the young, about the contribution Merchant seafarers made and ensure that the difference they made is not taken for granted.’

London Mint Office managing director James Deeny aded: ‘Hearing Ron’s anecdotes brought home the real and present danger that Merchant Navy seamen went through, sailing in atrocious conditions and facing constant attacks from German destroyer ships, U-boats, the German Air Force and sea mines. We are honoured to get this opportunity to give recognition to these incredible acts of valour, and to be supporting the important work of the Merchant Navy Association.’

The Battle of Atlantic set comprises — a £20 lead coin and four ‘half crowns’ that can be bought for £49.99 each.

A limited number of the same set of Battle of Atlantic coins, also made from ‘Gairsoppa silver’, will be made available for sale to the public — enquiries and purchases can be made by calling +44 (0)330 024 1001.

The revenue from the sale of the coins will fund a donation from The London Mint Office to the Merchant Navy Association.

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09_news.indd 9

14/03/2016 18:32

10 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

NEWS

‘Slavery law could be used for ships’ UK port chaplain says substandard vessel operators should be taken to court

P Revd Peter Paine meets seafarers in Great Yarmouth Picture: Maurice Gray

Funding cuts hit seafarer centre to seafarers in the UK port of A Great Yarmouth has been thrown

The future of welfare services

into question following a decision to cut the funding for the port chaplain.

The Mission to Seafarers (MtS) says it has decided to discontinue its funding relationships with Reverend Peter Paine’s employer, ‘Good Works’, following an ‘evidence-based review of shipping patterns in Great Yarmouth and a consultation with all parties’.

The decision comes barely one year after Mr Paine re-established a seafarers’ centre on the South Quay.

The building — which offers crews from around the world a place to talk over problems and meet other seafarers, with refreshments freely available and access to phones and wifi — was officially opened last April.

Mr Paine said the funding blow had come just as visiting seafarer numbers are likely to increase following a change in ownership of the outer harbour. ‘This comes at a time when we are getting busy and seafarers have got to know that we

are here to help,’ he added.

The funding cuts will effectively mean that Great Yarmouth will be left with a part-time port chaplain, Mr Paine said, although he hopes to find fresh income streams by appealing to local businesses for support. ‘Particularly those companies supplying to shipping in the area,’ he added. ‘If these smaller businesses could be persuaded to pay £250 a year, for three years, this would ensure the centre’s stability and my part-time job.’

The MtS said the seafarers’ centre in Great Yarmouth is an independently financed and managed welfare facility and it had made a limited annual contribution towards Mr Paine’s salary for his part-time ministry. It was ‘very hopeful’ that the centre will continue operating in partnership with local port businesses and volunteers.

MtS project manager Ben Bailey added: ‘The Mission has had to make difficult financial choices to enable crucial projects to flourish and to satisfy the many calls made on its resources around the world.’

Mission open for business in expanding Myanmar port has opened a new seafarers’ A centre and family support project in

The Mission to Seafarers (MtS)

Yangon, Myanmar, in response to research showing a growing need for such facilities in the port.

The new Mission centre is located close to the Department of Marine Administration in Yangon, and the MtS is also planning to develop a drop-in centre close to Hutchinson Ports’ Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT) — the

deepwater port 16 miles south of Yangon — later on this year.

The Yangon Mission was developed with some US$30,000 funding from the Mission to Seafarers in Hong Kong, after the MtS Global Review of Ports project identified a strong need for seafarers to have access to support and care in the port.

Yangon accounts for more than 90% of all Myanmar’s imports and has expanded capacity from around 1m tonnes to 3m tonnes since 1996.

www.irishseafarerstax.ie

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Law enforcement agencies should seriously consider taking shipping companies to court when vessels are found to be in breach of safety and welfare standards, a port chaplain has argued.

Speaking at a conference on modern slavery held in Portsmouth last month, Reverend Roger Stone, from the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), said the shipping industry, port state authorities and regulatory bodies need to address the point at which the level of deficiencies on ships cross the threshold from being a civil wrong to a criminal offence.

Revd Stone, AoS port chaplain for the south coast ports in England, told the meeting he had seen deficiencies onboard ships that clearly contravene health and safety regulations, as well as the human and statutory rights of the crew.

He cited examples from his ship visits including galleys without food or drinking water, food unfit for human consumption,

Met Office service for shipping F

The UK Meterological Office has launched a new service to provide detailed weather forecasts for the entirety of a ship’s voyage, anywhere in the world.

Its SafeVoyage product aims to help minimise exposure to severe weather, improve safety and keep project costs to a minimum, with forecasts given in an easy-tointerpret graphical format which includes wind and sea conditions along the route and tabulated data every three hours for significant wave height, swell details, wind and weather.

Forecasts are provided in a PDF format and start times can be generated to inform decisions about the best route and departure time.

‘In marginal situations it’s vital to make decisions based on the best information possible — SafeVoyage provides reliable information to support decisions that could impact safety and efficiency,’ said Patrick Sachon, Met Office head of oil and gas, and renewables.

SafeVoyage can be easily and quickly set up for individual vessel types. It can be used for route planning, with departure times easily adjusted to identify suitable safe weather windows.

Forecasts are usually delivered by email, but can also be provided via Safesee, the Met Office’s web-based portal for viewing forecasts. The table and associated graph will give three-hourly output of winds and seas for up to five days ahead.

Revd Roger Stone, from the Apostleship of the Sea Picture: AoS

filthy shower and toilet areas, galleys with insect infestation, and crew being forced to work without sufficient rest hours.

While such conditions are rare in the UK, they are not insignificant, he added. ‘Most companies are pretty good, but when they are bad they really stand out; we should determine the point at which a litany of deficiencies

should result in various agencies being involved.’

Revd Stone said port state authorities currently have the power to detain a ship for deficiencies. ‘But surely there must be a point when what is a civil offence becomes a criminal one, especially in cases where abuse and modern slavery is suspected,’ he added.

‘It is therefore so important if someone sees something wrong, that they don’t keep it to themselves but share information with the authorities so that appropriate action can be taken without delay,’ Revd Stone said.

By alerting official organisations at an early stage, any deficiencies can be quickly remedied, he noted. ‘And if there is anybody in trouble they can be helped immediately and not just put on a record or a database for next time.’

Revd Stone told the Telegraph that he had asked the UK government’s anti-slavery commissioner to examine the scope for using the new anti-slavery legislation in cases where ships are found with seriously deficient conditions and unpaid crews.

The UK legislation is very new, he added, but it was important for the authorities to consider whether it could be used to end the ‘carousel’ of ships being repeatedly detained and then released for the same breaches of the regulations.

US probe hears master’s last calls to his company a US-flagged ro-ro containership F last year has heard a recording of the An investigation into the loss of

master’s last call to the company — warning management ashore that ‘the clock is ticking’.

All 33 crew onboard the El Faro were lost when the ship sank in a hurricane off the Bahamas in October last year. The US Coast Guard (USCG) Marine Board of Investigation is taking evidence from company officials, crew members and maritime agencies in a bid to determine the causes of the loss.

During the hearings, recordings were played in which El Faro’s master, Captain Michael Davidson, became increasingly frustrated as he made repeated attempts to get through to

shore-based safety personnel at Tote Services.

After leaving a message with the DPA, he called the company’s emergency centre and — after being asked to spell the name of his ship and being put on hold — he warned the operator that his ship had suffered a hull breach, with water in three holds, a heavy list and lost propulsion units.

Company officials told the hearing that they did not routinely send weather warnings to their ships, and that the master was responsible for monitoring the weather conditions — with the role of shore-based staff to provide help only if asked.

Second mate Charles Baird told the hearing he had been at home when

he saw news of the storm on television and texted Capt Davidson to make sure he was aware of it. Capt Davidson told Mr Baird that he planned to skirt ‘under’ or south of the hurricane and he had emailed Tote officials the day before the El Faro sank asking if he could take a longer route.

The investigation has also heard concerns over the way in which the USCG monitors flag state survey work carried out by classification societies.

Captain John Maeger, who heads the oversight programme, said it had failed to meet the target of reviewing 10% of surveys. While the percentage had risen from 4% to 6% in recent years, discrepancies had been found in 38% of cases in 2014.

Swiss stamps A

Switzerland’s Merchant Navy is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and the country’s post office has issued a special set of four stamps to mark the event.

The Swiss merchant fleet — whose home port is Basel, where Nautilus has its Swiss office — was founded in 1941 to help ensure the supply of essential goods during the Second World War. The fleet — which falls under the responsibility of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss Maritime Navigation Office — has grown in recent years, from 32 ships in June 2008 to the current 47, which are owned by six companies.

14/03/2016 18:32

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 11

NEWS

Iridium bid for GMDSS put on hold by the IMO

RFA and Border Force to tackle people smugglers Mounts Bay, pictured left, and A three UK Border Force vessels have The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship

been sent to support the international response to the migrant crisis in the Aegean Sea. Mounts Bay, an amphibious landing ship, will work alongside the Border Force vessel VOS Grace, the cutter Protector and one other Border Force cutter as part of the NATO task force seeking to reduce the number of migrants making the dangerous

F

Nautilus has welcomed an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) decision not to give the green light to a bid by the US satellite company Iridium to provide an alternative to Inmarsat’s monopoly of the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS).

The IMO’s navigation, communications and search and rescue (NCSR) sub-committee ruled last month that Iridium could only be incorporated into the GMDSS when it was shown to meet a ‘comprehensive list of conditions’ for recognition.

Inmarsat has been solely responsible for GMDSS since its implementation began in 1992 and the service is credited with saving thousands of lives at sea since then.

Backed by the US government, Iridium has been promising to increase GMDSS coverage and to provide a viable commercial alternative to Inmarsat.

But an IMO panel of experts expressed concern about Iridium’s ability to meet technical standards, including network reliability levels of 99.9% plus built-in redundancy.

The NCSR sub-committee agreed that Iridium could be incorporated into the GMDSS once it complied with outstanding issues, and the meeting set out the conditions which need to be fulfilled before the service can be recommended for recognition.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson commented: ‘The discussions at IMO were pragmatic and sensible — Inmarsat remains the benchmark that all others must match before being considered acceptable.’

Inmarsat spokesman Chris McLaughlin added: ‘Iridium has not been incorporated into the GMDSS because its submission does not comply with the selection criteria. It could be incorporated when all outstanding issues have been resolved and when it has demonstrated a working version of “Next” integrated with all requirements.’

Somalia ‘still a risk region’ EU naval force chief cautions against complacency

P

Piracy will continue off the coast of Somalia as long as conditions ashore are not resolved, a former United Nations official warned last month.

Nicholas Kay, who served as the UN secretary-general’s special representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, told a meeting organised

by Oceans Beyond Piracy that the intent and capability for pirate attacks remains in this fragile region, despite a drastic decline of incidents since 2011.

Rejecting the popular image of the country as a ‘failed state’, Mr Kay said it now has security institutions and an expanding economy. ‘It is a fragile, recovering nation,’ he added, and more could be done to help its recovery.

Major Ryan Kyle, of the EU Naval Force, also cautioned

against complacency from foreign governments. A reduction of counter-piracy patrols since 2010, coupled with the more infrequent use of private security teams on merchant ships, has increased opportunities for attacks, he pointed out.

Vessels are taking more risks in terms of routeing, Major Kyle added, and a resurgence in illegal fishing has given pirate groups a narrative to legitimise their actions.

Omer Ahmed, legal advisor for Africa Legal Risk Control, called for ‘a touch of reality’ on the issue.

‘The context in which piracy arose was the complete breakdown of authority on land. That is starting to change,’ he pointed out. ‘Areas where there is a residual risk are places where there is the least amount of local govern-

ance, there is still a place for these people to hide’.

Mr Ahmed said there should be greater cooperation and intelligence-sharing between foreign navies and Somali authorities.

And John Steed, of Oceans Beyond Piracy, also asserted the need for consensus on how piracy is reported: ‘Facts and figures are all different. Definitions need to be refined, to give the international community and Somalis an idea of what’s going on.’

Greater clarity is also needed on the subject of illegal fishing, which is one of the key provocations for pirate attacks, Mr Steed said. ‘There is the perception that if you can see a ship on the horizon, he is taking your livelihood, and if you can get out there on a skiff and attack him then you should.’

sea crossing from Turkey to Greece.

Supported by a Wildcat helicopter, Mounts Bay will work with the Turkish coastguard to identify people smugglers and intercept their boats.

Announcing the deployment, prime minister David Cameron said: ‘We’ve got to break the business model of the criminal smugglers and stop the desperate flow of people crammed into makeshift vessels from embarking on a fruitless and perilous journey.’

Cyber-pirates target high-value cargoes shipping company’s website to A target valuable cargoes onboard its Pirates have hacked into a

vessels, a communications company has revealed.

US-based Verizon said its Risk Team cybersecurity unit had been called in to assist a shipping company when it became alarmed by evidence that its vessels were being attacked by pirates who seemed to know which containers held high-value items.

‘Rather than spending days holding boats and their crew hostage while they rummaged through the cargo, these pirates began to attack shipping vessels in an extremely targeted and timely fashion,’ it explained.

‘They’d board a vessel, locate by barcode specific sought-after crates

containing valuables, steal the contents of that crate — and that crate only — and then depart the vessel without further incident,’ the report added. ‘Fast, clean and easy.’

Verizon’s experts discovered that the pirates had gained their intelligence by hacking into the webserver using a malicious web shell to access data and pull down bulls of lading for future shipments, identifying containers with high-value contents and the vessels scheduled to carry them.

Verizon helped the shipping company to shut down the hacked servers, block the internet protocol address used by the perpetrators, reset all the compromised passwords and reconstruct the affected servers with the latest versions of its CMS.

Crew lose prison appeal an appeal by the crew of F the counter-piracy vessel Seaman A court in India has rejected

Guard Ohio against five-year prison sentences imposed on them in January.

The men — six British nationals, 14 Estonians, three Ukrainians and 12 Indians — have been detained since the Sierra Leone-flagged ship was intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard in October 2013 on suspicion of illegally entering the country’s waters.

Last month, the Madras High Court refused to suspend the sentences imposed by a lower court and also refused the conditional bail that had been granted ahead of the appeal against their sentences.

The judge, Justice V.S. Ravi, said he was not inclined to allow the appeal in view of the serious nature of the charges and because 23 of the crew were foreign nationals.

A final appeal is now scheduled to be heard on 1 June.

ECDIS updates put back by one year GET A HEAD START AT SEA Organisation has agreed to give A a one-year extension to the transition The International Maritime

period for software updates to existing ECDIS. The IMO’s sub-committee on navigation, communications and SAR (NCSR) agreed the move — which had been proposed by the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO to give all shipowners using ECDIS more time to be able to obtain the correct software updates to the new IHO -52 presentation library.

Version 4.0 of the presentation library aims to address the number one complaint levelled at ECDIS — constant audible alarms. By providing clear guidance to ECDIS manufacturers on ENC objects that will raise an alarm, the IHO says it has tackled the issue of ‘alarm fatigue’ on the bridge.

The new software will also ensure

10-11_news.indd 11

that information such as fairway and anchorage area names will appear on screen, with landmarks, lights and buoys viewable via a ‘hover-over’ function. Both initiatives aim to reduce the time-consuming need to find information buried in a pick report.

In practice, the extension means the version 3.4 presentation library in use on serving ECDIS vessels will remain valid until 31 August 2017.

From 1 September all vessels will be expected to have upgraded their ECDIS software to edition 4.0 in order to remain compliant.

Tom Mellor, chairman of the IHO’s ENC working group, said the extension would alleviate the imminent pressure on shipowners and the overall supply chain. He urged companies to start the transition now, ‘to ensure a smooth switchover and to take advantage of the benefits that the new editions will bring to the bridge’.

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14/03/2016 18:33

12 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

HEALTH & SAFETY

Owners warn IMO of ballast water system hold-ups Water Management Convention A has inched closer towards coming As the long-awaited Ballast

into force last month, flag states and operators warned of potential problems in finding sufficient shipyard space to install treatment equipment.

Belgium and Fiji have become the 48th and 49th nations to ratify the measure, meaning that countries accounting for 34.82% of world tonnage have now signed up to the convention — just short of the 35% required for it to enter into force.

Belgium also signed the Hong Kong Ship Recycling Convention last month, bringing the number of contracting states to four. The convention needs to be ratified by 15 states and 40% of world gross tonnage before it can enter into force.

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) secretary-general Kitack Lim urged other IMO member states to ratify both the BWM and Hong Kong treaties, to bring them into effect as soon as possible.

But Liberia, the International Chamber of Shipping and Intertanko warned the IMO that continued uncertainty over the ballast water treatment equipment standards

means many owners are delaying decisions on fitting their ships to comply with the convention.

Liberia said a significant number of shipping companies have decided to put ships through their International Oil Pollution Prevention renewal surveys up to two or three years ahead of schedule to gain some extra time before they have to fit the equipment.

The convention requires systems to be fitted on the first IOPP survey after it comes into force.

The flag state told the IMO that this is creating a build-up of ships that will need to be fitted with treatment systems after 2020. This could result in a 3,500 ship shortfall in terms of the dockyard capacity for retrofitting ballast water management systems, if the convention comes into force later this year, it claimed.

In a separate paper to the IMO, the ICS and Intertanko said continued uncertainty over which systems will meet US Coast Guard standards is causing delays in the fitting process.

The organisations called for ‘common and agreed’ standards — notably on the definition on ‘viable organisms’ in terms of controlling the spread of invasive species.

Man killed after being trapped on ship’s side became trapped between a ship A and a fender in a UK port while trying A shore worker died when he

to leave the vessel by walking along its side belting.

Nick Perrin, who worked as a rope handler for the Lundy Company, was caught between the 294gt passenger/ cargo vessel Oldenburg and the vertical fender in Ilfracombe harbour in August last year.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch found that he had been onboard the ship drinking tea with crew and had sought to return to shore through a main deck shell door and walking along the 24cm wide external belting to a platform and steps to the quayside.

Investigators said the gangway had been withdrawn because of the

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12-13_h+s.indd 12

ship’s movement in the prevailing swell and Mr Perrin may have been seeking to get ashore quickly to be ready to release the mooring lines.

The MAIB report on the accident notes that while the ship’s owners had a demonstrable commitment to good safety standards, no risk assessment had been carried out in respect of the shell doors being left open to help ventilate the vessel’s lower deck areas in port.

The accident had revealed previously unrecognised shortcomings in the ship’s safety management system, the report adds. However, as the vessel’s owners took a series of safety measures following the incident the MAIB decided not to make any recommendations in response to its findings.

Checks reveal increase in hidden risks Lloyd says it has recorded a 65% A increase in the number of incorrectly German shipping firm Hapag-

declared dangerous goods last year.

The company — which operates a fleet of more than 170 containerships — said it identified 4,314 such incidents in 2015, up from 2,620 in the previous year.

Its dangerous goods experts examined more than 236,000 suspicious cases picked up by its special safety software program, Watchdog, last year — a 46% increase from 2014.

Hapag-Lloyd said the increase in cases may have been in part due to the extra checks carried out following the devastating explosion in the Chinese port of Tianjin in August.

Bid to cut rate of anchor accidents Study says many seafarers lack awareness of environmental load pressures

P

A leading classification society and two major marine insurers have teamed up in a bid to cut the rate of anchor losses after research found that they are among the top five reasons for claims costs.

DNV GL, Gard and The Swedish Club have acted in response to figures showing an increase in the number of anchor losses reported in recent years and an analysis of damage cases involving anchor and anchor chain losses.

They said the study into the root causes revealed that a majority of these losses could have been avoided by increased awareness of the environmental limitations, more attention to key technical issues and general good seamanship.

‘One of the key takeaways of our investigation is the importance of the officers and crew being aware of the environmental loads their equipment is designed for,’ said DNV GL senior principal engineer Håkon Skaret.

‘If these limits are not taken account of in shipboard anchoring procedures, there can be significant damage to the vessel — even beyond the loss of anchor and chain,’ he added. ‘Many anchor losses are avoidable, if the proper maintenance and handling procedures are adhered to.’

A D-shackle bolt coming loose due to a detached securing pin Picture: Gard

The report also stressed the need for routine inspections and maintenance of essential components of the anchoring equipment — with focus on the D-shackle, the technical component with the highest loss causing failure rate.

Special attention should be paid to the taper pin, it added, and

securing the anchor tightly in the hawse pipe at sea can help to avoid excessive vibrations which can cause the pin to come loose.

Many anchor losses are the result of loss of brake power and uncontrolled release of the chain, the study noted.

Crews should also check against corrosion of the drum

and wear of the brake band lining, and ensure that the tension of the brakes is adjusted and liners replaced in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

‘Operationally, every anchoring operation is unique,’ Mr Skaret added. ‘In practice, the crew and officers need to be aware of the risks and assess them thoroughly, especially in heavy weather.

‘In almost half of the cases we saw that environmental risk factors, such as weather, strength of currents and water depth, played a significant role in the loss,’ he said.

‘To help shipboard personnel in this respect, shipping companies can make sure that procedures for safe anchoring operations are implemented in their safety management systems.’

Anchor and chain loss can often lead to collisions and grounding, which can result in additional damage to a vessel.

Adding to the costs of anchor loss is the increasingly common requirement from port authorities that lost anchors are recovered, the study added.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson commented: ‘Both class and P&I, for reasons best known to themselves, fail to admit it is the quality of the personnel and the management that need to be addressed.’

Beware of barbecues, crews told beware of staging shipboard F barbecues following a number of

Seafarers have been warned to

incidents in which officers and crews have ended up with second or third degree burns.

The alert comes from the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in a circular urging ship owners and masters to ‘recognise the dangers of shipboard barbecues’ if they are permitted by the company’s safety management system and to ensure that ‘due consideration’ is paid to the risks of fires and explosions.

‘Several incidents involving make-shift barbecue pits have occurred recently onboard ships causing a fire or explosion at the site, resulting in the officers and crew receiving second and third degree burns,’ it noted. ‘The officers and crew have had to be evacuated from the vessel and received extensive treatment ashore.’

The MPA said investigations into these incidents had revealed that an ‘inappropriate fuel’ — paint thinner — had been used to either light or sustain the fire in the barbecue pit.

The car carrier Modern Express listing in the Bay of Biscay before being towed to safety Picture: Marine Nationale

Car carrier probe to continue say they are no closer to A determining the reasons why the car Spanish maritime authorities

carrier Modern Express developed a potentially catastrophic list in the Bay of Biscay in February.

The 22 crew onboard the Panamaflagged ship had to be airlifted to safety after the vessel listed to starboard by up to 51 degrees in rough seas. The 33,381gt ship was adrift for

nearly a week before salvors managed to tow it to safety in the port of Bilbao.

Spanish customs initially banned accident investigators, operators and insurers access to the ship while they checked the origins of the 3,600 tonne cargo of wood from Gabon amid concerns that it might have come from an area of illegal logging operations.

Investigators ruled out a shift in cargo as the cause of the list, but

Captain Hubert Ardillon — vicepresident of the French shipmasters’ association, Afcan — suggested the incident was the result of stability problems, with the ship rolling to a point of no return to its normal position.

The investigation is being led by Panama, the flag state of the Modern Express, with technical assistance from the French incident bureau BEAmer.

14/03/2016 12:13

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 13

HEALTH & SAFETY

‘More to be done’ on space hazards

First Polar Code ship flagged AHTS vessel Magne F Viking, which has taken the Pictured right is the Danish-

title of the first vessel to comply with the International Maritime Organisation’s new Polar Code.

The 6,279gt vessel gained its certification following a survey by the classification society DNV GL. Owned

by Viking Supply Ships, the ice-classed vessel is capable of operations in harsh environment offshore regions, as well as Arctic and sub-Arctic areas.

The IMO Polar Code will be mandatory for all SOLAS vessels

Concern at colregs call to the IMO A

Nautilus has expressed concerns about proposals to set defined ‘keep out of the way’ areas around operating cableships.

The plans were tabled at the International Maritime Organisation’s navigation, communications and SAR subcommittee by the Marshall Islands last month in response to concerns about cases in which other vessels — in particular fishing vessels — have ‘dangerously hampered or interfered with such operations’.

The paper noted that: ‘Because cableship operations present a unique navigational challenge to approaching vessels, all vessel operators must provide operating cableships as wide a clearance as practicable under the circumstances like geographically restricted navigation in narrow channels.’

It proposed that the Colregs phrase ‘keep out of the way’ should be interpreted as a minimum safe stand-off distance of 1nm from ships laying or repairing a cable and one-quarter of a nautical mile from a cable repair buoy.

Speaking on behalf of the International Federation of Ship Masters’ Associations, Nautilus professional and technical assistant David Appleton told delegates that while the concerns about the unacceptably dangerous incidents were shared, there were reservations about the proposals.

‘Minimum distances are not prescribed anywhere within the collision regulations,’ he pointed out.

‘Instead, the skill and judgement of the mariner is relied upon to determine the best course of action, according to the prevailing circumstances and conditions, and taking into account the proximity of land and other traffic, amongst other things.

‘We believe this proposal would set a precedent that could lead to minimum prescribed distances being set for a variety of situations and, that this would have the potential to place unnecessary restrictions and burdens on the mariner.’

Mr Appleton argued that when minimum clearances are required for reasons of safety, there is already sufficient provision to promulgate the information through navigational warnings.

He said the dangerous incidents highlighted by the Marshall Islands did not constitute misunderstanding of the regulations and would have occurred regardless of the existence of a unified interpretation of the Colregs.

12-13_h+s.indd 13

entering Arctic and Antarctic waters with effect from 1 January 2017. Viking Supply Ships said it saw the value in the implementing the Code at an early stage, and the process included updates of the 2011-built vessel and equipment, as well as providing the required documentation.

‘As this vessel was already winterised and built for operation in cold climate, most of the additional requirements in the Polar Code were already fulfilled before we started the implementation process,’ said project director Andreas Kjøl.

UK agrees short reprieve for ETV Minister extends Scottish contract by six months to continue talks on future

P

Nautilus has welcomed a last-minute decision by the UK government to extend the funding for the last remaining emergency towing vessel (ETV) by six months while efforts are made to secure alternative arrangements for a tug to cover the area.

During a lengthy House of Commons debate last month, shipping minister Robert Goodwill told MPs that the government accepts that the level of risk in the Northern Isles has not changed substantially since a risk assessment was carried out in 2011.

‘The provision of the ETV and the steaming times to get to certain locations where it may be needed is something we need to address,’ he admitted. ‘I urge all those with an interest to seize the opportunity this extra time brings to work with the MCA to implement a longer-term strategy to meet this need.’

The minister argued that salvage should remain a ‘primarily private sector service’ and the costs of pollution prevention should be met by potential polluters. But he acknowledged concerns that the downturn in the North Sea may have reduced the availability of offshore support vessels to provide cover.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said he was pleased that the provision has been extended, but questioned whether the government would be able to find a market-based

The Liberian-flagged containership Kalliopi RC had to be towed to the port of Le Havre last month after suffering engine failure in strong winds and rough seas some 14nm off the French coast Picture: Eric Houri

alternative. ‘You cannot rely on a market solution when there is no market,’ he pointed out.

During the debate in Parliament, Mr Goodwill faced repeated calls from MPs to not only safeguard the provision of the Orkney-based ETV but also to provide cover in other high-risk areas, such as the west coast of Scotland.

‘If there is a risk in the Northern Isles, there is a risk in the west,’ said Skye MP Ian Blackford. ‘Put simply, the Northern Isles vessel is too far away to respond quickly enough to any incidents off the west of Scotland.’

Mr Blackford described the

loss of ETVs as ‘wanton disregard’ for maritime safety and said it is taking place at a time when the Maritime & Coastguard Agency is considering an application for ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Cromarty Firth. The UK’s costcutting decision to withdraw ETV cover around its coast was in stark contrast to countries such as the Netherlands, Norway, France and Germany that see the sense in protecting coastal communities, he added.

Angus MacNeil, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, accused the government of ‘having no insurance policy because they are a

penny-wise pound-foolish government who are playing fast and loose with the Scottish coastline’.

Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael said ministers were taking an ‘exceptionally shortsighted’ approach to ETV cover and said the MCA has relied on a ‘seriously deficient’ risk assessment in considering the issues.

While the cost of ETV cover is expensive, he argued that it is a price worth paying and the decline in charter rates for offshore support vessels has presented the government with the opportunity of securing a longterm contract at a reduced cost.

Master ‘may have been locked out’ F

Counter-piracy precautions may have led to the death of a containership master in the Indian Ocean last year, an accident investigation has suggested.

The master of the German-flagged Hanjin Miami went missing while the 82,794gt vessel was sailing from Singapore to New York last May. Despite four extensive searches of the

vessel and three days of searching in the sea area where he went missing, no trace of him was found.

The alarm was raised onboard after the master failed to appear at breakfast and his primary key was found in the galley. He had failed to carry out his usual checks of emails sent to the ship on the previous evening and had last been seen at

around 2000hrs.

German police and marine accident investigators sent to the vessel found no evidence that a crime had been committed and crew members said suicide was extremely unlikely.

A report by the marine accident investigation unit BSU concludes that it was possible that the master had

fallen overboard while carrying out his final rounds of the evening.

The master may have been locked out of the superstructure, it notes, and as the ship was nearing a piracy risk area, the superstructure was blacked out and exterior doors were locked.

‘This would have made it difficult to alert the crew and attract attention without a torch and radio,’ it adds.

results of a concentrated port F state control inspection campaign Nautilus has welcomed the

which aimed to raise awareness of new rules to cut the risks of enclosed space entry.

Port state control authorities in the Paris and Tokyo MoU regions conducted the joint campaign between September and December last year — conducting more than 3,770 inspections in line with its remit.

A total of 54 detentions were made as a result of ships being found with CIC-related deficiencies.

Authorities said the preliminary results indicate that the subject of enclosed space entry is taken seriously by the industry — but, with 7.9% of drills being found to be unsatisfactory, compliance with the requirements could be improved.

Paris MOU secretary-general Richard Schiferli described the detention percentage as ‘a satisfactory result’ but warned that more work needs to be done — especially on crew training and the correct execution of drills. ‘Both industry and port state control officers should continue to pay attention to enclosed space entry,’ he added.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson commented: ‘Mandatory enclosed space training needs to be increased within STCW and enclosed space rescue equipment specifically included in SOLAS. Without such equipment on most ships inspected, one must question the chance of a successful rescue.’ g See feature, pages 22-23.

Ship & Port Maintenance : Sandblasting : Jetwashing : Mechanical : Abseiling : ConÀned Space : Access Platforms : Haz.Waste Disposal

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14/03/2016 12:13

14 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

INTERNATIONAL

shortreports ARCTIC CAUTION: liner shipping services on Arctic routes could become economically feasible by 2040 if ice cover continues to diminish at current rates, according to a new report by the Copenhagen Business School. The study say it is unlikely that the Northern Sea Route (NSR) will replace the Suez Canal as a key artery for container shipping services in the immediate future, even though it has the potential to cut voyage lengths by up to 40%.

SECURITY CENTRE: the Economic Community of Central African States, the Economic Community of West African States and the Gulf of Guinea Commission have established an inter-regional coordination centre responsible for security off the coastline between Senegal and Angola. Acts of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea rose 132% between 2010 and 2013, and the new centre will be inaugurated in January 2017.

UKRAINIAN BAN: Ukraine has announced that any foreign seafarer who serves on a vessel visiting ports in Crimea will be banned from Ukraine for the following three years. The West of England P&I Club said it was unclear how Ukraine would obtain information on individual seafarers who have visited Crimean ports, but any crew member found to have done so faces a fine or imprisonment for up to 15 days should they try to enter Ukraine.

GREEK BID: the Italian ferry operator Grimaldi has launched a takeover bid to acquire a majority stake in Hellenic Seaways, Greece’s biggest domestic ferry operator. Hellenic has a fleet of 27 ferries which carried some 2.9m passengers last year and Grimaldi is making the bid through its Greek subsidiary, Minoan Lines.

PORT PROTEST: shipping in the French port of Le Havre maritime traffic was paralysed by a strike by shorebased staff last month. Port officers turned the access and exit lights to red for four hours in protest at the lack of dialogue with management on improvements to their working conditions.

Indian seafarers in offshore plea Union calls for training support to prevent jobs being lost to foreign crews

P

India’s largest maritime trade union, the National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI), has called for the country’s government to provide financial help towards the costs of training crews for offshore operations.

The union says state aid and financial incentives for training are vital if India is to avoid the need to use foreign seafarers on specialist vessels supporting its expanding offshore oil sector.

General secretary Abdulgani Serang said NUSI is urging the Indian shipping ministry to provide the assistance through the National Shipping Board to ena-

ble seafarers to be trained at the NUSI Offshore Training Institute (NOTI), currently operated by the NUSI-ITF Trust.

‘I am extremely happy that finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech stated to incentivise oil exploration activities across India’s vast coastline,’ Mr Serang said. ‘The government should also incentivise training of an Indian maritime workforce needed for oil exploration activities.

‘Currently, an offshore maritime workforce catering to oil exploration activities is scarce in India, mainly due to the lack of world-class training facilities in

our country,’ he added. ‘We cannot, therefore, run into the risk of letting foreign maritime workforce fill the future vacancies, considering the fact that a boost is expected on the oil exploration front.’

In a boost for Indian seafarers, the country’s government has revealed plans to provide income tax concessions for those serving with domestic shipping companies.

Indian seafarers serving in deepsea trades are presently exempt from income tax, and the Budget proposes to widen this to those serving on all Indianflagged ships — something that

Study says ships are shunning Suez Canal

China deal creates a box giant company has been created A following the merger last month

The world’s largest shipping

IRANIAN SERVICE: Iran Shipping Lines’ 2,500TEU containership Arzargoun has carried out the operator’s first voyage to European ports after five years of EU sanctions came to an end earlier this year. The 25,391gt vessel called at Genoa, Antwerp and Hamburg.

of two state-owned operators in China, the Cosco Group and the China Shipping Group.

China Cosco Shipping Corporation (COSCOCS) has a combined fleet of 1,114 ships of with a total carrying capacity of 85.32m dwt. Its dry bulk and tanker fleet capacity will be the world’s largest, while the container vessel capacity — at 1.58m TEU — will be the fourth largest.

The newly merged group will have 46 container terminals globally, with overall terminal throughput at around 90m TEU, ranking second in the world. The company will start operations in the second half of the year after full restructuring of its domestic shipping network.

No changes in its international operations are expected until 2017.

HOURS STOPPAGE: members of the Italian maritime union Orsa serving with the ferry operator Caremar staged a 48-hour strike last month in support of calls for better work/rest arrangements on services between Capri, Naples and Sorrento.

FINE APPEAL: the Tunisian ferry operator CTN has lodged an appeal to the French high court against a ruling imposing a €500,000 fine on the company for pollution by its ro-pax Carthage off the French coast in October 2009.

NICE WORK: Italian firm Moby Lines will launch a new service between the French port of Nice and Bastia, Corsica, in June, using the 22,161gt ferry Moby Zaza.

A newly-opened channel has speeded up vessel access to the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) , above

leading ships to bypass the A Suez Canal by taking the longer route Falling fuel prices may be

around South Africa, a new report has suggested.

A study by the Danish firm SeaIntel Maritime Analysis published last month said more than 110 ships running between Asia, northern Europe and the US east coast have chosen not to transit the Suez Canal.

With average transit charges of US$465,000, SeaIntel said ships could save more than $200,000 a voyage by going around the Cape and some operators could cut their costs by as much as US$19m a year.

However, the change of route

14-15_int.indd 14

the country’s owners have been seeking for many years.

At present, around 75% of India’s 60,000 ratings and 44,500 officers are employed by foreign shipping companies — and Indian owners complain that this adds to their costs and causes shortages of crew for domestic services.

The Indian government is also facing calls to support investment in new tonnage — as more than 42% of the country’s merchant fleet is over 20 years old. There has been a sharp decline in the Indian fleet’s share of the country’s overseas trade — from about 40% in the late 1980s to 7.45% last year.

is bad news for the environment.

SeaIntel calculated that the increased fuel consumption would mean an additional 6,800 tonnes of CO2 emitted per voyage.

The report also comes at a bad time for Egypt, which has recently completed an $8.2bn expansion project to increase capacity and cut transit times. The work deepened the channel and allows two-way traffic along the entire route — doubling its capacity from 49 vessels daily to 97.

Work is also underway to expand the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCTT) — including new Super-Post Panamax cranes that will increase its annual capacity to 5.4m TEU.

Approximately one tenth of all global seaborne trade moves through the Suez Canal every year. Although statistics show that the total number of ships passing through the waterway increased by 2% in 2015 to 17,483, the number of bulk carriers and containerships passing through fell by 5.7% and 3.1% respectively.

A new 8.5km access channel that directly links the East Port Said port complex to the Mediterranean Sea was officially opened last month.

Dredged to a depth of 18.5m, the channel provides 24-hour access to East Port Said for vessels above 18,000TEU, which are using the canal in increasing numbers.

Protests over flag-out plan to lobby their government over F controversial plans by the seismic French unions are continuing

research ship operator CGG to flag out six of its ships.

The maritime unions warn that the company’s move will lead to the loss of more than 300 jobs in France — including 189 technical posts at its headquarters, along with 73 maritime support technicians and 19 scientists.

The CGT and CFDT unions say their members are concerned that marine support staff functions could be transferred to Houston and possibly to CGG’s new marine maintenance base at Rotterdam.

14/03/2016 12:14

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 15

INTERNATIONAL

Bulker accused of pollution in Bay of Biscay A

A Greek shipping firm has paid a €500,000 bond to secure the release of a bulk carrier that was detained in France last month following a suspected bunker spill in the Bay of Biscay.

The Liberian-registered Thisseas was ordered into the port of Brest after it was spotted by a surveillance aircraft with a 40km-long slick in its wake, some 350km off the French coast, while sailing between Russia and China with a cargo of fertiliser.

After being questioned by the French authorities, the crew and the 72,500dwt vessel, owned by Laskaridis Shipping, were allowed to leave following payment of the

€500,000 bond.

Port officials said the Ukrainian captain, chief engineer and crew had testified that they had not been aware of any problems with the ship’s oily water separators, and an inspection had revealed no defects.

But the head of the Atlantic maritime authority said ‘several dozen tonnes of hydrocarbons’ had been discharged. ‘The sea is not a dustbin and there must be no impunity for polluters,’ he added.

The master and the owner have been sent a summons to appear before the criminal court of Brest in November. The company could face a fine of up to €15m.

Norwegian unions back aid measures New package of subsidies and tax refunds aims to safeguard seafaring jobs

by Andrew Draper

P

Norwegian seafaring unions have welcomed a government announcement of new measures that seek to protect employment in the country’s maritime sector.

Norway’s industry ministry is to introduce a package of new subsidies and changes to territorial boundaries — and the country’s maritime unions believe they will create more Norwegian jobs.

In a joint statement, the unions say a government-appointed commission has spurred the developments.

The package includes a move

to allow construction vessels to be registered under the Norwegian international register (NIS) with effect from 1 March, with a subsidy programme that requires crews to comprise 12 Norwegians per shift: a captain, two deck officers, two engineer officers, a supervisor/ crane driver, seaman/motorman, an electrician and four trainees.

The unions report that several owners have said they will flag vessels back to Norway in response to the package. At present, most of the Norwegian-controlled construction fleet is flagged in other countries.

Terje Hernes Pettersen, head of the unions’ secretariat, said sea-

faring jobs should also be boosted by a decision to raise the ceiling for vessels’ tax refunds in the domestic register (NOR) from March. The previous ceiling of NOK202,000 (€21,608) still applies to offshore vessels but has been removed for freight vessels.

NIS-registered ships engaged in deepsea transport will benefit from a new refund scheme which will provide greater flexibility for Norwegian crewing — including grants being available in respect of all seafarers, say the unions.

They add that the refund scheme is something they have fought for and payment will commence in 2016, subject to EFTA

Surveillance Authority (ESA) approval, expected in the spring.

The government says it will put on indefinite hold plans to allow passenger ferries plying routes in a limited area between Norway and non-Nordic ports to operate under the NIS flag, due to a dispute with the ESA. The unions said there were ‘pleased the industry ministry does not agree with the ESA’s understanding that the territorial limit associated with NIS ferries in foreign routes conflicts with the four freedoms (of labour, capital, goods and services) and support the Norwegian authorities not giving in to ESA’s view’.

Company fined for fuel failure company has been fined almost A US$130,000 for failing to switch from A Singapore-based shipping

Royal Caribbean newbuild set to start trials in the North Sea Caribbean International (RCI) A newbuild Ovation of the Seas, Pictured above is the Royal

which last month was moved from the Meyer Werft building dock downriver to the port of Eemshaven before starting trials in the North Sea. The 168,666gt vessel is the third in Royal Caribbean’s Quantum class. After sea trials, it will head to Southampton to undertake a threenight inaugural cruise to Rotterdam on 14 April. The ship will then make

14-15_int.indd 15

a five-night cruise to France and Belgium and a seven-night cruise to France and Spain, before it heads off to Tianjin, China, where it will homeport during the northern summer season.

The Bahamas-flagged ship, which can carry 4,180 passengers, will switch homeport to Sydney, Australia, during the northern winter season.

RCI has two more Quantum class ships on order at Meyer Werft, due for delivery in 2019 and 2020.

heavy fuel oil to low-sulphur fuel within 24 miles of the coast of California.

The China Navigation Company was ordered to pay $129,500 by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) after an inspection revealed that its 18,391gt general cargoship Chenan had used non-compliant heavy fuel oil on 12 separate days — four voyages — between August and December 2012, while en route to and departing from the port of Los Angeles.

‘Ships using heavy diesel fuels are a significant contributor to California’s air quality problems, even in communities located far from our coast,’ said ARB enforcement division chief Todd Sax. ‘That’s why we check vessels nearly every day to ensure that they are compliant with our strict clean air laws. When we identify a violation, we educate the fleet owner and crew on how to comply

with our requirements, and we assess penalties as a deterrent to future noncompliance.’

ARB said it conducts up to 1,000 ship inspections each year, checking for proper fuel usage, record-keeping and other compliance requirements.

China Navigation had acted quickly in response to the violations and had cooperated with the investigation, it added.

‘Ships using heavy diesel fuels are a significant contributor to California’s air quality problems, even in communities located far from our coast,’ said ARB Enforcement Division chief Todd Sax. ‘That’s why we check vessels nearly every day to ensure that they are compliant with our strict clean air laws.

‘When we identify a violation, we educate the fleet owner and crew on how to comply with our requirements, and we assess penalties as a deterrent to future non-compliance,’ Mr Sax added.

shortreports CREW REPATRIATED: 18 seafarers serving onboard the Panamanian-registered bulk carrier Agatis have been repatriated by the flag state after being stranded for more than three months in the port of Barranquilla, Colombia. Panama’s Maritime Authority accused the ship’s owner, Indonesian bulk operator Meranti Bahari, of abandoning the Indian crew without pay. The authority said the seafarers had been flown home in line with the Maritime Labour Convention, and it is pursuing legal action against the ship owner in a bid to recover the US$42,000 costs.

ITALIAN ALARM: Italy’s three leading seafarer unions have criticised their government’s employment policy – warning that it is incompatible with the country’s maritime sector. Together with the operators’ association Confitarma and the national cabotage association Fedarlinea, the unions have warned the government that its job creation plans ‘simply cannot work’ in the maritime sector because of the different employment practices applied to seafarers.

ROTTERDAM RISE: cargo throughput in the port of Rotterdam last year increased by 4.9% to a record 466.4mt, almost entirely attributable to an 8% increase in crude oil shipments and an 18% jump in oil products. By contrast, the ports of Amsterdam — including IJmuiden, Beverwijk and Zaanstad — reported a 1% reduction in shipping traffic in 2015. Amsterdam port recorded the biggest overall shortfall with tonnage down by 1.8%.

MALACCA RECORD: the number of ships transiting the Malacca Strait increased by 2% last year to hit a new all-time high, according to figures compiled by the Nippon Maritime Centre (NMC). The report shows that there were 80,980 transits by vessels of 300gt-plus in 2015, up from 79,344 in the previous year. During 2015 an average of 222 ships transited the Strait each day, compared with 217 a day in 2014.

MALTESE BOOM: the Maltese Register of Shipping says it enjoyed a record year in 2015, increasing its fleet by 8.3m gt — a 14.3% growth rate. Transport Malta said tonnage under the flag totalled more than 66.2m gt at the start of this year, with the average age of newly-registered tonnage standing at 6.7 years — bringing the average age of all ships in the fleet down to 12 years.

PIRATE CADETS: jobless seafarers are turning their hands to piracy, the head of the Nigeria Shipowners’ Association, Captain Niyi Labinjo, claimed last month. He said the increase in attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Guinea was linked to the failure to provide seagoing employment for cadets from the Maritime Academy of Nigeria.

REEFER DEATH: an investigation has been launched by French authorities after a Filipino junior officer died during a safety drill onboard the Panama-flagged reefer Lady Rosebay in Port-Vendres.

The officer was said to have died from a heart attack after falling into the water, which had a temperature of 13 degrees.

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14/03/2016 15:29

16 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

YOUR LETTERS

What’s on onyour yourmind? mind?

Tell your colleagues shipping.

Keep yourTelegraph letter to ahave your name, address colleaguesin inNautilus NautilusInternational International— —and andthe thewider world of but you must let the maximum words if you canyour — though contributions will beand considered.

Use number. a pen name or wider world300 of shipping.

Keep letter tolonger a maximum membership just membership number you don’t want to be identifi in anyour accompanying — Telegraph, Nautilus 300your words if you can — thoughif longer contributions will ed — say soSend letter to thenote Editor, but you must let the Telegraph have your name, address and membership number. Send yourShrubberies, letter to the George Lane, be considered.

International, 1&2 The Editor, International, 1&2number The Shrubberies, George Lane,Woodford, South Woodford, Use aTelegraph, pen nameNautilus or just your membership if you South London E18 1BD, or use head office fax London E18to 1BD, use head ceso faxin+44 (0)20 8530 1015, or— email+44 telegraph@nautilusint.org don’t want beor identifi ed —offi say an accompanying note (0)20 8530 1015, or email telegraph@nautilusint.org

New venue for Conway meet-up

In memory of Mike Baggaley P

It is with deep sadness that we report on the death of long-standing NUMAST/Nautilus member Captain Michael (Mike) Baggaley.

Mike was born on 9 December 1949 at Prestatyn Maternity home, and spent his very early life living with his parents in a caravan in locations along the coast; perhaps it was these surroundings that planted the seed of a career on the sea.

When he was five years old, the family moved to Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh. It was during his junior school years that his love of the sea started to develop, with a strong interest in model boats and galleons.

His interest soon grew into full-sized boats, and he spent a lot of time with friends on the water.

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Have your say online Last month we asked: Do you think digital technology is reducing social interaction onboard?

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16-17_lets_SR edit.indd 16

Throughout his life, his love of sailing never dwindled; he would often talk about plans to get himself a yacht once retired, so he could really enjoy it as a pastime.

Following the completion of his education, Mike took a number of non-career jobs, before seeing an advert in National Geographic magazine for a deck apprenticeship with Shell Oil, for which he promptly applied. He served on his first ship, Volvetella, from September 1971 to April 1972.

Following early years training, Mike moved with his new young family to Devon, where he trained in Plymouth. As for many following a career at sea, the time spent apart from his family was difficult, making the time spent together particularly special.

In 1983 following nearly seven years with Canadian Pacific (CP), moving through the rank of second to chief officer, the family were able to join Mike on Andes Discoverer as he left the ship from Rotterdam — one of the rare opportunities to see dad’s workplace!

Following service with CP, Mike came ashore for a short period to work in marine surveying at Toplis & Harding, but before long felt the need to go back to sea, returning in 1985 with Coe Metcalfe.

Service with Petromin, Esso International, and Transocean followed, with whom in 1991 he was promoted to the rank of Captain, and so began 22 years at the apex of his profession.

Every so often he would take time from leave to attend training. Photos of Mike ‘in command’ of the ‘little boats’ at Warsash Maritime Academy still bring smiles to whoever sees them.

After a spell with Vela from 1995, Mike joined Mideast Ship Management Ltd (MSML) in 1998, where he would see out the rest of his sea career.

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monthly luncheon for ‘Old F Conways’ in the Solent area. The date I write with reference to the

and venue for this monthly happy occasion have changed and we now muster on the first Wednesday of the month, at noon.

The new venue is The Rising Sun on the foreshore at Warsash, and there is

In 2002, he was master for the launch and maiden voyage of a new VLCC in the MSML fleet, Safwa, the photos of which stand proudly on his father’s mantelpiece. The last ship he was in command of was Jana, another VLCC of the MSML fleet.

As a leader, he was passionate about developing good people. As master, Mike took pride in seeing promising officers rise through the ranks. Mike was always keen to share his expertise, which was extensive after so many years’ service.

Ashore, Mike enjoyed simple pleasures. Time spent walking with his wife Jane and their family dogs remained a perfect way to unwind. Family holidays over the years are fondly remembered. As well as a son and daughter, he was more recently able to enjoy time with Jack, his grandson.

Following the diagnosis of an illness in 2013, and brave battle throughout, Mike passed peacefully away at home in February 2016, surrounded by his family.

Tributes from family, friends and colleagues were heartfelt and warm. His colleagues will remember him as a professional gentleman who always remained humble. His family will remember a man who loved them more than anything else.

And they will love and miss him immensely.

SIMON BAGGALEY (Son)

ample free parking.

All OCs and their guests will be most welcome — particularly the wives and partners of those of our number who have ‘gone aloft’. g For more details please contact: charles.kelso@which.net REG KELSO mem no 311655

Many a true word spoken in jest...

Private Eye on 3 March 2016, A page 12. I thought it might be This cartoon appeared in

appropriate for The Telegraph!

NICK COOPER mem no 119730

‘Protect and survive’, Merchant Navy style F

In the February edition of the Nautilus Telegraph, the cartoon

by Andrew Muirhead brought to mind a similar situation while working offshore with an American seismic company out of Varna, Bulgaria.

Seems the Russians, for whatever reason, left the Bulgarians at short notice to run the nearby nuclear power station. We were required to have in place an emergency procedure should there ever be

a nuclear explosion. What was suggested was to steam at full speed (10 knots) away from the danger area (Black Sea) with all fire hoses directed over the superstructure.

Seems it satisfied head office knowing we now had a safety procedure in place for a nuclear explosion. Fortunately there was none…

G. REID mem no 021407

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If you have moved recently, your home copy may still be trying to catch up with you.

z serves as a channel for professional advice on all kinds of pensions, as well as offering specific information on legal and government developments on pensions, and supporting the Union in lobbying the government as required

To let us know your new address, go to www.nautilusint.org and log in as a member, or contact our membership department on +44 (0)151 639 8454 or membership@nautilusint.org

z provides a ‘one-stop shop’ for advice on other organisations providing support and assistance to pensioners z offers a range of specialised services and benefits tailored to meet the needs of retired members z operates as a democratic organisation, being a Nautilus Council body — with the secretary and secretariat provided by the Union

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April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 17

YOUR LETTERS THE VIEW FROM MUIRHEAD

www.thefreakywave.com

The crazy world of MCA accreditation in the February Telegraph F regarding Maritime & Coastguard

I was interested in the comments

Agency (MCA) accredited courses, as I have had a similar situation which I tried to rectify with the MCA after attending a South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) approved course at the merchant navy training college in Simonstown near Cape Town, as am now living in South Africa with my family.

I attended the course thinking it would be accepted by the MCA as the latest notice at that time, MIN 423 (which had actually expired and had not been replaced), stated that they accepted: ECDIS simulator training course in compliance with the current IMO Model Course 1.27, accepted by the MCA and approved by an administration whose CoC we accept for the issue of a CEC, which I read to mean that the MCA accept the IMO Model Course 1.27 training approved by an administration (which SAMSA is) whose CoC the MCA accept for the issue of a CEC. So I was surprised when I revalidated my CoC and had the Not for Use on

Don’t blame the forecast: use your seamanship!

P

As Telegraph readers will know, Royal Caribbean Lines’ floating hotel Anthem of the Seas recently incurred damage and injuries to passengers in bad weather off the US coast.

Damage in weather is not unusual to those at sea, but for the captain of a ship to blame the weather forecast for his predicament is bizarre.

A forecast is simply that, a prediction of events in the future based on present information, in other words, an uncertain science, as any real seaman knows.

However, in this case, the National Weather Service’s Ocean Prediction Center released

a forecast on the Thursday before the ship even set sail – and three days before the liner encountered trouble – warning of wave heights between 23ft and 31ft in the precise area where Anthem of the Seas battled through 30ft waves on the Sunday evening. It is well known that predicting wave height is notoriously difficult and therefore any sensible captain expects worse than advised.

Of course it is the captain’s decision whether to sail or not, despite what pressures are put on him, and hopefully the proposed and essential inquiry will determine those. Four factors govern this decision: z the safety of those onboard

z the safety of the ship z the safety of the cargo z the ability of the ship to avoid

weather that might endanger the first three factors In this case, as the storm area was not near the port and could be avoided when at sea, there was no reason for the captain to delay sailing if it best suited the company and port scheduling, provided it was accepted that the schedule of the ship at sea and the intended route would be disrupted.

What is inexplicable, is that having sailed, the ship did not either stop to allow the storm to pass or divert the course to avoid the danger area, especially as the company says, it has a ‘fleet of

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captains ashore to render advice’.

Most ships can and do survive 30ft seas or more without damage or injury but this ship resembles a floating conservatory more than a ship and is not designed for such weather; therefore damage is inevitable. With a tender cargo of passengers, many of whom have never been on the seas, even if physical damage can be avoided, then fear and anguish cannot.

Fright most certainly is not on a cruise holiday menu, unless in the cinema. As we all know, it could have been far worse.

One of the unspoken problems is that there is a lack of real seagoing experience and thus seamanship amongst many of those who serve on such ships, together with a lack of appreciation as to how such types of ships handles in extreme weather as most of the time they are sailing in good weather conditions.

Once a ship enters severe weather conditions, technology is out of the window and seamanship — a much neglected subject — comes to the fore, and seamanship training may start to become important again. As a suggestion, the removal of all cadets from these ships to general cargo ships and an advanced seamanship and command course for the captains might be helpful.

It will be interesting to see what the inquiry finds, especially the communications between the ship and the ‘fleet of captains’ ashore regarding a course that took the ship directly into the storm!

Captain MICHAEL LLOYD mem no 103126

ECDIS-fitted ships stamp.

I tried to reason with the MCA that the MIN was vague and in any case they accept South African CoCs for the MCA Certificate of Equivalent Competency (CEC).

After much correspondence with the MCA regarding the situation they would not accept the SAMSA-approved ECDIS course (that followed IMO Model course 1.27) and coincidently shortly after MIN 494 was issued, which made the above clause clearer.

I am hoping that the MCA will see reason and approve SAMSA ECDIS courses before the deadline, otherwise I will have to travel to an MCA-approved facility at great personal expense and in my leave to attend a course I already have attended at a fantastic facility in South Africa with full bridge simulators and experienced lecturers.

The biggest bugbear is that if I had a SAMSA CoC with a SAMSA-approved ECDIS course I could apply for an MCA CEC without any issues regarding the ECDIS training.

PAUL MESSENGER mem no 174776

Please sign the petition for a level playing field F

I would like to invite all Nautilus members and their families to sign a petition for the UK government to amend the procedures for gaining a certificate of equivalent competency by foreign nationals.

The petition can be found at petition.parliament.uk/ petitions/123987. It is entitled ‘Amend Merchant Shipping act to ensure foreign seamen sit full oral exams at MCA.’ The British seafarer faces everincreasing barriers to entry, making it more time-consuming and expensive to employ us. In an ever-more competitive jobs market , we need a level playing field.

Our government is failing us by insisting that British seafarers are examined to a certain standard, whilst CEC holders are merely examined on UK Law and Procedures. This assumes that all other factors are equal. It assumes that understanding of the IRPCS, Bridge Resource Management, COSWP and attitudes to safety are identical to those taught in the UK. Since it seems unlikely that the IMO or MCA will lower the barriers to entry for British seamen any time soon, I believe we must insist that all CEC holders be required to undertake a full MCA oral exam when working on UK-flagged vessels.

We must ask why is it that, despite the advances in technology, management and training, rates of major incidents on UK ships have remained stagnant over the last 20 years? And why will we struggle to get the 10,000 signatures we need from British seafarers to even get a response to our petition?

Please, get all hands on deck, and help us demand that those who compete with us for our jobs, at least have to pass through the same barriers to entry that we do. We deserve the right to compete for our jobs on a level playing field.

SCOTT CAMPBELL mem no 195288

telegraph STAFF editor: Andrew Linington senior reporter: Sarah Robinson reporter: Steven Kennedy Dutch correspondent: Hans Walthie production editor: June Cattini-Walker ADVERTISING Redactive Media Group 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP. Display adverts: Jude Rosset tel: +44 (0)20 7880 6217 Jude.rosset@redactive.co.uk Recruitment adverts: Paul Wade tel: +44 (0)20 7880 6212 tel: +44 (0)20 7880 6200 email: paul.wade@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 International 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.

Incorporating the merchant navy journal and ships telegraph

ISSN 0040 2575 Published by Nautilus International Printed by William Gibbons.

GENERAL SECRETARY Mark Dickinson MSc (Econ) HEAD OFFICE 1&2 The Shrubberies George Lane, South Woodford London E18 1BD tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015 www.nautilusint.org NETHERLANDS OFFICE Schorpioenstraat 266 3067 KW Rotterdam Postbus 8575, 3009 AN Rotterdam tel: +31 (0)10 4771188 fax: +31 (0)10 4773846 NORTHERN OFFICE Nautilus House, Mariners’ Park Wallasey CH45 7PH tel: +44 (0)151 639 8454 fax: +44 (0)151 346 8801 SWITZERLAND OFFICE Gewerkschaftshaus, Rebgasse 1 4005 Basel, Switzerland tel: +41 (0)61 262 24 24 fax: +41 (0)61 262 24 25 DEPARTMENT EMAILS general: enquiries@nautilusint.org membership: membership@nautilusint.org legal: legal@nautilusint.org telegraph: telegraph@nautilusint.org industrial: industrial@nautilusint.org youth: ymp@nautilusint.org welfare: welfare@nautilusint.org professional and technical: protech@nautilusint.org Nautilus International also administers the Nautilus Welfare Fund and the J W Slater Fund, which are registered charities.

14/03/2016 16:41

18 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

YOUR NEWS

Do you know your uniform buttons?

D

Inspired by the Telegraph’s recent cap badge competition, Nautilus member Des McLindon has written in (right) to tell readers about his extensive uniform button collection and set a new competition.

Can you identify the shipping companies represented by the six buttons below? Please email your numbered answers to telegraph@

nautilusint.org or write to the editor at the usual address. The deadline is Wednesday 13 April.

The entrant with the most correct answers will win a copy of The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin, which was recently re-released in a special illustrated edition by Zenith Press. If more than one entrant has all the correct answers, the winner will be chosen in a draw.

1

2

3

4

5

P

I started collecting over 40 years ago, as I wanted something nautical to collect and cap badges were a little more expensive than buttons.

My collection only really got going when I transferred from Shell UK to Shell Mex & BP. Buttons were mostly found in junk or second hand shops.

Nearly all ports had this type of shop and during port visits I would go in regularly.

This was all before the days of buying and selling by computer.

You can still pick up a common button for a few pounds. Slowly I have amassed over the years over 1,000 different nautical buttons.

These include buttons from yachting, rowing clubs, customs, coastguard and navies. Today it does get harder as old rarer buttons are harder to get.

Identification is always hard where there is no company name on the button. Flags help but there are always that few that still elude me. I must have about 30 buttons where I am still

looking for identification.

As in all collections, we have a club — The British Button Society — which is open to all. Now that I am retired I mostly rely on the internet and occasional days out to further

6

the collection. To my knowledge my collection of British buttons only covers about 70% of British uniform buttons produced for seagoing staff.

CAPTAIN D.D. MCLINDON mem no 156400

g See www.britishbuttonsociety.

org for more about how to collect uniform buttons and join the community of collectors. g And don’t forget to enter our fantastic uniform button competition (see left).

Join the lively discussions on social media!

Become a fan on Facebook, link to us on LinkedIn, visit www.nautilusint.org or follow us on Twitter

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18_your news_SR edit.indd 18

Don’t leave the Union when circumstances change — seafarers need your support F I was sorry to read that David Worrin has decided to end his (retired) membership (letters, February). I went to sea as an apprentice in 1961 and joined the MNAOA in 1962, enrolled by the ‘union man’ in Falmouth. I can’t remember his name but I’m sure there are those

who can — he was well known at the time!

I left in 1988 for a complete change of career ashore but continued — and intend to continue — union membership in recognition of all that the MNAOA/NUMAST/Nautilus has done and continues to do for seafaring

and seafarers, working and retired.

Don’t go, Mr Worrin: stay and support!

CHRISTOPHER LYCETT mem no 312973 PS: Cap badges — the Merchant Navy standard cap badge beats them all!

Enter the Morpeth to Newcastle race with the Mission to Seafarers team F

The Mission to Seafarers is looking for adventurous volunteers to take part in the Morpeth to Newcastle road race. We would like to encourage cyclists and runners to sign up to this new and exciting challenge.

The Morpeth to Newcastle road race is the oldest running race in the UK. Staying true to its heritage there will be three different races for runners of all ages, and for the very first time, cyclists can join in the fun too – enjoying a unique opportunity to ride a 26-mile route that begins at Morpeth,

passes through Bedlington, Seaton Delaval, Earsdon, Seaton Burn and Gosforth, and finishes in Newcastle.

Registration prices start at just £42, and we are asking participants to raise a minimum sponsorship depending on what Morpeth to Newcastle challenge is taken on.

g To register, please visit: www. missiontoseafarers.org/m2n g For more information, please contact Ravina Patel on +44 (0)20 7246 2915 or email ravina.patel@ missiontoseafarers.org

Recognition due to Dreadnought staff F

Over the years I have needed the help of The Dreadnought Services due to ill health — from having my appendix out to three major cancer operations.

Through it all, I cannot speak highly enough about administrators Ruth and Sandra, especially over the last nine years. Nothing was never too much trouble for

them, whether it was getting me appointments, sorting out getting my travel paid for because of late cancelled appointments, or arranging accommodation.

I really believe that these ladies should be given formal recognition from the Merchant Navy and the Union. Ruth retired last year, Sandra is now working out of a very tiny office,

and training Ruth’s replacement, and still nothing is too much for her under trying circumstances.

When a seafarer is ill, it’s great to have the Dreadnought facility. In my case it saved my life being able to get fast-tracked to Guy’s and St Thomas’s for treatment.

R.G. FERGUSON mem no 176474

14/03/2016 15:30

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 19

NAUTILUS AT WORK

Your Union, right from the start of your career A

In a lecture hall in South Tyneside, the next wave of budding engineer officers slowly gather for their latest talk of their cadetship.

They are there for a discussion about life at sea, issues they may encounter — including bullying and harassment — and about what being part of the Union can mean for them.

Speaking to the room is Nautilus senior assistant organiser Lee Moon.

Addressing the cadets, he is flanked by a number of existing members who will pass on their knowledge and experiences about their time at sea — giving a wartsand-all account of their encounters.

It’s a valuable experience for the cadets, as it provides them with first-hand knowledge from those who have gone before them. It also gives them the chance to hear from the Union about the benefits of membership and the role they can play.

Very few unions get this level of access to trainees of a particular industry, but Nautilus — through its close working relationships with companies, members and indeed the colleges — can provide that early insight into the industry.

‘I’m trying to make the cadets aware of what Union membership is all about,’ Lee explains. ‘Some members see us as an insurance policy, but we can offer a lot more than that. There are members who are actively involved as lay representatives, and others attend the Young Maritime Professionals, Women’s or Professional and Technical Forums, along with making policy and strategy decisions at Council level — but the level of activity is up to the individual.

‘Nautilus is unique among trade unions as we get invited to access the future maritime professionals at such an early level. That’s down to the positive relationships we have with the colleges and companies and to the fact that we do not beat the drum, but instead work with companies and our members to improve and maintain working conditions,’ he adds.

The college visit is one of a number undertaken by Nautilus, with regular sessions held at leading maritime training centres around the UK and Ireland.

The South Shields Marine School — part of South Tyneside College — is another cog in this wheel. Established in 1861, the school offers programmes

19_college_SR edit.indd Sec1:19

Nautilus is a regular visitor to the UK’s main maritime training centres, helping cadets to get to grips with their chosen careers.

STEVEN KENNEDY saw the Union’s team in action as they met engineer officer trainees at South Tyneside College last month…

Luke McGill, South Tyneside graduate and Nautilus member

Jonathan Morris, first year cadet following in his father’s footsteps

Hearing from Nautilus members about their first time away has been really helpful First year cadet Jonathan Morris

“

”

across the whole spectrum of marine education and nautical sciences, including navigation, operations, marine and electrical engineering, communications and catering.

Cadets learn their trade in an active and dedicated maritime environment and these lecture sessions form a vital part of getting prepared for a life at sea.

Speaking to the cadets is recent South Tyneside graduate, and Nautilus member,

Luke McGill. Now 22, and working for PG Tankers as a third mate, Luke explains to the group that the training he received at the college set him up well for his future career, and that he wished when he had been a cadet at the college that he’d had the chance to speak to members about their experiences of the sea and what membership of the Union entailed.

‘I trained at South Tyneside and qualified last summer. The training is very

good,’ he says. ‘The workload gets harder and harder as you go on and it gets quite stressful come the end.

‘I really enjoyed my cadetship. There are hard days but it’s the same with everything. There are going to be difficult days and sometimes when you’re at sea you think why am I doing this? But you have to be positive about it. It’s not a walk in the park and it’s not easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it.

‘I did four trips away as cadet and I’ve just completed three and a half months away as third mate,’ he tells the trainees. ‘We were based in the Caribbean, so the weather is slightly better than South Tyneside!

‘I can’t believe now that I was sat on the other side of this just over three and a half years ago when Nautilus came in and told us about the Union,’ Luke adds. ‘But at the time I was there, the opportunity to speak to officers in a question and answer session wasn’t available, which would have been useful. You never know what you need to take away until you’re at sea and it’s too late and you think “I wish I’d taken that”.’

‘Before I signed up [to the Union] I knew the backgrounds of trade unions in general and what they offer. One of the things that everyone likes is the Telegraph, as well as the benefits with the legal protection and the job security. The Union looks after you and the security it provides means you have that peace of mind all the time,’ he says.

In the audience, 20-year-old Jonathan Morris has been paying close attention to the words of advice passed on by Lee, Luke and the other members present.

Growing up in SW Wales, Jonathan comes from a maritime background — thanks to his father being in the Merchant Navy. After a spell at university didn’t work out as expected, Jonathan decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Now just over six months into his first year, Jonathan is due to go out on his first tour over the Easter period and said that hearing stories from members has helped him understand more about what lies ahead.

‘I originally went to university to do engineering but it didn’t really work out,’ he admits. ‘In the summer I was in a manic rush to find something and it was my mum that said “how about a cadetship?”

‘I didn’t think I’d get one for September, as they were saying it would be January. Then I got a call about a week before the start of September for South Tyneside saying there was a place, so they gave me everything within a week.

‘The college is good,’ Jonathan says.

‘When I did the year at university you think that an engineering degree will be about practical engineering, but none of it is, whereas here, although it’s not all practical, there are workshops every week.

‘I’m a member of the Union. Hearing from experienced members about their first time away has been really helpful.

The sorts of things everyone wants to know are the little things about what to bring when you travel.

‘We’ve got another two to three weeks at college then we’re away. I’ve been placed with a company who go worldwide. They have small bulk carriers — 40,000 tonnes — so they get into all the small ports. They go up to Norway and down to South America, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m not really the nervous sort of type — I just take it as it comes,’ Jonathan says.

As the session ends, membership forms are handed to the cadets. Whilst attracting new members is a large part of what Nautilus hopes to achieve through these talks, Lee emphasises that the main aim for him is to give students a greater understanding about a life at sea and about the trade union so they can make an informed decision before signing up.

‘I’ve already been to all of the major maritime colleges again this year — and am expecting to agree dates with Fleetwood shortly — and it’s a great opportunity to speak to the cadets to make them aware of the benefits of membership.

‘A lot don’t know what a trade union is and how our aims are a reflection of what our members want. I speak to existing members and they say how they wish they had been told before they went to sea about some of the basics about what life is like and what to expect, particularly during that first sea phase of their college course.

‘Speaking to the cadets before they start their sea careers gives us the chance to pass on that information and having members volunteer to speak about their real-world experiences really helps paint a picture for them,’ he adds.

14/03/2016 12:14

20 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

SEAFARER FATIGUE

Scientific or self-serving?

A leading US union has criticised a new report which claims that six-on/six-off schedules may be safer than alternative watchkeeping patterns, accusing the authors of attempting to undermine moves to crack down on crew fatigue…

K

Six-on/six-off watch patterns may not be so bad after all, according to a new research project which investigated the work and rest hours of US tug and barge crews.

The report, published by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, says that taking two six-hour rest periods a day may be better than having a single slot of up to 12 hours off.

And, the study suggests, it might be even more effective for operators to spend a bit more on buying good pillows and mattresses so that crew can get a comfortable sleep.

However, the research — which was carried out to consider ways of enhancing the sleep efficiency of US tug, towboat and barge crews, who have traditionally worked six-on/six-off schedules — has been attacked by the US seafarers’ union MM&P. In the introduction to the report, Transportation Research Board officer William Rogers comments: ‘Human error related to operator fatigue is a major concern in all freight operations. The general consensus is that seven to eight hours of sleep per 24-hour day is required to maintain acceptable levels of alertness, minimise fatigue, and permit optimum performance.’

The study refers to evidence that fatigue is the largest identifiable and preventable cause of accidents in transport operations (between 15% and 20% of all accidents), surpassing that of alcohol or drug related incidents in all modes of transportation. Official statistics often underestimate this contribution.

The report notes that the US Coast Guard (USCG) — which presently imposes a 15-hours-on-duty limit in the sector — has signalled its intention to consider rules to increase the ‘uninterrupted sleep duration to a threshold of at least seven consecutive hours in one of the two available watch periods’.

However, it argues, there is no scientific data to support such a change — and, instead, there is evidence to show that it would not be possible to get seven hours of uninterrupted sleep at certain points in the off-duty cycle.

While the USCG sought to introduce ‘best practice’ measures for managing fatigue in the sector more than a decade ago — by urging operators to establish a ‘crew endurance management system’ — the report says feedback from crew members and companies show that such practices do not appear to have been widely adopted and there has been little attempt to measure whether such a system actually increases sleep time or reduces fatigue.

20_us fatigue_SR edit.indd Sec2:20

A towboat pushing a barge on the Chicago River Picture: Wikimedia commons

The report cites other research projects which showed that average human needs about 7.5 to eight hours of sleep per night to be fully refreshed. ‘Even a small reduction in sleep time — for example, from eight hours to six hours — can impair performance,’ it notes.

Researchers found that the overwhelming majority of crews in the US tug and barge industry use an ‘anchorsleep/nap-sleep’ strategy for more than 90% of the time — giving one sleep

fatigue and performance are mostly dependent on the total amount of sleep achieved over any 24-hour period and are not dependent on when sleep occurs, or on the consolidation of sleep into a single bout,’ it explains.

Researchers argued against a ‘onesize-fits-all’ fatigue risk management system and said a broader programme to address the overall safety culture with the adoption of 16 key ‘best practice’ measures might be more beneficial.

Crew members from a US tug

period of between four to five hours and another of two to three hours.

The study suggests that these patterns may give seafarers as much sleep — if not more — than those who get an uninterrupted chunk of eight hours off.

‘Indeed,’ the report adds, ‘it has been consistently demonstrated that shift workers who work eight hours and have 16 hours off to sleep only obtain five to six hours of sleep when sleep occurs at the “wrong” circadian time.

‘The beneficial effects of sleep on

Particularly useful would be measures to tackle some of the factors which limit the ability to sleep well onboard, the report adds. The research team found that only 75% of crew members were able to sleep in both of the time-off periods on 90% of days, and noise was blamed as the most common reason for disrupted sleep.

Reducing noise with better sound insulation, using blackout shades in cabins and improving the quality of mattresses and pillows are just a few of the

‘best practice’ measures available, it says.

Crew members also suggested individual thermostats to control heating in their cabins, measures to reduce vibration and for colleagues to be more considerate during their rest periods.

The study highlights the potential to use new technologies to track physical activity, sleep and fatigue — giving seafarers feedback about the status of their sleepiness level and the measures that should be taken to reduce or eliminate fatigue.

‘Education on the need to sleep, and that split sleep leading to seven to eight hours of sleep in two episodes allows a person to obtain increased levels of alertness and performance and reduce levels of fatigue in the same way as when sleep occurs in a single period, has important implications for changing the culture of the industry,’ the report concludes.

‘This cultural change could improve safety and performance in the way that other culturally accepted interventions within the maritime industry have improved safety — for example, maintaining use of life vests and steel-toed boots while on tows.’

Tug and barge companies welcomed the report. Jennifer Carpenter, of their trade association American Waterways Operators, said the study had added to ‘a growing body of scientific research in multiple transportation modes that demonstrates that splitting sleep into two periods can be a safe and effective way to manage fatigue in 24/7 operating environments’.

But the US Masters Mates & Pilots’ Union (MM&P) criticised the study, pointing out that it had been published at the same time as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) placed fatigue in the transportation industry as a high priority issue. ‘The timing, the facts, the methodology and the conclusions appear to be an attempt to justify the current six-on/six-off watch system

in the towing industry,’ the union stated.

‘The paper is not based on an independent scientific study, but on interviews as to the opinions of the stakeholders, company officials or employees, who have an interest in, or are under pressure to, shape the outcome,’ said Captain George Quick, vice-president of the union’s pilots’ section. ‘Self-serving opinions combined with selected research papers on fatigue and sleep in a very different environment, such as astronauts in space, are used to justify inherently unsafe practices. There is a serious credibility issue with the conclusions in the paper. It is in effect an advocacy position paper for the AWO.’

K

The MM&P said the EU-funded Project Horizon research had used data drawn from realistic working scenarios to examine the impact of watchkeeping patterns on cognitive performance — concluding that there were substantial risks associated with the six-on/six-off schedule.

Capt Quick said the US study should be ‘viewed in the context of the longstanding debate between regulators, companies and seafarers as to the solution to the endemic problem of fatigueinduced accidents in the maritime transportation industry that operates 24/7.

‘There is no doubt that fatigue is a serious problem,’ he noted. ‘The debate is over the possible solutions.’

Companies argue that there is no need for additional resources — as additional manning costs money, he said. In contrast, seafarers argue that there is a need to match the resources to the required operational workload to avoid fatigue and resulting accidents.

Fatigue risk management systems could be used to shift the responsibility for fatigue from the company to the seafarer, Capt Quick added. ‘If they have a fatigue-related accident it is then their fault as they haven’t managed their work and rest periods properly.’

14/03/2016 16:42

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 21

MARITIME NAVIGATION

Update your passage plans!

I

A revolution in navigational technology and techniques is underway — but there is a danger that the needs of navigators are being ignored, a one-day conference at Trinity House heard last month.

Opening the Innovation in Maritime Navigation seminar, Trinity House deputy master Captain Ian McNaught told delegates: ‘The rate of change has been enormous, but the risks and consequences have not changed — in fact, they have probably become even greater.’

Nautilus took part in the conference, which was attended by seafarers, regulators, manufacturers, trainers and representatives from the General Lighthouse Authorities, to consider ways of maintaining the safety of navigation in increasingly confined and congested shipping areas.

Captain Roger Barker, director of navigational requirements at Trinity House, said blame for accidents is often quickly placed on bridge teams — overlooking the increasing pressures they face.

There is still a need for traditional aids to navigation (AtoNs), he added, with developments such as windfarms reducing navigational space, and increases in vessel traffic and the size of ships adding to the chance of incidents escalating in scale.

Capt Barker told how investigations into an incident in which a large ship had sailed in the wrong direction through the Sunk traffic separation scheme had revealed that the OOW was using an old passage plan that had been imported on a USB stick and which had been originally developed before the TSS was extended.

‘This is happening all the time,’ he added. ‘Navigating officers are taking passage plans from ship to ship and company to company, without making sure that they are appropriate for the vessel.’

Deepsea pilots had reported cases where old passage plans were being used which went straight through windfarms, Capt Barker said, and AIS records showed how close many ships are passing to navigational aids. ‘Passage plans are being drawn around AtoNs,’ he added, ‘and buoys are being used as waypoints.’

Capt Barker said seafarers need to check the validity and accuracy of the source data for electronic charts — citing a case in which wreck data did not appear on an ECS for 11 months. ‘And what you see on a small bit of an ECDIS screen may not be the whole picture,’ he pointed out. ‘Removing too much data from the screen can be very dangerous.’

The challenge for the shipping industry is to find a way of bridging the gap between making the best use of technology and ‘keeping an eye on reality’, he added — especially when systems are vulnerable to interference, jamming and other problems.

Nautical Institute president Captain Robert McCabe said navigators’ needs are relatively straightforward — but technology is transforming the way they work, and not always in a good way. ‘We are moving from an age where position-fixing was manual to mainly being automatic,’ he explained. ‘There is a danger that machinecentred automation dulls situational awareness, and we need to engage the marine with the environment outside.’

Capt McCabe said the technology has lacked a focus on the needs of seafarers.

‘We appear to demand greater and greater accuracy from systems, but I am not sure that the demand comes from mariners,’ he added. ‘A lot of time has been spent solving problems that the seafarer didn’t have in the first place.’

Competent seafarers should be using multiple sources of navigational information, he argued, and the vulnerabilities of satellite systems mean that navigators should practice for the likelihood that

21_nav_SR edit.indd Sec2:21

The drive to digital navigation is transforming shipping operations — sparking some concerns over issues such as reliability, resilience, the integrity of information and user interfaces. But how might things change over the next 15 years? ANDREW LININGTON reports from an event to consider the future of maritime navigation…

Electronic and paper charts in use on the bridge of a ship Inset: Navigational aids are being damaged by seafarers using ‘waypoint navigation’ techniques Pictures: Trinity House

I

they will lose Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) at some stage ‘so that they can fall back on procedures that they are well-drilled for’.

Capt McCabe said there is a strong case to promote standardisation of systems and equipment, as well as to make them more user-friendly. ‘Let’s stop with the technology and start with human factors,’ he added.

Professor Terry Moore, from the University of Nottingham, said advances in satellite navigation systems are deliver increased accuracy and integrity. However, he warned, problems still occur —

configure it automatically through a standard interface.

‘Ships need to be equipped with as wide a range of different technologies as possible,’ he added. ‘They should have state of the art resilient GNSS receivers and not the rubbish they have at the moment.’

Dr Paul Williams, principal development engineer with the GLAs, described some of the technologies being developed to ensure the resilience of position, timing and navigation information. With a lack of international consensus on the implementation of eLORAN, he said attention is

Trinity House deputy master Captain Ian McNaught

Captain Roger Barker, director of navigational requirements at Trinity House

Nautical Institute president Captain Robert McCabe

highlighted by cases such as the major GLONASS outage in 2014.

Dr Paul Groves, from University College London, said most problems could be solved by using multiple constellations and by better receiver design. Using two or more positioning technologies will give greater reliability and availability, he pointed out, and would also make it easier to detect faults if one system goes wrong.

Dr Groves admitted that it would be difficult to integrate different systems and software, but he suggested manufacturers should agree on a universal filter to take information from various sensors and to

now turning to systems such as R-Mode using MF DGPS radiobeacons or radar absolute positioning — although it will take a long time to get the necessary regulatory approval.

ECDIS Ltd MD Mark Broster warned that GNSS vulnerabilities are not the only challenge — there is also a big problem posed by the failure of the many sensors that provide information to the bridge.

Shipping companies ought to be training crews to cope with the loss of systems, he argued, especially as there is an increasing risk posed by seafarers putting ECDIS software on their own laptops.

Lt Cdr Adam Egeland-Jensen described the development of the Royal Navy’s Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System (WECDIS) programme and its transition to digital navigation between 1980 and 2005. With GNSS denial increasingly likely in a conflict, he stressed the importance of having multiple sources of positioning information and to create a ‘pool of error’ system to provide back-up support to the navigator.

Sean McCarthy, from Satellite Applications Catapult, said use of satellite navigation is increasingly widespread and the maritime sector is a relatively small part

Dave Sanderson, from Guidance Marine, described the laser-based technology being used by his company to provide positioning information in the offshore sector. The Lidar system has been trialled on platform support vessels in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea and has been shown to be quicker and more efficient than local reference transponders, he added.

The system has the potential to hugely improve the DPO’s job and could also be used for automated piloting, berthing and ship-to-ship transfers, Mr Sanderson suggested.

of the overall GNSS market, totalling just 1.1%. The shipping market is also highly concentrated, he pointed out, with just five receiver–manufacturing companies accounting for two-thirds of sales.

The state of the maritime market means that it is very difficult to bring in innovative new products, Mr McCarthy said. And the rapid advances in technology mean that many crew members will have more state-of-the-art systems on their smart phones than within the equipment on their bridges, which can often be over 10 years old.

The best hope of change may come from the marine leisure sector, Mr McCarthy suggested, as it is easier for manufactures to introduce new systems without being ‘stifled’ by regulations.

Concepts such as heads-up and augmented reality displays fusing data from different sources are where the future lies, he added.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said that technology has brought the world to the edge of a fourth industrial revolution, and training needs to match this. ‘At present, lorry drivers will get more equipment-specific training than seafarers. We have to bite the bullet and move away from generic training,’ he told the meeting.

Other speakers pointed to the shipping industry’s slow progress in embracing new technology — with heads-up navigation displays having been used in aircraft right back in the 1950s — and the need for the maritime sector to look at other industries to find solutions to the risks posed by GNSS vulnerabilities. The meeting heard repeated calls for systems to be better designed and for training in core navigational skills to be improved.

Mr Graveson also stressed the need for more attention to be paid to basic challenges to system resilience. ‘There is a strong case for ensuring a reliable power supply, with duplicate independent systems, otherwise all these wonderful systems will come to a disaster,’ he warned.

14/03/2016 16:42

22 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

MARITIME SAFETY

Eradicatin the invisib killer on a our vesse How can shipping cut the terrible toll of seafarer deaths in enclosed spaces? The UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency invited industry experts to discuss ways of reducing the dangers.

ANDREW LININGTON reports on the meeting…

Roger Towner, head of seafarer services

Donal Burke, Stena Association of Maritime Institutes

22-23_spread_enc spaces_SR edit.indd 22

Steve Clinch, head of the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB)

Marc Williams, MCA human element manager

S

There’s barely an issue of the Telegraph that doesn’t have a report on an enclosed space accident — and many seafarers have shocking stories to tell about their experiences.

Opening the special Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) seminar last month, head of seafarer services Roger Towner spoke of his time at sea in the 1970s. ‘Between 1970 and 1976, I personally knew five people who died in three different incidents in enclosed spaces,’ he said.

‘We are still losing people today,’ he added.

‘This has been an ongoing issue for seafarers over the last 50 or 60 years, and we don’t seem to be getting any nearer to the answers.’

Steve Clinch, head of the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), told how the death of three officers onboard the P&O Bulk Shipping vessel Garmula in 1974 had left a lasting impression on him. ‘They died in the bottom of a tank that had been contaminated with gas,’ he explained. ‘It was a very nasty accident and it sent repercussions throughout the P&O Group.’

Donal Burke, from the Stena Association of Maritime Institutes, presented the workshop with the results of an experiment he had devised to illustrate the risks of oxygen depletion. ‘I thought there was something missing in the enclosed space course and this provides a shock tactic to guard against a false sense of security,’ he explained.

He used nails and water in a manometer to replicate a cargo of scrap metal — and described the ‘absolutely frightening’ speed at which the oxygen content declined. In one of the 16 different tests, the atmosphere fell to a dangerous level in just 15 minutes and, on average, the oxygen content had dropped below the safe point in under two hours.

Mr Clinch said the MAIB had developed recommendations for the International Maritime Organisation in 2009 following a series of enclosed space accidents in the previous two years. These included: z the emergency response and rescue vessel Viking Islay, in which three crew members died after entering an oxygen-deficient chain locker z the asphyxiation of two seafarers onboard the general cargoship Sava Lake, after they entered a store room where the oxygen level may have fallen to just 6% z the death of a seafarer in an almost empty ballast tank onboard the cruiseship Saga Rose These accidents also resulted in a special MAIB safety bulletin which highlighted data showing that accidents in enclosed/confined

spaces continue to be one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities onboard ships today. Mr Clinch said investigators had raised concerns about complacency leading to lapses in procedure, a lack of knowledge and potentially dangerous spaces not being identified, as well as would-be rescuers acting on instinct and emotion rather than knowledge and training.

Around this time, research by the Marine Accident Investigators International Forum (MAIIF) identified a total of 120 fatalities and 123 injuries resulting from entry into confined spaces between 1991 and 2007.

Mr Clinch said MAIB data showed 101 enclosed space accidents between March 1998 and May 2009, resulting in 93 fatalities and 96 injuries. ‘However, we are concerned that this is just the tip of iceberg and fear that there are a lot more,’ he added. ‘The UK database alone shows a further 14 accidents, 14 deaths and nine injuries since May 2009 reported to the MAIB.’

It’s natural to want to rescue a colleague, but the first thing to do is not to become the second casualty

“

S

”

The statistics show that most enclosed space accidents occur on tankers, followed by fishing vessels, general cargoships and bulkers, Mr Clinch said. However, he stressed, no ship type is immune.

The MAIB database also shows that most enclosed space accidents occur in cargo holds, oil cargo tanks, enginerooms and fish cargo holds. But, Mr Clinch pointed out, there are many other locations — including cable lockers, store rooms, ballast tanks, duct keels, freezers and funnels.

Oxygen depletion is the most common cause of death and injury, followed by carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and refrigerant. Other causes include fumigants, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, ozone, and carbon dioxide.

Mr Clinch said the MAIB was also concerned

by cases whe become anot to rescue a co precautions.

German carg which three could easily instinctive re Nautilus s Graveson com made signifi mandatory p testing equip needs to be m enclosed spa that is fit for Captain M illustrated th safety regim ‘The shared r one knows w assume that measures,’ h John Mur Chamber of S shortage of a industry gui not universa Marc Will manager, de carried out t behind enclo This has i to ‘design ou equipment a to work with as training a behaviour, a ‘Well-inte perfectly nat a need to hav the danger fi an enclosed become the s Mr William situational a fact that enc even though also need to thought is no casualty,’ he ‘Effective effective safe an effective l reporting cu he told the m

14/03/2016 16:43

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 23

MARITIME SAFETY

ng ible all els s where seafarers had died — or nearly another casualty — after going in ue a colleague without taking any ions. In the 2014 accident onboard the n cargoship Suntis in Goole Docks — in hree seafarers died — the death toll asily have risen to six as a consequence of ive rescue attempts, he added. tilus senior national secretary Allan on commented: ‘As a Union, we have gnificant progress with the adoption of ory pre-entry drills and remote oxygen equipment. However, further progress o be made with respect to the carriage of d space entry and evacuation equipment fit for both male and female personnel.’ ain Mike Lloyd said the Suntis case had ted the problem caused by the different egimes in place on ships and in ports. ared responsibilities mean that no ows what the other is doing, and ports that ships have taken all the necessary es,’ he pointed out.

Murray, from the International er of Shipping, argued that there is no e of advice about the risks. ‘There is good y guidance, but the problem is that it is versally supported or applied,’ he added. c Williams, MCA human element er, described the work that has been out to address the underlying factors enclosed space accidents. has included consideration of ways gn out’ the problems and to produce ment and fittings that are safer and easier with. It has also examined issues such ing and drills, human performance and our, and safety cultures.

-intentioned rescue attempts are y natural,’ he pointed out. ‘But there is o have the mentality of thinking about ger first. If you see someone collapsed in osed space, the first thing to do is not to the second casualty.’

Williams said there is a need to raise nal awareness and to highlight the t enclosed spaces are not always clear, ough they all present various risks. ‘We ed to habituate training so that the first t is not to jump in and become another y,’ he added. ctive risk management needs an e safety culture, which in turn requires tive learning culture, and a good ng culture that requires a “just” culture,’ the meeting.

22-23_spread_enc spaces_SR edit.indd 23

Experts consider how to improve safety guidance should be given to seafarers K about enclosed spaces? Why do so

it being properly tested and a PTW issued.

Some speakers argued for improved equipment and design, with shipowners, builders and architects cooperating to change the criteria for access hatches to deal with such problems as the difficulties of entry while wearing breathing apparatus.

There was strong support for the increased use of monitoring devices — including the mandatory carriage of remote and personal devices — and remote sensing of the space before entry is made. However, there were some concerns about the difficulties of providing effective monitoring of all spaces.

What are the key messages that

many not recognise enclosed spaces?

Do training and drills have enough impact? And can the international requirements be improved?

These were just some of the questions considered by speakers and industry representatives at the MCA’s enclosed spaces workshop.

The MCA is planning to review and reissue its guidance on entry into enclosed spaces and is seeking feedback on what needs to change, as well as whether the advice in the Code of Safe Working Practices could be improved.

MAIB chief inspector Steve Clinch told the meeting that his organisation had drawn from investigations to set out the need for robust procedures to be in place. Seafarers should never enter enclosed spaces if safer alternatives for carrying out the work are available, he stressed.

Proper identification of enclosed spaces — including risk assessments — should be undertaken by owners and awareness of the hazards should be maximised with training, drills, posters, videos and improved guidance.

Julie Carlton, head of the MCA’s seafarer health and safety branch, said the UK had strengthened its advice in the latest version of the Code of Safe Working Practices, and new SOLAS requirements for mandatory drills every two months had sought to increase awareness and preparedness.

Roger Towner, head of seafarer services at the MCA, described the International Maritime Organisation’s slow progress on improving regulations as ‘disgraceful’, and Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said there had been considerable opposition to moves to require the carriage of oxygen meters and preentry drills.

Captain Mike Lloyd said there should be clear standards for the

Julie Carlton, head of the MCA's seafarer health and safety branch

alarms on oxygen meters. ‘There is a need to consider the settings, as there are different national requirements and some go off at 18% and others at 19.5%,’ he pointed out. ‘We need to determine what is acceptable, otherwise the alarms will go off constantly and then they will be switched off or ignored.’

Other speakers highlighted the wide range of locations onboard which can present an atmospheric hazard and the need for more effective identification of dangerous areas — perhaps even compulsory ‘audits’ — and to ensure that ‘transient’ spaces whose atmospheres may change from safe to unsafe are not missed. Work should also be carried out to increase awareness of what is meant by an ‘enclosed’ or ‘confined’ space.

Seafarers should question the need to enter enclosed spaces — and there were some suggestions that entry should even be prohibited at sea (especially on small vessels) or only permitted if the safety of the ship is at risk or operationally essential.

There were also calls for improved use of the Permit to Work (PTW) system — with no entry to a tank/ enclosed space allowed without

of more mandatory STCW K training requirements — both for

Delegates also spoke in favour

enclosed space entry and shipboard familiarisation. There should be effective analysis of drills, using the outcomes of training and entries as a basis for debriefing and continuous learning and improvement.

While some speakers pointed to the many existing leaflets, posters and other guidance material, the meeting was told of the need to improve training and education — using films, e-training, interactive training, blended learning systems and social media to increase awareness.

Some delegates suggested that lessons could be learned from the procedures followed in shore-based industries, and there was also a call to audit the effectiveness of the various guides and procedures.

The meeting also heard that the safety messages may need to be tailored to different audiences, and that a one-size-fits-all approach may not be appropriate in the era of multinational crews. Concerns over the time pressures that may tempt seafarers to cut corners were also raised and, with 70% of casualties occurring during rescue attempts, the need to focus on emergencies was emphasised.

Michael Speers, head of school at South Tyneside’s marine and offshore safety training section

Pat Dolby, port state control inspections manager with the MCA

College to build enclosed spaces training centre and rescue is expanding so J much that South Tyneside College is

Training in enclosed space entry

investing in a new purpose-built centre to deliver courses.

Michael Speers, head of school at the college’s marine and offshore safety training section, told the MCA seminar that demand for training courses is increasing in response to regulatory requirements.

‘We started enclosed space training in 2007,’ he said. ‘Formal enclosed space training was introduced in 2013 and we now put every single cadet through it on the first phase of their training to give them an introduction and to make sure they are fully aware of what an enclosed space is, as well as the precautions they should take.’

The one-day course takes about seven hours, Mr Speers said, and includes theoretical and practical elements. South Tyneside College is confident that training levels will increase — and that the course can be delivered to other sectors — and its purpose-built training facility incorporates a range of features based on feedback from students.

Steve Cuggy, from Tyne & Wear Fire & Rescue Service’s training department, stressed the need for high quality training. ‘Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion — you sink to the level of your training,’ he added.

Pat Dolby, port state control

inspections manager with the MCA, told the meeting about the results of the recent concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) run by authorities around the world.

Mr Dolby said common themes in accidents include the lack of recognition of enclosed spaces, lack of preparation for entry, and a lack of training in rescue procedures. The campaign sought to raise awareness of the requirements for enclosed space entry and rescue drills, which came into effect in January 2015. campaign, inspectors checked J the levels of awareness of the new During the three-month

rules and to verify whether ships were in compliance. As well as completing checklists, they also observed drills and had the power to detain ships if significant problems were found.

In the Paris MOU region, a total of 3,776 checks were carried out in line with the campaign and 54 ships were detained as a result of related deficiencies — just over 1.4% of the total — with the most common problems being record books and crew familiarity. Inspectors also found that drills conducted on 239 ships were unsatisfactory.

‘In general, the results indicate that the subject of enclosed spaces is taken seriously by the industry,’ Mr Dolby said.

Steve Cuggy, from Tyne & Wear Fire & Rescue Service’s training department

14/03/2016 16:43

24 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

PROFESSIONAL BODIES

Above and right: the VLCC Limburg in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in the gulf of Aden in 2002, when Capt Hubert Ardillon was in command

On the agenda for captains ‘Captain Mangouras wanted to take the Prestige to a place of refuge where the extent of the pollution would have been less, but the person from whom he sought advice refused it.’

Capt Ardillon says that while the Spanish shipmasters’ association believes Capt Mangouras probably will not go to prison because of his age, ‘the judgment has been delivered and it has created a precedent’.

He hopes that crew members will not take the blame for the recent near-loss of the car carrier Modern Express in the Bay of Biscay, and suggests that there should be a review of minimum IMO stability criteria.

A former tanker captain, who survived a terrorist attack on his vessel, has taken the helm of the organisation representing European shipmasters. JEFF APTER met him to discuss the contents of his in-tray…

J

Captain Hubert Ardillon is under no illusions about the task he faces in his new role as chairman of the Confederation of European Shipmasters’ Associations (CESA).

Criminalisation, commercial pressures, safety, training and the very future of employment for European maritime professionals are just some of the thorny subjects dominating the Association’s agenda.

They are all very familiar issues for Capt Ardillon, 59, who spent most of his career in command of Aframax vessels, gas carriers and VLCCs. He was master of the VLCC Limburg in October 2002 when it was attacked by terrorists off Yemen.

Last year, he stood down after seven years at the helm of the French captains’ association, Afcan, which now represents around 400 members. Capt Ardillon said the decline of the French-flagged fleet has resulted in diminished numbers of French masters, with the French international ship register (RIF) allowing any European Union national to take the role of captain.

CESA represents 16 shipmaster associations in 13 European countries, and Capt Ardillon said the issue of most concern to affiliates is the watchword of safety above all. The relationship between masters and owners is a hot topic, and Afcan’s annual conference last year adopted a resolution that calls

for clarification of the role of masters in vessel safety, highlighting the pressure on them — ‘often oral’ — to cut corners.

Capt Ardillon says owners sometimes suggest small route deviations to save money, or put pressure on the master to do something that is contrary to the spirit of the law even if it doesn’t break it.

‘When I was a tanker captain I was advised there was too much slop, but that it mustn’t go into the water,’ he recalls. ‘There was no direct pressure — just a few words that maybe one is not doing the best thing for the company. It could be interpreted as psychological pressure.’

Following his experience with the Limburg — which was rammed by a boat packed with explosives — Capt Ardillon has firm views about security.

Statistics show that pirates have never been able to take over a ship with armed guards onboard, he notes, but shipmasters remain concerned that such vessels must remain under their responsibility when weapons are used.

There are also concerns about the way that merchant ships are in the forefront of efforts to rescue migrants, he adds. ‘We have to leave our prescribed route to do something else and are instructed to take responsibility often when there are not the means to do so.’

Capt Ardillon says criminalisation of masters

J Captain Hubert Ardillon, chairman of the Confederation of European Shipmasters’ Associations (CESA) Picture: Jeff Apter

remains a big problem, highlighted by the recent Spanish Supreme Court decision to convict Captain Apostolos Mangouras of criminal responsibility for the environmental damage caused by the tanker Prestige which sank off Spain in 2002.

The blame was put on the master, while the flag state, insurance and classification bodies and other parties have not been prosecuted, he notes.

The big issues of jobs and de-skilling in the maritime industry are a major concern, he adds. The decline of the French fleet has resulted in fewer seagoing opportunities for students from ENSM, the French national maritime academy. ‘Even if a berth is found there is no guarantee of a future appointment. Now the door is closing for seafaring jobs,’ he notes.

The current controversy of the French seismic research vessel operator CGG is another example of the commercial pressures affecting employment, Capt Ardillon says. The planned withdrawal of six French-owned and flagged seismic research vessels will result in the loss of dozens of highly skilled masters and officers while the fleet retains the chartered Norwegian ships.

The European Union has a role to play in improving seafarer training and employment so all maritime nations can offer the same opportunities for seafarers, he argues. ‘However, the authorities have done nothing in Brussels in the fight for the survival of SeaFrance, then MyFerryLink and now for the future of SNCM, which is still in doubt,’ he adds.

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14/03/2016 18:33

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 25

SEAFARER FINANCES Moving house is one of life’s most stressful experiences. And it is set to get even more challenging for British seafarers paid in foreign currencies, writes STEVEN KENNEDY…

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Back in 2010, a Nautilus survey found that one in five UK members were paid in currencies other than sterling — including 14% in US dollars and 5% in Euros. These members’ lives may now become very complicated.

In the past, whilst being paid in a foreign currency caused a slight snag in mortgage proceedings, British people were still able to get one for a property in the United Kingdom. However, over the past two years a change in EU legislation will mean those not paid in their home currency may now not be able to get a mortgage agreement from the average high street bank or building society.

It’s a problem that could have a major impact on those working in the shipping industry, now that the UK legislation has come fully into force.

Adopted in 2014, the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD) introduces a European framework of conduct rules designed to create a single market for mortgages and to protect consumers. Although aimed at protecting consumers, it may cause more problems than it solves.

The MCD will be implemented in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with the rules effective from 21 March 2016 — although a number of firms elected to adopt the majority of them from 21 September 2015.

The directive, amongst other things, will put more emphasis on the lender to bear the burden of risk for foreign currency loans — leading to a number of lenders already having decided to withdraw from considering those applicants who can’t demonstrate earnings in sterling.

One of the groups of workers who will potentially suffer the most will be seafarers who receive their salary in a foreign currency.

From March 2016, for mortgages based on a foreign currency income, lenders will be obliged to offer borrowers the option of switching the loan into

Picture: Thinkstock

More than a little local difficulty sterling. By changing the currency, the risk changes from borrower to lender which — in most cases — has seen banks and building societies unwilling to take the chance.

It’s a step too far for a lot of lenders, and one that will hamper those looking to have a firm fixture when they return from sea.

Towards the end of 2015, many high profile lenders had already withdrawn from offering UK mortgages on foreign

income, with more potentially following suit. Those opting out include Halifax, Scottish Widows, Birmingham Midshires and Skipton Building Society.

Another company to have made the decision to cease this service is Nationwide — which had, like its counterparts, previously offered mortgages to those with foreign earnings.

A Nationwide spokeswoman explained that, due to the changes in legislation, new applications won’t be

accepted — although in some circumstances, those paid in foreign currency could still be considered.

‘With effect from Wednesday 8 April 2015, income paid in a foreign currency will no longer be accepted by Nationwide for new mortgage lending,’ she added. ‘For existing Nationwide customers moving home, where no new lending is required, foreign currency income may still be considered. There is also no change to the treatment of term varia-

tions or changes to repayment type, but any foreign currency income must be converted to sterling by the customer before use.’

Nationwide is one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the UK, and its position, while not a definite no, is more a reluctant maybe. But for many British seafarers, the new rules may make their lives even harder… g For more information about the MCD, visit the FCA website: www.fca.org.uk

‘My dollar payslip has cost me my mortgage’ employer or being paid in D US dollars,’ says Nautilus member ‘I have no issue with my

Captain Guy Hamilton. ‘My grief is having high street building societies not being allowed to grant me a mortgage due to recent EU legislation which denies me on the basis of being paid in US dollars.’

Capt Hamilton is 54 and, when not working at sea, lives in Wrexham.

Having served at sea in a variety of roles since 1979, he is now employed by a British shipping company whose head offices are abroad — meaning that his salary is paid in US dollars.

Having previously been accepted for a mortgage 13 years ago, Capt Hamilton believed that he would be in a good position when he applied for a new mortgage this year.

But the news that his borrowing

25_mortgage_SR edit.indd 25

chances had been affected by the currency that his salary is paid in came as a bolt from the blue — and as an additional blow because he is in the middle of divorce proceedings.

‘The problem was highlighted when I called at my estate agent, as our home has been for sale for some time — since my current divorce commenced,’ he explained. ‘I investigated with the Skipton and TSB building societies and both advised they could not do anything as my salary was paid in US dollars. I then made an appointment with my current building society — Nationwide — who we have our current mortgage with. Initially things went well, until I was advised I was paid in dollars.’

‘At the time I was told this could be a problem and the advisor would need to clarify with her superior. She called

me back later and advised they could not offer me a new mortgage. The only reason for this was that my salary was paid, and displayed on my payslip, in dollars, irrespective of the fact that my salary is paid directly into my local bank and converted into sterling,’ he said.

The issue remains ongoing, and Capt Hamilton said he wanted to highlight the problem to other members who may be looking to get on the British housing ladder.

‘There must be a way around it,’ he added. ‘As a British citizen, in full-time employment, it seems unfair to be denied a mortgage simply on the basis you are paid in US dollars. I’m hopeful something can get sorted out soon, but this change could mean many others like me have difficulty finding a lender.’

Captain Guy Hamilton

14/03/2016 18:33

26 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

INLAND NAVIGATION

A flood of jobs in the capital I

The Port of London Authority (PLA) recently revealed plans to double passenger numbers on river Thames services over the next 15 years — and the operators of London’s ‘river bus’ service are already boosting jobs to cope with increased demand.

MBNA Thames Clippers runs a fleet of 15 vessels that maintain a 20-minute frequency between key London piers including North Greenwich for The O2, Greenwich, Canary Wharf, Tower, London Bridge, Embankment and London Eye for Waterloo, as well as several residential piers.

Co-founded in 1999 by chief executive Sean Collins and former chairman Alan Woods, the company began with just one boat servicing 80 passengers a day between Greenland and Savoy piers.

Seventeen years on, numbers have significantly risen to more than 3.8m passengers in 2015.

In 2006 AEG, owners and operators of The O2, acquired the majority stake in the company and since then the fleet has grown substantially.

In a £6.5m investment, MBNA Thames Clippers introduced two new boats in 2015 — Galaxy Clipper and Neptune Clipper. The 150-passenger, 35m long ultrahigh specification twin catamarans are the first new boats to be added to the river bus service in seven years. Speciallydesigned to be exceptionally lightweight and with a sleek hull format, the vessels are the most efficient and technically advanced river buses on the Thames.

In total, the number of passenger journeys on the Thames has increased by

Nautilus has given a warm welcome to the news that London’s ‘river bus’ operator is recruiting as part of an ambitious programme to expand passenger services on the Thames…

150% over the past decade and the PLA’s blueprint for the future is aiming to double numbers over the next 15 years, to a total of 20m commuter and tourist trips a year.

sion, MBNA Thames Clippers promoted 51 people into new, more senior roles.

I

Nautilus member Captain Alfie Gardner, at work with Thames Clippers Picture: Mickey Lee thebiglondon.com

Against this background, Thames MBNA Thames Clippers' business is continuing to grow and in 2016 the company is enhancing existing services — calling at more key, central London locations.

Thames Clippers' new catamaran Galaxy Clipper

The company is currently recruiting to ensure it has the people needed to deliver these enhancements.

MBNA Thames Clippers has a commitment to internal succession planning, which means employees can start in the business without any previous experience. The company’s policy of investing in staff training and qualifications is highlighted by the way in which most of its current masters have progressed through the ranks to their command roles.

In the customer services team nearly all supervisors, deputy and senior managers have risen through the ranks into more senior roles and last year, following continued growth and business expan-

The company has won awards for the quality of training and development offered and in 2015 it won the British Marine Federation’s Best Marine Company to Work For Award.

In 2015 MBNA Thames Clippers delivered more than 200 developmental training courses to the existing team, enabling them to internally promote a record number of team members.

The company’s training and development programmes use new technologies to deliver blended, immersive and scenario-based training to develop the team and give the experience needed to deal with potential emergency situations and to provide a ‘world class’ customer experience.

Nautilus industrial organiser Lisa Carr commented: ‘We've had an extremely good working relationship with Thames Clippers ever since signing the CBA with the company in 2012. The Union fully supports the company's efforts in promoting and training staff ready for promotion, as well as the company’s work to encourage women.

‘The new recruitment drive is very welcome — not only because new jobs are being created, but also because it gives Nautilus an opportunity to recruit new members so that Thames Clippers can continue to be an organised workplace.’ g To find out more about the new jobs, visit: www.thamesclippers.com/careers.

Merchant Navy Officer Training South Shields Marine School is a world-renowned centre of excellence for marine education and training.

Our specialist facilities offer a realistic training environment, which are among the best in the world.

Masters Orals 18 Apr 2016 6 Jun 2016 19 Sep 2016 7 Nov 2016 16 Jan 2017 24 April 2017

Chief Mate 4 Apr 2016 12 Sep 2016 9 Jan 2017 17 Apr 2017

Post FD to Chief Mate 4 Apr 2016 19 Sep 2016 17 Oct 2016 6 Feb 2017 8 May 2017

Chief Engineer Chief and Second EK only Engineer Academics Six week course 11 Apr 2016 Start anytime within 12 Sep 2016 date range below: 3 Jan 2017 11 Apr to 23 May 2016 17 Apr 2017 5 Sep to 24 Oct 2016 3 Jan to 13 Feb 2017 17 7 Apr A to to 5 June JJune ne 2017 2017 20 17

Post HND to Chief Mate 4 Apr 2016 19 Sep 2016 9 Jan 2017 10 Apr 2017

SQA Deck OOW Revision 3 May 2016 20 Jun 2016 19 Sep 2016 7 Nov 2016 16 Jan 2017 27 Feb 2017

Second Engineer EK only Six week course Start anytime within date range below: 11 Apr to 23 May 2016 5 Sep to 24 Oct 2016 3 Jan to 13 Feb 2017 17 1 Apr AAppr too 5 June Jun Juune n 2017 201 017 17 7

OOW Deck Oral Prep 25 Apr 2016 20 Jun 2016 18 Jul 2016 5 Sep 2016 21 Nov 2016 9 Jan 2017 23 Jan 2017 13 Feb 2017 18 Apr 2017

IAMI EOOW EK Preparation 13 Mar 2016 8 May 2016

www.stc.ac.uk Call us on: 0191 427 3772 or Email: nautical.studies@stc.ac.uk or mmeng@stc.ac.uk

26_thames_SR edit.indd Sec2:26

Deck Rating to OOW 18 Apr 2016 12 Sep 2016 28 Nov 2016 17 Apr 2017

Rating to Engineer OOW 18 Apr 2016 12 Sep 2016 4 Jan 2017 17 Apr 2017

/SouthShieldsMarineSchool @ssmarineschool

14/03/2016 18:00

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 27

SEAFARER HEALTH

Be prepared to stay well Concerned at an increase in claims involving the mental health and suicide of seafarers, the UK P&I Club has teamed up with a maritime charity to tackle the emotional wellbeing of crews.

SOPHIA BULLARD, the Club’s PEME programme director, explains why…

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Loneliness, isolation and fatigue — these are usually the answers seafarers give when asked how they feel in their job. Being thousands of miles away from loved ones, it is no surprise that a seafarer’s life can be a lonely one. The hostile environment, with low social interaction, can easily bring about depression and mental health issues.

For many seafarers, forming relationships onboard can be very difficult, and a clash of personality and culture types can be unavoidable — particularly when spending such long periods of time confined within a restricted space.

In 2013 Swansea University undertook research which showed that between 2001 and 2005, merchant seafarers scored the second highest level of suicides amongst all professions, after coal miners.

Today, the rate of suicide for international seafarers is triple that of shore workers, according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

Despite such high suicide rates within the industry, seafarers’ mental wellbeing is seen as a taboo subject and is a poorly discussed issue. Due to a high level of prejudice and poor education about tackling mental health and its implications, seafarers are not likely to seek counselling or professional support, and this often leads to grave consequences.

Choosing a career at sea For many, to start a career at sea is a dream come true, and we must not forget the reasons for wanting to pursue such a career. Below are the top 10 reasons, according to the International Chamber of Shipping, as to why people want to work at sea.

1. Good wages: Wages earned by seafarers are normally above similar professions ashore. Opportunities for accumulating savings, even when young, are considerable. The real value of wages may be substantially greater because they are often tax-free.

2. Early responsibility: Ships’ officers enjoy considerable responsibility from the start of their careers.

Within 10 years it is possible to qualify as a master or chief engineer, with total responsibility for the operation of a ship and the management and safety of its crew.

27_uk club_SR edit.indd 27

3. Opportunity to travel: A career in shipping gives the chance of incredible global travel. This gives seafarers chance to experience interesting and unusual places, rather than just the typical business or holiday destinations visited by many people.

4. Long-term prospects: There is a great need for more qualified ships’ officers to meet the skills required by international shipping companies. There is a massive shortage predicted, so the demand for good people will increase.

5. Doing something useful: Seafarers make a massive impact — both on their immediate vessel, and on world trade. In most jobs it can be a struggle to see the value brought, but being a seafarer makes it obvious.

6. Career flexibility and job security: Shipping is an ideal occupation for young people seeking something exciting and different to just working in an office, which in the long run will also lead to an enjoyable and well-paid executive career in a major international industry.

7. International recognition: Ships’ officers hold internationally recognised qualifications meeting IMO standards, so most officers are qualified to work for the thousands of international shipping companies located all around the world, on ships flying the flags of almost every country.

8. Long holidays: In most jobs, it is only possible to take a maximum of two or three weeks’ holiday at one time, but seafarers commonly enjoy generous leave or holiday periods. So while seafarers may sometimes be away from home for extended periods, they also enjoy the benefits when they come home.

9. A career that is different: A ship is a unique working environment, and those working onboard ship often develop lasting friendships with their colleagues and have a stimulating life which is different to the experience of many people working ashore.

10. Transferable skills: Qualifications and experience gained at sea are also readily transferable to other industries outside merchant shipping. Career opportunities extend to thousands of shore-based management jobs, which require people with sea-going experience.

The Wellness at Sea programme in action Picture: Sailors’ Society

Wellness at Sea programme Unfortunately, despite all the positives of working at sea, the UK P&I Club has continued to see an increase in mental health and suicide cases. Mental health affects crew of all ages, nationalities and ranks, and a recent analysis of crew mental health revealed that anxiety, social isolation, pressure of work and disturbed sleep can all be experienced by crew. These situations often lead to an incident, and sadly, in some severe cases, they even lead to the death of a seafarer.

To assist members concerned with the rise in suicide cases, we spoke to a number of industry experts, including the Sailors’ Society, which introduced us to its Wellness at Sea programme. We quickly realised that this was a unique product and a valuable addition to the training of crew worldwide.

Wellness at Sea seeks to combat issues by addressing ‘wellness’ as a holistic concept made up of five areas of wellbeing: social, emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual. The UK P&I Club is supporting the Sailors’ Society’s Emotional Wellness training module within its Wellness at Sea coaching programme.

The training, the second in a set of five modules, is designed to improve emotional wellbeing through early identification of mental health issues and empowerment of the seafarer to handle challenging situations at sea.

Through the training, we believe crew members can become better equipped to identify and manage the challenges of life at sea, and this can help prevent deterioration of their health whilst onboard. The programme could lead to a decline in incidents and potentially could save lives.

Wellness at Sea also seeks to educate seafarers — often before they embark on a sea career — about the challenges of a maritime lifestyle and how to efficiently cope with these.

By tackling issues before they

become a problem, seafarers will be better educated as to what to expect from a life at sea. As an industry we need to work together to address the problem of not

speaking up when it comes to mental health. Courses such as the Wellness at Sea programme help educate seafarers about mental struggles and can help improve

retention rates and keep up staff productivity. g For more details on Wellness at Sea, visit: www.sailors-society.org/ wellness

BSc (Hons) and Foundation Degrees accredited to MCA Officer of the Watch (Deck) Mixed Mode Funding The cadet meets the course fees and the sponsor covers the sea-time and provides a bursary for short courses.

We have a pool of self-motivated students who are currently studying at Plymouth University and seeking sponsorship.

14/03/2016 16:43

28 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

MEMBERS AT WORK

The pursuit of excitement Nautilus member Victor Gibson is now an authority on offshore safety. But looking back on his career, he tells SARAH ROBINSON that he was quite the daredevil in his day...

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Victor Gibson’s sea career did not get off to an auspicious start.

‘My apprenticeship was so boring,’ he smiles. ‘Chipping and painting day and night, or looking out at nothing from the bridge for eight hours. I trained on all kinds of vessels with P&O in the 1960s, and the only part I really enjoyed was working on the product tanker Maloja for six months, because there was a challenge to it — you had to gain specialist knowledge about the cargo.’

That experience must have been enough to show young Victor that there was something worthwhile about the profession, because he completed his apprenticeship and went on to work as a junior officer. Deciding not to stay with P&O, he took a job with Tate & Lyle aged 21. ‘I liked being a second mate because I got the chance to do the navigation,’ he recalls. ‘By the time I was 25, I had navigated my way around the world.’

Further adventure was to come as the young officer took his next job on a tramp ship: ‘I went to China during the Cultural Revolution and was in the Suez Canal just before the Six-Day War in 1967 — we could hear the gunfire behind us as we sailed away.’

Amid all the drama, Victor continued his studies until he gained his master’s certificate aged 27, then went ashore — prompted partly by the fact he was newly married. ‘I became a stevedore superintendent in Southampton, which is like being a cargo supervisor but you work for the port rather than a shipping company,’ he explains. ‘I was then seconded to Union Castle, and was sometimes in charge of loading and unloading the Cape mail ship. I became a bit of a star, really, because I knew how to plan things and deal with the dockers.’

At the beginning of the 1970s, he adds, Union Castle was the biggest employer in the dock, but it was starting to be apparent that the company’s general cargo business model would be overtaken by the container trade. Victor wanted to get in on the action, but after failing to secure a move to the container berth, he set off for the Welsh port of Barry to be cargo superintendent for Geest. ‘That was a good job in many ways,’ he says.

‘I liked the responsibility of handling a £1m annual budget. But I didn’t have an assistant, and the long hours made it hard to see my young children.’

It was time for a new adventure, this

time with a family-friendly element: ‘In 1976 I looked at the burgeoning oil industry in the North Sea, and saw they were offering seafarers a good deal, with six weeks on and six weeks off to be at home.’

It didn’t hurt, either, that it was a brash new industry with plenty of thrills and opportunities for a self-confessed adrenaline junkie like Victor.

‘It could be scary at times, but it was exciting,’ he remembers. ‘I started off as a chief mate on an anchor-handler with 10 crew, and was captain after only 18 months. We’d sail out of Peterhead in our little ship and head out to the rigs to do some truly challenging work. There was no DP [dynamic positioning] equipment in those days, but I’m pleased to say I only hit a rig once!

‘One of the most frightening activities was the mate’s job of letting the anchor go as the ship steamed in towards the rig.

You’d see the chain doing an arc through the air with sparks and flakes of rust flying… We’d get very close to the structure before turning and tying up with a rope

because the company were trying to change our work pattern to two months on, one off.’

Like his shipmates, Victor was a member of the Union (the Nautilus predecessor NUMAST), but when a strike was called, he was not able to take part because he was a master. However, he

money and left.’

At this point, Victor cast around for something to do, initially developing a plan for a business selling tank-cleaning machines. He also started doing some freelance writing about the offshore sector, and in the end it was this that pointed the way for the rest of his career.

‘I wrote some stuff for the Offshore Support Journal and Reed’s Tug World Annual Review,’ he says, ‘and Reed’s commissioned me to write a book about how to operate a supply ship, because there wasn’t anything like that on the market at the time. The book was eventually published by Butterworth Heinemann, and it remains one of the things I’m proudest to have done.’

N Victor’s first vessel was the cargoship Ballarat, here in drydock in 1960

on each quarter. But when I took command I realised we could back in all the way in a much more controlled manner. I liked the way there was scope for innovation in the sector.’

There was enough going on to keep Victor happy in the job for 10 years, working for O.I.L. and Star Offshore. But by 1986 things weren’t looking so good.

‘That was the last big oil crash before the current one,’ he explains. ‘The work became less secure, and we’d be told our ship would be laid up, only for them to decide it wasn’t, then it was, then it wasn’t — off and on again all the time.

And in December that year we found ourselves embroiled in an industrial dispute

The apprentices from the P&O Arcadia on shore leave in Naples in 1962 (Victor is the tall one)

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The Star offshore anchor-handler Star Polaris, commanded when new in 1983 by Victor Gibson

found a way to support his colleagues.

‘The company knew that members weren’t allowed to join the strike until we went into port, so they stopped me from going into Stavanger to pick up an anchor chain, and instead told me to anchor off Lerwick and prepare to take part in a rig move. I pointed out that we didn’t have enough crew members onboard for a job like that, and after a lot of to-ing and froing we ended up anchored outside Aberdeen.

‘While all this dithering had been going on, NUMAST had succeeded in negotiating better terms including proper redundancy agreements — and that applied to me too, so I took the

His book Supply Ship Operations also helped kickstart a new phase in which Victor became an offshore safety expert. ‘The company Ross Offshore saw the book and commissioned me to write safety cases for rigs,’ he explains.

In the wake of the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster, one of the Cullen inquiry’s principal findings had been that all offshore installations, by 1995, must have a safety case — a process borrowed from the nuclear industry requiring that all risks must be identified and measures taken to make them as low as possible.

As these documents had not been a major feature of offshore practice up to that point, there wasn’t much for Victor to go on, but he used a guidance document from the consultancy Cramer and Warner as a start, and developed quantitative and qualitative risk assessments, eventually using sophisticated

At the aft controls of a Star Offshore anchor-handler in the 1980s

computer software. As time went by, his safety case consultancy work became a multi-employee business called Marex Marine Services, and by the year 2000, he says many rig owners in the North Sea were using the template he had developed, which also went on to form the basis of the IADC standard European Safety Case.

Victor retired from Marex Marine in 2007, but has continued to share his expertise through his website. Now in his 70s, he has recently published a book about learning from past incidents — A Catalogue of Disasters — which was reviewed in the Telegraph last month.

It is perhaps ironic that someone who spent much of his career looking for excitement should become such a strong advocate for safety. However, Victor always recognised the master’s duty to protect his crew, and his years working in the wild environment of the pre-Cullen North Sea have certainly lent authority to his recommendations.

‘I’m very proud to have been part of the effort to make the North Sea the safest offshore oil and gas field in the world,’ he concludes. ‘I think it may be thanks to Marex Marine that so many companies now use the effective bowtie risk assessment method, for example, but there’s still work to do. The common thread running through most offshore incidents is a lack of marine expertise onboard the rigs, and I’m never going to retire fully until we get this addressed.’ g Read Victor Gibson’s lively comment and analysis at www.shipsandoil.co.uk. g A Catalogue of Disasters is available to buy at the above site, or can be ordered from all good booksellers.

Manning the Marex Marine stand at the 2003 Aberdeen Oil Show

14/03/2016 16:45

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 29

MARITIME CAREERS

A second shot at sea studies After years in other maritime jobs, Shaun Bindon has finally achieved his ambition of qualifying as a ship’s officer, with a little help from the Slater Fund…

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It’s amazing how academic people can become when they know their studies really count. Shaun Bindon admits he messed around a bit at school, so didn’t get the grades needed to apply for a Merchant Navy cadetship. But when he got a second chance in his mid20s, he really got swotting — and his stronger motivation has seen him right through to his Officer of the Watch certificate.

‘When I left school at 16 I managed to get a marine engineering apprenticeship at Mashfords boatyard in Cornwall, near where I’m from,’ he says. ‘I completed that when I was 18, but what I really wanted was to go to sea. It’s in the family: my dad, Raymond Bindon, is a seafarer and both my grandfathers were at sea in fishing and passenger boats.’

Shaun decided to start gaining some sea experience, with the eventual aim of getting work as an AB (deck). He worked as a deckhand on harbour cruises in the summer, and took training courses such as firefighting and EDH (Efficient Deck Hand). This paid off with an AB job offer from Serco, a company providing port marine services including tugs and pilot boats.

Slowly but surely, Shaun was putting together a career at sea, and he decided that it was worth while investigating officer training again. ‘In 2012 I wanted to do the NVQ route to OOW with a

Shaun in Falmouth Bay, towing a tank cleaner back to Plymouth

training company in Plymouth,’ he explains, ‘but first that route was withdrawn, and then the company went bust!’

In many ways, this was a bigger blow than failing to get into officer training as a school-leaver, because there was more at stake now. As an adult, Shaun would have to fit his OOW studies around work and family commitments, and this would be difficult without a local training provider.

He confided in an officer colleague, and was advised to call the Marine Society to discuss his options. ‘They were so helpful,’ he recalls, the relief still evident in his voice. ‘They put me onto a

flexible college — Maritas — that could offer courses near me, and told me about the Slater Fund, which has been the most amazing bit of luck.’

The JW Slater Fund is a Nautilus scholarship scheme, administered by the Marine Society, for experienced UK seafarers seeking to upgrade their qualifications to Officer of the Watch. It pays tuition fees for students not sponsored by their employers, subsidises textbooks and other support materials, and may be able to offer some financial help if candidates have to cut back on paid work in order to complete their studies.

The scheme welcomes applicants with a range of maritime backgrounds, and Shaun’s years working as an AB made him a promising candidate, but first he had to show that he’d be able to handle the academic rigours of officer training.

As his school record was a little weak, it was a condition of his Slater scholarship that he had to complete the Marine Society’s foundation courses in numeracy and literacy — Maths@Sea and Writing@Sea. He thought this was entirely reasonable: ‘They’re spending a lot of money on you, so they need

Shaun in Falmouth dry dock when the SD Careful and SD Powerful were in for their two-yearly refit

to know you can do it. In fact, I couldn’t believe how generous the scheme was. I kept wondering, “What’s the catch?” but there really wasn’t one. I just had to work hard.’

Still working as an AB for Serco, Shaun got his necessary sea time with the company. This meant he didn’t go deepsea during his officer training, but he was happy to stick to the European near-coastal OOW certificate, lim-

ited to 500gt, because he was planning to continue working on tugs and knew there were jobs available in the sector.

‘The standard of all the courses is the same as for the unlimited ticket,’ he points out, ‘but you just miss out one or two subjects, like celestial navigation. If I wanted to do the unlimited qualification in the future, I could use the nearcoastal as a stepping stone.’

It wouldn’t be surprising if

Shaun did take his studies further one day, as he has already repaid the Slater Fund’s trust in him by achieving his target of gaining the OOW near-coastal.

‘It’s been a struggle at times,’ he admits, ‘doing this with two kids and a mortgage, but I really wanted it and my dad was right behind me all the way. I never could have done it without Slater, though — I can’t recommend it highly enough.’

BUILD YOUR CAREER WITH A SLATER SCHOLARSHIP The Slater Scholarship offers a bursary of up to £17,500 for Merchant Navy ratings, electrotechnical officers and yacht crew to study for the STCW officer of the watch qualification (either deck or engineer).

Apply now! marine-society.org/slater slater@ms-sc.org Administered by the

Shaun in his survival suit during an MCA inspection of the SD Careful

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30 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

MARITIME VOLUNTEERING

Good work, great times An award-winning UK maritime charity already counts many current and former seafarers among its number — and it’s looking for more mariners to join, writes Nautilus member DAVID HUGHES…

Sea Scouts on East Sussex 1

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When the Dunkirk Little Ships returned to the French port last year to mark the 75th anniversary of the evacuation of the British Army from the beaches, the Maritime Volunteer Service (MVS) provided its national training vessel, East Sussex 1, as one the escorts.

The MVS is a UK-wide charity which has as its motto ‘We change lives through training and serving local communities’.

To achieve this objective it recruits volunteers from all walks of life, provides afloat experience to youth organisations and supports port and river authorities around the country. Prince Michael of Kent is the charity’s royal patron.

The MVS was formed in 1994 by former members of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS) who wished to continue to put their skills to good use.

The RNXS had operated small ships such as fleet tenders and inshore minesweepers and ran Naval Control of Shipping centres ashore, but it was disbanded following the end of the Cold War. While many of the best aspects of RNXS operating procedures and traditions survive in the MVS, it is emphatically a civilian,

but uniformed, charity whose vessels fly a defaced Red Ensign.

However, constructive links with the RN continue at many levels, including with the university RN units. There are many ex-RN members in the MVS, and more are always welcome.

Over the years MVS volunteers have achieved a lot. Among

the many occasions when they made a difference was during the salvage of the stricken containership MSC Napoli — for which the charity’s significant role ashore and afloat was commended by the then SOSREP Robin Middleton.

More recently, the MVS had a supporting role during the

East Sussex 1 is the MVS’s national training vessel

WERE YOU AWARE that following the successul outcome of a judicial review in respect of two Seatax clients, (brought before the Courts by Nautilus in collaboration with Seatax Ltd as expert advisors on the Seafarers Earnings Deduction), it was deemed that the two Seatax clients did have a legitimate expectation in applying the only published Revenue Practice with regard to the application of a day of absence in relation to a vessel sailing between UK ports. HMRC did not want to accept this practice (although referred to in their very own publications) but have now accepted that expectations of a claim based on such practice would be valid until the published practice is withdrawn.

Following on from this, HMRC have now confirmed that this Practice is withdrawn as of the 14 February 2014. Seatax was the only Advisory Service that challenged HMRC on this point.

WHY TAKE CHANCES WITH YOUR TAX AFFAIRS? Let Seatax use their knowledge and 35 years experience to ensure you do not fall foul of the rules Please visit our website for full details of the case.

OUR FEES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

2012 Olympics. Its London units were involved in an extended deployment as part of the Environment Agency’s security operation for the Olympic rowing and kayak sprint events held at Eton Dorney Lake. The City of London unit’s Nelson 45 launch Londinium 1 and three RIBs were based at Boveney Lock on the non-tidal Thames for two weeks. The MVS craft had the privilege of being invited to take part in celebratory processions for Team GB’s many gold medal winners down the river from the Olympic venue to Team GB’s riverside hotel.

The MVS also assisted Weymouth Harbour Authority during the Olympics. Poole unit’s ex-Customs launch Avocet, and RIBs from Portsmouth, Christchurch and Bournemouth and Weymouth and Portland units, worked to the Weymouth harbour master’s instructions, patrolling the port’s busy anchorages and approaches. East Sussex 1 sailed to Weymouth to act as a ‘floating hotel’ and control centre for the crews of the other craft.

The MVS’s work supporting the Olympics was one of the major factors that led to it receiving the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award 2012.

But units also tackle many tasks in their local areas. For example, after recent floods the Tewkesbury-based Severn unit went out to clear a very large tree complete with its root system which had lodged against the historic 14th century King John’s Bridge in the town after being washed down the River Avon.

Head of unit Nic Price said: ‘We realised that this was causing an obstruction and could not be left as it would form a dam by stopping any more debris from

passing under the bridge. So we managed to get a line secured to it and were then able to roll the tree so that it was no longer anchored in the bed of the river.

It was then manually hauled to the shore and secured well away from the bridge until the Avon Navigation Trust, with whom we work closely, could remove it.’

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Current and former Merchant Navy officers play a key role in the MVS. In fact, the charity’s chairman — Captain Tony Minns — is well known to Nautilus members. The former Nautilus Council vicechairman and retired P&O Ferries master agreed to become one of the charity’s trustees a couple of years ago and within months found himself in the top job.

‘I attended a Gibraltar Day reception at Trinity House. By midday, I had been invited to become an external trustee of the MVS and had been officially invited to visit Gibraltar by the Gibraltar shipping minister,’ he explains. ‘This all goes to show that you will never know what a difference a day can make! It is a pleasure to work with my fellow trustees and members who share the common purpose to change lives for the better. Seafaring and the sea is an environment well suited to change lives.’

The largest, and one of the most successful units, Poole, also has two master mariners among its number. For many years the unit has assisted the harbour master by patrolling the wide expanse of water under his control. To do this the unit has a fleet that ranges from jetskis and RIBs to two MCA-coded launches capable of operating to sea.

Now the MVS and another charity, the Green Island Holiday Trust, have come to an agreement

Annual Return ...................................................................................................... £215.00 inclusive of VAT at 20% NAUTILUS members in the UK sailing under a foreign flag agreement on gross remuneration can obtain a 10% reduction on the above enrolment fee by quoting their NAUTILUS membership number and a 5% reduction on re-enrolment.

or ite, e now r W on re ph r mo : fo tails de Elgin House, 83 Thorne Road, Doncaster DN1 2ES. Tel: (01302) 364673 - Fax No: (01302) 738526 - E-mail: info@seatax.ltd.uk www.seatax.ltd.uk The MVS gives youngsters a first taste of the sea

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April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 31

MARITIME VOLUNTEERING

“

There is a great opportunity to open an MVS unit around the Mersey Estuary. Could you be the right person to step forward and take this on?

Severn unit’s MVS Minerva

which means the unit gets the use of a purpose-built small ferry, St Elin, which is no longer required for regular use by the Trust.

Similarly East Sussex 1 is operated and maintained by the Eastbourne-based East Sussex unit which has one retired master mariner, two former deck officers and two former engineer officers among its 30-plus members. The RN and the RAF are also represented, while several members were in the RNXS. There are almost as many members who have no seafaring or armed forces background but are interested in the sea.

The MCA-coded East Sussex 1 is the largest of some 40 craft operated by about 30 units spread around the UK. She is a 17m ex-RN harbour launch which has been extensively converted for her MVS role.

In the early days the intention was that the MVS would in many ways operate in a similar fashion to the RNXS, and it would attract the funding that would sustain a significant fleet of substantial coastal vessels supported by a paid core of staff officers. Two small ships — an ex-RN fleet tender and a trawler — were acquired. The former was operated for many years, but eventually her upkeep costs became too much.

The charity has had to face a number of such reality checks in recent years.

Instead, the MVS has evolved

based on the particular circumstances of individual units.

In most cases, units have acquired small craft appropriate to local needs. The emphasis now is on acquiring robust, economical craft that provide cost-effective training.

As a charity operating vessels, the MVS has to comply

small charity with about 400 members. That means it is unrealistic to think that it can support salaried posts at present, though some travelling expenses for managers and trustees are paid. So everything is done by volunteers, and more are needed.

The intention is to grow the charity to a point where it can

St Elin, the latest addition to the MVS fleet

with either, within Categorised Waters, the Boatmasters Regulations or — for vessels operating to sea — the MCA Small Commercial Craft regulations.

Currently the MVS has five MCAcoded craft: a seagoing RIB, three launches capable of short trips and East Sussex 1, which can make longer coastal passages and cross the Channel to visit French ports with a maximum of 15 people onboard. All other craft are operated in compliance with the Boatmasters Regulations.

The MVS is a relatively

start to think about employing some support staff, but it isn’t there yet.

In common with many charities, over the years funding has been problematic. As the treasurer Les Miller notes: ‘Fundraising is always a high priority. We do not receive funding from any central government body and rely on our members, who pay modest local and national subscriptions, and the general public, for the provision of funds. We occasionally receive grants from

lotteries, charitable trusts and local authorities and are always looking for ways to generate income. We also carry out a few burials at sea and scattering of ashes, which both attract donations.’

Les adds: ‘Even if you do not want to go afloat, you may be able to help us raise money. And, by

more donors — especially from the shipping industry — would always be welcome.

The MVS is not a youth organisation and its minimum joining age is 18. However, it has long provided initial sea experience and basic training to youth groups, and this is an area the charity is keen to develop further. Combined Cadet Force cadets, for example, regularly sail on East Sussex 1, and Port of Manchester unit is launching a project working mainly with disadvantaged teenagers. This May the unit will also start working with local Scout groups, enabling the youngsters to progress through the relevant nautical parts of the Scouts’ badge programme.

East Sussex unit is looking to expand its work with local Scouts too, based on its experience of running trips to sea and shorebased courses for Bexhill Sea Scouts for the past several years.

This programme has attracted

Portsmouth unit’s Arkwright on duty in the Solent

becoming a supporter member, you would be able to take part in our land-based activities.’

While funding is always a challenge, the MVS is becoming stronger financially, partly due to sound management. Over the past two or three years the emphasis has been on embedding good governance and securing a strong base from which to expand in a sustainable manner.

The MVS’s work with youth groups is starting to attract significant funding. But of course

funding for a major £40,000plus refit for East Sussex 1, with the majority of the money coming from the SITA Trust.

M

The governance of the charity is undertaken by its Council, mostly comprised of MVS members but with some external trustees.

Day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the chief volunteer officer, who is supported by a committee of management and regional volunteer officers around the UK.

”

Acting chief volunteer officer Lynn Peppitt says MN officers, including those who have retired recently, could find fulfilling roles within the MVS — ranging from taking over from her when she steps down in the not-too distant future to sharing their skills with local units. And the charity is always on the look-out for potential trustees. ‘Seafarers from all branches and positions, still working or retired, would be most welcome either as members in units or in management roles,’ she says.

‘MN officers are particularly suited to an organisation like ours,’ Lynn adds. ‘Retired ship masters and chief engineers are invaluable in helping to run the charity, as they already have the sort of management experience that is needed when working with volunteers. Senior management posts in the MVS require people with an understanding of legal and commercial matters, plus good written and spoken communication skills.’

While the MVS is a UK-wide organisation, it is generally stronger in the south. That is something that needs changing — and Warrington-based vicechairman Chris Todd is working on it, and the Northumbria unit continues to expand around Tyne and Wear. Chris also points out: ‘There is a great opportunity to open up and develop an MVS unit around the Mersey Estuary, and we are just waiting for the right person to step forward.

Could it be you?’

If you are looking for a fun, fulfilling and rewarding pastime that will give you opportunities to become involved in the local maritime scene, help the community and pass your seafaring skills on to others, then the MVS could be for you.

g Visit the MVS website — www. mvs.org.uk — to find out more, including the location and contact details of units around the country. Alternatively, please ring David Hughes on +44 (0)1323 768 998, or Chris Todd on +44 (0)7885 448382.

Above: Explaining a wiring diagram Right: HRH Prince Michael of Kent welcomed aboard East Sussex 1 at Dunkirk by Capt Tony Minns

30-31_mvs_SR edit.indd 31

14/03/2016 15:31

32 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

OFFWATCH ships of the past

by Trevor Boult

50 YEARS AGO

Man, King Orry, instituted F the longest continuously

Reductions in the strength of the Royal Navy, including the decision not to build any more aircraft carriers and the fact that only passing references are made to the defence of merchant shipping in the recent White Paper on defence are a matter of much concern to seafarers. Judging by the amount of space given to merchant shipping in the White Paper, it is to be feared that one of the glaring omissions of the recent defence policy review has been its apparent failure to realise the vital importance of Britain keeping its supply routes open at all times, and that failure to do so will result in speedy disaster. In view of the anxiety expressed by MNAOA and MMSA members on this subject, the Associations have asked the Minister of Defence for the Royal Navy for a meeting April 1966

The first Norse King of

representative Parliament in the world. Another fine institution, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, has also proudly served the Manx people for many years, and since the company’s foundation in 1830, it has named five of its vessels King Orry.

The third of these was ordered during the heyday of the pre-WW1 holiday boom, when traffic to the island achieved some of its highest levels. The ship became forerunner of the design used by the company for its new passenger vessels for the following 50 years.

Fitted with a revolutionary new engine design — the geared steam turbine — this system was still in its infancy and made King Orry a pioneer in marine engine development, being the first such to operate a regular service on Britain’s west coast.

The design speed enabled her to work any route, including the prestigious Liverpool service.

At the outbreak of the First World War, most of the Steam Packet ships were requisitioned for war service. King Orry was commissioned into the Royal Navy as an Armed Boarding Vessel. To retain expertise, engineers were recruited from company staff.

Stationed at Scapa Flow, Orkney, like other vessels at this northern posting, King Orry had a hard war. Built for seasonal holiday traffic, not sustained deep-sea service, the crew were hard pressed, having to cover a large area of ocean daily. It became common practice to be accompanied by a cruiser, drafted as heavy backup should a disguised German raider be encountered.

An assignment to the approaches to the Skagerrak,

25 YEARS AGO

How the third King Orry dazzled the enemy in two world wars to intercept German ships that supplied U-boats, enabled King Orry to seize a laden tanker which was delivered by prize crew to Orkney. Shortly afterwards, a neutral American steamer carrying 10,000 tons of wheat bound for Germany was seized and dispatched to Aberdeen. Over a period in 1916 King Orry operated as a decoy ‘Q’-ship. In this role her name had been deftly modified to Viking Orry.

To improve naval gunnery fast target-towing vessels were needed. King Orry’s powerful turbines pulled the heavy battle targets at a speed that was more comparable with that of a moving warship. An observer recalls: ‘[She] was not a perfect “Lady”, at times it was difficult to stand as she would roll, pitch and yaw. On she would go for a few yards and then come quickly to a jerky halt as the target pulled her back.’

The ship served with most of the major units of the Grand Fleet. In this hazardous role, she was once struck by a 6-inch

practice shell which, despite being non-explosive, caused considerable damage. Other roles included a gunnery training unit and a Repeating ship for the Grand Fleet: to ensure that flag signal hoists could be discerned by all warships in line and to carry any replies back to the flagship.

After the Armistice and the internment of surface capital ships of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow, King Orry was the only former merchant vessel to take part in the fleet’s initial reception in the Firth of Forth. Her dazzle-paint scheme had been so effective it earned her the title ‘Devil Ship’.

She remained as a troop transport before resuming her peacetime passengership role, working on every route to the Isle of Man. In 1921 she ran aground in dense fog at New Brighton, having drifted out of the Crosby Channel on the approach to Liverpool. In 1928 she was assigned to summer peak-season duties.

In 1939 King Orry was

converted to an oil burner.

After war was again declared, she became an Armed Boarding Vessel on the Dover Patrol, patrolling the battle-strewn inshore waters of the English Channel. In 1940, Operation Dynamo found the ship repatriating over 1,100 soldiers in the evacuation of Dunkirk, before she succumbed to repeated attacks from German aircraft and bombardment from shore batteries. She sank whilst attempting to clear Dunkirk Harbour entrance. Four of her crew lost their lives.

The Steam Packet can proudly claim that they carried more soldiers onboard their ships than any other company that had ships at Dunkirk.

King Orry was the only vessel built for the Steam Packet that served under the White Ensign during both world wars. In recognition, the name was used on subsequent ships of the fleet.

The final vessel of that name was a ro-ro passenger ferry which served as flagship from 1990 until withdrawal in 1998.

Telegraph prize crossword The winner of this month’s cryptic crossword competition will win a copy of the book Light in the Darkness by Liam Clarke (reviewed on the facing page).

To enter, simply complete the form right and send it, along with your completed crossword, to: Nautilus International, Telegraph Crossword Competition, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane,

South Woodford, London E18 1BD, or fax +44 (0)20 8530 1015.

You can also enter by email, by sending your list of answers and your contact details to: telegraph@nautilusint.org.

10 YEARS AGO NUMAST has helped to secure agreement on proposals for new global guidelines to prevent seafarers from being scapegoated after accidents.

General secretary Brian Orrell led the seafarers’ side at talks last month on internationally-applicable principles to ensure the fair treatment of seafarers following maritime incidents. A meeting of a special working group established by the International Maritime and Labour Organisations agreed a detailed draft of the guidelines and recommended that governments implement them with effect from July this year. The document sets out principles to be followed by port and coastal state authorities, flag states, the seafarers’ state, shipowners and seafarers, outlining the right to independent legal advice, interpretation services and the ability to communicate with families, welfare agencies, owners, trade unions and legal representatives The Telegraph, April 2006

THEQUIZ

4

In which country is the shipping company Federal Navigation based?

1

How many 16,000TEU-plus containerships are presently in service in the world fleet?

5

Which bank is the biggest lender to the world shipping industry?

2

How many 16,000TEU-plus containerships are presently on order around the world?

6

In which year was the Baltic Exchange founded?

3

Which shipbuilder is the busiest in China?

J Quiz answers are on page 42.

Name: Address:

Telephone:

Membership No.:

Closing date is Friday 15 April 2016.

QUICK CLUES 1.

6.

9.

10.

12.

15.

17.

18.

19.

20.

24.

25.

26.

27.

Across Accomplished (10) Ice sheet (4) Record player (10) Stare (4) Pipe (6-6) Clash (9) Great display (5) Body of water (5) Muscles (9) Close measure (12) Raw sugar (4) Flattery (10) As well (4) Nutrients (10)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

7.

8.

Down Juices (4) Chilled (4) Speech guide (12) Undergrowth (5) For the nth time (9) How well it can be read (10) Basic (10)

11.

13.

14.

16.

21.

22.

23.

Other worldly (12) Fear of heights (10) Fatigue (10) Protection (9) Skilled (5) Trawling gear (4) Mix (4)

CRYPTIC CLUES 1.

6.

9.

10.

32_offwatch_SR edit.indd 32

Income tax concessions which should benefit thousands of NUMAST members serving with deepsea companies have been given by the government in the Budget. The Union has welcomed the decision to double — from 90 to 183 days — the amount of time seafarers are allowed to spend in the UK without paying tax. Announcing the move, Chancellor Norman Lamont said: ‘The Gulf hostilities have reminded us of the important contribution which our Merchant Navy can make to our defence. I recognise that there is a strategic case for measures to encourage shipping companies to draw their crews from seamen in the UK who would be willing and able to serve in time of war’ The Telegraph, April 1991

12.

15.

17.

Across You might take tube from the dentist (10) Sculpture of head and shoulders is broken (4) A coin, bit it in place of prescribed medication (10) Struggle with one leg, but it’s not stiff (4) Fitting that furnace waste should go into traditional craft (7,5) As one communing with the host, A-lister has outburst (9) Openly finished with last of the Inuit (5)

18. Leave service and join short protest march to Belgian capital (5) 19. In favour of sea fish, Lawrence was lucky (9) 20. Fellow’s display of amusement at a lesser sentence (12) 24. A little damage to the computer hardware (4) 25. Fight over ring for fiancée (10) 26. Told pork pie available after deli refurbishment (4) 27. Even net lob was generous (10)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Down Setting for surprise attack on pony-drawn carriage (4) Cereal found in silo at Scots farm (4) Pipe telescope picks up gasfilled liquid sphere (6-6) A foot growth is first stage in the life of a tree (5) For an expectant mother the third might merit rest, of a sort (9)

7. Small college in which press are excluded and learner is having one house make the rules (10) 8. Kind dog once a feature of Fleet Street (10) 11. Where roaming zebra lose out it’s so cold (8,4) 13. Related to a university football team in Inverness (10) 14. Prime minister’s wife was a real fruit (10) 16. The wealth to throw a barrier around influenza (9) 21. When nature underneath a heap / Of jarring atoms lay, / And could not --- her head (Dryden) (5) 22. Sounds like this charitable event was bound to take place (4) 23. Second ragbag, a small number in the collection of numerical data (4) J Crossword answers are on page 42.

14/03/2016 12:19

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 33

MARITIME BOOKS

Capturing the wonder of a maritime career Skinning out to Sea

By Mick Hugo Bowline Books, £10 ISBN: 978 09934 29507 almost unimaginable alternative way of life to K young people growing up in grey and gloomy postGoing to sea in the 1950s and 60s offered an

war Britain — with a combination of travel and adventure that no other job could rival.

This account of seafaring life at the start of the ‘swinging 60s’ captures the remarkable range of experiences that could be gained by those who ‘skinned out’ of their homes to work in a Merchant Navy that still dominated world shipping, and in which seafarers really did see the world rather than remote terminals.

Mick Hugo tells how he chanced upon seafaring as a 15-year-old London lad who ‘wanted horizons’ rather than being stuck in a stuffy office. In a series of subsequent episodic chapters, he describes how he went from the ‘square-bashing’ and seamanship

tuition at TS Vindicatrix to the randomness of working through the ‘Pool’.

Looking back, he reflects on how lucky he was.

‘What was then taken for granted sadly will never be replicated,’ he writes. ‘Footloose teenage lads if so disposed could enter the merchant service and find themselves looking up at that blackboard and pleasantly agonise as to what ship they may want to join, with every destination in the world on offer at one time or another.’

In his 12 years at sea, Mick Hugo served on 18 ships, and his book captures the different working lives on such varied vessels as Blue Star’s Catalina Star, the passenger vessel Northern Star, Pacific Steam Navigation’s cargoship Cuzco, and Canadian Pacific’s Beaver Ash. He vividly describes the debauchery of runs ashore and the amazing mix of characters he served with at sea: ‘Glasgow Don’, the ‘Butcher of Bow’, ‘Stornawegians’ and suicidal ‘Brummie’ who was back at sea within months of jumping overboard en route to Panama.

place to board the largest ship the world had ever known.

The author also looks into the connections between the vessel’s story and contemporary events such as the ill-fated coal miners’ strike of 1912 — and even documents the sheet music that sprung up after the Titanic disappeared under the Atlantic Ocean over 100 years ago.

Titanic: the literary gift that keeps on giving…

Maritime authors who really knew their stuff

RMS Titanic: The Wider Story

By Patrick Mylon The History Press, £25 ISBN: 978 07509 61363 fwww.thehistorypress.co.uk

Sea Fever

By Sam Jefferson Adlard Coles Nautical, £8.99 ISBN: 978 14729 08841 fwww.adlardcoles.com

K

K

So much has been written about the Titanic disaster that it’s sometimes hard to know which books will provide a new insight into the events that led to the vessel’s demise on 15 April 1912.

One of the most infamous and tragic events ever to impact on the maritime industry, the disaster has been well researched and documented for print, TV and film purposes. Now White Star enthusiast Patrick Mylon has attempted to find a new angle for Titanic fanatics in his book RMS Titanic: The Wider Story.

In over 140 fact and picture filled pages, Mr Mylon draws together a selection of rare and previously unpublished images from his collection of White Star memorabilia.

The book follows Titanic through to her final moments above water and on to the reaction of the wider world as news broke of the ‘unsinkable’ vessel’s untimely demise.

What the author hopes will set this book apart from other publications is the emphasis it puts on the events and the locations Titanic encountered during her short life and at the ‘bigger picture’ of her loss. Mr Mylon pays particular interest to the other ships involved in not only the rescue of stricken passengers, but also those that brought them to the docks in the first

33_books_SR edit.indd 33

Sir Walter Scott was an icon of 19th century literature — both popular and critically-acclaimed in

his day. But former mariner James Fenimore Cooper wasn’t entirely convinced. He felt Scott’s depiction of life at sea was inaccurate, and that he could do a better job himself.

Which was why, in 1823, Cooper sat down to write The Pilot, a work which, ‘if it had no other merit, might present truer pictures of the ocean and ships than any that are to be

The book covers the underlying class tensions between officers and ratings, as well as the pranks that challenged the sometimes arbitrary authority of certain superiors. It also summons up the highs of the job — ‘predominantly tropical weather with constantly changing astronomical night skies, no family responsibilities, no bills to pay, no what to wear worries, no need for money in the pocket’ — while also conveying the increasingly fragile nature of employment as the 60s went on.

Confronted with the feeling that he was ‘like a visiting tourist’ when home on leave, as well as being shaken out of his political g naivety by the 1966 seamen’s strike — protesting against a move from a 40-hour week to a 56-hour week — Mr Hugo came ashore to work as a painter and decorator. He is also an artist and a sculptor, and his fine drawings give an extra dimension to the book.

While some of the writing could have benefited from a bit of editing, the book is very readable and

found in [Scott’s novel] The Pirate’.

Cooper had been an able seaman on a merchant ship and a midshipman in the US Navy, and still owned a small whaling ship, so he had much experience to draw on.

He also turned out to be a talented writer, and The Pilot proved a great success, both at home in the USA and abroad.

The story of how Cooper came to write one of the first truly maritime novels is told in Sea Fever, an interesting new collection of biographies from maritime journalist and historian Sam Jefferson.

The idea is to profile 11 great maritime authors, looking in depth at their seafaring experience and describing the true adventures that inspired them. And as well as the ‘pen portraits’, Jefferson includes pictures of the authors, many of whom are shown at sea.

There are some very well-known names here, including Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson, but Jefferson ably demonstrates that there is always something new

leaves a lasting impression.

Writer Ken Worple notes in his introduction that ‘there are still too few accounts of the lives of those who worked at sea’, and certainly very few that succeed so well in capturing the reality of those remarkable times when there were more than 150,000 British seafarers and seafaring offered unrivalled variety and ‘structured escape’.

we can learn about these figures, and when we read their life stories together, we can see how they learned from each other. Overall, it’s a well-researched and successful project, written in an engaging style and presented in an accessible and affordable paperback format.

Fascinating freighters in the heyday of an iconic port Along The Waterfront

By William H. Miller Amberley Publishing, £19.99 ISBN: 978 14456 54089 fwww.amberley-books.com

K

The docks of New York have been some of the liveliest anywhere in the world over the decades. All sorts of cargo has arrived and departed from the eastern port

Family tradition of life-saving service Light in the Darkness Li

By Liam Clarke B Amberley Books, £15.99 A ISBN: 978 14456 46589 IS a lightship, Dr Liam Clarke is well placed K to have produced this insightful book tracing As the son of a seafarer who served on

the history of lightships and those who worked th onboard them. o Indeed, his book — which draws on 30 years of research — evolved from looking into ye hhis family history, with relatives found serving on lightships since the late 19th century. It is o pperhaps not surprising, therefore, that it vividly captures the working life on these vessels and has ca a particularly strong emphasis on the associated sense of community and personal sacrifice. se As his introduction makes clear, Dr Clarke bbelieves the contribution made by lightships aand their crews to safety at sea has not been pproperly recognised, and he makes a passionate case to explain the ‘special kind of person’ who ca hhad the skills, knowledge, courage and ability to withstand the rigours of working in such hhazardous and isolated conditions.

The book provides a potted history of

lighthouses and navigational aids before tracing the development of lightships. Whilst the Romans pioneered the concept, it was not until the late 17th century that the provision of manned stationary lightvessels gained acceptance by Trinity House — snuffing out some early fledgling ‘privatised’ services.

There’s fascinating stuff about the design of lightships, their moorings, the transition from wood to iron and steel, and advances in lantern technology. But the book’s particular strength is its concentration on life onboard — with powerful descriptions of daily life and working conditions, often given added depth by well-chosen contemporary accounts from crew members.

A strong and recurring theme is the everpresent safety hazards facing the seafarers on lightships, and the book recounts a grim series of accidents — including extreme weather, careless navigation by other ships and even an exploding meteor.

With automation putting paid to manned lightships in the early 1980s, Dr Clarke reflects that there is now a diminishing number of seafarers who served on these vessels, which makes it all the more important that their stories are told. He has done them proud.

of the United States, and it was said that during the 1950s a ship, usually a freighter, arrived or departed every 24 minutes around the clock.

Along the Waterfront by prolific maritime author William H. Miller covers in depth the vast and fascinating fleet of freighters that called at New York during the 1950s and 1960s. The book is a conveyorbelt of ships and their backgrounds.

In almost 130 pages Mr Miller provides a smorgasbord of black and white photos to accompany a vast number of the ships’ biographies, often with the iconic New York skyline as backdrop.

The book is a follow-up to the previously published Along the Hudson, which looked at the passengerships in the Port of New York and this publication is a welcome addition to the history of this world-renowned maritime hub.

BOOK SAVINGS Nautilus members can buy the books reviewed on these pages at a whopping 25% discount on the publisher’s price through the Marine Society’s online shop. g To qualify for this offer, readers need to make their purchase at www.marinesocietyshop.org.

Click on the ‘Books of the month’ button with the Nautilus logo to see the books featured in the Telegraph.

If a book reviewed in the Telegraph isn’t listed yet in the Marine Society shop, just use the website’s ‘contact us’ button to request the title.

The Society aspires to respond the same day with the best price and availability. Most titles can be secured within 24 hours.

14/03/2016 12:20

34 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

NL NEWS

Nautilus vlootbezoek HAL schepen A Nautilus bestuurders vanuit

Nederland en het Verenigd Koninkrijk(UK) zullen in april en begin mei diverse Holland America Line schepen bezoeken voor een ‘meet en greet’ met (potentiële) leden.

z 6 April — ms Rotterdam — haven van Southampton (Nautilus UK delegatie) z 7 April — ms Rotterdam — haven van Rotterdam (Nautilus NL delegatie) z 17 April — ms Eurodam — haven van Barcelona (gezamenlijke UK + NL delegatie)

z 18 April — ms Amsterdam — haven van Barcelona (gezamenlijke UK + NL delegatie)

Heeft u uw emailadres al aan ons doorgegeven..? en sneller van dienst te zijn, F beschikken we graag over hun

Piraterij: sneller overleg geboden A

Begin december 2015 heeft het Kabinet een beleidsstandpunt aan de Tweede Kamer gestuurd, waarin het Kabinet aangeeft over te willen gaan tot het opstellen van wetgeving, die het mogelijk maakt om gewapende private beveiligers toe te staan op koopvaardijschepen varend in specifiek aangegeven piraterijgebieden. Dit wordt slechts toegestaan in de gevallen dat een VPD (marine team) niet inzetbaar is. Dit is het geval bij kleinere schepen, aangezien het VPD team standaard uit 11 man bestaat en dit niet plaatsbaar is op een kleiner schip. Ook in de spotmarkt kan een VPD team niet altijd worden ingezet, wanneer de handel in de spotmarkt vereist dat er binnen enkele dagen door piraterijgebied moet worden gevaren. Een VPD team haalt deze korte termijn niet in verband met de vereiste diplomatieke toestemming. Een privaat beveiligingsteam kan wel binnen 72 uur aan boord zijn.

worden uitgenodigd, heeft een meerderheid van de commissie besloten dat ook Nautilus mag deelnemen aan het rondetafelgesprek.

Sneller overleg geboden

Rondetafelgesprek Tweede Kamerleden

Nautilus voert al jaren samen met de KVNR actie voor dit wetsvoorstel. Nautilus is verheugd dat ook de NVKK zich bij hen heeft aangesloten. Nautilus zal de komende maanden met de KVNR en NVKK gezamenlijk de Tweede Kamerleden bezoeken om hen te overtuigen om voor

het wetsvoorstel te stemmen.

Op 13 april 2016 vindt er een zogenaamd rondetafelgesprek voor de commissie van Defensie plaats. Nautilus was eerst niet uitgenodigd voor dit rondetafelgesprek, maar na alle commissieleden te hebben aangeschreven met een verzoek om als grootste belangenvereniging van zeevarenden te

Op 8 juni zal het Algemeen Overleg (AO) met de ministers en de Defensiecommissie plaatsvinden. Dat vinden Nautilus en de andere belanghebbenden veel te laat. Daarom heeft Nautilus samen met de andere belanghebbenden op 4 februari 2016 een Open Brief aan de Tweede Kamer gepubliceerd in het Financieele Dagblad. En daarnaast de commissieleden per email verzocht om het AO eerder te laten plaatsvinden, zodat de wetgeving in ieder geval per 1 januari 2017 kan worden ingevoerd. (Tijdens het ter perse gaan van dit nummer was de geplande datum van 8 juni nog niet vervroegd en lijkt de kans hierop inmiddels steeds kleiner te worden.)

Om onze leden nog beter

Aanwijzing havens in Libië en Syrië tot gevaarlijk bestemmingsgebied

email adres. Heeft u uw emailadres nog niet aan ons doorgegeven?

overeenkomst ‘Aanwijzing F havens in Libië en Syrië tot gevaarlijk CAO- partijen hebben de

g Mail ons uw emailadres dan s.v.p. naar infonl@nautilusint.org

bestemmingsgebied’ geëvalueerd.

Besloten is de overeenkomst te verlengen tot 1 juni 2016.

Hiermee is overeengekomen

Volg ons op Twitter Wij hebben Facebook.

Volg ons ook!

Bezoek www.nautilusint.org

Geef uw mening Vorige maand vroegen wij: Denkt u dat door de digitale technologie de sociale interactie aan boord vermindert?

Ja 69%

Nee 31%

De poll van deze maand is: Vindt u dat rederijen voor de rechter moeten worden gedaagd als hun schepen niet voldoen aan wetgeving inzake veiligheid en welzijn? Geef ons uw mening online, op www.nautilusint.org

34-37_nl_14.3.indd 34

dat partijen gebonden aan het zogenaamde ‘Protocol inzake het dienstdoen in Gevarengebieden’ alle havens in Libië en Syrië aanwijzen als gevaarlijk bestemmingsgebied.

Partijen hebben vastgesteld dat

de reeds langere tijd bestaande geopolitieke spanningen in Libië en Syrië aanleiding geven tot het instellen van het gevaarlijk bestemmingsgebied.

De aanwijzing tot gevaarlijk bestemmingsgebied is verlengd

tot 1 juni 2016. De gevolgen van het aanwijzen van een gevaarlijk bestemmingsgebied zijn uitgewerkt in artikel 4 van het ‘Protocol inzake het dienstdoen in gevarengebieden’ en terug te vinden op de Nautilus website.

Reparatie-WW: zekerheid bij werkloosheid behoefte aan inkomenszekerF heid. Het kabinet heeft echter besloten Als u uw werk verliest, heeft u

om de WW-uitkering uit te kleden.

Door de WW uit te kleden, belanden mensen sneller in de bijstand, of hebben zij geen enkel inkomen meer omdat ze spaargeld hebben of een eigen huis, of een partner die verdient. Om de zekerheid op inkomen te behouden heeft de FNV, waarbij Nautilus ook is aangesloten, afspraken met werkgevers gemaakt om deze WW-afbraak te repareren.

Nautilus is blij met deze centrale behartiging van de werknemersbelangen. Met onze leden gaan we de komende tijd bespreken of we ook voor onze sectoren, waar nu gelukkig nog weinig werkloosheid voorkomt, nadere cao afspraken kunnen maken inzake de bovenwettelijke WW. Wat u moet weten over de uitgeklede WW en de reparatie van de WW:

z Tot nu toe bouwde een werknemer

per jaar een maand WW-recht op.

Als u 38 jaar gewerkt had, kon u dus rekenen op 38 maanden WW. Door de maatregelen van het kabinet wordt de duur van de WW verkort tot maximaal 24 maanden. De WW-reparatie houdt in dat het aantal maanden dat u gekort wordt op uw WW-uitkering, toch uitbetaald krijgt. z Door de uitgeklede WW bouwt u alleen over de eerste 10 gewerkte jaren nog 1 maand wettelijk WW-recht op, de daarop volgende jaren bouwt u nog maar 0,5 maand WW-recht per jaar op. Dus heeft u 12 jaar gewerkt, dan bouwt u 10 maanden WW-recht op

over de eerste 10 gewerkte jaren, en 1 maand over de 2 jaren daarna, dus 11 maanden in totaal in plaats van 12 maanden. z Door goede reparatie-afspraken te maken in de cao gaan we er voor zorgen dat werknemers voor ieder gewerkt jaar één maand WW blijven opbouwen en dat het maximale recht op WW 38 maanden blijft. Dus als u 12 jaar heeft gewerkt en wettelijk recht heeft op 11 maanden WW, gaan we 1 maand repareren, zodat u dus 12 maanden WW-uitkering krijgt. z Zowel mensen met tijdelijk werk als mensen met vast werk bouwen WW-rechten op. z Jong en oud profiteert: Dankzij deze reparatie heeft u al na 10 jaar werken recht op de aanvullende WW. Daarbij telt iedere soort baan(tje) mee in de telling.

Hoe gaan we de afspraken vastleggen in de cao?

In de cao die voor uw bedrijf of sector geldt, gaan uw vakbondsvertegenwoordigers, samen met de leden, deze afspraken met de werkgever nader vormgeven en uitwerken.

Hoe wordt de reparatie betaald?

Verschillende kabinetten hebben ingegrepen in de duur en hoogte van de WW-uitkering. Dat is nu weer gebeurd. Voor de aanvullende WW die wij gaan afspreken in de cao’s willen we dergelijke ingrepen voorkomen.

De werkgevers blijven het grootste deel, namelijk de eerste 24 maanden betalen. Werkgevers betalen 4,3% aan de WW. Vanaf 1 juli 2016 betalen werk-

2017, dan hebben zij een halve maand minder WW opgebouwd dan in de oude situatie.

Met de reparatie van de WW regelen wij dat de verminderde duur en opbouw van de WW wordt gerepareerd. Daardoor blijft de WW op het oude niveau.

Wie gaat de aanvullende regeling uitvoeren?

nemers een premie van maximaal 0,2% van hun SV (Sociale Verzekering) loon voor de WW-reparatie. Dit gebeurt via uw loonstrookje en loopt op tot maximaal 0,75% in 2020.

Wanneer verandert er iets voor mensen die WW krijgen?

Dit is afhankelijk van het aantal jaar dat u gewerkt heeft. Wie meer dan 24 jaar heeft gewerkt, ziet vanaf 1 januari 2016 zijn of haar WW-rechten ieder kwartaal met 1 maand verminderen tot een minimumaantal van 24 maanden WW. Wie bijvoorbeeld 30 jaar heeft gewerkt en op 1 juli 2016 werkloos wordt, heeft geen recht meer op 30 maanden WW, maar nog maar op 27 maanden WW. Wie tussen de 10 en 24 jaar heeft gewerkt, merkt pas wat van de wetswijziging in de WW als hij of zij vanaf 2017 werkloos wordt.

Deze mensen bouwen in 2016 geen hele maand WW op, maar een halve maand WW. Worden zij werkloos in

Vakbonden en werkgevers maken binnenkort afspraken met een organisatie die ervoor gaat zorgen dat mensen die recht hebben op reparatie van de WW, deze ook ontvangen. Het geld dat deze organisatie int, komt in een apart fonds te staan. Dit fonds wordt aangestuurd door werkgevers en werknemers, net zoals een pensioenfonds. De onafhankelijke partij int de premies en keert de uitkeringen uit.

De Stichting van de Arbeid is de afgelopen maanden druk bezig geweest een uitvoerder te kiezen.

De meest gerede kandidaat om de reparatie van de WW uit te voeren is Raet. Met Raet wordt nu verder gesproken. Raet gaat in een paar cao’s proeftrajecten opzetten om te kijken wat er allemaal geregeld moet worden, zowel qua juridisch afspraken tussen cao-partijen en uitvoerder, als qua inrichting van de premie-inning en uitbetaling en hoe de gegevens die leiden tot premie-inning moeten worden uitgewisseld. De uitvoerder zal fungeren als doorgeefluik van de premies en uitkeringen. Er wordt een apart vehikel ingericht waar de premies worden gestald, voordat die worden uitgekeerd.

14/03/2016 16:46

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 35

NL NEWS

In this month’s Dutch pages: z Nautilus services:

z College visits;

z The importance of a CBA

z Protection against piracy

z Nautilus NL annual meeting

z Unemployment benefits

z FNV vision and strategy

z Maritime industry exhibition

z Pension coverage

z HAL visits in April

compassionate leave

Glasgow, Harlingen, IJmuiden

z Hazard areas

Gastlessen in Glasgow A

Nautilus International verzorgt, net zoals in Nederland, ook gastlessen op de zeevaartscholen in het Verenigd Koninkrijk (UK).

Nautilus communicatie adviseur en gastlescoördinator Hans Walthie ging een dagje met zijn Engelse collega Lee Moon mee naar Glasgow. Eind vorig jaar opende het imposante City of Glasgow College hier een fraai geoutilleerde vestiging. Voor het grootste deel bestemd voor de Faculteit voor Nautische studies.

Gedurende 5 gastlessen volgden ruim 225 ( 1e jaar) studenten een speciale Nautilus UK workshop.

Centrale onderwerpen hierin: ‘Sociale Media en hoe ga je daarmee om’, het ‘drugs- en alcohol beleid’ en ‘pesten en intimidatie aan boord’. Ook werd onder meer uitgebreid ingegaan op de 24/7 ondersteuning die Nautilus zijn studenten/leden wereldwijd biedt en de belangrijke rol van de vakbond bij cao-onderhandelingen.

Bijna 90% studenten wordt lid

Na afloop schreef ruim 80% van de aanwezige studenten zich spontaan in als lid van Nautilus International. Kosten: 25 Engelse

d per jaar ((in Nederland d l d ponden 3,35 euro per maand).

Lee Moon: ‘Dat is een hoog aantal ja, en ook na afloop, of

k l weken k na mijn b k enkele bezoek, komen er nog vaak inschrijvingen per telefoon of via de website binnen. En dan kom je

over het algemeen wel op bijna 90% uit. In de UK vinden de meeste nautische studenten het erg belangrijk lid te zijn van een internationale maritieme vakbond als Nautilus International. Ook de zeevaartscholen vinden het heel goed dat de studenten meer inzicht krijgen in het reilen en zeilen van een vakbond en zien ons daarom graag komen.’

Nautilus aanwezig Voor de klas bij op beurs Maritime kapiteinsklas Industry Binnenvaart in een stand aanwezig op de A beurs Maritime Industry, van 24 t/m Nautilus International is met

26 mei in de Evenementenhal in Gorinchem. Noteert u alvast de data in uw agenda. Maritime Industry is het meest complete platform voor de binnenvaart, zeevaart en visserij.

Daar mag ook u niet ontbreken. Alle leden en geïnteresseerden zijn van harte welkom voor een bezoekje aan onze stand!

g Vraag via Nautilus een gratis toegangskaart aan, via: info@ nautilusint.org

Nautilus Seminar Bemanningseisen

Op woensdagmiddag 25 mei, 13.30 – 16.00 uur organiseert Nautilus het speciale seminar over bemanningseisen. Een niet te missen middag met enkele vooraanstaande sprekers over dit actuele onderwerp, onder wie Arjen Mintjes, Director Maritieme Academie Holland. g U kunt zich nu alvast aanmelden voor dit seminar, via: info@nautilusint.org Inschrijving vindt plaats op volgorde van aanmelding (vol is vol!).

Harlingen Holland, locatie Harlingen, A werd medio februari door Nautilus Op de Maritieme Academie

bestuurder Binnenvaart Carl Kraijenoord een gastles verzorgd voor een kapiteinsklas Binnenvaart.

Deze studenten werken al volop in de praktijk. Sommigen in dienstverband, maar zoals niet ongebruikelijk in de sector, varen sommigen ook met familiebedrijven. Ook is er zelfs al 1 leerling die een eigen schip heeft en

Nautilus te gast op Zeevaartschool IJmuiden sporten? Is er wifi aan boord? Wat A krijg ik te eten? Is er een minimumloon voor ‘Is er elektriciteit in de hut? Kun je

stagiaires? Mag je alcohol drinken in je vrije tijd? Moet je bedrijfskleding aan op de brug?

Hoeveel uur mag ik werken per dag? Hebben stagiaires een individuele hut of moet je de hut delen?’

Dat waren een paar van de vele vragen van eerstejaars studenten van de Zeevaartschool IJmuiden/Nova College, onderdeel van de Maritieme Academie Holland, eind februari, tijdens de speciale gastlessen van Nautilus.

24/7 Service wereldwijd

Nautilus Binnenvaart bestuurder Carl

34-37_nl_14.3.indd 35

Kraijenoord en Communicatie adviseur Hans Walthie namen ruimschoots de tijd alle vragen te beantwoorden. In de ochtend bij de opleidingsklas Matroos Binnenvaart en in de middag bij een klas van opleiding Zeevaart niveau 4 — SAS (stuurman alle schepen). Verder kregen de studenten een presentatie over het werk van de vakbond en de meerwaarde van het speciale studentenlidmaatschap tegen een sterk gereduceerd tarief (3,35 euro per maand, inclusief toezending van de vakbladen de Telegraph en SWZ Magazine). Dit is ook inclusief de 24/7 service die Nautilus International al zijn (studenten)leden wereldwijd biedt.

als werkgever werkt met matrozen in zijn dienstverband.

Carl Kraijenoord: ‘Naast het presenteren van informatie over Nautilus werd er uitgebreid ingegaan op de overlegstructuur van de sector Binnenvaart. Het nut van het aansluiten bij een groter verband, dat de belangen in de Binnenvaart kan behartigen op een hoger niveau; zowel voor de werkgever als de werknemer. Na de les werden nog een

aantal vragen gesteld in een 1 op 1 gesprek over; bergingsloon, ziektekostenverzekering en lidmaatschap van een werkgeversvereniging. Tevens is er door mij nog gewezen op het grote belang van het maken van een serieus

ondernemingsplan, dat bij de opleider als opdracht moet worden ingeleverd. Veel te vaak leggen startende ondernemers zich een strop om de nek door zomaar te beginnen.

Beter is het om alvorens te beginnen eerst een gedegen plan op te stellen.’

Wilt u een groter publiek bereiken? Presenteer uw product of service aan meer dan 15,000 maritieme professionele lezers uit Nederland, ter land en op zee!

Spreek met één van onze vertegenwoordigers om uit te vinden hoe wij u het beste kunnen helpen.

Neem contact op met Jude Rosset van Redactive Media Group T: +44 (0)20 7880 6217 E: jude.rosset@ redactive.co.uk.

14/03/2016 17:59

36 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

NL NEWS

Meepraten over FNV visie en meerjarenbeleid Nautilus International en FNV Waterbouw A

A

In deze rubriek worden steeds vakbondszaken belicht, waarin Nautilus en FNV Waterbouw een actieve rol spelen ten behoeve van haar leden.

Dit keer gaat het over: de cao.

Hoe komt een cao tot stand?

De letters CAO staan voor: Collectieve Arbeidsovereenkomst en is sinds 1927 een bij wet geregelde overeenkomst.

In de wet staat de navolgende omschrijving: 1. Onder cao wordt verstaan de overeenkomst, aangegaan door een of meer werkgevers of een of meer verenigingen met volledige rechtsbevoegdheid van werkgevers en een of meer verenigingen met volledige rechtsbevoegdheid van werknemers, waarbij voornamelijk of uitsluitend worden geregeld arbeidsvoorwaarden, bij arbeidsovereenkomsten in acht te nemen.

2. Zij kan ook betreffen aannemingen van werk en overeenkomsten van opdracht. Hetgeen in deze wet omtrent arbeidsovereenkomsten, werkgevers en werknemers is bepaald, vindt dan overeenkomstige toepassing.

3. Nietig is het beding, waarbij een werkgever verplicht wordt arbeiders van een bepaald ras of met een bepaalde godsdienst, levensbeschouwelijke of politieke overtuiging of leden van een bepaalde vereniging in dienst te nemen of waarbij hij zich verplicht te weigeren hen in dienst te nemen.

Kernactiviteit

Uit de wet volgt dat het afsluiten van een cao aan verenigingen is voorbehouden. Voor vakverenigingen (vakbonden), dus ook voor Nautilus International, is het afsluiten van cao’s dan ook een kernactiviteit. Hoewel bij wet is uitgesloten dat alleen vakbondsleden profiteren van een afgesloten cao, is het wel het meest in het oog springende voorbeeld van het actief betrekken van de leden bij het vakbondswerk.

raadpleging of meerdere raadplegingen. Is het een bestaande cao, dan worden alleen de werknemers die lid zijn, uitgenodigd. In de (leden)vergadering wordt het beleid van Nautilus International toegelicht en krijgen de leden/werknemers de gelegenheid hun voorstellen in te dienen. Nadat een voorstellenlijst is samengesteld, wordt in de ledenvergadering besloten met welke voorstellen het cao onderhandelingstraject wordt gevoerd. De definitieve voorstellen tot wijziging van de cao worden vervolgens aan de werkgever kenbaar gemaakt. Hierna gaat Nautilus met de betreffende werkgever onderhandelen om de gewenste voorstellen te realiseren.

Cao resultaat

Het kan zijn dat gedurende de cao-onderhandelingen de leden tussentijds geraadpleegd moeten worden, maar dit is niet altijd het geval. Uiteindelijk komen werkgever en Nautilus International tot een vergelijk en dan kan er sprake zijn van: een cao principe akkoord (beide partijen zijn tevreden met de uitkomst), een onderhandelingsresultaat (partijen zijn niet tevreden, maar ook niet ontevreden) of een eindbod (over het algemeen is dan de werknemerspartij niet tevreden met de uitkomst).

Het resultaat wordt aan de leden in ledenvergaderingen en/of via enquêtes voorgelegd.

De leden kunnen dan instemmen of niet instemmen.

Kunnen leden niet instemmen met het bereikte resultaat, dan wordt dit de werkgever gemeld. Hierbij wordt dan tevens aangegeven dat Nautilus International zo spoedig mogelijk de onderhandelingen wenst te herstarten om de dan ontstane situatie nader te bespreken. Indien de werkgever vervolgens aangeeft open te staan voor verdere onderhandelingen, dan wordt er verder onderhandeld en bij een nieuw resultaat wordt de hiervoor beschreven procedure herhaald. Mocht blijken dat er geen onderhandelingsmogelijkheden meer bestaan bij de betreffende werkgever, dan resteren twee opties, namelijk: alsnog akkoord gaan, of een vorm van actie ontwikkelen.

Acties en stakingen

Cao voorstellen

Nu we weten wie een cao kan afsluiten en wat niet mag worden opgenomen in een cao, kunnen wij kijken hoe bij Nautilus International het proces tot de totstandkoming van een cao gaat. In de meeste gevallen is er al een cao van toepassing en worden er in deze gevallen wijzigingen voorgesteld op de reeds bestaande cao. Indien er geen bestaande cao is, dan moeten werknemers zich dus verenigen. In dit geval dus bij Nautilus International.

Nautilus International maakt onderdeel uit van de landelijke koepel FNV (Federatie van Nederlandse Vakverenigingen). Dit is ook de reden waarom Nautilus International in zijn voorstellen voor een cao rekening houdt met het Loon- en arbeidsvoorwaardenbeleid zoals dat ieder jaar door de FNV wordt vastgesteld. Dit Loon- en arbeidsvoorwaarden beleid wordt binnen de FNV door het ledenparlement vastgesteld. Naast dat Nautilus International onderdeel is van de FNV, is Nautilus International een zelfstandige, internationale vakbond met volledige rechtsbevoegdheid in Nederland. Nautilus International heeft derhalve ook zelf een ledenparlement; council genoemd. Deze council bepaalt de onderwerpen waarmee uiteindelijk rekening gehouden moet worden bij het vaststellen van voorstellen voor een cao.

Ledenraadplegingen

Alles begint dus met het door de vereniging gevolgde beleid. Vervolgens worden de werknemers voor wie de cao van toepassing is, uitgenodigd voor een

Het voeren van actie is niet iets dat lichtvaardig wordt gedaan bij vakbonden. Er is een heel protocol dat doorlopen moet worden, voordat er uiteindelijk tot acties, waarvan staking de zwaarste vorm is, wordt overgegaan.

Indien de werkgever(s) en Nautilus International een cao afsluiten voor een gehele sector (zoals bijvoorbeeld in de Handelsvaart), wordt de cao voorgelegd aan de minister van Sociale Zaken om deze Algemeen Verbindend te verklaren voor de gehele sector.

De maatschappij verandert.

Robots nemen al dan niet geheel of gedeeltelijk ons werk over.

Of maken ze ons werk gemakkelijker?

Zelfvarende schepen liggen al op de tekentafel. Het klimaat verandert en de maatschappij vergrijst. Hoe ziet uw arbeidscontract eruit in de toekomst? En welke invloed heeft de deeleconomie? Wat betekenen deze trends voor de toekomst van uw werk en inkomen. En wat betekent dit voor de visie van de FNV? Op het volgende FNV-congres, in mei 2017, wordt het beleid voor de volgende jaren bepaald. Dan moet ook de FNV zijn visie hebben aangescherpt in het licht van de hiervoor genoemde ontwikkelingen. Inmiddels hebben er overal in het land zogenaamde kenniscolleges met FNV leden

Recht op onbetaald zorgverlof

Nautilus heeft vervolgens contact opgenomen met zijn werkgever. De werkgever was in de veronderstelling dat er alleen een recht bestond op het betaalde zorgverlof en was niet op de hoogte van het feit dat er aansluitend aan het betaalde zorgverlof ook een recht op onbetaald zorgverlof bestond. Na diverse contacten en overleg met de werkgever deelde de werkgever vervolgens mee dat als er inderdaad sprake was van een wettelijk recht op onbetaald verlof de werkgever dit zou toekennen aan ons lid. De opluchting bij ons lid was groot. Nu kon hij zijn gezin bijstaan, totdat zijn vrouw de zorg voor het gezin weer van hem kon overnemen.

Wet Arbeid en Zorg

Mocht u ooit ook in een dergelijke situatie komen te verkeren, dan kunt u ook een beroep doen op de Wet Arbeid en Zorg (WAZ). Hierna de belangrijkste artikelen op een rij: Op grond van artikel 4:1 WAZ heeft de werknemer recht op verlof met behoud van loon voor een korte naar billijkheid te berekenen tijd wanneer hij zijn

34-37_nl_14.3.indd 36

Klankbordgroep en ledenenquête

Nautilus International Raad van Advies lid Caro Cordes, eveneens plaatsvervangend lid van het FNV Ledenparlement, is lid van de speciale FNV klankbordgroep visie en strategie, die dit proces begeleidt.

Caro Cordes: ‘De opdracht is uit te zoeken wat leden en niet leden van de vakbeweging verwachten rondom de thema’s economisering, globalisering, technologie en anders werken, Klimaatverandering en demografische ontwikkelingen.

We hebben nu net een zogenaamde associatieve fase

met elkaar afgesloten. Er is volop gediscussieerd over deze thema’s en tal van suggesties en adviezen zijn hiermee op tafel gekomen. Nu gaat het erom speerpunten voor het FNV meerjarenbeleidsplan te ontwikkelen. In de nu aanbrekende fase willen we de eerste centrale conclusies gaan voorleggen aan onze leden. Zien zij dit in grote lijnen ook zo, of ontbreken er nog zaken..?

Binnenkort wordt er een enquête uitgezet onder de leden, op basis van 30 hoofdvragen. We nodigen ook onze Nautilus leden graag uit hieraan deel te nemen. Het Ledenparlement zal uiteindelijk het meerjarenbeleid vaststellen en aan het FNV-congres voorleggen.’

De enquêtelink wordt binnenkort bekendgemaakt.

Zorgen over zorgverlof

Ons lid moest enige maanden geleden onverwachts van boord: zijn vrouw bleek ernstig ziek te zijn en moest naar het ziekenhuis.

Aangezien ons lid kleine kinderen had, moest ons lid de zorg voor zijn gezin van zijn vrouw overnemen. Ons lid verzocht zijn werkgever daarom om hem zorgverlof te verlenen. De werkgever ging daarmee akkoord.

Nadat het betaalde zorgverlof bijna was afgelopen, stelde de werkgever dat ons lid de maandag daarop weer aan boord werd verwacht.

Anders zou het worden opgevat als werkweigering en zou ons lid mogelijk worden ontslagen. Ons lid belde in paniek naar Nautilus. De situatie thuis was nog ongewijzigd: zijn gezin had nog steeds zijn hulp nodig.

Diamantwerkers

Het waren de Amsterdamse diamantwerkers die in 1894 hun werkgevers dwongen afspraken te maken over de tarieven door te gaan staken. Met resultaat.

Dit wordt beschouwd als de eerste collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst, afgesloten aan het eind van de negentiende eeuw.

De arbeidsomstandigheden waren toen zeer slecht. De tariefafspraken waren een reactie op de uitbuiting, die op grote schaal voorkwam. De werknemers waren zich ervan bewust dat hier, door collectiviteit en solidariteit, verbetering in aangebracht kon worden. In 1907 volgde de wettelijke erkenning van de cao.

De eerste landelijke sector-cao was die tussen de Werkliedenorganisatie in de Typografie en de Nederlandse Bond van Boekdrukkerijen uit 1914.

De Wet op het Algemeen Verbindend en het Onverbindend Verklaren van bepalingen van Collectieve Arbeidsovereenkomsten (Wet avv) dateert van 1937.

plaatsgevonden. Hier konden de leden meepraten en denken over deze thema’s.

arbeid niet kan verrichten wegens onvoorziene omstandigheden, die een onmiddellijke onderbreking van de arbeid vergen of wegens zeer bijzondere persoonlijke omstandigheden. (Hieronder wordt onder andere verstaan: bevalling van de echtgenote of geregistreerde partner, het overlijden van één van zijn huisgenoten, of bloedverwanten in de rechte lijn en in de tweede graad van de zijlijn). Dit korte verlof van meestal enkele dagen wordt het zogenaamde ‘calamiteitenverlof’ genoemd.

Verlof met behoud van loon

In artikel 5:1 WAZ staat aangegeven dat de werknemer recht heeft op verlof met behoud van loon (70%) voor de noodzakelijke verzorging in verband met ziekte van onder andere de volgende personen: de echtgenoot, de partner waarmee de werknemer samenwoont, (pleeg) kind, bloedverwant in eerste of tweede graad.

Dit kortdurend zorgverlof met behoud van loon volgt vaak op het hiervoor genoemde calamiteitenverlof. De duur van dit kortdurend zorgverlof met behoud van loon duurt ten hoogste tweemaal de arbeidsduur per week in een periode van 12 achtereenvolgende maanden (artikel 5:2 WAZ). Er bestaat alleen een recht op dit kortdurend zorgverlof, wanneer de zorg door de werknemer noodzakelijk is en er niemand anders beschikbaar is om deze zorg op zich te nemen. De werknemer moet het verzoek voor dit kortdurend verlof vooraf aan de werkgever melden. Met opgaaf van de reden. Als dat niet mogelijk is,

moet de werknemer het verzoek tot verlof zo spoedig mogelijk aan de werkgever melden.

Langdurend zorgverlof

Na dit kortdurend betaalde zorgverlof bestaat er aansluitend nog een recht op onbetaald zorgverlof (artikel 5:9 WAZ): het ’langdurend zorgverlof’.

Het moet in die gevallen gaan om de verzorging van een persoon, zoals genoemd in artikel 5:1 WAZ, die levensbedreigend ziek is of de noodzakelijke verzorging van een persoon, genoemd in artikel 5:1 WAZ ,die ziek of hulpbehoevend is. Dit langdurend zorgverlof duurt maximaal zesmaal de arbeidsduur per week in een achtereenvolgende periode van 12 maanden.

De werkgever moet het verzoek tot verlof in beginsel inwilligen, tenzij er sprake is van een zodanig zwaarwegend bedrijfsbelang dat het belang van de werknemer daarvoor naar redelijkheid en billijkheid moet wijken (artikel 5:11 WAZ).

Nautilus advies en begeleiding

Dit verhaal geeft duidelijk aan dat het belangrijk is om lid te zijn van Nautilus International. Wij zijn er voor om zowel collectief als individueel de belangen voor onze leden goed te behartigen. Ook op het gebied van uw recht op betaald en onbetaald Zorgverlof. Nautilus International kan u hierin adviseren en begeleiden. Wij helpen u graag verder.

g Onze contactgegevens en meer informatie over een lidmaatschap kunt u vinden op onze website: www.nautilusint.org/nl

14/03/2016 18:00

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 37

NL NEWS

Nautilus Jaarvergadering 2016 Op dinsdag 21 juni 2016 vindt de jaarvergadering van de Nederlandse branch van Nautilus International plaats in het Rotterdam Marriott Hotel (voormalig The Manhattan Hotel) te Rotterdam. Alle leden zijn van harte welkom tijdens het ochtendgedeelte

Dalende rente en aandelenmarkten raken dekkingsgraad pensioenfondsen heeft u ongetwijfeld A berichten gehoord en gelezen Afgelopen maanden

over de effecten van de dalende rente op de dekkingsgraad van pensioenfondsen. Evenals de mogelijkheid dat sommige grote pensioenfondsen al hebben aangekondigd dat er misschien gekort moet worden. De daling van afgelopen maanden is niet alleen het effect van de dalende rente maar ook van dalende aandelenmarkten in de eerste maanden van dit jaar.

Actuele stand dekkingsgraden

De dekkingsgraad geeft aan hoe het pensioenfonds er voor staat.

De actuele stand is te vinden op de websites van BPF Koopvaardij (www.bpfkoopvaardij.nl), BPF Rijn- en Binnenvaart (www. rijnenbinnenvaartpensioen. nl) en BPF Waterbouw (www.sfwaterbouw.nl).

De dekkingsgraad geeft de verhouding aan tussen het vermogen en de verplichtingen van het pensioenfonds. Bij een dekkingsgraad van 100% heeft een pensioenfonds precies voldoende vermogen om aan de verplichtingen te kunnen voldoen.

Boven de 100% heeft het fonds een reserve, onder de 100% een tekort.

Bij een dekkingsgraad van boven de 110% mag een pensioenfonds ( gedeeltelijk) indexeren (aanpassing pensioen/aanspraken aan prijs/loon–index).

hebben om in de toekomst alle pensioenaanspraken die tot op dat moment zijn opgebouwd te kunnen betalen. Een lage rente betekent dat een fonds moet rekenen met minder rendement.

Met andere woorden: als de rente laag is, moet er meer geld in kas zijn om aan de toekomstige verplichtingen te kunnen voldoen.

Dit leidt bij een zelfde vermogen tot een lagere dekkingsgraad en tot minder of geen ruimte voor indexering (of zelfs een korting). Daalt het vermogen ook nog door bijvoorbeeld dalende aandelenmarkten, dan is het effect op de dekkingsgraad nog groter.

Bescherming tegen dalende rente

Om de dekkingsgraad te beschermen tegen een dalende rente maken pensioenfondsen gebruik van producten (obligaties, rentederivaten etc.) die gekoppeld zijn aan de renteontwikkeling.

Hierdoor wordt het effect van een dalende rente op de dekkingsgraad beperkt en wordt de dekkingsgraad minder gevoelig. Hier staat tegenover dat bij een stijgende rente de dekkingsgraad minder snel zal stijgen. BPF Koopvaardij, BPF Rijn- en Binnenvaart en BPF Waterbouw maken gebruik van gedeeltelijke rente afdekking en worden zo minder hard geraakt dan fondsen die geen afdekking hebben. De mate van het effect op de dekkingsgraad voor ieder fonds hangt af van de hoogte van de afdekking.

Opgebouwde pensioenaanspraken

Indienen herstelplannen

De dekkingsgraad stijgt als het vermogen toeneemt en/of de verplichtingen afnemen. Omgekeerd daalt de dekkingsgraad als het vermogen afneemt en/of de verplichtingen toenemen. Dit laatste is de afgelopen maanden gebeurd.

De Nederlandse overheid heeft spelregels (Financieel Toetsingskader) opgesteld op welke wijze de waarde van de verplichtingen moet worden vastgesteld. De waarde van de verplichtingen moet worden vastgesteld aan de hand van de voorgeschreven rente termijnstructuur die door De Nederlandse Bank iedere maand wordt gepubliceerd. Bij het bepalen van de verplichtingen wordt berekend hoeveel vermogen een fonds in kas moet

De beleidsdekkingsgraad (gemiddelde dekkingsgraad over de afgelopen 12 maanden) van BPF Koopvaardij bedroeg 111,7% per eind januari, de vereiste dekkingsraad bedraagt 111,0%.

Voor BFF Rijn- en Binnenvaart bedroeg de beleidsdekkingsgraad 109,4 % ( vereist 118,8%) en van BPF Waterbouw 107,2 ( vereist 127%). Voor 1 april moesten BPF Rijn- en Binnenvaart en BPF Waterbouw een nieuw herstelplan indienen. Verwachting is dat er geen aanvullende maatregelen (kortingen) nodig zijn.

De hoogte van de vereiste dekkingsgraad is afhankelijk van het risico in de beleggingsportefeuille van een fonds. Een hoger beleggingsrisico houdt in dat een fonds grotere financiële buffers moet hebben.

34-37_nl_14.3.indd 37

Symposium Smart Ships

Nautilus organiseert ieder jaar, als onderdeel van het openbare gedeelte van haar jaarvergadering, een symposium over een actueel onderwerp. Zo ook dit jaar. Deze keer is het thema Smart Ships (‘drone ships’, dat aanhaakt op de almaar toenemende discussie over onbemande of minimaal bemande schepen van de toekomst. Gaat het werkelijk zo’n vaart lopen? En zo ja, waar liggen dan de kansen voor de (aankomende) Nederlandse zeevarenden? Naast enkele gerenommeerde sprekers is ook aan een aantal studenten gevraagd hierover een presentatie te komen geven. In volgende edities van de Telegraph meer hierover.

Bestuursverkiezingen

Dit jaar vinden er bestuursverkiezingen plaats. Voor voorzitter Marcel van den Broek en penningmeester/algemeen secretaris Charley Ramdas eindigt de huidige termijn per einde jaarvergadering. Beiden stellen zich herkiesbaar en de Raad van Advies heeft inmiddels toegestemd om voor zowel Charley als Marcel, conform de statutaire bevoegdheid van de Raad, een bindende voordracht te maken.

Verkiezing Raad van Advies

Ongeveer de helft van de Raad van Advies (tevens NL National Committee) treedt dit jaar af, te weten: Uit kiesgroep kapiteins en stuurlieden: Johan Kooij, Peter Lok en Henk Eijkenaar Uit de kiesgroep WTK’s: Wilco van Hoboken Uit de kiesgroep Scheepsgezellen: Marinus van Otterloo Uit de kiesgroep Wal: Geert Feikema Uit de kiesgroep Binnenvaart:

voor herverkiezing. Inmiddels is bekend dat alle leden zich herkiesbaar stellen.

3. De kandidatuur moet

Voorstellen

aantoonbaar worden ondersteund door vijf leden.

Verkiesbaarstelling andere leden

4. U dient zich voor 1 mei a.s. te melden bij de voorzitter van Nautilus International de heer Marcel van den Broek (mvandenbroek@ nautilusint.org).

Verder is het goed om alle leden nog eens te wijzen op de mogelijkheid om voorstellen in te dienen. Deze voorstellen dienen het algemene Nederlandse belang van de vereniging te betreffen. Voorstellen over een specifieke CAO of een specifieke rederij worden verwezen naar desbetreffende ledenvergaderingen. Eventuele voorstellen dienen uiterlijk 1 mei a.s. schriftelijk of per email door het bestuur te zijn ontvangen en zullen voorzien van een bestuursadvies aan de vergadering worden voorgelegd.

Jan de Rover, Jan van der Zee In de kiesgroepen Maritiem Officier en Pensioen-of uitkeringsgerechtigden zijn geen aftredende leden. In de kiesgroep werktuigkundigen is er naast de bestaande vacature, met het terugtreden van Karel Slootstra een tweede vacature ontstaan. Ook in de kiesgroep Maritiem Officier bestaat een vacature.

Alle aftredende leden is gevraagd of zij beschikbaar zijn

Het bestuur roept ook andere leden op zich verkiesbaar te stellen. U dient dan wel te voldoen aan de navolgende voorwaarden: 1. U moet lid zijn van Nautilus

International 2. Ieder lid kan alleen verkozen worden in zijn of haar eigen kiesgroep.

Dus, bent u geïnteresseerd in het werk van onze maritieme vakbond en bent u lid van Nautilus International, neem dan eens contact op met voorzitter Marcel van den Broek om uw mogelijke kandidatuur te bespreken.

14/03/2016 18:00

38 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

APPOINTMENTS CV Professionals

Join the Viking crew Bringing together the best industry talent, since 1988.

Maritime & oσshore specialists www.cvprofessionals.co.uk

NOTICE TO READERS Nautilus International advises members that some crewing agencies may not be advertising specific positions, but instead may be seeking to develop their databases of job hunters.

We have excellent career opportunities with some of the most prestigious names in the cruise and superyacht market.

Positions include: • Captain

• Chief Engineers

• Chief Electrician

• Chief Officers

• 2nd Engineers

• ETO’s

• 2nd Officers

• Y1 -Y4 Engineers

• Hotel & Guest Services Professionals

For a full list of career opportunities, visit us at vikingrecruitment.com or give us a call.

www.vikingrecruitment.com +44 (0)300 303 8191 info@vikingrecruitment.com

14 April 2016 is the closing date for May 2016.

You can still advertise online at any time.

Reach over 110,000 readers.

To advertise contact Paul Wade on +44 (0)20 7880 6212 or email paul.wade@redactive.co.uk to find out how.

Pritchard-Gordon Tankers (Guernsey) Ltd

Pritchard-Gordon Tankers Ltd, a family owned and managed company, operating British and Isle of Man registered oil tankers of between 5,000 and 12,000 dwt, are seeking experienced and suitably quali½ed, high calibre:

Senior Deck and Engineering Of½cers

We lay great importance on teamwork and continuity, with a number of senior of½cers having been with the company over 20 years. Our company ethos is to offer a superior service and level of professionalism to our Major and National Oil Company customers in challenging operational conditions.

Voyage lengths are of 10 to 13 weeks duration followed by an equal period of leave. Terms and conditions are competitive and commensurate with rank and experience.

Applications in the ½rst instance to Head of Personnel, Pritchard-Gordon Tankers Ltd, 6 Coronation Street, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE33 1AZ Tel 0191 427 0303 Email personnel@pgtankers.com Website www.pgtankers.com

NOT A MEMBER OF NAUTILUS INTERNATIONAL?

Join now

FLEETWOOD NAUTICAL CAMPUS - CELEBRATING 125 YEARS IN 2017 with a long established reputation for being a leading provider of training to the Maritime industry.

MARITIME COURSES 2016

Master’s Orals 3 May 20 June | Chief Mates Unlimited 3 May | HELM O 1 Jun, 13 Ju | BTM 2 May, 27 Jun, 11 Jul | VTS Operator 4 -15 Jul | VTS Refresher 28 Jun | Tanker Safety 1 Aug FOR MORE INFORMATION E maritime@blackpool.ac.uk T 01253 779 123 W blackpool.ac.uk/nautical

STCW UPDATING Manila Amendments deadline 1 Jan 2017 Personal Survival Techniques Updating £165 | Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting Updating £200 | Advanced Fire Fighting Updating £175 | Proficiency in Survival craft & Rescue Boat £200 The above four courses can be booked as a 4 day package £680* 1 Day MCA Approved FRB updating course with Capsize drill £245 2016 AVAILABLE COURSE WEEKS

6, 13, 20 Jun | 4, 11, 18 Jul | 1, 15, 22 Aug | 12, 9, 26 Sep | 3 Oct, 24, 31 Oct | 21, 28 Nov

254222BR 254224BR

FOR MORE INFORMATION E offshore@blackpool.ac.uk T 01253 779 123 W blackpool.ac.uk/offshore

/FleetwoodNauticalCampusOffshoreOperations

If you are interested in working at Fleetwood Nautical Campus, call 01253 50(4760) to register your interest or for information on current vacancies.

WWW. BLACKPOOL. AC.UK

Nautilus recruitment.indd 38

14/03/2016 08:19

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 39

APPOINTMENTS

SHOREBASED

TANKER

WORKBOAT/ROPAX/CONTAINER

Technical Manager - Yachts London - €65K

Master - LNG DFDE - £85K

Chief Engineer - Survey Vessel - £55K

&KLHI 2IƂFHU Oil/Chemical - £65K

Chief Engineer - Container - £60K

2nd Engineer - Oil/Chemical - £65K

Chief Engineer - Dredger - £50K

4th Engineer - Oil/Chemical - $52K

Chief Engineer - Dredger - £58K

Safety Superintendent - Superyachts France - €60K Asst Marine Superintendent - Cruise South East UK - £30K

UG 2IƂFHU Oil/Chemical - $52K

Master - Dredger - £53K

Technical Superintendent - Cruise Germany - €85K

ETO - LNG - €65K

&KLHI 2IƂFHU ROPAX - £50K

Marine Assurance Manager - LNG Glasgow - £65K + Bens

SUPERYACHTS

3ODQQHG 0DLQWHQDQFH 2IƂFHU /1* London - £45K + Bens Project Engineer - Electrical London - £65K

2nd Engineer - Container - £47K

Deckhand - 50m+ MY - €2.3K/mth

CRUISE

Bosun - 100m+ MY - $5.2K/mth

1st Engineer (Hotel) - Cruise - $72K

Service Stewardess - 80m+ MY - €2.7K/mth 2nd Engineer - Cruise - $50K

Technical Manager - Ro-Ro Scotland - £55K + Car HSEQ Superintended Tankers Glasgow - £45K + Bens Technical Superintendent - LNG Qatar- Tax Free Salary & Pkg

Deckhand - 100m+ MY - €2.8K/mth

2nd Engineer - Cruise - £40K

Bosun - 80m+ MY - €4K/mth

Refrigeration Engineer - Cruise - €34K

2nd Engineer - 70m+ MY - €5.5K/mth

QG 2IƂFHU Cruise - €34K

Chef/Stewardess - 60m+ MY - €3.4K/mth

2nd ETO - Cruise - €45K

Service Stewardess - 100m+ MY - €3K/mth

Chef de Partie - Cruise - £15K

Deckhand - 80m+ MY - €2.5K/mth

Technical Superintendent - Gas Netherlands - Salary DOE

Stewardess - 100m+ MY - €2.7K/mth

Technical Superintendent - Tanker Glasgow - £60K + Bens

Sous Chef - 70m+ SY - $2.5K/mth

Shorebased: +44 (0)23 8020 8840 shipping - uk@faststream.com

Seagoing: +44 (0)23 8020 8820

seagoing - uk@faststream.com

MORE JOBS ONLINE AT www.faststream.com

Search for ‘Faststream Seafarers’ @faststreamsea www.faststream.com

www.windstarcruises.com

A CAREER THAT IS TRULY 180Ü FROM ORDINARY With our three newest stars having now joined the fleet, Windstar is the No. 1 choice for career opportunities.

Now consisting of 6 prestigious yachts, our fleet will travel worldwide taking our passengers to some of the most unique and exotic ports there are to be found.

Benefits package includes: · Competitive wages paid in GBP and USD

Windstar Cruises are currently looking for suitable candidates for the following positions:

· Retirement Savings Plan / Pensions (subject to eligibility)

· One for One Rotation for Staff Officers · Contributory Medical / Dental Insurance

· Annual & Return Bonuses (dependent on rank)

· Captains and other Deck Officers

· Company Sponsored Study Leave Programme

· Engineering Officers of all ranks

· Officer Cadet Training

· Electricians, ETO’s & IT Officers

· Excellent Spouse Policy

· Hotel Officers · Guest & Destination Service Professionals

Prospective candidates need to complete our online candidate database via our website or email us at applicants@vikingrecruitment.com quoting reference VRL 04/16

Viking House, Beechwood Business Park, Menzies Road, Dover, Kent, CT16 2FG T: +44 (0) 300 303 8191 vikingrecruitment.com

Nautilus recruitment.indd 39

ISO 9001

14/03/2016 08:20

40 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

APPOINTMENTS Leading Marine Recruitment Specialists We are seeking all ranks of seafarers, offshore and shore based personnel and in particular:

Your first port of call Address: First Floor Unit 7, Hythe Marine Park, Shore Road, Southampton, SO45 6HE UK Telephone: +44(0)23 8084 0374 Email: recruitment@seamariner.com

Senior Deck and Engineering Of½cers - All vessels All Of½cers and Crew - ERRV Tug/Multicat Crew - All ranks Various shore based personnel All Crew for temporary assignments If you would like further information in registering with Seamariner or you would like to discuss your crewing requirements, please contact one of our experienced consultants.

Subscribe to the Telegraph

www.seamariner.com

ISO9001:2008 accredited and KvK and MLC compliant Reg Co number: 2745210

FREE to members: tell our membership team if you want home deliveries on +44 (0)20 8989 6677 or membership@nautilusint.org Non-member rates for 12-months: countries including £42.00 EU UK and Netherlands

£84.00 Rest of the world Increase your audience when advertising

Subscribe online with your credit card at www.nautilusint.org g (payments are taken in pounds sterling).

You can advertise your maritime and off shore opportunities in the Nautilus Telegraph, and also on our jobsite nautilusint.org/jobs

Warsash changes Maritime college is on the move in university review 21

Or send us your name and address and a sterling cheque payable to Nautilus International:

This increases your visibility to over 17,000 active jobseekers as well as the 110,000 readers of the magazine.

Discuss all print and online opportunities with Paul Wade on +44 20 7880 6212 or paul.wade@redactive.co.uk

Membership Services 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1BD.

Waste not How keeping it clean can keep you out of jail 22-23

NL nieuws Vier pagina’s met nieuws uit Nederland 34-37

Volume 49 | Number 03 | March 2016 | £3.50 €3.70

‘Mega-ship’ worries raised by groundings added to maritime industry concerns over the F challenges posed by Nautilus has

The ultra-large containership APL

Vanda arrives in the port of Southampton

last month after grounding on Bramble

Bank Picture: UKNIP

‘megaship’ accidents after the groundings last month of two ultra-large containerships.

Within the space of less than a fortnight, the 19,010TEU CSCL Indian Ocean ran aground following a steering failure in the river Elbe in Germany and the 13,900TEU APL Vanda had to carry out a controlled grounding on Bramble Bank in the Solent after suffering a loss of power while approaching the UK port of Southampton.

The incidents have highlighted growing concern over the difficulties facing salvage teams dealing with ultra-large vessels. Salvage master Captain Nick Sloane told a London Shipping Law Centre meeting last month that the industry has so far only dealt with relatively small

Union backs plans for updates to MLC

Shore leave, pay protection and bullying on

P

the agenda in talks on ‘bill of rights’ amendments

Nautilus has welcomed lems arising from harassment the outcome of top- and bullying. slow progress in adoption of the level talks last month on seafarer ID convention.

The talks also agreed to estabupdates to the Maritime Labour ‘The resolution reminded evelish a working group to draft proConvention (MLC) — including ryone of the reasons why we are posals for a future amendment measures to address bullying and doing this work — to improve the to the MLC to protect seafarers’ harassment and to safeguard seaworking conditions of seafarers wages when they are held captive, farers’ wages when they are held who continue to face difficulties on or off their vessel, as a result of captive. in securing shore leave and being acts such as piracy.

Officials from the Union took able to travel to and from their ‘The amendment, which was part in the week-long talks at the ships without the costly and timesubmitted by the seafarers’ group, International Labour Organisaconsuming need for visas,’ Mr was extensively debated and a lot tion which saw delegates repDickinson said. of member states were supportresenting governments, shipITF seafarers’ section chair ive, with general agreement that Nautilus delegates Mark Dickinson owners and seafarers discussing Dave Heindel commented: ‘We we must go beyond piracy to cover amendments to the MLC and ILO and Sascha Meijer at the ILO talks believe we have made substantial any criminal act of detaining a Convention 185 on seafarers’ idenprogress and look forward to the seafarer,’ Nautilus general secreflag states to extend the validity tity documents. provisions of the resolution being tary Mark Dickinson explained. of a MLC certificate by up to five Key points agreed at the meetdelivered in the real world for the ‘However, the issue proved to be months when a new certificate ings included an amendment benefit of our seafarers.’ complex and has effectively been cannot be immediately issued or highlighting the importance of Some 70 countries accounting put off for further discussion at a made available onboard a ship. health and safety onboard and for 80% of world shipping have working group.’

Delegates unanimously supproposing the inclusion of the now ratified the MLC. The new Shipowner proposals to harported a resolution on the facilinewly-published ITF/ICS guideamendments to the convention monise MLC certificate renewal tation of access to shore leave and lines on eliminating bullying will be considered for adoption at provisions with other internathe transit of seafarers joining and harassment at sea. The MLC the next session of the ILO’s intertional certification were also their ships. This had been jointly guidelines on investigations will national labour conference, and adopted, with a new amendment tabled by seafarer and shipowner also be modified to include probare expected to enter into force in that will provide an option for groups to reflect frustration at the late 2018. Work on amendments

adopted in 2014 covering the financial security of crew claims and cases of abandonment is continuing, and they are due to come into force in January 2017.

Mr Dickinson described the meetings as ‘positive’ and said unions and owners had also agreed to examine ways to improve cooperation for future meetings.

‘The MLC is a “live” convention that is kept under continuous review, and we want to make sure that we work closely together on future amendments,’ he added.

Peter Hinchliffe, secretarygeneral of the International Chamber of Shipping, said: ‘The meeting has reaffirmed the strength of the tripartite system involving ILO member states and seafarers in debate with shipowner representatives. The effort to promote the widest possible ratification of this landmark maritime convention continues to be a core priority for ICS.’

containership groundings and wreck removals — and there are big questions about the costs and resources for handling big casualties.

The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) said it was disturbed by the ‘accumulation of risk’ arising from the growth of containerships and their associated infrastructure. IUMI executive Patrizia Kern-Ferretti said this had been highlighted by the estimated US$5bn-plus costs of last year’s explosion in the Chinese port of Tianjin.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson commented: ‘These “mega ships” are an extrapolation of existing construction rules without due consideration of the increased risk of failure. Similarly, there is no evidence of an increase in qualified manning or any additional onboard operational precautions.’

Inside F Offshore lobby Unions have set up a new group to fight back against cuts in the North Sea — page 19 F e-inspections

Study shows how sensors could cut the number of onboard safety checks — page 25

F Tug of war Warnings over UK ETV cover as listing car carrier is rescued off France — page 44

PLOT YOUR NEXT COURSE WITH US Excellent opportunities exist within our fleet of Oil, Chemical, LPG and LNG Tankers for various positions including:

MASTERS - CHIEF OFFICERS CHIEF ENGINEERS - SECOND ENGINEERS OOW DECK AND ENGINE We also have current opportunities onboard RoRo/RoPax Vessels.

To view all current vacancies and for further information, please visit our manning agent website: www.nmms.co.uk.

Or send full CV to: recruitment@nmms.co.uk

MASTERS / CHIEF OFFICERS / SECOND ENGINEERS / OOW DECK AND ENGINE / MASTERS / CHIEF OFFICERS / SECOND ENGINEERS / OOW DECK AND ENGINE

Nautilus recruitment.indd 40

14/03/2016 08:20

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 41

APPOINTMENTS

Maersk Line requires experienced Chief & Second Engineers to join their fleet Apply online at www.seacareers.co.uk or contact Jason Clifford on 0191 269 3152 to discuss these vacancies.

Maersk Line, the world leading, global containerised division of the Maersk Group is seeking experienced and dedicated Senior Engineers to fill immediate vacancies. In return for embracing our vision, core values and customer focus we offer an array of benefits.

Benefits you will receive: Competitive salary Voyage length of 90 days +/- 30 days Back to back working rotations Company pension scheme First rate training and development

Want to keep your job in 2017? Then read on!

It’s time to get your papers out and start checking whether your UK certificate of competency will still be valid when STCW 2010 comes into force…

A

Nautilus is urging members to take note that the countdown has begun to new rules that will require additional training to be undertaken to keep UK certificates of competency valid for service after 31 December 2016.

The new requirements are being introduced as part of the ‘Manila amendments’ to the Standards of Training, Certification & Watchkeeping (STCW) convention, which were agreed at an international conference in 2010.

g Members are encouraged to refer to the relevant M-Notices or alternatively contact the professional and technical department: protech@nautilusint.org

Nautilus recruitment.indd 41

9 MONTHS TO GO UNTIL 1 JANUARY 2017 HELM course or acceptable equivalent

DECK UPDATEE TO TO 010 STCW 2010

(e.g. sea service)

ECDIS certificate caat ate te ach achie achi achieved chie hie h after 1 January 2005 to avoid negative endorsement oid idd neg nega

HELM course or acceptable equivalent

ENGINE UPDATEE TO TO 010 STCW 2010

(e.g. sea service)

High Voltagee certifica certificat certificate ertific ertifica tifi ifi or qualifying sea void oid idd negative ne n neg service to avoid endorsement

NEW FICATE ICATE CAT CATE A AT CERTIFICATE alternati lterna t terna — otherwisee alternat alternative designation, ctrical trical rical icall En E such as Electrical Engineer

I addition: seatime In rrequirements for revalidation — 12 months in preceding five years or three months in preceding six months plus valid ENG1.

5

I addition: appropriate In ttanker endorsements — subject to revalidation.

6 To serve as an ETO certification is required...

ETO

4

R Refresher training — rrequired every five years for certificates held.

Dependent upon rank (support/ operation/management) and duty — for example, Fast Rescue Craft certificate.

14/03/2016 08:20

42 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

SHIP TO SHORE

M-Notices M-Notices, Marine Information Notes and Marine Guidance Notes issued by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency recently include: MIN 520 (M) — Clarification on the requirements for updating ancillary & safety training and completing tanker training This note advises seafarers and MCAapproved training providers (ATPs) about current and future training requirements for particular subjects.

The future requirements come into force on 1 January 2017.

Ancillary and safety courses that need updating every five years (refresher training): Seafarers serving onboard ships who are qualified in any of the following, must, as of 1 January 2017, have documentary evidence of either having completed the training course or updated their training in the following subjects within the last five years: (a) Proficiency in Personal Survival Techniques (PST) STCW A-VI/1-1, (recognised equivalent pre-31 January 2000: Basic Sea Survival) (b) Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats other than Fast Rescue Boats (PSC & RB), STCW A-VI/2-1 (recognised equivalent pre-31 January 2000: Proficiency in Survival Craft or Lifeboatman’s Certificate) (c) Proficiency in Fast Rescue Boats (PFRB) STCW A-VI/2-2 (d) Proficiency in Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting (FP & FF), STCW A-VI/1-2 (recognised equivalent pre-31 January 2000: MNTB 2 Day Fire Fighting Course) (e) Proficiency in Advanced Fire Fighting (AFF) STCW A-VI/3 (recognised equivalent pre-31 January 2000: MNTB 4 Day Fire Fighting Course) MIN 520 contains a table detailing the pre-requisite certificates that will allow a seafarer to undertake MCAapproved refresher training. There is also a flow chart summarising the requirements for enrolling on an MCAapproved tanker training course and for trainers to issue the candidate with either a course completion certificate (if the seafarer holds a UK CoC) or certificate of proficiency (if the seafarer holds a non-UK CoC or does not hold any CoC).

Basic training for oil and chemical tanker cargo operations and liquefied gas tanker cargo operations: To have their CoC endorsed or be issued with a Certificate of Proficiency for basic training for these operations, seafarers must hold one of the certificates or complete one of the training courses set out in MIN 520.

The MCA will accept basic training certificates issued under the authority of an administration included in the IMO list of STCW parties (the so-called ‘white list’).

Accepted ancillary and safety training certificates:

Seafarers applying for a new CoC or to revalidate a UK CoC will be required to submit documentary evidence of either having completed the training course or updated their training within the last five years for: z Proficiency in Personal Survival Techniques z Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting z Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats other than Fast Rescue Boats z Proficiency in Advanced Fire Fighting First UK certificate of competency: This section of MIN 520 details which certificates of proficiency the MCA will accept towards the issue of a seafarer’s first certificate of competency. The following certificates must be MCAapproved: z High Voltage (operational) z High Voltage (management) z Human Element, Leadership and Management (HELM) operational z HELM management z Navigation Aids and Equipment Simulator Training (NAEST) operational z Electronic Chart Display & Information System (ECDIS) z NAEST management Efficient Deck Hand (EDH) The following certificates may be issued under the authority of any administration recognised as an IMO STCW white list party: z Personal Survival Techniques z Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting z Elementary First Aid z Personal Safety and Social Responsibility The MCA will accept certificates issued under the authority of any EU member state, as well as Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, for: z Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats other than Fast Rescue Boats z Proficiency in Advanced Fire Fighting z Proficiency in Medical First Aid z Proficiency in Medical Care Subsequent certificates of competency: As with first certificates of competency, courses required for the award of higher certificates must also be approved by the MCA or, where relevant, by countries on the white list or in the European Union. Details are given in MIN 520. There is also related information in the note about yacht certificates of competency and the Efficient Deck Hand qualification. g For a list of MCA-approved course providers, go to www.gov.uk and search for MCA ATP. MGN 543 (M+F) — Safety of navigation: offshore renewable energy installations (OREIs); UK navigational practice, safety and emergency response Offshore renewable energy

Member meetings and seminars Nautilus International organises regular meetings, forums and seminars for members to discuss pensions, technical matters, maritime policies and legal issues. Coming up in the next few months are: installations (OREI) include offshore wind farms, tidal energy converters (including tidal range devices), wave energy converters and any associated infrastructure with the potential to affect marine navigation and emergency response, This note lists the relevant UK and international legislation relating to OREIs and navigation. It points out that developers and licensing authorities should evaluate all navigational possibilities by which the siting, construction, extension, operation and de-commissioning of an OREI could cause or contribute to an obstruction of, or danger to, navigation or marine emergency response.

Consultation with national search and rescue authorities should be initiated as early as possible and consideration given to the types of aircraft, vessels and equipment that might be used in emergencies. This should include the possible use of OREI structures as emergency refuges.

MGN 543 applies to all sites, whether within the jurisdiction of port/ harbour limits or in open sea areas.

However, port/harbour authorities may require developers to comply with their own specific criteria and/or local regulations and directions.

The guidance and recommendations in the note cover the following topics: z considerations on site position, structures and safety zones z navigation, collision avoidance and communications z MCA shipping template, assessing wind farm boundary distances from shipping routes z safety and mitigation measures recommended for OREI during construction operation and decommissioning z standards, procedures and operational requirements in the event of a search and rescue, counter pollution or salvage and/or towing incident in or around an OREI, including generator/installation shutdown A checklist is available on the MCA website as an aid for developers when completing and submitting their navigation risk assessment, to ensure all guidance has been considered and addressed.

z M-Notices are available as

electronic documents or as a set of bound volumes. z A consolidated set of M-Notices is published by The Stationery Office.

This contains all M-Notices current on 31 July 2015 (ISBN 978 01155 34034) and costs £210 — www.tsoshop.co.uk z Individual copies www.gov.uk/mca and click on Find marine (M) notices. z Email alerts sent automatically.

To set this up, go to MIN 515 (M+F) — Guidance for subscriptions to safety bulletins and MCA document notifications on GOV.UK.

g Professional & Technical Forum Tuesday 12 April 2016 at 1300hrs for 1330hrs at the FNV Bondgenoten, Pegasusweg 200, 3067 KX, Rotterdam, Netherlands The Forum deals with a wide range of technical, safety, welfare and other professional topics of relevance to all members, including training and certification. The meeting is open to all members (UK, NL & CH) Contact Sue Willis: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 protech@nautilusint.org

Contact Danny McGowan: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 ymp@nautilusint.org

Contact Lisa Carr: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 women@nautilusint.org

Nautilus International welcomes contact from members at any time. Please send a message to one of our department email addresses (see page 17) or get in touch with us at one of our offices around the world.

For urgent matters, we can also arrange to visit your ship in a UK port.

Please give us your vessel’s ETA and as much information as possible about the issue that needs addressing.

SWITZERLAND Gewerkschaftshaus, Rebgasse 1 4005 Basel, Switzerland Tel: +41 (0)61 262 24 24 Fax: +41 (0)61 262 24 25 infoch@nautilusint.org

UK Head office Nautilus International 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane South Woodford, London E18 1BD Tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 Fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015 enquiries@nautilusint.org

SINGAPORE Nautilus International 10a Braddell Hill #05-03 Singapore, 579720 Tel: +65 (0)625 61933 Mobile: +65 (0)973 10154 singapore@nautilusint.org

Northern office Nautilus International Nautilus House, Mariners’ Park Wallasey CH45 7PH Tel: +44 (0)151 639 8454 Fax: +44 (0)151 346 8801 enquiries@nautilusint.org Offshore sector contact point Members working for companies based in the east of Scotland or UK offshore oil and gas sector can call: +44 (0)1224 638 882 THE NETHERLANDS Postal Address Nautilus International Postbus 8575 3009 An Rotterdam Physical Address Nautilus International Schorpioenstraat 266 3067 KW Rotterdam Tel: +31 (0)10 477 1188 Fax: +31 (0)10 477 3846 infonl@nautilusint.org

FRANCE Yacht sector office in partnership with D&B Services 3 Bd. d’Aguillon 06600 Antibes, France Tel: +33 (0)962 616 140 nautilus@dandbservices.com www.dandbservices.com SPAIN Yacht sector office in partnership with dovaston C/Joan de Saridakis 2, Edificion Goya Local 1A, Marivent 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain Tel: +34 971 677 375 recruitment@nautilusint.org www.dovaston.com

College contacts Induction visits See www.nautilusint.org event section for dates of upcoming college visits by the Nautilus recruitment team.

For further information, email recruitment@nautilusint.org or call Lee Moon on +44 (0)151 639 8454.

Industrial support for cadets An industrial official is appointed to each of the main nautical colleges.

In addition the industrial department is responsible for representing trainee officers in line with all

members that we represent; please contact the Union on +44 (0)20 8989 6677. Your enquiry will then be directed to the relevant industrial organiser for your employer/sponsoring company.

The union also facilitates a Young Maritime Professionals Forum to provide an opportunity for young members to engage in discussions on the specific challenges facing young workers in the maritime profession.

For further information, members should contact Danny McGowan at ymp@nautilusint.org.

Quiz and crossword answersACDB Quiz answers 1. A total of 48 16,000TEU-plus containerships are presently in service in the world fleet.

2. A total of 68 16,000TEU-plus containerships are presently on order around the world.

3. Dalian Shipbuilding is the busiest yard in China, accounting for 17% of the country’s newbuilds in 2015.

4. Federal Navigation in based in Canada, with its headquarters in Montreal.

5. The DNB bank of Norway is the biggest lender to the shipping industry.

6. The Baltic Exchange was founded in 1744.

Crossword answers Quick Answers Across: 1. Successful; 6. Floe; 9. Phonograph; 10. Ogle; 12. Hubble-bubble; 15. Collision; 17. Éclat; 18. Ocean; 19. Sphincter; 20. Hairsbreadth; 24. Beet; 25. Endearment; 26. Also; 27. Fertiliser.

Down: 1. Saps; 2. Cool; 3. Elocutionist; 4. Shrub; 5. Umpteenth; 7. Legibility; 8. Elementary; 11. Supernatural; 13. Acrophobia; 14. Sleepiness; 16. Insurance; 21. Adept; 22. Nets; 23, Stir.

This month’s cryptic crossword is a prize competition, and the answers will appear in next month’s Telegraph.

Congratulations to Nautilus member Steve Williams, who has won the prize draw for the March cryptic crossword.

Cryptic answers from March Across: 8. Resolute; 9. Grundy; 10. Bran; 11. Distillery; 12. Monday; 14. Griselda; 15. Hexagon; 17. Snooker; 20. Maniacal; 22. Bisect; 23. Stagnation; 24. Died; 25. Buried; 26. Saturday.

Down: 1. Fearsome; 2. Born; 3. Sunday; 4. Message; 5. Ignition; 6. Guillemots; 7. Adored; 13. Drawing pin; 16. Orchards; 18. Eschewal; 19. Ellipse; 21. Artful; 22. Benito; 24. Dirt.

To suggest an organisation which could appear here, email telegraph@nautilusint.org

Maritime & Coastguard Agency +44 (0)23 8032 9100 www.gov.uk/mca Implements the UK government’s maritime safety policy and works to prevent the loss of life on the coast and at sea.

International Transport Workers’ Federation +44 (0)20 7403 2733 www.itfglobal.org A federation of over 700 unions representing over 4.5 million transport workers from 150 countries.

Merchant Navy Welfare Board www.mnwb.org Umbrella body for the UK maritime charity sector, promoting cooperation between organisations that provide welfare services to merchant seafarers and their dependants within the UK.

Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport + 31 88 489 00 00 www.ilent.nl Dutch maritime authority (separate from Dutch coastguard).

Merchant Navy Training Board www.mntb.org.uk UK organisation promoting maritime education and training, and providing careers guidance.

Administers the Careers at Sea Ambassadors scheme, under which serving seafarers can volunteer to give careers talks in UK schools.

Seafarers UK (formerly the King George’s Fund for Sailors) +44 (0)20 7932 0000 www.seafarers.uk Supports and promotes UK charities helping seafarers from the Merchant Navy, Royal Navy and fishing fleets.

Often organises places for maritime fundraisers to enter marathons and other charity challenges.

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g Women’s Forum Saturday 25 June 2016 London, TBC The Forum provides guidance to Nautilus Council on the challenges facing women in the industry and encourages female participation in Union activity.

Open to all female members.

Contact Nautilus International

Useful organisations

Swiss Maritime Navigation Office +41 (0)61 270 91 20 www.smno.ch Swiss maritime authority.

g Young Maritime Professionals Forum Saturday 25 June 2016 London, TBC The Forum provides guidance to Nautilus Council on the challenges facing young people in the shipping industry and on the issues that matter to them.

Open to all young members (UK, NL & CH).

International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network +44 (0)300 012 4279 www.seafarerswelfare.org Global organisation providing a 24 hour, year-round multi-lingual helpline for all seafarers’ welfare and support needs, as well as an emergency welfare fund.

SAIL (Seafarers’ Information and Advice Line) 08457 413 318 +44 (0)20 8269 0921 www.sailine.org.uk UK-based citizens’ advice service helping seafarers and their families with issues such as debt, benefit

entitlements, housing, pensions and relationships.

Seamen’s Hospital Society +44 (0)20 8858 3696 www.seahospital.org.uk UK charity dedicated to the health and welfare of seafarers.

Includes the Dreadnought health service.

Seafarers’ Link +44 (0)1752 812674 www.communitynetworkprojects.org Telephone friendship project connecting retired UK seafarers at home through a fortnightly telephone conference service.

Seatax Ltd +44 (0)1302 364673 www.seatax.ltd.uk Company providing specialist tax advice for merchant seafarers.

Marine Society +44 (0)20 7654 7050 www.marine-society.org UK charity dedicated to the learning and professional development of seafarers.

Offers 120,000 books to ships through its library service, plus distance-learning programmes and scholarship schemes including the Nautilus-administered Slater Fund.

14/03/2016 12:20

April 2016 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 43

JOIN NAUTILUS

The face of Nautilus Frank Kulik, IT helpdesk support engineer

g

Nearly six years ago Frank Kulik was nervously watching the time as he sat in a traffic jam in south Holland, still 60 km and more than an hour from his destination — a job interview at Nautilus International’s Rotterdam office.

‘I still remember that day very well,’ he says. ‘Actually, I didn’t make it to my first interview because of a car accident in one of the two tunnels that connects my town in Stellendam with Rotterdam. It caused a tailback for 12 miles.’

Fortunately that no-show was not a road block to his career. He got a chance at a second interview and secured the job as the Union’s IT helpdesk support engineer.

Frank is originally from a small town near Dortmund in the north Rhine area of Germany, and he has no family history in seafaring. After a degree in computer science, however, he became immersed in the world of shipping during a job with the Norwegian classification society Det Norske Veritas (now DNV GL) After five years with DNV GL in Germany, he agreed to a transfer and spent seven years in Rotterdam — which meant he also, conveniently, became fluent in Dutch.

When he spotted the Nautilus job advert, Frank realised his experience at DNV GL was a good fit and applied. He says he enjoys the constant variety of the IT role and likes the

way it has helped him get to know nearly everyone in the Union. He also appreciates taking part in interesting IT department projects including a new membership database and faster internet connections.

Based at the Rotterdam office, Frank provides support for IT queries across the Dutch and Swiss branches. He is also a familiar face to staff and residents at the Union’s Mariners’ Park welfare complex, as he makes six-weekly rostered trips to the Wallasey office.

Daily queries from the Union’s staff are wide-ranging — some of them not traditionally considered IT-related. ‘In a small office, everyone simply knows how

to find me,’ Frank says. ‘If the query is not related to IT, it can become related, even if it is about electricity!’

Outside work, Frank says he has ‘quite normal’ hobbies. He cares for a rescue dog from Athens, and plays amateur football in a veteran league once a week for his local club — the Stellendam, who finished as champions last year. Another passion is touring the Italian mountains on his motorcycles. He owns two Yamaha SRX600 series bikes — his pride and joy being an original 28-year-old one-cylinder bike, acquired when he worked in a motorcycle workshop before his IT career took him in other directions.

Wherev er you are , so are we

Join now

CALL NOW TO JOIN NAUTILUS ON: UK: +44 (0)151 639 8454 NL: +31 (0)10 477 11 88 CH: +41 (0)61 262 24 24

Join today so we can be there for you too!

Pay and conditions Nautilus International is the first truly trans-boundary trade union for maritime professionals, reflecting the global nature of the industry. We negotiate with employers on issues including pay, working conditions, working hours and pensions to secure agreements which recognise members’ skills and experience, and the need for safety for the maritime sector.

Legal services Nautilus Legal offers members a range of legal services free of charge. There are specialist lawyers to support members in work related issues and a number of non-work related issues. The Union also has a network of lawyers in 54 countries to provide support where members need it most.

Workplace support Nautilus International officials provide expert advice on work-related problems such as contracts, redundancy, bullying or discrimination, non-payment of wages, and pensions.

Certificate protection Members are entitled to free financial protection, worth up to £118,500, against the loss

43_infosprd.indd 43

of income if their certificate of competency is cancelled, suspended or downgraded following a formal inquiry.

training. The Union is affiliated to the TUC in the UK, FNV in the Netherlands and SGB/USS in Switzerland.

Extra savings Members can take advantage of many additional discounts and benefits organised at a local level. These include tax advice, insurance discounts and advice on pension matters. In the Netherlands, discounts are organised through FNV, and trade union contributions are mostly tax-friendly, entitling members to receive a significant part of their contributions back.

In touch As a Nautilus International member, help is never far away — wherever in the world you are.

Officials regularly see members onboard their ships and visit cadets at college. Further support and advice is available at regular ‘surgeries’ and conferences. The Union has offices in London, Wallasey, Rotterdam and Basel.

There are also representatives based in France, Spain and Singapore.

International representation Nautilus International represents members’ views on a wide range of national and international bodies including the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the International Federation of Shipmasters’ Associations (IFSMA).

We work at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on key global regulations covering working conditions, health and safety and

Join us today…

Call +44 (0)151 639 8454 Visit www.nautilusint.org Email membership@nautilusint.org g For the full range of member benefits visit www.nautilusint.org

OR g Speak with our membership department on +44 (0)151 639 8454

Your union, your voice The Union represents the voice of more than 22,000 maritime professionals working in all sectors of the industry at sea and ashore — including inland navigation, large yachts, deepsea and offshore.

For members, by members Nautilus International is a dynamic and democratic trade union offering members many opportunities to become actively involved and have your say — at a local, national and international level.

14/03/2016 18:34

44 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | April 2016

NEWS

Upsizing savings ‘set to run out’

CMA CGM in US calls is to deploy six 18,000TEU A ultra-large containerships (ULC) in

The French operator CMA CGM

the Asia-US Pacific trades following successful trials in the ports of Oakland and Long Beach.

The decision was made after the UK-flagged CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin became the biggest vessel to visit a US port last December and completed a second series of west coast calls last month —including Long Beach, left.

Together with sisterships CMA CGM Bougainville, Kerguelen, Georg Forster, Vasco de Gama and Zheng He, Benjamin Franklin will operate from May on the Pearl River Express service, which links the main Chinese ports —including Xiamen, Nansha and Yantian — with Los Angeles and Oakland.

containerships could be coming F to an end, a new study has suggested.

The scramble to ‘supersize’

Research by Drewry Shipping Consultants published last month warns the industry that the economies of scale gained by building ever-larger vessels are running out — and further efficiency gains will only be made if the rest of the supply chain, including ports and terminals, expands to cope.

But the report notes that the newbuild ‘arms race’ which began in 2009 is set to continue for the time being, with 53 ‘megaships’ due to come into service this year. This will put strain on ports and terminals, it adds, as larger ships increase the amount of cargo that has to be handled at times of peak container activity.

The analysts said that while bigger ships help carriers to reduce voyage costs, the savings are increasingly offset by higher port and landside costs —meaning that total system cost savings are small and efficiency gains are further eroded as vessel sizes increase beyond 18,000TEU. Larger vessels place greater demands on ports, the study explains, as channels have to cater for deeper draughts. Terminals need to upgrade equipment, yard facilities and staffing levels to effectively handle increased peak cargo volumes.

The report also warns that continued vessel upsizing — including prospects of 24,000TEU ships — will lead to lower service frequency and less choice for shippers, higher supply chain risks as volumes are concentrated in fewer vessel, and adverse environmental effects arising from dredging deeper channels and expanding yard areas.

‘As more megaships enter service the industry is rapidly approaching a critical stage,’ warned Drewry MD Tim Power. ‘To ensure the economics of vessel upsizing continue to benefit the entire supply chain, lines and ports need to work in a more coordinated manner if further productivity improvements from the transport system are to be realised.

‘All stakeholders in the supply chain must recognise the need for dialogue and collaboration if the maritime transport system as a whole is to benefit,’ he added. ‘If these benefits cannot be delivered and economies of scale in this industry really are running out, the implications are profound.’

Mr Power said there could be benefits for the industry if future vessel ordering is based on a true assessment of future demand growth. ‘When this happens, the tendency to structural over-capacity that has plagued the industry will be much reduced,’ he pointed out.

Pilots’ alarm at safety pressure Bigger ships are pushing at the very margins of safety, conference is warned

P

Shipowners and ports are increasingly pushing marine pilots and seafarers to the very margins of safety, the head of the International Marine Pilots’ Association (IMPA) has warned.

Speaking at the Innovation in Maritime Navigation conference at Trinity House last month, IMPA secretary-general Nick Cutmore said there appears to be an expectation that the existing port infrastructures will be able to handle the new generation of ‘super-sized’ ships.

During the planning for the London Gateway port a decade ago, he said visualisations were based on a 367m vessel which was still to be built — yet ‘no sooner than the terminal opened, it was handling 400m-plus vessels’.

The biggest ships calling at Felixstowe are unable to steer themselves around the Beach End, Mr Cutmore added, and instead have to be dragged around using dynamic escort towage.

Ships of 330m are using the port of Tilbury, he said, even

Merchant Navy Operations (Deck) Certificates of Competency Officer of the Watch (Unlimited) Jan, May & Sept intakes Chief Mate/Masters (Unlimited) May & Sep intakes Master Mariner (Unlimited) Orals Prep Mar & Oct intakes Master Mariner (200Gt) Orals Prep (2 weeks) STCW Safety, Navigation & Management STCW Basic Safety Training Personal Survival Techniques (FULL) Personal Survival Techniques (UPDATE) Personal Safety & Social Responsibilities Elementary First Aid Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting ECDIS Efficient Deck Hand HELM Operational & Management

44_news.indd 44

though the channel is just 300m wide. Precise positional accuracy for pilots is now ‘truly critical’ — notably in the ‘third dimension’ of under-keel clearance (UKC).

‘UKC has had to move from a system of generous theoretical norms into more dynamic calculations to exploit channels to the very maximum,’ Mr Cutmore told the meeting. ‘And by maximum, we are talking just centimetres or even zero UKC.’ Problems also arise from modern ship design and operation, the IMPA leader said. ‘Ships today are built more than ever with economy in mind which does not make them easy ships to handle,’ he added. ‘They are designed to make economical passages over long distances and manoeuvring is not uppermost in the designer’s mind — their arrival and departure from ports is someone else’s problem.’

Pilots are having to deal with issues such as enormous windage areas and small rudders in relative terms to reduce drag, Mr Cutmore explained. At the same time, crew

Man Over Board / Rib Capsize Drills NAEST (O) & (M) Security Awareness Designated Securities Duties Shipboard Safety Officer Shipboard Security Officer

IMCA leader Nick Cutmore at last month’s Trinity House conference

levels have been cut so much that there can be delays in making tugs fast.

Mr Cutmore said it is time for a ‘reality check’ on bridge technology — and to take note of the potential flaws in the key systems being used by seafarers and marine pilots. There is a wide divergence in the coverage and quality of ENCs, he warned, aids

to navigation are limited in many parts of the world, and there is an over-reliance on global navigation satellite systems.

Shipping’s ‘fixation’ on cutting costs means many vessels are equipped with minimum-quality navigational systems — presenting bridge teams with a collection of unreliable and disjointed chunks of information rather than integrated data.

Pilots had been expecting the eNavigation project to have delivered something by now on its basic premise of exchanging and harmonising data on bridges,Mr Cutmore told the meeting. ‘But in 10 years the opportunities have been wasted while we have discussed abstract concepts and in the pursuit of even more shore control,’ he added.

‘Before we talk about all the cool things that we can do for ships, let’s make sure we have the basics right,’ he stressed. ‘After all, it is the needs of the professional mariners onboard that should be driving all of this.’ g See feature — page 21.

Industry warns of box rules confusion have called for clarity on the F enforcement of rules requiring the Port operators and shippers

weighing of containers, which are due to come into effect in July.

Under the SOLAS Convention amendments, all containers to be loaded onto ships will need to be accompanied by verified gross mass (VGM) certificates. The rules have been developed in a bid to cut the number of accidents caused by overweight or inaccurately declared containers.

The World Shipping Council (WSC) last month demanded clarification after the US Coast Guard suggested that the rules were not mandatory and that it had no authority to enforce them on shippers and terminals.

The European ports organisation FEPORT urged EU member states to publish details of the way in which they will police the SOLAS requirements — warning that a lack of national guidelines will ‘ultimately provoke confusion in the implementation and will have an adverse impact on operations and lead to possible competitive distortion’.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson described the confusion over the new rules as ‘puzzling given that there has been sufficient notice of this essential safety measure by the IMO’.

Training courses for the maritime and offshore industries

Command & Control for ERRVs Masters & Mates Tanker COMPEX EX01 to EX04 Tanker Familiarisation Specialist Tanker Training (Oil) Processing Hydrocarbons SVQ Medical & First Aid Process Engineering Maintenance SVQ Medical First Aid Onboard Ship Dynamic Positioning Medical Care Onboard Ship (& Refresher) DP Induction Offshore Wind HSE Offshore First Aid (& Refresher) (National Wind Farm Training Centre) GWO DP Simulator First Aid at Work (& Refresher) Basic Safety Training DP Introduction Emergency First Aid at Work Marine Transfer Confined Space Entry & Rescue Oil & Gas Radio Offshore Wind Emergency Response Training & OIM Management of Major GMDSS GOC/ROC/CAA Assessment (Operations & Management) Emergencies VHF Short Range Certificate CRO Controlling Emergencies

Health, Safety & Environment Abrasive Wheels IOSH Managing Safely IOSH Working Safely COSHH Assessor / Awareness NEBOSH General Certificate

Lowestoft College, St Peters Street, Lowestoft Suffolk NR32 2NB, United Kingdom Tel: 00 44 1502 525025 Facilities for Hire Environmental Pool (wave, wind, rain) Email: maritime@lowestoft.ac.uk Web: www.lowestoft.ac.uk/maritime.asp Marine Transfer Ladder Full Mission Ship’s Bridge Simulator Dynamic Positioning Simulator Offshore Control Room Simulator

14/03/2016 12:21