Price EUR 7 No 2 – March 13, 2009 www.shipgaz.com
Shipgaz visits the Orasund alongside:
Fixing up a Dane The front page picture is sponsored by Berg Propulsion AB
Custom-made for The adventures the Western Channel of seaman Pålle Brittany Ferries introduces the ro-pax Armorique, their largest ever purpose built vessel for the Plymouth–Roscoff service. PAGE 36
The story of Nils-Arne Pålsson begins on the steamer Moldavia in 1950 and winds through rat wars and cholera to his electronic inventions for the maritime industry. PAGE 58
Set on finding the right stuff In the brown leather chairs of Maritime Psychologist Bengt Schager’s office, the sheep are divided from the goats. PAGE 44
Courses 2009 BASED ON EXPERIENCE Our ambition is to offer courses that increase security and raise safety. Ashore and at sea. Below, we present a selection of the courses we provide at our course venues in Stockholm, Göteborg or on Käringön. Naturally, these courses can also be held at venues and times that suit you. Our courses are known for their high standard and quality. We are approved as education providers by the Swedish Transport Agency. Welcome to Scandinavian Safety Training Centre. ISPS Ship Security officer, SSO
Crisis management – STCW Crisis & Crowd Management
For mariners planning to serve as a Ship Security Officer.
For mariners serving as senior officers or for personnel in the safety organization on RoRo or passenger vessels.
COURSE CERTIFICATE: Course
certificate in accordance with guidelines issued by the Swedish Transport Agency.
COURSE CERTIFICATE: Certificate of competency and MCRM certificate.
STCW Basic safety
MCRM – Maritime Crew Resource Management
For mariners planning to be part of a ship’s safety organization regardless of level and type of vessel.
For personnel in the shipping industry, safety managers and management groups. Also provided as a refresher course.
COURSE CERTIFICATE: STCW certificate in accordance with guidelines issued by the Swedish Transport Agency as well as a CPR competence card and AED heart-starter.
COURSE CERTIFICATE: Students who have successfully completed the course are awarded an MCRM certificate.
STCW Basic firefighting For mariners planning to be part of a ship’s safety organization regardless of level and type of vessel. COURSE CERTIFICATE: Course certificate in accordance with guidelines issued by the Swedish Transport Agency.
Emergency preparedness This course is designed primarily for shipping companies and companies needing to build up and/or verify crisis management systems. COURSE CERTIFICATE: Course
certificate.
STCW Medical Care Basic & Refresher For personnel who are responsible for and administer medical care on board ships with medical chest “A” as stipulated in SJÖFS 2007:11 COURSE CERTIFICATE: Course certificate in accordance with guidelines issued by the Swedish Transport Agency.
ISPS Company Security Officer, CSO For mariners planning to serve as Company Security Officer. COURSE CERTIFICATE: Certificate of competency for ship security officers in accordance with guidelines issued by the Swedish Transport Agency.
ISPS Port Facility Security Officer, PFSO For mariners planning to serve as a Port Facility Security Officer.
NE W !
COURSE CERTIFICATE: Certificate of competency for security officers in accordance with guidelines issued by the Swedish Transport Agency.
You can find more courses at sstcab.se Our whole course program, together with detailed descriptions, can be found on our web site where you can also order our course catalogue.
For more information Tel. +46 31 701 05 10 • gbg@sstcab.se www.sstcab.se Our courses deal with life, property and the environment. We focus on preventive, corrective and follow-up measures by discussing what should be considered before, during and after daily incidents, accidents and extraordinary events.
THEY CALL US EXPERTS. GUESS wHY?
Adress: P O Box 370, SE-401 25 Göteborg, Sweden Phone: +46-31-62 95 70 Fax: +46-31-80 27 50 E-mail: info@shipgaz.com Internet: www.shipgaz.com ISSN 2000-169X Editor-in-Chief/Publisher Rolf P Nilsson +46-31-62 95 80, rolf@shipgaz.com
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Sweden’s leading marine construction and diving company. We’re approved by all major Class societies
Magnus Hägg, Göteborg, Sweden magnus@shipgaz.com
and we do underwater inspections, all types of underwater maintenance and repairs, including hull cleaning and propeller polishing. And although our
FRONT PAGE PICTURE
main market is Scandinavia, we work all over the
Berg Propulsion’s core competence lies in the design, production and service of safe, reliable propulsion solutions for industrial and merchant shipping worldwide. Every solution is a customized concept; from propeller, hub, and shaft design, to remote control and monitoring. The product portfolio ranges from Controllable Pitch Propellers, Bow Thrusters and Rotatable Thrusters. For more info, please visit bergpropulsion.com
world. So if you are looking for a bunch of tough, professional, service minded experts, just call us.
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A subscription to Shipgaz gives you eight issues per year and a weekly newsletter by e-mail for only EUR 80 per year (plus Fixing up a Dane shipping). For further subscription details, visit www.shipgaz.com/subscribe or Phone: +46 770 457 114 E-mail: kundtjanst@titeldata.se Web: www.prenservice.se Price EUR 7 No 2 – March 13, 2009 www.shipgaz.com
Shipgaz visits the Orasund alongside:
The story of Nils-Arne Pålsson begins on the steamer Moldavia in 1950 and winds through rat wars and cholera to his electronic inventions for the maritime industry. PAGE 58
Set on finding the right stuff
In the brown leather chairs of Maritime Psychologist Bengt Schager’s office, the sheep are divided from the goats. PAGE 44
by Berg Propulsion AB
the ro-pax Armorique, their largest ever purpose built vessel for the Plymouth–Roscoff service. PAGE 36
The front page picture is sponsored
Custom-made for The adventures the Western Channel of seaman Pålle Brittany Ferries introduces
WAT E R P R O O F
FR O G DYK AB, LeR GO DsGAtAn 1 , 4 1 7 0 7 Gö teBOR G, sweD en. 2 4 ti m/ h seR vi ce 03 1 3 0 3 3 3 0 0 , FAx 03 1 3 0 3 33 99. www.f ro g.se
4 SHIPGAZ NO 2 2009
Intro From a broken boiler to a burning Japanese
FEATURE
WELCOME In a time when most arrows point downwards (take a look at page 12), it feels great to concentrate on making a more lush shipping magazine than ever before. In this second issue of Shipgaz, we visit the Orasund while lying alongside for repairs. The fairly new tanker looks a bit strange at the moment, with the old boiler in pieces in a container and the new one spread all over the weather deck, to be assembled and fitted on board. The coaster Danica White has hit the headlines at several occasions, as she was the first to be hi-jacked for ransom by pirates off Somalia. She also had a captain who opposed the US Coast Guard and was jailed for it. In this issue we portray the current captain, Leif Hansen, who has had no such trouble so far. Bengt Schager has a bit of a problem with taxi drivers who amuse themselves by scaring Schager’s clients half witless before they enter the office. Well, who wouldn’t be at least a bit nervous before being examined by a Maritime Psychologist, with the aim to weed out those who don’t measure up. Shipgaz met him at his office. Chief Engineer Nils-Arne Pålsson, called Pålle by all that know him, has a bulky catalogue of marvellous stories of his adventures at sea. Don’t miss the story of the flambéed Japanese. That story and many more will likely keep you turning the pages. Welcome!
»Who wouldn’t be nervous before being examined by a Maritime Psychologist, with the aim to weed out those who don’t measure up«
ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Anna Lundberg anna.lundberg@shipgaz.com
RETRO As late as the mid-1960s, there was still a fleet of timber steamers owned and operated out of Haugesund, the busy Norwegian shipping town. PAGE 74
REPORT Not all of us would be good seamen, according to Maritime Psychologist Bengt Schager, who helps shipping companies to recruit the right people. PAGE 44
PORTRAIT Leif Hansen shares his time between being the captain of the Danica White and running a fruit plantation in Thailand. PAGE 32
NO 2 2009 SHIPGAZ 5
Intro »Who wants to become a master if you risk jail for things you have no chance of knowing« EDITORIAL PAGE 7
In this issue 28 Cosco Busan accident report The pilot was medically unfit but the master did not dare to question him.
29 Mooring – a risky business The UK P&I Club is concerned over the increase of mooring accidents.
30 Why the Finnbirch went down Rough weather with waves hitting midships for a long time led to heeling.
36 Newcomer Armorique Brittany Ferries introduces their largest ever purpose built vessel.
42 Doing a lay-up the right way There are plenty of regulations around a lay-up procedure.
52 NATO back in fighting piracy The EU anti-piracy force will soon be accompanied by NATO.
54 IMO urges to save with sense The IMO showed concern over cost-cutting in training and maintenance.
When Shipgaz steps on board the Orasund to meet Captain Eliasen and his crew, the repairs are in full swing all over the ship.
56 Bilge water system approved The Senitec system shows discharge well below IMO requirements.
58 The adventures of seaman Pålle Sea life for Nils-Arne Pålsson starts at the galley sink of the steamer Moldavia.
PAGE 14
69 Tough times ahead for cruising Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises foresee a challenging 2009.
Regular sections
FEATURE Sea life for Nils-Arne Pålsson starts at the galley sink of the steamer Moldavia, winds through rat wars, a burning Japanese and many electronic inventions. PAGE 58
REPORT Shipgaz followed in the steps of a Brussels shipping lobbyist for a day. Peter Olsen sees to it that the EU politicians make the right decisions. PAGE 66
7 8 12 32 36 48 70 74
Editorial Review Market Review Portrait Newcomer Fleet Review Technical Review Retro
6 SHIPGAZ NO 2 2009
Intro From a broken boiler to a burning Japanese
FEATURE
WELCOME In a time when most arrows point downwards (take a look at page 12), it feels great to concentrate on making a more lush shipping magazine than ever before. In this second issue of Shipgaz, we visit the Orasund while lying alongside for repairs. The fairly new tanker looks a bit strange at the moment, with the old boiler in pieces in a container and the new one spread all over the weather deck, to be assembled and fitted on board. The coaster Danica White has hit the headlines at several occasions, as she was the first to be hi-jacked for ransom by pirates off Somalia. She also had a captain who opposed the US Coast Guard and was jailed for it. In this issue we portray the current captain, Leif Hansen, who has had no such trouble so far. Bengt Schager has a bit of a problem with taxi drivers who amuse themselves by scaring Schager’s customers half witless before they enter the office. Well, who wouldn’t be at least a bit nervous before being examined by a Maritime Psychologist, with the aim to weed out those who don’t measure up. Shipgaz met him at his office. Chief Engineer Nils-Arne Pålsson, called Pålle by all that know him, has a bulky catalogue of marvellous stories of his adventures at sea. Don’t miss the story of the flambéed Japanese. That story and many more will likely keep you turning the pages. Welcome!
»Who wouldn’t be nervous before being examined by a Maritime Psychologist, with the aim to weed out those who don’t measure up«
ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Anna Lundberg anna.lundberg@shipgaz.com
RETRO As late as the mid-1960s, there was still a fleet of timber steamers owned and operated out of Haugesund, the busy Norwegian shipping town. PAGE 74
REPORT Not all of us would be good seamen, according to Maritime Psychologist Bengt Schager, who helps shipping companies to recruit the right people. PAGE 44
PORTRAIT Leif Hansen shares his time between being the captain of the Danica White and running a fruit plantation in Thailand. PAGE 32
NO 2 2009 SHIPGAZ 7
Intro »Citat«
EDITORIAL PAGE 7
Cosco Busan accident report The pilot was medically unfit but the master did not dare to question him. PAGE 28
Mooring – a risky business The UK P&I Club is concerned over the increase of mooring accidents. PAGE 29
Why the Finnbirch went down Rough weather with waves hitting midships for a long time led to heeling. PAGE 30
Newcomer Armorique Brittany Ferries introduces their largest ever purpose built vessel. PAGE 36
Doing a lay-up the right way There are plenty of regulations around a lay-up procedure. PAGE 42
NATO back in fighting piracy The EU anti-piracy force will soon be accompanied by NATO. PAGE 52
IMO urges to save with sense The IMO showed concern over cost-cutting in training and maintenance. PAGE 54
Bilge water system approved When Shipgaz steps on board the Orasund to meet Captain Eliasen and his crew, the repairs are in full swing all over the ship. PAGE 14
The Senitec system shows discharge well below IMO requirements. PAGE 56
The adventures of seaman Pålle Sea life for Nils-Arne Pålsson starts at the galley sink of the steamer Moldavia. PAGE 58
Tough times ahead for cruising Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises foresee a challenging 2009. PAGE 69
Regular sections
FEATURE Sea life for Nils-Arne Pålsson starts at the galley sink of the steamer Moldavia, winds through rat wars, a burning Japanese and many electronic inventions. PAGE 58
REPORT Shipgaz followed in the steps of a Brussels shipping lobbyist for a day. Peter Olsen sees to it that the EU politicians make the right decisions. PAGE 66
7 8 12 32 36 48 70 74
Editorial Review Market Review Portrait Newcomer Fleet Review Technical Review Retro
8 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Review 2
Photo: broström ab
Photo: concordia maritime
1
3
Photo: seadrill
Photo: bent mikkelsen
Ro-ro service terminated after six sailings traffic The ro-ro service between Fredericia, Denmark and Moss, Norway, did not last long. After only six sailings with hardly any cargo or trailers on board, it was decided to close down the service and return the ro-ro vessel Moondance to Seatruck Ferries. “We started with extremely bad timing”, says Klaus G Andersen, Fredericia Shipping, to the Danish newspaper Børsen. “At the time of planning, prospects were really interesting, but the financial crisis has caught up with our initiative”, he adds. The service was set up in a joint venture between Fredericia Shipping and Seatruck Shipping, which is a part of the Danish Clipper Group. The ro-ro vessel Moondance became superfluous after several newbuildings had been deployed in Seatruck’s Irish services. The vessel will now return to Liverpool for layup.
Tough times for Fredriksen companies business Almost every other day, a new sombre report from a John Fredriksen-controlled company is released. Seadrill reports a USD 739 million loss for Q4 2008, against a USD 223 million profit for Q4 the year before. The company has been forced to writedown the value of its holdings in Pride International, Scorpion Offshore and SapuraCrest by USD 615 million. Seadrill operates a fleet of 37 drilling rigs, tender rigs and drillships. The bulk carrier operator Golden Ocean reports a strong result for 2008, but there are large dark clouds at the horizon. Net profits doubled compared with 2007, to USD 400 million. The fourth quarter generated a USD 26.7 million profit, about one third of the Q4 2007 profit.
Despite the strong 2008 result, the company warns that it might run out of liquidity in March, and that 10 of 21 ordered newbuildings still lacks financing. On the tanker side, Frontline has negotiated delayed deliveries by 5-9 months of eight suezmax newbuildings. The company’s order book contains 17 newbuildings and USD 1.37 billion remains to be paid up to 2012. The company’s finance chief says to TradeWinds that Frontline has to find USD 300 million in financing beside the banks to manage this. Ship Finance International also reports a massive fall in results during Q4 last year. A USD 3.1 million profit means a cut by over 94 per cent compared to Q4 2007. The company has decided to cut the dividend by half.
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 9
The editor of the Review section is Pierre Adolfsson, contact him at pierre@shipgaz.com
Review Photo: joachim sjöström
Photo: us navy
4
Photo review
1. Concordia maritime reports net sales of EUR 50.5 million and a EUR 8.6 million profit after tax for 2008, up EUR 9.3 million and EUR 3 million respectively, compared to 2007. 2. lennart simonsson, the Broström Managing Director, has chosen to step down, but will continue as special advisor. 3. the us navy arrested seven suspected pirates after an attack on the tanker Polaris, 13,107 dwt, in the Gulf of Aden. 4. finnlines started a new weekly ro-ro service between Helsinki and Immingham on February 28 with the Birka Express.
Photo: bourbon offshore
Photo: norges rederiforbund/höegh autoliners
Bourbon needs 4,000 seafarers
Norway strengthens global labour rights law Norway has ratified the Maritime Labour Convention, adopted by the ILO (International Labour Organization) in 2006. The convention covers seafarers’ working and living conditions and promotes a level playing field for quality shipping in the maritime sector. It aims to protect the world’s 1.2 million or more seafarers. Norway is the first European state to ratify the convention, and the fifth country in total. The other states are Liberia, the Republic of Marshall Islands, the Bahamas and Panama, major flag States that together represent more than 40 per cent (by gross tonnage) of the world’s fleet. “This is an important contribution to make the convention enter into force at an
international level. It is also a strong signal to other states to follow us”, says Rikke Lind, State Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The convention comes into force when a minimum of 33 per cent of the world’s gross tonnage as well as 30 states have ratified. In other areas of the shipping industry, Norway is working intensively to improve working and living conditions. Recently, the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, Norwegian authorities visited ship breakers in Bangladesh. The IMO last year approved the text of the draft ship recycling convention for adoption at a conference in May 2009. The shipowners’ association is trying to get Bangladesh to ratify the convention as soon as possible.
labour Bourbon Offshore is growing rapidly and is determined to keep on growing. The company has a newbuilding program of 150 vessels and boats. Deputy CEO Frank Dambrin says to Tradewinds that the expansion will demand recruitment of more than 4,000 seafarers over the coming three years. He does not expect the company to be able to recruit all of these from the offshore sector, Bourbon will turn to the merchant shipping sector.
98.2
D/S Norden has seized USD 98.2 million via a New York court from a Russian customer. The Russian company Rusal Trading International has not paid its bills for several shipments of bauxite.
10 Shipgaz no 2 2009
Review Photo: seabird marine services
Photo: the euroPean union
EU to outlaw pollution at sea law The European Parliament’s transport committee wants to make maritime pollution a criminal offence. Even minor cases of pollution should be made criminal if they are repeated, committed deliberately or caused as a result of serious negligence. Penalties should apply to anyone involved in the pollution, from shipowners to classification societies. The so-called Erika III package, which was broadly supported in the transport committee, will later this spring be brought to the European Parliament for a vote before it will be negotiated with the member states in the Council of Ministers. ”The move should stop those sea-polluters who would rather pay an administrative fine than prevent pollution”, the European Parliament said according to the news site European Voice.
Teekay lays off 198 seamen labour 198 Norwegian seamen at Teekay have been given notice as a result of their employer deciding to reflag and replace Norwegian workers with Filipinos. “Social dumping of the worst kind”, comments Johnny Hansen of the union Norske Sjømannsforbund to dagbladet.no. The union believes that the shipping company is using a loophole in Norwegian law, which allows evasion of national regulation for wages and working conditions in Norwegian waters. According to the union, Teekay has had paid Filipino workers on hold for quite some time, ready to take over as soon as the Norwegian workers were laid off. After several takeovers, Canada-based Teekay has become one of the largest players in oil shipments on the Norwegian continental shelf. The company controls a fleet of 178 vessels.
More vessels leave the Suez canal traffic The world economy downturn and the piracy hazard off Somalia has led to a 22 per cent decrease in Suez Canal transits in January, compared with January last year. A spokesperson told AFP that a total of 1,303 transits were recorded, with revenues down by USD 82 million to USD 332.4 million. The Grand Alliance group (Hapag-Lloyd, MISC Berhad, NYK and OOCL) are diverting their EU3 service away from the Suez canal on the way back from Europe to Asia.
the move is said to save the USD 600,000 canal fee which is more than the seven extra days at sea sailing around Africa costs with the current fuel price. Maersk Line, which was one of the first container companies to divert a service from the Suez Canal, is considering diverting more services to sail around Africa. A number of operators have been meeting with the Suez Canal Authorities in order to persuade the Canal to reduce transit fees. Maersk was represented by CEO Nils Smede-
gaard Andersen and Maersk Line CEO Eivind Kolding in a hearing but no concrete result came out of the meeting. The container companies find that a transit fee of USD 700,000 for a large container carrier is too much. msc beGan its diversions from the Suez by switching the eastbound leg of the company’s Lion service between Northern Europe and China to the longer route. CMA CGM is considering having several of its services by-pass the Suez Canal and claims the measure could be long-term and the company further states it will save around USD 250,000 per trip when slowsteaming at 20 knots when the difference between canal fee and seven days extra sailing has been calculated. In addition, the company would avoid extra insurance costs when passing through the piracy-infested waters off Somalia.
»Our money box is well-filled and we are in the market looking for attractive deals that will add to our growth« Ulf G Ryder, CEO of Stena Bulk tells Swedish Radio that his company won’t follow others that are focusing on cost cutting actions such as withdrawals of employee benefits.
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 11
Review Photo: international labour organization
Photo: emsa
No new deal for minimum wage
EMSA warns of cuts in safety expenses safety Jørgen Hammer Hansen, chairman of European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), foresees a large risk of shipowners cutting expenses relating to safety and the environment due to the current financial and economic situation. “It is probably not too pessimistic to expect that the quality of shipping will come under pressure in the coming years when shipping companies must cut costs to survive in business. Some may postpone maintenance and installation of new equipment or otherwise jeopardize safety, security or the environment”, Hammer Hansen writes in his foreword to the EMSA work programme. Highlighted areas of importance for EMSA in 2009 are three surveillance projects: SafeSeaNet, which will help member states to monitor ships operating in
European waters and detect oil spills; the EU LRIT Data centre, which must be operational as soon as possible; and the THESIS project, which is a tool for implementing the new inspection regime for port state control of ships. EMSA was established in 2003, today the agency has over 200 employees just about to move into new headquarters Ribeira das Naus in Portugal. The CleanSeaNet has already been tested as the system detected an oil spill off the Irish coast, one of EMSA’s eleven stand-by vessels was mobilized. The last few stand-by vessels with responsibility for the Black Sea and the North Sea will be contracted in 2009. A new procurement for stand by vessels for the Baltic Sea and the Channel and Atlantic area has recently been announced.
labour The International Shipping Federation, ISF, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, ITF, have failed to agree on a new ILO Minimum Wage for Able Seafarers. According to ISF, there is no room for any wage increases in the current global economic crisis. The organisation says that it is willing to negotiate next February or at any given time before that if the economic situation improves. Today, the minimum wage is USD 545 per month. Over 600,000 seafarers are members of ITF affiliated unions worldwide.
Scandlines to cut 400 jobs labour The German ferry company Scandlines has informed the trade unions Transnet and NGG that up to 400 German jobs may be in danger up until the end of 2010 due to decreasing traffic volumes According to Transnet, the number of jobs will be cut by half in Rostock, and this will especially hit the administration. There will also be job cuts in Puttgarden.
12 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Market Review
The world in dire need of perspective Analysis There lies a huge responsibility with the banks of the world to get things going again after the dramatic stop in the world economy last year. About ninety per cent of the world’s seaborne trade is based on letters of credit. If these are not available, there will be nothing to ship, and according to many observers, banks do not seem to give this priority.
This is a short-sighted, panicky strategy by the banks, and it is also a sign that banks might not always be willing to take the responsibility they have, not only to their owners but also for society. Without trade, society falls and that will also be the end for
Investments to a standstill
newbuilding contracts Secondhand transactions Drilling rigs
3,000
2,000
1,000
J
F
M
a
M
J
J
a
S
o
n
D
Source: Shipgaz Bergen
Reported contracts and transactions 2008 USD million
0
Who feels eager to go shopping, when you are met by warlike headlines telling you that this is the worst crisis since the 1930s? It is not too difficult to create a picture with people starving and fighting in the streets for some bread crumbs. Forecasts for the economic development this year is uncertain, to say the least, but the fact is that even if the world’s collective GDP just grows by more than zero per cent, it will be the best year ever. If it shrinks
Offshore The New Year’s party in offshore lasted until the end of January, when the North Sea market plummeted from reasonable utilization to an oversupply of vessels. From an average GBP 35,000–40,000 per day for large anchor-handlers the level has dropped to a poor GBP 6,000 at the time of writing. For platform vessels the decrease has been less pronounced, but still dramatic with rates well below break-even. There are at present about 80 supply and support vessels operating in the North Sea spot market, including 13 vessels with specialized or limited capabilities like offshore tugs and subsea vessels. The long-term market has kept up better. Options are still being declared for extensions at reasonably good rates in the North Sea. In Brazil, Petrobras has contracted older anchor-handlers like the Normand Drott for four years at rates around GBP 25,000 per day. Similarly, Murphy Oil has taken the larger Normand Atlantic and Normand Ivan for two years at USD 74,000 per day. Hagland Offshore notes in its January report that the current financial market is the most important obstacle for the offshore service industry, rather than the prospects for the oil price. The bankruptcy of the Solstrand shipyard caused Trico to cancel its MT-6009 newbuild-
Long-term fixtures Charterer Vessel Shell N Rem Provider Nexen North Mariner StatoilHydro Bourbon Topaz Dong Northern Wave Petrobras Far Sea Prtrobras Normand Drott Petrobraz Maersk handler
Type psv psv psv psv ahts ahts ahts
ing Trico Sapphire, a platform supply vessel. The semi-complete vessel was sold by the creditors to Havship DA, a company owned by Per Saevik (the former owner of the yard), and has been delivered as Havila Fortune. With regard to value, the level has been maintained until now. Rem Offshore was able to sell its second UT712L anchor-handler from Kleven, to be named Rem Viking, at a price around NOK 400 million, rendering a NOK 100 sale profit. The market is still leaving room for opportunities. Dag Bakka jr Source: Shipgaz Bergen, February 20, 2009
shipping market amounted to some USD 20 billion last year, but was brought to a standstill during the autumn. The total comprises newbuilding contracts of USD 12.5 billion and second-hand transactions of 7.7 billion. The year saw the collapse of the investment cycle begun in 2004, with strong effect on ship values. Some of the reported contracts have already been cancelled. The largest project finalised was the Maersk USD 4.2 billion order for container carriers. Danes account for 42.8 per cent of the reported orders and transactions, with Norwegians taking 50.5 per cent and the remaining shared between Swedish and Finnish owners; drilling rigs excluded. Several owners managed to sell at high prices, leaving the value of sales out of the region close to USD 4 billion, compared to second-hand imports of USD 3.4 billion. Dag Bakka jr
4,000
the banks. The money is there, some say that the problem is a loss of confidence between the banks, so a good first step would be if they start to talk to each other. At the same time, the economic crisis of today shows that downturns and upturns in the world economy is not a natural science, but to a large extent a psychological
phenomenon and that sometimes a lack of perspective, fuelled by media, plays an important role.
End of the offshore party
analysis Total transactions in the Nordic
5,000
»Although growth is halted for the moment, the base for a long-term positive development in the world is sound«
Offshore rate development
GBP 1,000 200 ahTs:
15,000–16,000 20,000+
psv:
600/700
150
100
50
0
Week
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 1 5
Operation 4 months from Jan ext to mid-2010 ext until Sept 09 ext until Nov 10 ext 4 yrs from summer 09, Brazil 4 yrs firm from summer 09, Brazil ext until early 2011, Brazil
no 2 2009 Shipgaz 13
Market Review
The editor of the Market Review section is Magnus Hägg, contact him at magnus@shipgaz.com
liner Deliveries, number of vessels cOnTainer 2008 2009
481 TO meeT an ever-grOWing DemanD, the world’s industry and service sectors are organised for a continuous growth. Although this is halted for the moment, the base for a long-term positive development in the world is sound. The economy will grow, trade will increase although there is a risk for increased protectionism during this downturn, and the banks will eventually get their acts together.
TrenD -23.5%
368
ferry 2008
34
Source: Barry rogLiano SaLLeS
along the most pessimistic forecasts, it will still be the world’s second most successful year in economic terms.
2009
TrenD -47.1%
18
mulTipurpOse 2009
TrenD
2009 103
TrenD -12.7%
reefer 2008 2009 4 5
TrenD
2008
391
rO-rO 2008
118
eDiTOr-in-chief
TOTal 2008
Rolf P Nilsson rolf@shipgaz.com
-34.5%
256
TrenD
-27.0%
Few hopes of rapid recovery shOrTsea Dry The pressure is building on of about EUR 1,400–1,500 per day over 14 days. owners as the collapse in the market seems to Little change in activity in the Mediterralast with few hopes of any rapid recovery. nean from previous weeks with owners seeSeveral ships have been put in semi lay-up ing more cargo possibilities, but also here over the past weeks with earnings levels on earning levels remains far below B/E levels 1,500 tonnage still remaining far below sailing for most ships. Mgo iFo 180 what anybody would consider acceptable. The outlook for coming weeks remains just as fixTures 1,200 gloomy as tonnage continues to pile up on • 1,000 mt agri prod Weser/Kaliningrad the Continent and Baltic. The only positive fixed EUR 17,000 lump sum 900 has been a fall in fuel costs over the past • 4,500 mt mins Tunisia/Span Med fixed trend weeks, but activity in the market remains far USD 10 p/mt too low to build any sort of momentum. • 3,000 mt wheat German Baltic/Irish Sea 600 3,000 mt parcels of minerals from Baltic to fixed EUR 14 p/mt ARAG area has been covered at levels just in • 800 mt steel prod ARAG/Bristol fixed EUR 300 of EUR 10 p/mt giving earnings on outexcess 20,000 lump sum ward cargo runs of about EUR 2,000 per day • 1,000 tonner for gens SC Norway/DK fixed on TC basis. Return earnings to Baltic howEUR 16,000 lump sum Week 0 ever remains around EUR 700–900 per day for 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 1 5 geir jersTaD the same size giving round voyage earnings
Mgo
1,500
iFo 180
1,200
earnings esTimaTes
Past 12 months. EUR/day 1,250 DWT 3,500 DWT
6,000
1,750 DWT 6,500 DWT
2,500 DWT
5,000
panamaxes anD hanDysiZes have followed suit with average earnings on a steady positive trend. The Clarkson estimate for a modern panamax was double in the middle of February compared to the average for 2009 to date. A transatlantic round-voyage generated earnings of USD 16,500, a more than quadrupling of the earnings in just six weeks. The Tanker secTOrs have generally been less hit of the economic downturn than the dry bulk sectors. VLCCs were still able to secure daily earnings in the USD 50,000–80,000 span by mid-February, and although rates had weakened when this is written, earnings for suezmaxes stood at well above USD 30,000 per day. Aframaxes trade at an average above USD 22,000.
Source: norBroKer aS, FeBruary 27, 2009
USD/ton
Source: norBroKer aS, FeBruary 27, 2009
mgO rOTTerDam cif prices
WeT & Dry Although it remains to be seen if it is sustainable, the sentiment in the large dry bulk sectors is cautiously positive. China’s emergency financial aid supports packages to its industries have given results, and the wheels have started to turn at the Chinese steel mills.
in The miDDle Of feBruary, the Clarkson Research capesize average earnings estimate stood at just below USD 30,000 per day, outperforming the average for 2009 to date by almost USD 12,500. Compared to the ‘zero-dollar-rates’ achieved not many weeks ago, this is a positive sign, not only for the dry bulk behemoths, but also for the economy at large.
+25%
2009 750
1028
Relief for dry – anxious times for wet
The OuTlOOk fOr The resT of the year is however uncertain with a lot of new large tanker tonnage entering the market and with what seems to be a high level of discipline in the OPEC countries to follow decisions on production cuts. rOlf p nilssOn
BalTic Dry Bulk inDices 3,000
20 May ’08 end ’08 mid-Feb ’09
600 2,000 300
0
1,000 Week 10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50 1
5
0
Week 10
6,000
5,000
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50 1
5
Dry
11,793
784
1,989
Capesize
18,105
1,345
3,567
Panamax
11,425
571
1,484
Supramax
6,641
430
1,148
Handysize
3,382
284
472
1,250 DWT
1,750 DWT
3,500 DWT
6,500 DWT
2,500 DWT
Source: BaLTic eXchange
4,000 900
Fixing up a Dane On a windy afternoon in January, the Orasund entered the Port of Esbjerg for a 25-day repair job. Shipgaz went on board to see how work developed.
Text & Photo: Bent Mikkelsen
When Shipgaz steps on board, the repairs are in full swing all over the ship. Captain Eliasen and his mixed crew have the company of several repairmen carrying out a compli cated boiler switch. he Orasund is a fairly new tanker with only eleven months of service on the keel, but a repair stay at Esbjerg was needed, as the boiler for heating of the cargo was out of service. Since the Orasund mainly sails with edible oil and other commodities that need heating in order to float in the pipelines, there was no means of postponing the repair.
T
We are welcomed by the captain, who introduces himself and the present condition of the ship: “I am Suni Eliasen and I was born on the Faeroe Islands, as you can hear from my accent. The Orasund does not look like a new ship at the moment, with the old boiler lying in a container for steel scrap on the quayside and bits and pieces for the new boiler lying all over the weather deck aft. Furthermore, a lot of roof panels have been taken down in order to establish wireless Internet connections all over the accommodation house.” He continues explaining that taking the Orasund
Captain Suni Eliasen started his career on Faeroese reefer vessels in the 1970s. Ever since his first assignment he has kept a personal log book, showing all the port he has called.
»Martin H Simonsen died in 1992 at the age of 90, but before then he had handed the business over to four children« that we don’t have shorter periods than four weeks”, says Suni Eliasen. “The same goes for our Polish crew. There are usually four persons covering three positions on board, and to a large degree they are free to arrange for the time off duty, but like with the officers the company has urged them to mainly arrange change in Northern European ports.”
Rederiet M H Simonsen was founded in July 1931, when captain Martin Hjorth Simonsen bought his first vessel. It was a small tjalk named the Mary. It was sold again after a year when he took up a position as pilot in Thyborøn at the western entrance to the Limfjord. While serving this position he purchased a logger, a former fishing vessel rebuilt as a freighter, which already had the name Inger. It stayed in the fleet until 1971 and still holds the record in the Simonsen fleet, which until 2009 has had 23 owned vessels since the start and a further two on order. The first vessels were dry cargo vessels, but a contract with the Danish sugar manufacturer Danske Sukker Fabrikker in the 1950s – for shipping of molasses in drums – made Martin Hjorth Simonsens buy a small tanker, the Brotank, in 1961 and enter the tanker business. Since the sale of the Inger in 1971 the fleet has consisted of only tankers for molasses and edible oils. Martin H Simonsen died in 1992 at the age of 90, but before then he had handed the business over to four children, two of whom are working in the company. Lars Hjort Simonsen now is the CEO after training and education as Master Mariner. He is supported by his sister Kirsten Hjorth Simonsen, who joined the company in 1991 after a career at the University of Århus, where she took a master’s degree in art history. These skills have since been supplemented with education in administration and accounting. The founder of Rederiet M H Simonsen, captain Martin Hjorth Simonsen (right) along with his eldest son Lars Hjorth Simonsen, who is now in charge of the family owned business. Here pictured on board the Oragreen at Aabenraa in March 1990 only a few year before Martin passed away.
from the shipyard in Tuzla, Turkey, was his first assignment in Rederiet M H Simonsen ApS of Svendborg. “I was the first captain on board the Orasund and left Tuzla on March 28, 2008, on the maiden voyage.”
Captain Suni Eliasen shares the vessel with a fellow captain, Bent Wulf Petersen, and he describes that the two of them are very free to plan work and off periods between them, to fit family life ashore: “He had his wife’s 50th birthday and some other family occasions, while I was eager to be at home in the autumn in order to participate in the local slaughter of the sheep in our area. I’m not from a sheep keeping family, but my wife is, and when we moved to her home village it was rather natural to apply for the right to keep sheep on the mountain side, like a real Faeroese would do.” “So we are free to make the crew change arrangements as we wish, but the company recommends
Ending up alongside in Esbjerg is typical for Rederiet M H Simonsen ApS, which over the years has developed quite some knowledge of using outside companies for repair jobs alongside, instead of going to a shipyard and letting them handle all the coordination. “It is really no problem”, says Superintendent Ulrik H Madsen. “We take the responsibility and as we don’t need any of the traditional services of a shipyard like docking or large welding of plating or so, we find it easier and also a bit cheaper to do this job alongside in a Danish port. And as the ship had Hamburg as its last port, Esbjerg was an obvious choice.” For a number of years Rederiet M H Simonsen has been a regular caller at Esbjerg, lifting fish oil from the local factories. The company has developed good contacts with the local repair industry – a quick check in the company files is all that is needed to see which
The Orasund is the company’s latest newbuilding and was delivered from a shipyard in Tuzla, Turkey, in March 2008.
In the spring captain Suni Eliasen takes out his Suzuki 1,000 cc bike and polishes it up for another season in the sun on the Faeroese mountain roads. The Orasund is the
second vessel carrying that name in the M H Simonsen fleet. The first was recycled in 2007, after 20 years of service.
»My first assignment on board the Orasund was a little special as I was the only Danish speaking person on board« firm to call if there is a hydraulic problem, an electrical problem or such. This time it is the local company Nordsø Electro that has been offered the job of installing the new satellite communication station.
In the autumn of 2008, Rederiet M H Simonsen decided to install satellite communication on all nine ships owned by the company, and that for two reasons: First of all to get online with each unit twenty four seven, which more or less is a must in the modern trading of tankers, but also to provide the crew with access to the Internet, skype telephone and emailing. “We consider communication to shore extremely important for the crew members nowadays”, says Philip Cossen, head of the nautical department of M H Simonsen. “We see the trends in need for future recruitment and are pretty sure that if we don’t provide good accommodation in modern vessels in combination with good food and easy communication with the families ashore, it will be a huge problem to recruit the right kind of people in the future. And by right kind I mean people with the necessary skills and the
personality to avoid alcohol while on board and to stay focused on the job while signed on”, says Philip Cossen.
On this particular Thursday the ship’s Polish second mate was working in the wheelhouse with a number of tasks. He and some of the ABs had replaced one of the windows in the wheelhouse. The original one had cracked earlier and was replaced with a plastic window in a complicated and time-consuming process. Second mate Adam Smolak, born in 1981, assists the two electricians to connect the satellite dome with the hardware in the wheelhouse and the cable connections to hot spots on each deck. “I also keep up with all the alterations to our nautical books on the bookshelves in the chartroom, which nowadays is a back part of the wheel house”, says Adam Smolak. “I am sailing on my first contract on the Orasund, but have earlier had one contract on the sister vessel Oraholm”, he adds. He also explains that the coming Internet and skype phone connection is a very good welfare arrangement, but it does not mean that much to him as he is single, yet, as he adds. “I don’t call my father and mother as often as I would call a girlfriend or a wife back home”, says Adam Smolak.
Rederiet M H Simonsen started the process of replacing older tonnage in 2000. They ordered their first newbuilding ever from a Turkish shipyard. “The trio of the Oraholm, Oratank and Orasund are all built to a high standard in tanks, pumps and
A team of Polish welders were hired to build a new steam boiler on board the Orasund. It took them 25 days to make a new one.
»My first assignment on board the Orasund was a little special as I was the only Danish speaking person on board« engine room as well as in the accommodation”, says captain Suni Eliasen. “All cabins on board are more or less of the same standard, apart from the chief engineer and I having a sort of lounge as extra, but otherwise it’s almost the same furniture, we all have our private bathrooms of the very same standard. All sofas throughout the whole ship are covered with saddler-made leather, which compared to North European standard was very cheap”, says Suni Eliasen. “They are really nice surroundings to live in”, he adds.
Suni Eliasen, born in 1960, joined M H Simonsen after a number of years sailing on the Shell-owned tankers Magn (I) and Magn (II), which were used by the Shell affiliate on the Faeroe Islands to lift the import of fuel, gasoline and petrol mainly from Mongstad (before that from Sola) to three depots on the islands. “It was a really nice job to have. But as Shell decided to sell the whole operation as well as the ships, I was made redundant and had to look for a new job”, says Suni Eliasen. “My first assignment on board the Orasund was a little special as I was the only Danish speaking person on board. Being the only Dane in a crew of 11–12 Polish-speaking people was boring and lonely. So I managed to persuade the company to mix the crew with more Danish citizens. The Poles are really nice people, several with a long record within the company, but it is very easy to keep conversation around the dinner table in your native language”, says the captain. “We keep to English as the working language and urge the Poles to use it in order to practise English on a daily basis, and not to use their native language in situations where everyone should have a chance to understand.” From time to time the company has problems with Polish citizens showing papers saying that have passed an English exam, but without being capable of using English on a daily basis on board. “We see these people from time to time. How they pass the exam I don’t know, but they have certainly forgotten most of the English when arriving on board. This makes everything complicated, as we have to have somebody to translate. So we usually send them back home and give the crew agent advice of our demands of the level of English”, says captain Suni Eliasen. The captain is looking forward to another five to six weeks on board before time off and then relief and back to his village of Oyndarfjørdur to his home passion (apart from the family): his motorbike. “I am a hobby biker in the summertime”, says Suni Eliasen. “In the spring I take out my Suzuki 1,000 cc
The two ABs Andrzej Kolanda (right) and Roman Jurkowski (left) painting the hull.
“I am certainly not ready to go home and do nothing at all”, says Chief Engineer John G Olsen, who with his 62 years is the oldest person by far signed on the Orasund at the moment.
bike and polish it up for another season in the sun on the Faeroese mountain roads.” Every summer he takes it to the Danish mainland to visit friends and family living on the flat Danish land. In the deck office we met the chief mate Finnbjørn Johansen, born in 1955 and also of Faeroese origin, who for a number of years has lived in Hirtshals. Population-wise, Hirtshals is the fourth largest Faeroese town. Torshavn – the capital of the Faeroe Islands – is the largest, followed by København, Århus and Aalborg. Apart from Torshavn, the Faeroese towns are rather small. Finnbjørn Johansen is planning the rest of the day’s work with the chief engineer. He wants the ABs in the engine room for some urgent work and argues that they cannot paint the hull anyway, as it is raining outside. He wins the discussion and the chief mate leaves to explain to the two ABs on the quayside that they will have to work in the warm engine room for the rest of the day.
The chief engineer, head of the technical depart-
The name system The system with the prefix Ora on all vessels was ‘invented’ in June 1984, when the company purchased the Norwegian tanker Toratank from Arne Teigen. All vessels purchased until 1984 had continued under the former name, but Arne Teigen insisted on a change of name on Toratank before the take-over. The process was made short as the T was stricken and the tanker became the Oratank.
ment on board, is an ageing man, who is very close to retirement, but does not look at all like a tired man ready for full-time at home. “I am certainly not ready to go home and do nothing at all”, says John G Olsen, who is the oldest person by far signed on the Orasund at the moment. He is 62 years old, thus in a part of his life where most Danes have retired under various schemes. John G Olsen explains: “Well, I am not as eager as years ago, but still fit for fight for daily work. Before joining Rederiet M H Simonsen I sailed in the Danish companies D/S Norden and D/S Torm in similar positions, which I was rather happy for. But as age is sneaking up on
No panic in the galley as Sylwester Iber is in control of the 12 o’clock meal.
»As the ship is still new, the workload on the maintenance side in the engine room is not that heavy« me, it becomes more and more troublesome to add extremely long travelling hours on airplanes, often into a different time zone. Imagine how it would be to be 62 years old after a 22-hour flight from Copenhagen to Singapore and further on to Australia, arriving with jet lag but having to start working immediately.” “This became a serious problem for me, but by shifting to this company it is much more comfortable, because all crew changes are in a North European port no more than a one-hour flight from Copenhagen.”
During the stay in Esbjerg the chief engineer is the boss of for four welders hired by a sub-supplier of the new boiler, as well as his own crew of 2nd engineer, 3rd engineer and an oiler. “As the ship is still new, the workload on the maintenance side in the engine room is not that heavy, but there are always bits and pieces to be altered or replaced with new spare parts in order to keep the whole ‘factory’ running”, says John G Olsen. “The construction of a new boiler is in the hands of the manufacturer, but we have to provide power capacity, ventilation and even food for the Polish welders hired by the Danish Aalborg boilers”, he adds. It is a little early to replace a boiler on a tanker after only ten months of sailing, but from the early stage of negotiations it seems like the original boiler had a construction fault as well as some problems with the material. A reason for that may be that the Orasund was heavily delayed from the shipyard in Tuzla. The tanker had a fire in the engine room during the fitting out process and the yard had to replace a lot of installations in the engine room. It all took a lot of time, in fact so much time that the following newbuilding, the Oratank (# 15), was delivered ahead of the Orasund (# 14). The building time on the Orasund was almost four years from when the keel was laid down to the delivery of the vessel. A visit to the galley at 11:30 this day shows a calm, cool cook named Sylwester Iber, born in 1952 in Poland. Potatoes are boiling on the stove along with a pot of mushroom soup with vegetables that is heating slowly to be ready for the large number of people that have to be fed this day. “There are some seven to eight extras on a day like this”, says Sylwester Iber. “But that is no problem” he adds, while reading a couple of pages in a Polish version of Newsweek. “I am in sufficient time with the preparation of the meal, so I read a lot in situations like this.” Meat rolls are in the oven and a large number of salad bowls are ready for the crew, arriving at 12:00 on the dot. Lunch time is something the crewmembers would not miss for anything, if possible. “Usually this meal is the top of the day”, says Sylwester Iber.
*
Running things the old-fashioned way The company has in all its years been a family business with Martin H Simonsen running things the old-fashioned way. A true story of his way of conducting business is from May 1987, when he purchased the tanker Capella from Årøsund, becoming the first Orasund. On board in the captain’s cabin a large number of ‘suits’ (brokers, bankers and seller) were gathered to close the deal. Each and every one participating with piles of paper for bank drafts, joint accounts and guarantees one way or the other ready to do something before the banks closed. Martin H Simonsen was asked how to arrange for the payment of the vessel and he replied: Would you accept a check? The rest of the participants completely lost their ability to speak as Martin H Simonsen took out his personal check-book and wrote a check for the amount of DKK three and half million and placed it on the table.
28 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Fredrik Davidsson, fredrik@shipgaz.com
Update Cosco Busan accident report
Photo: US Coast Guard
Damages to the hull of the Cosco Busan after the collision with the Bay Bridge in San Francisco.
Unfit pilot and cultural conflict caused Cosco Busan collision
The pilot was medically unfit but the master did not dare to question the pilot’s decisions. It all led to the Cosco Busan colliding with a bridge. “There was a lack of competence in so many areas that this accident seemed almost inevitable”, said Acting National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Mark V Rosenker when he presented the boards findings on the incident. A pilot who was heavily medicated and medically unfit and an ineffective master who did not question the pilot’s decisions because of cultural respect for the pilot – these were the major causes behind the November 2007 accident, where the container vessel Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge in San Francisco.
Total costs were estimated to USD 2 million for the ship, USD 1.5 million for the bridge, and more than USD 70 million for environmental cleanup. The NTSB concludes that there were no technical reasons to why the vessel hit the bridge tower fendering system, neither on board the vessel nor or on the bridge. The board makes a number of recommendations to prevent any similar accidents in the future. The NTSB recommendations to the
US Coast Guard: 1. Propose to the International Maritime Organization that it include a segment on cultural and language differences and their possible influence on mariner performance in its bridge resource management curricula. 2. Revise your vessel traffic service policies to ensure that vessel traffic service communications identify the vessel, not only the pilot, when vessels operate in pilotage waters. 3. Provide Coast Guard-wide guidance to vessel traffic service personnel that clearly defines expectations for the use of existing authority to direct or control vessel movement when such action is justified in the interest of safety. 4. Require mariners to report to the Coast Guard, in a timely manner, any substantive changes in their medical status or medication use that occur between required medical evaluations. 5. Establish a mechanism through
»There was a lack of competence in so many areas that this accident seemed almost inevitable« On November 7, 2007, the container carrier Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, spilling more than 200 cubic metres of oil, causing San Francisco Bay’s largest vessel-related oil spill in over a decade.
which representatives of pilot oversight organizations collect and regularly communicate pilot performance data and information regarding pilot oversight and best practices.
Recommendations to the Fleet Management Limited, the vessels management: 1. When assigning a new crew to a vessel, ensure that all crew members are thoroughly familiar with vessel operations and company safety procedures before the vessel departs the port. 2. Provide safety management system manuals that are in the working language of a vessel’s crew. Recommendations to the American Pilots’ Association: Inform your members of the circumstances of this accident, remind them that a pilot card is only a supplement to a verbal master/pilot exchange, and encourage your pilots to include vessel masters and/or the officer in charge of the navigational watch in all discussions and decisions regarding vessel navigation in pilotage waters.
*
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 29
By Rolf P Nilsson, rolf@shipgaz.com
Mooring accidents
Update
Concern over mooring accidents The UK P&I Club alone has spent USD 34 million over the last 20 years to settle claims after deaths and injuries during mooring operations.
Photo: KLara MaGNUSSoN
The Club claims that the number of mooring accidents appear to be escalating over the long term. According to the club, the numbers rarely exceeded four per cent of all its claims and two per cent of settlements during the period 1987–1997. In 2000, the number peaked at 14 per cent and two years later, settlements reached 15 per cent. In 2007, numbers and values dropped to 1997 levels, but the club says: ”This is encouraging but not necessarily indicative of a long-term trend.”
Mooring injuries seem to often be more severe as they have only been the seventh most frequent cause of personal injuries, but the third most expensive per claim. 14 per cent of all accidents involved deaths and almost a quarter were leg injuries. Just five per cent of the accidents were caused by machinery failure, the rest by handling of ropes or wires. UK P&I Club suggests that a risk assessment of all mooring areas should be made, as there will always be hazards during mooring operations. According to the club, hazard areas include bulkhead frames, mooring bitts, pedestal fairleads, cleats and structures such as the windlass and hawse pipe cover platforms. Operations should always be undertaken with enough crew to do the job safely. That means at least two
Just five per cent of the accidents were caused by machinery failure, the rest by handling of ropes or wires.
GUIDELINES ON THE WEB The UK P&I Club has published guidelines for safe mooring operations. These can be downloaded from its web site, www. ukpandi.com.
people for each mooring station. Even with automatic mooring systems, a second person should be ready for things going wrong. All operatives should have a clear view of relevant equipment and active operations.
Only personnel involved in mooring operations should be present at stations during operations and deck officers must watch out for hazards and take action. All involved must however take responsibility for themselves. A significant number of personal injury incidents still result from standing within a bight or coil of rope. Personal protective equipment should be worn during mooring op-
erations, including gloves – but loose gloves might become trapped under a line on a windlass drum.
Crew should not operate a windlass or capstan and handle ropes at the same time. If there are only two crew members on deck during mooring, they should work together on the lines at one end of the vessel and then move to the other. The crew member at the windlass drum must keep his hands clear of the turns and avoid becoming fouled in coils of rope. All mooring equipment should be inspected regularly to ensure they are fully and safely functioning, maintained and stored properly.
*
30 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Rolf P Nilsson, rolf@shipgaz.com
report Finnbirch accident report
PHoTo: MRCC
RUSSIA
Kiruna
Luleå
Umeå
Örnskoldsvik
Östersund
FINLAND
Härnösand
Hudiksvall
NORWAY
Falun
Gävle
Åland
lessons learnt from the finnbirch Karlstad
Vasteras
Uppsala
Örebro
Stockholm
ESTONIA
More than two years after the accident, the Swedish Accident Investigation Board, SHK, issued their report on the Finnbirch foundering. Nyköping
Vänersborg
It was supposed to be a very ordinary voyage for the ro-ro vessel Finnbirch when it left Helsinki on October 31, 2006. There was almost no wind, and although the weather forecast DENMARK warned for North-Northeasterly winds of 16–20 meters per second later on, the vessel had traded for six years connecting the Finnish capital and Aarhus in Denmark, and this was no exceptional condition for a Baltic service in the autumn.
The crew was informed of the waiting weather conditions and had prepared the voyage based on the information received. The vessel set off according to plan, and at about 13 pm the Finnbirch passed west of Visby on the island of Gotland at a speed of 17.5–18.5 knots. After a while, the ship started to roll. The lone 2nd mate on the bridge adjusted the course to
Mariestad
Linköping
follow the waves. the crew as long as it was still aboard. Abandoning Because of LATVIA the ship by helicopter Visby was also not an option as long as the the traffic and crew could not move to the forepart weather situaVäxjö Kalmar Halmstad of the vessel. In heavy seas and rough tion, the mate Finnbirch winds, and with the only possible called the master Karlskrona LITHUANIA Kristianstad evacuation route via a weather deck to the bridge to where parts of the cargo had shifted, discuss choice of Malmö this was not seen as a possible soluway. Suddenly, tion. About four hours after the first the vessel rolled Map showing the Mayday call, the vessel capsized and to port by at least 25 degrees and alposition of the finally sank. 12 seafarers were saved, though attempts were made to steer Finnbirch at 15.30 several were injured and two died. into the wind, the vessel made a couon November 1, ple of rolls to port of up to 45 degrees, 2006, about ten More than two years after the acand never rose again. minutes before cident, the Swedish Accident InvestiImmediately, the master ordered a the ship experigation Board, SHK, issued their report Mayday call. The crew was mustered enced the sudden on the accident. According to this, to the bridge deck on the starboard heelings. the accident was caused by deficient side, aft of the bridge. cargo securing in combination with The rescue operation became long loss of stability. and dramatic. Other vessels gathThe Swedish Accident Investigation ered, but it was impossible to rescue Board, SHK, concludes that the vessel Göteborg
Jönköping
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 31
Finnbirch accident report
Report
was sailing at a high speed, about 18 knots, in a following sea with a wave speed of about 18 knots. As a result, the Finnbirch had wave tops amidships for a relatively long time with a loss of stability as a consequence. This led to the heeling that was enough to initiate shifting of inadequately secured cargo. Findings of the SHK show that the vessel’s cargo securing manual was not complete and was not followed. The charterer, Finnlines, also had its own cargo securing procedures. Deviations were not reported and neither the shipowner Lindholm Shipping nor the Swedish Maritime Safety Inspectorate had noticed that cargo securing differed from the requirements, according to SHK.
SHK also criticises parts of the rescue efforts, and further recommends that requirements for size and shapes of survival suits should be evaluated. One of the deceased died of hypothermia with his survival suit full of water. SHK recommends that Swedish authorities act for stability requirements for vessels in following sea to be implemented in international regulations. Today’s officer education concerning ship handling in rough seas should be reviewed. SHK also sees a need for international guidelines on dimensioning of cargo securing arrangements in or on load carriers to be implemented in the CSS Code or in another suitable set of regulations.
Swedish authorities should also seek international cooperation to act for mandatory rules on cargo securing in or on load carriers. STCW requirements concerning cargo securing training should apply for all relevant vessels and not only ro-ro/passenger vessels. Internal instructions for approval of the cargo securing manual should also be reviewed. Swedish authorities should also increase their supervision to control that cargo securing instructions are observed on Swedish vessels and all vessels trading to and from Swedish ports. Another issue that concerns SHK is the life saving equipment. SHK recommends that Sweden seeks an international cooperation to discuss the problem with size and shape of survival suits and the importance of im-
The Finnbirch was one of eleven sisters.
»If they decide not to act on a recommendation, then it’s their decision and responsibility, and we will publish this in our annual report.« mediate accessibility. When a company’s safety management is reviewed, Swedish authorities should pay special attention to the qualifications required for a Designated Person, DP, and the authority and resources given to the person in this position. A company’s internal routines for accident investigations and follow-up should also be given more attention by the supervising authority. SHK also highlights deficiencies in the SAR operation and recommends that requirements for in which conditions helicopter evacuation can be utilized should be elucidated. Changes in the SAR operations should also be analysed and risk assessed to minimize found risks and SHK also recommends that there should be a national set of rules for requirements and supervision of the SAR organization.
Accident reports are a crucial part of maritime safety. The purpose of the investigation is not to identify and distribute blame, but to learn from the accident and share findings
Sucessful series The Finnbirch was delivered in 1978 as the Stena Prosper, one of eleven sister vessels built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea for Stena of Sweden. In 1988, she was sold to Aug. Lindholm in Stockholm. To our knowledge, all vessels in this highly successful series are still trading.
in order to minimise the risk that a similar accident occurs. This is especially crucial in this case as there are a number of sister vessels still trading, albeit all have not been redesigned as the Finnbirch. Some of those vessels are deployed in the same trading area and are sailing in the same conditions that sank the Finnbirch. So why did it take 24 months before the report was published and how are the recommendations followed up? In its instructions from the government, SHK is obliged to deliver its investigation report twelve months after an accident at the latest. In this case it took twice as long.
“The main reason is a lack of resources”, says Carin Hellner, director and deputy director-general of the Swedish Accident Investigation Board. “For a large part of the investigation, we only had one investigator available”. The recommendations issued by SHK are directed to another authority, in this case the newly established Swedish Transport Agency. “The agency must react to the recommendations within six months and describe how they will tackle the issues ”, says Hellner. “If they decide not to act on a recommendation, then it’s their decision and responsibility, and we will publish this in our annual report.”
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Leif Hansen is both a sea captain and a fruit farmer in Thailand.
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 33
By Bent Mikkelsen, bent@shipgaz.com
Leif Hansen
The Portrait
Far away from the rocking chair Captain Leif Hansen signs on the coaster Danica White alongside in Esbjerg. He is above retirement age, but has no plans of quitting. Shipgaz met with captain Hansen during the stay in Esbjerg, which lasted for nearly 25 days due to the slow market for dry cargo ships. We entered the coaster just to say hello and have a look at the surroundings, which have been the object of articles before. Some readers might remember the earlier Danica White captain, Villy Larsen, who was in trouble with the US Coast Guard off the coast of North Carolina. The Danica White also has the doubtful honour of being the first western ship to be captured for a ran som off the coast of Somalia, then under the command of captain Niels Peter Nielsen.
The present captain Leif Hansen has managed to stay out of trouble with the coaster, which arrived at Es bjerg after sailing several months in Caribbean trade. “Yes, I am above the normal re tirement age”, says Leif Hansen. “But I am continuing my job, which I like very much as long as the doc tor approves my health certificate”, explains Leif Hansen over a cup of cof fee in the mess room on the Danica White.
“I live a rather special life. Normally in the wintertime I live in Thailand run ning a planta tion, which my Thai wife and I bought years ago. We produce mangos and or anges for the local market. The plan tation is around 40 acres. I also live in Denmark if I am off the ship in the summertime, visiting our son, who lives in Nørresundby”, says Leif Hansen.
»Life on board the Danica White has changed after the incident off Somalia in 2007« The Danica fleet started in 1981 with the Danica Green from the Sakskøbing shipyard as the first in a series of 15 units delivered in various sizes until 1993.
The Thailand connection has been a key factor in Leif Hansen’s life since he met his future wife on Cy prus in 1972. Shortly after he decided to change his base to the wife’s home land Thailand and changed from sail ing on Danish coasters to working on Thai ships in the local area. “It felt rather natural to change to working on Thai vessels. So I more or less just went down to Bangkok and asked around to find a job on board a ship. I came in contact with the Nor wegian controlled Thoresen Group and was shortly signed on a vessel
called the Halldor. It was a former Wilhelmsen liner, previously named the Tyr. That was both funny and interesting, as I in former days had been an AB on board the Tyr. So I was rather familiar with the ship even if I was on the bridge now”, says Leif Hansen. The Halldor was trading from Bangkok to a number of destinations in the Far East and in the Middle East as well.
“In those days, life was easy”, says Leif Hansen. “Being on the bridge on a big ship is much easier than on a coaster. The big difference is that you have help everywhere, like several mates as well as tug boats and pilot service on arrival in port. On a coaster like the Danica White you have to do it all yourself. Take all the decisions, handling the wheel and engine.” His life changed after seven or eight years in Thailand. His son, then nine years old, wanted to try to go to a European school and Leif Hansen and his wife took a new major decision in life: moving to Denmark. They kept the Thai estate, but moved to Nørre sundby in Denmark. “We wanted to give our son the
34 Shipgaz No 2 2009
The Portrait Leif Hansen
Leif Hansen is happy being the captain of the coaster Danica White, which hit the headlines in May 2007 as the first Western vessel to be hi-jacked by Somali pirates. best possible opportunities, that is why we moved to Denmark. I did not have any job on hand in Denmark, but had to start all over again knock ing on doors. One of them was at the local towing Company Goliath, which – luckily for me – needed a mate for a tug. So I had a job on a ship within cycling distance from my home. That was a kind of luxury.” Later he came back to the Danish coaster fleet, sailing in several differ ent companies.
The family was however in charge of Leif Hansen’s life. After ten years, his son – now a teenager – had become so fond of the Danish education sys tem that he did not want to go back to Thailand. So Leif Hansen and his wife had a long conversation over their fu ture life. “My wife was eager to go back to her native country and our estate in Thailand for good, and I must admit that I had some of the same ideas. Our son did not want to go back, even though he speaks, reads and
»My doctors tell me that keeping the job will keep me alive, and if I go home to sit in a rocking chair I won’t last long« The Part ownership All vessels in the Danica fleet are built for traditional Danish part ownership companies with up to 100 participants in each company, a system for sharing the financial burden on a coaster. Presently there are 32 part owners in Invest VII, the company behind the Danica White.
writes Thai. He had got friends and even girlfriends in Denmark and wanted to continue this life. He has later passed training as a carpenter and has now graduated as a certi fied constructor of houses”, says Leif Hansen. Leif Hansen continued sailing on Danish coasters and has for the past twelve years been sailing in the Dani ca fleet, which is managed by H Folm er & Co of Copenhagen.
“I am quite happy with my job as the captain of the Danica White and I intend to continue as long as pos sible. My doctors tell me that keeping the job will keep me alive, and if I go home to sit in a rocking chair I won’t last long”, says Leif Hansen. “Life on board the Danica White
has changed after the incident off Somalia in 2007, as there is no longer a Danish crew on board. At present I am the only Dane on board. It can be a little boring in the long run, not that our Filipino crew are boring, but at the end of work, usually they go to their cabins and retire for the day. Not like the Danes, sitting in the mess room watching a movie on the TV or doing other things around a coffee ta ble”, says Leif Hansen.
This year the Danica White cele brates its 24th birthday of the deliv ery from Sakskøbing Maskinfabrik & Skibsværft on July 7, 1985. But the accommodation is still much better than it was in 1957, when Leif Hansen took his first job on a ship. It was on the ketch Maagen, which was one of the regular traders from the ce ment factory in Mariager, where Leif Hansen grew up. The fleet of smaller cargo vessels trading from the Mari ager cement factory has been the first ship experience for many youngsters from the area.
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No 2 2009 Shipgaz 35
Armorique
It´s different out there.
Newcomer
36 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Pär-Henrik Sjöström, par-henrik@shipgaz.com
Newcomer Armorique
Photo: STX Europe/IndAV
Finnish-built ferry to the Western Channel
Brittany Ferries introduces their largest ever purpose built vessel for the Plymouth–Roscoff service. Armorique was the ancient name for the coastal regions of Brittany, meaning ‘the country which faces the sea’. The name is indeed suitable for the latest addition to Brittany Ferries’ fleet as the vessel entered service between Plymouth in England and Roscoff in that particular region of France on February 10, 2009. The newbuilding is the second ferry in the fleet bearing this name. The first one was the former Norwegian ferry Terje Vigen, which after just a couple of years of service with Da-No Linien was sold to Brittany Ferries in 1975. She remained in the fleet until 1992.
On August 2, 2005 the French shipping company Brittany Ferries placed an order for a ro-pax vessel to be built at STX Europe’s shipyard in Helsinki – back then still named Aker Yards. The vessel was delivered on No-
vember 9, 2007 as the Cotentin and entered service for Brittany Ferries on the routes Poole–Cherbourg and Poole– Santander. The contract included an option for another vessel and a letter of intent was signed on December 23, 2005. A firm contract followed on January 16, 2006. The owner wanted a different type of vessel for another route with a larger passenger capacity but less cargo capacity. Although the vessels differ in appearance they are near sisters from a technical point of view. The hull lines of the both designs are identical as well as the machinery arrangement and some other technical equipment. The design was developed in close cooperation between the owner and the shipyard.
»The Armorique will provide new levels of comfort for our passengers.« The Armorique is the fourth newbuilding delivered by STX Europe and its predecessors to Brittany Ferries since 1992.
Due to the changes in the design the value of the second vessel increased to approximately EUR 110 Million compared to EUR 80 Million for the Cotentin. The newbuilding was launched on August 7, 2007 and delivered on January 26, 2009. An official naming ceremony will take place in Roscoff at the beginning of March.
“The Armorique has been designed specifically for the Plymouth– Roscoff route and will provide new levels of comfort for our passengers. It is part of our ongoing plan to become not only the most modern, but the most comfortable fleet on the Channel,” explains David Longden, Managing Director of Brittany Ferries in UK and Ireland. The Armorique has capacity for 1,500 passengers. As she is employed with both day and night crossings
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 37
The editor of the Newcomer section is Pär-Henrik Sjöström, contact him at par-henrik@shipgaz.com
Armorique
Newcomer
Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo
»The décor of the Armorique depicts the light and colours of Brittany, and the relationships between sea, sky and land.« she has 248 passenger cabins with 788 beds. Crossing times are six hours by day and around eight hours by night. The passenger and crew cabin modules are manufactured by Parmarine Ltd. The passenger cabins are situated on decks 8 and 9. For officers there are 24 cabins and for the crew 82 cabins on decks 9 and 10. Deck passengers may reserve a seat in one of the two lounges with Pullman seats on deck 6. On the same deck there is also the information desk, several shops, a cinema and a café serving pastries, cakes and sandwiches.
The self-service restaurant Le Restaurant with 528 seats and the main lounge bar Le Bar with 392 seats are located on deck 7. Herrmann’s and Huuhka Oy have delivered the public
Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo
Delicious colours in the La Café Lounge. Pastries, cakes and sandwiches are served in this café in the forward part of deck 6.
Interior from Le Bar, the main lounge for entertainment on board. spaces, Europlan Ltd the cabin areas while Loipart Ltd is the turn key supplier of the galley and the provision stores. “The theme of the interior design is ‘Armorique’. The décor of the Armorique depicts the light and colours of Brittany, and the relationships between sea, sky and land,” says Alain Meylan of Architectes Ingénieurs As-
sociés, Nantes, who is project manager, Interior Design. The main car deck of the Armorique has capacity for 980 trailer lane metres or 238 private cars. Upper deck is designed for carrying 235 cars. Cargo handling is possible in two levels and drive through capability allows for fast turnaround times in ports. Free height on the lower car deck is 5.2
38 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Newcomer Armorique
General arrangement of the Armorique.
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 39
Armorique
Newcomer
40 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Newcomer Armorique Photo: StX EuroPE/JouNI SAArISto
»The fuel consumption is low due to excellent hydrodynamic performance of the hull and the optimised design of the propellers.« metres and on the upper deck 3 metres, which makes it suitable for vans and caravans too. On the Cotentin also the upper deck was designed for carrying trucks.
Bow door by Mac Gregor. Both on main deck and on the upper car deck direct access is provided in the bow and in the stern.
The cargo handling gear is sup-
Photo: StX EuroPE/JouNI SAArISto
The cockpit-style bridge. Data from the Sperry Marine integrated navigation system is presented on flat screens. Photo: StX EuroPE/JouNI SAArISto
The engine control room. The integrated automation system is supplied by Valmarine.
plied turn key by MacGregor, including a tiltable ramp between main and upper car deck and a fixed ramp to the lower hold in the fore part of the ship. The lower hold is smaller than that in the Cotentin as half of the corresponding space is reserved for provision stores. There is space for only a few trucks or trailers in the lower hold, especially as the trailers for provisions and linen are stored there more or less permanently. The fuel consumption is particularly low due to excellent hydrodynamic performance of the hull and the optimised design of the propellers. The engines are optimised for low CO2 emissions. The comfort on board has been given high priority during the planning of the vessel. Propulsion is provided by two MaK 12M43C medium speed main engines, producing an output of 12,000 kW each. The shaft lines and the two CP propellers are delivered by Wärtsilä. The service speed of the vessel is 23 knots at 85 per cent MCR output and the maximum speed is 25 knots.
In addition to two shaft generators of 2,250 kW each, there are three Wärtsilä 6L20C diesel-generator sets with an output of 1,140 kW each. Compared to the Cotentin, there is an additional genset installed in the Armorique. Good manoeuvrability is provided by two spade type rudders, two 1,200 kW bow thrusters and a 900 kW stern thruster. The ship is equipped with fin stabilizers. The bridge layout and equipment is identical to the Cotentin, including an integrated navigation system from Sperry Marine.
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No 2 2009 Shipgaz 41
Armorique
Newcomer Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo
1
4
1. One of the two MaK 12M43C main engines. 2. The cinema on deck 6. 3. A cabin with colours of the Brittany landscape. 4. The upper car deck has capacity for 235 cars and a free height of 3 metres.
ARMORIQUE Type ............................. Car and Passenger Ferry Built by .............. STX Europe, Helsinki, Finland Newbuilding No ........................................... 1362 Owner ........................... Brittany Ferries, France IMO No .................................................. 9364980 Flag ............................................................... France Class ........... Bureau Veritas I +Hull, RoRo Passenger Ship, Unrestricted Navigation, +Mach,
+Aut-Ims, +Aut-Port, Sysneq-1, Mon-Shaft Length, o a ............................................. 168.30 m Length, b p ............................................. 155.40 m Breadth .................................................... 26.80 m Depth, main deck .................................... 9.30 m Draught ...................................................... 6.30 m DWT .............................................................. 4,200 GT . ............................................................... 22,542
Trailer capacity ........................................ 980 lm Car capacity ............................................ 1,140 lm Passengers ................................................... 1,500 Passenger cabins . ......................................... 248 Crew cabins ..................................................... 106 Machinery ............................. 2 x MaK 12M43C Output .......................................... 2 x 12,000 kW Service speed .............................................. 23 kn
Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo
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Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo
Photo: STX Europe/Jouni Saaristo
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42 SHIPGAZ NO 2 2009
By Rolf P Nilsson, rolf@shipgaz.com
Update Lay-ups
PHOTO: PÄR-HENRIK SJÖSTRÖM
Ships at anchor in Gibraltar.
Lay-up – a complex and costly task There is far more to a lay-up operation than just dropping an anchor and taking the speedboat ashore – it could be a pricy affair. The economic downturn and financial crises have sent ships en masse to lay-up berths, and the number of vessels lying idle continues to grow. There is however far more to a lay-up operation than just dropping an anchor and taking the speedboat ashore. An inadequate mooring could become highly expensive, and there will not be much support given by insurers if the arrangements do not fulfil requirements. In the light of the increasing number of lay-ups, many insurers have issued guidelines and the classification societies are offering their services to approve lay-up arrangements, something that P&I insurers will demand to return premiums or to cover claims arising during the lay-up period.
The first thing to consider is a safe and reliable mooring site. This includes the level of shelter provided from the sea, wind, waves etc. Things have changed since to the last period of lay-ups. According to the UK P&I Club, some of the 400 sites around the world that were approved
in 2001, might not be suitable today due to changes in infrastructure conditions. The Club also warns that increases in ship sizes might disqualify some sites and that larger vessels might mean a greater risk for collision damage at the anchorages. Actions must also be taken to preserve and maintain the structure of the vessel and machinery.
»There will not be much support given by insurers if the arrangements do not fulfil requirements« Hundreds of vessels are laid up in Singapore. As an example of requirements for cold lay-up, Singaporean authorities demand two watchmen on vessels below 500 gt or three for two same-sized ships moored alongside, and three watchmen on vessels over 500 gt, the latter not allowed to be moored alongside.
A vessel can be laid up in either hot or cold mode. The former means that the vessel can be reactivated relatively fast. A shipowner can for instance decide that the vessel should be held in a 72-hour state of readiness to resume trading. This means that there will be crew aboard, although it might be reduced, and some systems and machinery will be operative. A cold lay-up is a long-term arrangement that is more complex and will require far more extensive
actions before a start-up is possible. In cold lay-up, all systems are shut down and there might be only a watchman aboard the vessel, with a maintenance team present from time to time. After an extensive lay-up, the start up procedure could take weeks and also require a drydocking.
As an example of the complexity, the UK P&I Club points out in its guidelines that modern vessels are filled with sophisticated computer equipment, and that there is little experience of how these systems will function after a long lay-up. UK P&I Club also stresses an interesting point concerning claims and the possibility to have a refund of paid premiums when a ship is laid up. The club says that there will be no return of premiums if there is cargo on board. If there is no cargo in the holds but crew employed by the owner still on board the vessel, this will affect the level of return as contrary to ten years ago, costs for crew claims frequently amounts to a greater total claims cost than cargo claims.
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NO 2 2009 SHIPGAZ 43
Lay-ups
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Update
44 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Klara Magnusson, klara@shipgaz.com
Report Maritime psychology
Set on finding the right stuff Not all of us would be good seamen, according to Maritime Psychologist Bengt Schager. By finding the right person for the right position he wants to reduce the number of accidents caused by human error. ”The taxi drivers are a problem”, Bengt Schager says. “They scare our clients while driving them to our office, telling them rumour has it that we are terrible.” The clients coming to Marine Profile AB in Halmstad, Sweden, are ship’s officers from all over the world, many of them working on cruise ships or passenger ferries. At Bengt Schager’s office they complete some psychological tests, after which they get to sit in one of the brown leather chairs while the psychologist sits in the other, asking questions and stud-
ying the client’s body language to find out what this person is like and if he or she is suited for working at sea or not. “For every job where the consequences of an incident can be huge, it is important to find the right people; the steady and cool with a serious attitude. Some people can make a mistake and fix it the day after. But if
»Some people can make a mistake and fix it the day after. But if you work at a nuclear industry or at sea you can’t do that«
you work at a nuclear industry or at sea you can’t do that”, Bengt Schager says.
A few years ago, he proposed to the Swedish maritime academies that students applying to these educations should be ranked from interviews and psychological testing, instead of from grades like in today’s system. According to Bengt Schager the personnel at the schools liked the idea, but the heads of the organizations did not and therefore the idea came to nothing. “It is not reasonable that just anyone can be the master of a super-
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 45
Maritime psychology
Photo: Klara Magnusson
»Some of my clients have told me that they wouldn’t want to work in a crew together with some of their old classmates« ping companies let their crews train regularly in simulators, but not all. “In a simulator you can expose yourself to an accident and see how you cope with it. Not only do you learn how to handle the situation, but also how you and the other crew members react”, he says.
tanker! Anyone can be accepted at the schools and if you don’t fail completely you will sooner or later be a master, since the merchant fleet is short of officers. Some of my clients have told me that they wouldn’t want to work in a crew together with some of their old classmates.” He compares with the flying industry, where pilots have to pass both entrance tests and annual tests in order to keep a high security. Some ship-
It all started in the 1980s, when Bengt Schager worked as a management consultant and got a shipping company as his client. The shipping industry interested him; he had earlier been at sea as a cabin boy and a radio officer. While helping the client to choose good and safe personnel to its fleet, he found out that the shipping industry was way behind other industries in its attitude to humans. When the Scandinavian Star accident occurred, there were a lot of discussions about whether the master had behaved correctly during and after the rescue operation. The head of the Swedish Maritime Safety Inspectorate said in the news that more research on the human factor was needed. “The next day I called him and said no, I don’t think we need more research. We already have the knowledge, but we have to connect the psychologists and the seafarers”, Bengt Schager says. He started to read everything written on the subject but was not impressed of what he found. “The problem was that those who made research and wrote about human error were mostly engineers who didn’t focus on the human being, but on technical solutions. It was said that accidents occurred because of bad
Maritime psychology Combines consultants with experience in human resources and consultants with experience in the maritime industry. Four Maritime Psychologists are employed at Marine Profile AB.
Report
regulations or navigation instruments that gave the wrong information. No one mentioned our human shortages; the fact that we can misunderstand or stick to a thought that is false but that we still strive to verify.” He thinks that technical systems today are often built after what can be achieved, and the human must adapt to the system. A better idea would be to take it from the human and her built-in shortages, and then create technical systems that can do things that the human cannot. “The Estonia accident is a good example; when the bow visor fell off, there were engineers screaming ‘we can fix that, we can make a system that automatically stops the engines if the bow visor falls off’. But that is to short-circuit the human being. If a person is not needed, if her decisions are not important, she will extinct. An alarm system that informs the crew that something is wrong would be better, so that the human makes the decisions.”
Too much help can be dangerous, he says, referring to the accidents at sea that are caused by lacking attention. He wants safety systems that take over only if the situation has gone completely out of hands. “I can’t sit here and say that we shouldn’t have alarm systems at all, but you can make those alarms so annoying that you never trust it as a routine, or you can connect it directly to the master’s cabin or to the passenger to hear it, so that everyone knows that a person made a mistake.” So according to you, finding someone accountable is important? “Yes. You are responsible for what you do. No one blames the state of the road at a car accident, but unfortunately that happens at sea. There was an incident with a passenger ferry in Sundsvall; it couldn’t come to quay because the crew was surprised
Bengt Schager on … … the concept of human error: “Human error is when you try to make it right but it goes wrong. Not to be mixed up with when people don’t try to make it right; that is mistakes by purpose or simply breaking of rules.”
… fatigue: “Fatigue can never be a human factor since it can always be predicted. If the manning and the timetable of a vessel are good, the crew won’t be too tired. You don’t have to be a psychologist to understand that. Fatigue is not a human error.”
… the company Marine Profile AB: “We make the psychology of human beings and groups accessible to the shipping world. Our clients are often interested in ways to increase safety on board. Sometimes we are contacted after an accident,
when the company involved decides that it should never happen again. Many of our clients are international cruise companies, often from the US and Germany. We meet the officers, interview them and then advice the client on who to employ.”
46 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Report Maritime psychology Photo: klara magnusson
Maritime Psychologist Bengt Schager is one of the company’s three senior consultants. by wind and snow. How can snow be a surprise in Sundsvall in the winter? Shouldn’t the crew have been prepared for that to happen?” He adds that in a situation where a crewmember is overworked and
therefore makes mistakes, you must make the person who manages the vessel accountable, or the person who plans the time schedule. Another human shortage is the tendency to trade-off instead of in-
creasing the safety margin, for example at so-called radar aided collisions. Instead of slowing down when the visibility is poor – in order to reduce the risk for accident – the ship keeps its speed and those on the bridge trust that the radar will inform them of meeting traffic. According to Bengt Schager, human beings tend to think in risks rather than in consequences. But even if the risk of an accident is small, the consequences can be enormous. “On some of the large cruise ships the officers give way to all meeting traffic, even if the cruise ship has priority. The officers know that the consequences of an accident – with 6,000 passengers on board – would be huge. There are no helicopters able to rescue 6,000 people; therefore they give way to everything.”
Last year, his book Human error in the maritime industry was published. It is written for seafarers and other personnel in the shipping industry, and Bengt Schager would like it to be used at the maritime acade mies. In the book he deals with the human senses and their influence, showing a number of case studies. “It is hard to predict how someone will react in a critical situation. To be responsible for others may increase one’s capacity, like a mother defending her child. An authoritarian master gets a passive crew”, he says. In a critical situation, a group will function as long as the leader communicates with the others so that they can understand and follow him. “It is important that the master on board understands that if he is reliable and respected, the crew will team up. Some masters believe that they need to act authoritarian from the beginning to make people obey in case of an accident. They are wrong.”
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Bengt Schager and the Estonia commission Maritime Psychologist Bengt Schager was one of the members of the Estonia commission, which was appointed after the disaster. He left the group shortly before its report was published, strongly criticizing the commissions’ way of working. Bengt Schager quit in December 1997, three years after the Estonia commission started. A few days later
he published an article in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, where he gave his view of the commission’s work. In the article he listed things that he believed had been seriously mistreated by the commission.
He criticized it for having had a too excusing and explaining attitude to the crew’s shortages. According to
Bengt Schager, facts and information disadvantageous for the crew was given little space or were simply left out in the report. “Another reason to quit was that I had been promised by the chairman to publish an appendix with a reservation together with the report. But when the chairman was changed, the new one refused to let
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 47
Maritime psychology
me do this. I told her to either let me publish it, or everyone would be able to read it in the news the day after”, Bengt Schager says. He does not regret taking part in the commission, even if he found it hard at the time.
“I was very proud when I was asked to join the group. And I did some good stuff; it was good to have a psychologist among all the engineers and nautical experts in the group”, he says. Today, he does not believe that commissions are good for investigating accidents. It might be a good way for making proposals, but not for investigations like the Estonia disaster. “There is a great risk for a false unity in a commission. The members bring their various opinions into line with each other and don’t deal with questions that might infect the spirit in the group, and that is really bad for the investigation work.”
According to Bengt Schager, that is exactly what happened in the Estonia commission. The group was divided into three parts – the Swedish, the Finnish and the Estonian – and instead of investigating the accident as good as possible, much of the time was spent trying to make the three countries to agree. “I learned a lot from taking part in the Estonia commission. I have never seen such exceptional incompetence gathered in one place. I would never want to deliver a report like that – it wouldn’t even be good enough to be a student’s essay”, he says. To take the edge off the statement, he adds that the commission of course comprised highly competent technicians, legal experts, nautical engineers and so on, but that the members lacked the knowledge of making investigations.
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Photo: Klara Magnusson
»I learned a lot from taking part in the Estonia commission. I have never seen such exceptional incompetence gathered in one place«
Report
48 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Fleet Review Photo: Big Ship Films, LLC
Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, well-known guitarist from Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers, plays America the Beautiful for the documentary about the Big U, Lady in Waiting.
The Samos has made its last trip.
Swedish-built OBO carrier to the beach
Older OBOs have for quite some time been an object of extra attention from the Port State inspector, but the Samos – which is a Swedish-built quality product – has sailed smoothly between the inspections. During the Greek period the ship has traded regularly to US ports as well as Northern European ports, including Scandinavia. The Samos was built by Uddevallavarvet in Sweden and delivered in June 1982 as the Viking Cape (# 318) for a Norwegian account. At the time of delivery the market for this particular type of ship was rather low key, which made the owner try moving the ship to other flags, like the Bahamas flag. Finally the Viking Cape was sold in March 1988 and taken over by Russian Sovcomflot while docking at Frederikshavn, Denmark. The ship was then renamed the Kapitan Pomerants flying the Russian flag. In 1990 it was changed to the Cyprus flag. After the sale to Alkon Shipping the ship was registered again under the Bahamas flag, and changed again in 2006, when the owners hoisted the flag of the Marshall Islands with Majuro as port of registry. Being one of the first in the series, the Samos is also one of the first to go to recycling. The sister ships in the series are still trading. Bent Mikkelsen
The ‘Big U’ to be sold Rarity According to the SS United States Conservancy, which is an American non-profit organization working to preserve the famous liner United States, the ship is to be sold by the current owner Star Cruises. Norwegian Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Star Cruises, purchased the United States in April, 2003, with the intent of returning her to service. The United States is the fastest passenger liner ever built. In 1952, the brand new vessel crossed the North Atlantic in 3 days, 10 hours and 42 minutes, giving an average speed of 35.6 knots.
Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company delivered the United States to United States Lines in 1952. Also designed as a fast troop carrier, her design specifications were kept secret. Later it has become known that her actual maximum speed exceeded incredible 44 knots. Familiarly called the ‘Big U’, she served on the Atlantic route only for 17 years until she was laid up in Norfolk, Virginia. The vessel has never been in service after that, although she in 1992 was towed to Turkey for being restored to her former glory. The plans were not realised and the stripped ship returned to the US in 1996 and was laid up at Philadelphia. The listing of the United States for sale has alarmed supporters of the ship for fear that she will be sold for scrap. “While the ship’s owners have told us they plan to list the ship for sale, we are
Photo: Big Ship Films, LLC
Recycling The Greek owned Oil-Bulk-Ore (OBO) carrier Samos arrived at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, to be recycled and converted into re-rollings for building houses and other purposes. The sale by the Greek one-ship company Alkon Shipping, Piraeus, comes after 13 years of sailing with only a minimum of remarks on the Port State records.
The United States has been moored on the Philadelphia waterfront since 1996. mounting a legislative and public awareness campaign to raise concern for her. In the ideal situation, a public-private partnership will emerge to refurbish the ship either as a stationary attraction in a large US city or as an floating ‘ambassador of American goodwill’, perhaps as a humanitarian assistance vessel”, Mr Dan McSweeney of the SS United States Conservancy told Shipgaz. “Many questions are yet to be answered and this will most likely be a long and difficult process, but the SS United States Conservancy has received messages of support from across America and the world. We are aware of the many supporters of this great ocean liner and we are helping to put together a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to ‘Saving Our Ship’.” Pär-Henrik Sjöström
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 49
Fleet Review
The editor of the Newcomer section is Pär-Henrik Sjöström, contact him at par-henrik@shipgaz.com
Photo: Harald Sætre
Photo: Bent Mikkelsen
The Inzhenier Parkhonyuk (ex Torm Helene), one of KS Grace’s sister ships when it had the Soviet funnel.
The well-kept coaster Laila Beate in Storsund, now sailing under her seventh name, carrying fodder to fish farms.
Finished after 32 years of sailing Recycling The 1977 built bulk carrier KS Grace has arrived at Alang in India to be recycled. About time, could be a relevant comment on the fact, but it has shown a longer lifespan than other bulk carriers of the same vintage. The KS Grace was originally built at the Odense Steel shipyard for Danish Dampskibsselskabet Torm, which ordered four bulk carriers at the Danish shipyard in 1975.
That particular order started a debate amongst the shareholders of Torm and the public, as it became clear that these ships could have been ordered at a Japanese shipyard at a much lower price. However, the chairman of the board at Torm, Kai EngellJensen, insisted on building the ships in Denmark, as he wanted the highest possible quality, certain that the higher price would be paid back in a later sale. It paid off in 1983, when the market for bulk carriers was at a very low level. Torm then sold two of the four ships to Greek
Ceres Hellenic Shipping, which acted discretely on behalf of the Russian Black Sea Shipping. The sale was made at a much higher level than similar sale of Japanesebuilt tonnage. The success was repeated two years later with the remaining two units in the Odense series. The quality of the four bulk carriers, which were named the Torm Herdis, Torm Helene, Torm Hilde and Torm Helvig, speaks for itself as the KS Grace, originally the Torm Herdis, is the first in the series that has been sold for recycling. Most of the bulk carriers going to the breakers yard at the moment are vintage from 1983–1988. After the discrete sale to Ceres Hellenic, all the ships came out with the Soviet funnel with the hammer and sickle on a red band. They sailed for Black Sea Shipping (Blasco) under various flags until 1998. The KS Grace was at the time of the sale owned by a Korean company flying the Panama flag. Bent Mikkelsen
Built in 1938, still in service Rarity This is not exactly news, rather the contrary. It concerns a small, old coaster, which is actually still in commercial operation; looking very neat and well maintained. The M/V Laila Beate, owned in the archipelago north of Kristiansund on the Atlantic coast, boasts 260 dwt and was built in 1938 by Gebrüder Wiemann in Brandenburg as German Pommern.
Her trading life was cut short by naval service, from 1940 in Kriegsmarine and later in the Royal Norwegian Navy; here as the transport vessel Draug and later as the asdic-vessel Pingvin. Only in 1964 was she sold back to commercial service as the Torland and Holmvik. Now under her seventh name, the Laila Beate still has her four-cylinder 400 bhk Wichmann from 1968, but is upgraded with a bow thruster. She is now busy carrying fodder to fish farms. A relic of the past, perhaps, but what is better preservation than actual, commercial service? Dag Bakka jr
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50 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Fleet Review Photo: Kirill Myadzyuta
Photo: MacGregor
The Moskva is the first dieselelectric icebreaker built at a Russian shipyard in 34 years.
The MacBarge – MacGregor’s multi-testbed.
Made for testing
Photo: Bent Mikkelsen
The Marit Mærsk – longest to call at Hamburg.
New Maersk record Newbuilding The latest newbuilding delivered to Maersk Line, the Marit Mærsk, recently arrived to Hamburg. It is the longest ship ever to call at the port. For some years, Hamburg has been trying to get the largest ships to call at the port, in competition with Bremerhaven. Until recently, navigation on the River Elbe was problematic in some cases, but after several dredging projects, the fairway has been cleared for ships like the Marit Mærsk. The Maersk Line vessel has a length of 367 metres. The previous record in Hamburg was held by the Queen Mary 2 with a length of 301 metres. Bent Mikkelsen
Ready for Baltic ice Newbuilding On December 11, 2008, the state-run Russian company Rosmorport took delivery of the icebreaker Moskva. It is built by Baltiysky Zavod JSC in St Petersburg of the United Industrial Corporation (OPK) group.
The introduction of a new icebreaker for Baltic Sea conditions is not everyday news and also the design is interesting. The Moskva is not a multi-purpose icebreaker in the same sense as the latest Finnish and Swedish icebreakers. Indeed the Moskva may be called multi-purpose, as it is designed to serve also as a rescue vessel. However, the hull is designed for icebreaking purposes only, and does therefore not include the same compromises that are necessary in a vessel that most of the time is working in open water. The Moskva is the first diesel-electric icebreaker built at a Russian shipyard in 34 years. According to Vladimir Orlov at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard, the icebreaker has been designed by the shipyard’s inhouse Technical Centre for Ship Design. The project was approved by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and the quality of the OPK shipyard’s design was confirmed by the Central Research & Design Institute of Shipping. The keel of the Moskva was laid in 2005 and she was launched in May 2007. By Russian terminology the newbuilding is designated line icebreaker, which means that it is operated mainly in open sea. It is able to assist large tankers with a breadth of 40 to 50 meters. The icebreaker is also fit-
Photo: Kirill Myadzyuta
Testbed MacGregor’s offshore equipment manufacturing site in Kristiansand, Norway, has delivered a purpose-built barge for full scale testing of various MacGregor products. The multi-testbed barge is named MacBarge and has a length of 76 metres and a breadth of 23 metres. It is possible to perform tests with two large AHC offshore cranes simultaneously on the MacBarge. It is also designed for testing winches, ROV-systems and other subsea load-handling equipment. Pär-Henrik Sjöström
The powerful bow. ted for towing operations both in ice and in open water, as well as performing rescue missions and fire-fighting operations. The home port of the vessel is St Petersburg. The icebreaker’s diesel-electric machinery includes two 12-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 engines in V-configuration developing 6,000 kW each and two 9-cylinder in-line Wärtsilä 32 engines with an output of 4,500 kW each at 750 rpm. Propulsion is provided by two azimuthing thrusters with an output of 8 MW each. The hull is designed to break up to 1 meter thick ice. The hull shape features the latest technical design developments aimed at saving power during icebreaking operations and improving the performance of the vessel. The speed in open water is 17 knots. The vessel is operated with a crew of 26. Displacing 10,000 tons, the Moskva has a length of 116 meters, breadth of 26.5 meters and a draft of 8.5 meters. Pär-Henrik Sjöström
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 51
Fleet Review
Newbuilding contracts in the Nordic market Month Jan
Owner FosenNamsos Sjø
Nat No
Capacity 120 cars
Type ferry
Shipyard Fiskerstrand BLRT
Delivery 12.10
Value NOK 200 m
Remarks
Secondhand transactions in the Nordic market Month Name DWT Built Type Dec 08 Skandi Waveney 3,100 2001 psv Bow Santos 19,997 2004 tanker Vedrey Fram 3,502 2006 tanker Vedrey Heden 3,450 2005 tanker Vedrey Heimer 3,500 2004 tanker Maersk Mahone 2,322 * 1983 ahts KCL Bardu 33,660 1979 bulk Bergskald 1,870 1997 tanker Trollskald 1,885 1990 tanker China resale 3,500 2009 tanker Jan 09 Nord Hercules 82,656 2007 bulk Nord Venus 76,880 2006 bulk Nord Empathy 55,803 2006 bulk Nord Enterprise 53,489 2006 bulk Nord Endeavour 53,483 2006 bulk Seasprite 147,188 1999 tanker Stena Seatrader 17,991 * 1973 ropax Semakao 97,000 1988 tanker Acergy Piper 40,282 * 1975 pipelay Sallie Knutsen 153,616 1999 sh tanker Karen Knutsen 153,616 1999 sh tanker Windsor Knutsen 162,000 2007 sh tanker Rem Odin 3,000 2008 ahts Stevns Iceflower 381 * 2006 tug NCC Arar 23,016 1982 tanker NCC Asir 23,016 1982 tanker NCC Baha 24,728 1985 tanker Clipper Lady 40,372 1979 LPG Takayama 10,599 1983 car carrier Ocean Spirit 2,559 1983 psv Solstrand resale 4,000 2009 psv Eidsvaag Orion 1,260 1993 dry cargo Mirabelle 4,452 1985 bulk Crete Cement 4,556 2002 cement Feb Gan-Gesture 16,979 2008 tanker Norgas Pioneer 8,922 1979 LPG * = gross tons c = capacity in cubic metres
From Price Buyer Remarks/New name Aries Offshore, Ålesund DOF, Austevoll Odfjell SE, Bergen Star Tankers, Haugesund bb back Svithoid Tankers, Stockholm Brøvigtank, Farsund Svithoid Tankers, Stockholm Brøvigtank, Farsund Svithoid Tankers, Stockholm Brøvigtank, Farsund A P Møller Mærsk, Cph Rolf Berg Drive, Tromsø T Klaveness, Oslo USD 3 m undisclosed K G Jebsen, Bergen Bergen Tankers, Bergen K G Jebsen, Bergen Bergen Tankers, Bergen Seatrend Sh, Belgium M H Simonsen, Svendborg DS Norden, Copenhagen USD 35.25 m Japanese DS Norden, Copenhagen USD 30.2 m undiscl DS Norden, Copenhagen USD 29.5 m undiscl DS Norden, Copenhagen USD 28.25 m European DS Norden, Copenhagen USD 27.5 m Greeks Thenamaris, Greece USD 56.7 m Nordic American, Sandefjord Stena RoRo, Göteborg Ventouris, Greece FPSOcean, Oslo USD 6.5 m undisclosed Acercy Norway, Stavanger USD 78 m Saipem Knutsen OAS, Haugesund USD 70 m Trond Mohn, Bergen bb back Knutsen OAS, Haugesund USD 70 m Trond Mohn, Bergen bb back Knutsen OAS, Haugesund USD 90 m Trond Mohn, Bergen bb back Rem Offshore, Fosnavåg NOK 300 m Varun, India Nordane Sh, Svendborg Canada Odfjell SE, Bergen USD 26.5 m Star Tankers, Haugesund Odfjell SE, Bergen en bloc Star Tankers, Haugesund Odfjell SE, Bergen en bloc Star Tankers, Haugesund Solvang, Stavanger USD 255/ldt breaking Wilh Wilhelmsen, Oslo USD 1.895 m breaking Bangladesh Sartor Shipping, Bergen Nor Supply Offshore, Bodø Solstrand liquidators NOK 220 m Havship DA, Fosnavåg Eidsvaag AS, Krs sund Geir Mørk, Tromsø Falkeid KS, Stavanger Lebanon as is damaged K G Jebsen, Bergen Lebanon as is damaged Gansworld Shipping, Malta Rederi AB Älvtank, Donsö Ramira I M Skaugen, Oslo USD 2.4 m breaking India All details believed to be correct but not guaranteed
Photo: Fredrik Davidsson Data source: Shipgaz Bergen
Rederi AB Älvtank at Donsö, Sweden, has purchased the Gan-Gesture, now renamed the Ramira, here seen at Cityvarvet, Göteborg.
52 SHIPGAZ NO 2 2009
By Pierre Adolfsson, pierre@shipgaz.com
Update Piracy
PHOTO: THE EUNAVFOR/ATALANTA OPERATION
The EU anti-piracy force in action – soon they will be accompanied by NATO.
NATO back in business
The number of hijackings in the Gulf of Aden has fallen – and now the naval presence will be reinforced by NATO warships. Between January 1 and February 22, 21 reported attacks took place in the Gulf of Aden – ‘only’ four vessels were hijacked according to the International Maritime Bureau live piracy map. It is a clear drop compared to the last two months of 2008 (nine hijackings).
Reports of arrested pirates are common nowadays. In the middle of February, ten suspected pirates were detained by the Russian navy, for example. ”The detainees possessed weapons, including a G-3 rifle, an AK-47, two AKMS machine guns, two grenade launchers and two anti infantry grenades. They also had a GPS receiver, a ladder, 500 grams of drugs and a large amount of money”, a Russian navy press release states. Today, around 20 international naval ships are deployed off Somalia – soon they will be accompanied by a new NATO operation. The former NATO anti-piracy operation in the
Gulf of Aden ended in December 2008 when the EU operation Atalanta was launched. “You can expect to see another what we call standing NATO maritime group off the coast of Somalia in the coming months, contributing to the overall international effort. Of course in cooperation with the other actors – I can’t say on the ground, but at sea, off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden”, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Krakow, Poland, after a meeting between NATO Defence Ministers.
»We’re now seeing almost the end of the monsoon season so I would not be surprised if piracy goes up again«
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the NATO Secretary General.
According to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer there is a need of increased naval presence in the area, despite piracy going down. “We’re now seeing almost the end
of the monsoon season so I would not be surprised if piracy goes up again”. Six ships will probably be deployed in the operation.
The recent acts of piracy against ships in the Gulf of Guinea and the waters off Nigeria, have forced IMO to urge the Government of Nigeria to intervene. The request was delivered at a meeting between the IMO and Nigeria’s new Minister of Transport, Mr Ibrahim Bio. According to Mr Bio, the Government has created a special Ministry, given full powers to address – among other topics – the problem of militancy and piracy. An action plan agreed at a conference on piracy and armed robbery against ships last year was being implemented as well, Mr Bio said. Armed attacks, including kidnapping and hijacking of vessels in the Niger Delta, have shut down more than a fifth of Nigerian crude oil production since 2006.
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NO 2 2009 SHIPGAZ 53
Piracy
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Report
54 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Rolf P Nilsson, rolf@shipgaz.com
Update IMO
PHoTo:
The IMO secretary-general Efthimios E Mitropoulos showed concern over the safety record of the shipping industry.
IMO: Don’t cut costs on training!
“To compromise safety by avoiding essential maintenance work and seafarers training could have catastrophic consequences”, says the IMO secretary-general Efthimios E Mitropoulos. That was one of the messages from the IMO secretary-general when he opened the 53rd session of the subcommittee on fire protection (FP). Mr Mitropoulos also hoped that there would be an improvement in the shipping industry’s safety record this year after an unacceptably high level of marine casualties last year.
One important issue discussed during the FP session in February was measures to prevent explosions on tankers carrying low flash point cargoes. A working group will review data and recommend actions to the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC). The solution now discussed is inert gas systems and the size of tankers in which such systems should be required. This is a controversial issue, as there are other dangers to this. Opponents argue that this could be a way to worsen one problem by solving another. It is claimed that death caused by seafarers entering confined spaces – as tanks – with unbreathable or toxic atmospheres is one of the most common causes of work related fatal accidents for seafarers. According to statistics from
the Marine Accident Investigator International Forum, 124 seafarers have died and 123 have been injured in such accidents since 1994. Parties in favour of inert gas systems suggest that this should be met by improved training. The issue was remitted to MSC and the next FP session for further discussions.
»There are controversial issues to solve. One is a proposal to increase the weekly hours of rest from 70 to 77.«
The sub-committee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STW) also held a session in February. Although no decisions were taken, continuous discussions on the revision of the STCW Convention took a major part of the time. An extraordinary session about the revision is planned for the autumn this year. There are controversial issues to solve. One is a proposal to increase the weekly hours of rest from 70 to 77, and possible exemptions. While there is a widespread support for a mandatory international blood alcohol
concentration limit of 0.5 per mille, the requirement that masters should carry out tests of the crew is also a controversial issue. Piracy has also entered the scope of the STW. There is a general support for including anti-piracy measures in the training, but how to implement it is a question that still has to be answered. That improved knowledge about the environment and environmental protection should be mandatory in the training of seafarers also met general support. A new officer category may also be born in a not too distant future, as the committee discussed the need for an ETO Officer (Electro Technical Officer). Knowledge about the use of VTS systems was also discussed.
A revision of the IMO regulations on safe manning is yet another controversial issue and consensus was not reached during the meeting. Among other things, the two-navigator system was challenged. One proposal is that the system should be kept, but in combination with a requirement that there is a minimum of three nautical officers aboard.
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No 2 a2009 va Shipgaz 55
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56 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Robert Hermansson, robert@shipgaz.com
Report Bilge Water System
Bilge water system received US Coast Guard Approval Tough testing of the Senitec sludge and bilge water treatment system from Wärtsilä showed discharge well below IMO requirements. Wärtsilä’s Senitec sludge and bilge water treatment system has received US Coast Guard (USCG) Type Approval. Tests have confirmed the system’s ability to remove oil in water to levels well below what is required by the IMO. The USCG-approved SGS Institute Fresenius in Germany, a provider of non-medical laboratory analysis, carried out the tests. The analysis confirmed discharges of less than 1 part per million, ppm, and the requirement by IMO is 15 ppm. Wärtsilä received the Bureau Veritas Type Approval last year and is planning to apply for ABS certification in a near future. A USCG certificate means that the American market is fully open for the Senitec system. The sludge and bilge water treatment system has already been installed in 80 applications, half of them marinerelated. USCG Type Approval tests are considered to be the most stringent and therefore the certificate is the most valuable to hold.
“It is a very hard test and the Senitec system came through it with flying colours”, says Magnus Gripenwald, Senitec project manager. “Even when using an emulsified concoction of heavy fuel oil, diesel, iron oxides and detergent, the result was the same. We have also found that efficiency does not reduce even after years of running the system.” Dr Ulrich Hilverkus from the SGS Institute Fresenius, who conducted the tests, confirmed the performance of the system. “The tests were performed successfully with all oil content measurement results being less than 1 ppm. The equipment as tested therefore meets and exceeds the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) 107 (49) requirements.” The trials are more extensive than others and include assessments of a system’s robustness. The electrical and electronic systems are tested at
The system combines new and traditional methods in a four-stage emulsion-breaking separator. peak frequencies for four hours. That is far in excess of other approval trials. Two Senitec units were installed at the Wärtsilä Sweden factory for the tests. One unit had the capacity of 500 to 1,000 litres per hour and the larger had 1,500 to 2,500 litres per hour capacity. They were both tested during a 70-hour period. When the units were tilted to simulate a vessel’s list at a 22.5-degree angle, the results were the same as when the units were tested on even keel. The results were below 1 ppm.
»Even when using an emulsified concoction of heavy fuel oil, diesel, iron oxides and detergent, the result was the same.«
Even before the oily water passed through the unit’s fourth stage, the effluent discharged was only 3 ppm. 5 ppm is the required limit for vessels operating in environmentally sensitive areas.
The technology is a combination of traditional methods and new solutions and consists of a four-stage emulsion-breaking separator, where each stage handles one key component of the sludge. It can handle input flows with oil content of between 0 and 100 per cent. In stage 1, a combination of dissolved air and a dual oil zone interface makes the oil float to the surface where it is skimmed off and pumped to the sludge tank. In the second, emulsion breaking
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 57
Bilge Water System
stage, the process of coagulation and flocculation are used to separate the suspended soils from the bilge water and breaking the emulsions in the water. Dispersed solids that are suspended in the bilge water are stabilized by negative electric charges so that they repel each other instead of forming larger masses, flocs. To remove the particles, chemical coagulation and flocculation are needed. The processes are a combination of physical and chemical procedures and are usually done in sequence. Chemicals are mixed with the bilge water to promote the aggregation of the suspended soils into larger particles. To get maximum effect, the
»Field studies, though, show that the oil content before the filter is approximately 1 ppm and less than 1 ppm after.« mixing of the chemicals must be done with great care. When the particles are flocculated into larger particles they can be removed by flotation.
In stage 3, dissolved air flotation is used again to get the separation and subsequent removal of the solids to the solids tank. Due to the open design of the system, it is easy to have control and to maintain and run the plant. The fourth stage consists of a tradi-
Report
tional active carbon filter. The filter is used for final cleansing of the water before it is discharged. By minimizing the load on the filter, the amount of water used for back flushing is very low and that results in low sludge volumes. After these four stages, the oil content in the water is guaranteed to be below 5 ppm. Field studies, though, show that the oil content before the filter is approximately 1 ppm and less than 1 ppm after. The solids in the solids tank can be processed and dewatered further by using the Wärtsilä Senitec SolidPac unit. That unit is a filtration system that is reducing the water content in dry solids by as much as 90 per cent.
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Coagulation and Flocculation Coagulation is the destabilization of colloids by neutralization the forces that keep them apart. Cationic coagulants provide positive electric charges to reduce the negative charge of the colloids. As a result, the particles collide to form larger particles (flocs). Rapid mixing is required to disperse the coagulant in the liquid.
Flocculation is the action of polymers to form bridges between the flocs, binding the particles into large agglomerates or clumps. Bridging occurs when segments of the polymer chain adsorb on different particles and help particles aggregate. An anionic flocculant will react against a positively charged suspension, adsorbing
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on the particles and causing destabilization either by bridging or charge neutralization. In this process it is essential that the flocculating agent be added by slow and gentle mixing to allow for contact between the small flocs and to agglomerate them into larger particles.
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From dirty cups to a flambéed Japanese It all began in 1950 when three young men, full of expectations, signed on the old steamer Moldavia. Text: Robert Hermansson Photos: Unknown seamen ven though early life at sea was not what they had dreamt of, one of the boys, Nils-Arne Pålsson, alias Pålle, came to spend many years in the Swedish Merchant Marine. As his friends took the jobs as a cook apprentice and trimmer, the only opportunity left for Pålle – if they should sail on the same ship – was to be a mess boy. It was not what he had hoped for and he regretted several times that he had left the rather easy life at his father’s mechanical shop.
E
To do the washing up after eight hungry officers in a bucket with soft soap and water heated by steam from the engine room, cleaning cabins and making the officers’ beds was not the young man’s cup of tea. He persisted, though, and when a job as a deckhand was available he left the dishcloth for the scaling hammer without regret. Even though Pålle sailed as a deckhand and able seaman for many years, his real contribution to the Swedish Merchant Shipping was as an engineer on board as well as ashore. It was not until 1956 that he signed on as a motorman on the Saggat. The first modern ship he signed on was the Rydbo holm, which took him to the US so that he could buy his first pair of Lee Rider jeans and khaki shirts. He found out that the seaman on board the modern motor ship was another kind than he was used to from the old steamer. The modern seaman had a comb in his back pocket and no knife, as he had seen before.
On board the M/S Markland in 1967. The engine crew are overhauling a piston in open sea after a severe scavenging air fire in the main engine. This was Pülle’s last vessel as a chief engineer and he is seen to the left.
A tired and ordinary seaman is resting on the fifth hatch on board the M/S Glimmaren. The photo is taken somewhere along the West African coast when all the rats were defeated.
Pålle signed on the S/S Moldavia in 1950. The old lady was built in Sunderland in 1906 and Pålle was trained to be a real sailor by his harsh bosun Mr Sjöland.
He thought he could smell both Coca Cola and chewing gum at the same time as he took his first curious steps on American soil. It was at Pier 43 in Brooklyn. Even though they were visiting exciting places like New Orleans, Galveston, Houston, Vera Cruz and Havana, Pålle was not that fond of life on board the motor vessel. He missed the colourful stokers and the following two ships were old steamers. The S/S Inger was built in 1932 and the Ramsö as far back as 1907.
»He thought he could smell both Coca Cola and chewing gum at the same time as he took his first curious steps on American soil«
In that old ship the crew lived in the forecastle and the washroom was in the forward part too, but there was no water. To get some water so they could give their bodies a scanty cleaning, they had to go amidships and fill a bucket with water and bring it back to the crew’s quarters. This was easily done and no problem for an experienced sailor when the weather was fine. In bad weather, though, when cold and angry waves filled the foredeck, both the seamen and their buckets were often close to being swept overboard. “We learned to parry”, Pålle says with a smile. “But it happened more than once that we lost the bucket and had a saltwater shower while hiding from the elements under a tarpaulin behind a hatch.” On board the Glimmaren they fought rats as big as fat cats that rose on their hind legs and threatened to attack, when the crew were cleaning the holes. “You had to be quick and kill them instantly”, Pålle says, this time without a smile. “It didn’t seem to matter how many of them we killed. New rats turned up, leaving corners and recesses to fight what they saw as intruders. We beat them finally.” Pålle shudders when he is reminded of the horrible war in the deep, dark and lethal holes.
Later in life, when he was the second engineer on the Halland, they spent more than a month in Calcutta during a severe cholera epidemic. More than 2,000 people died daily and every morning an army of poor people came and collected the dead and took them to sites along the Ganges river, were they were cremated.
Arne Pålsson – the seaman
Pålle now lives in Halmstad on the Swedish west coast, in a house that he built himself. 59 years have passed since he entered the ship seen above, but in his heart he is still a real seaman.
During 1953–1955 Pålle served on board the minesweeper HMS Holmön as a gunsmith. When this picture was taken, he was loading an 8-mm machine gun in order to make the training with the double 25-mm aircraft gun somewhat cheaper.
With the nicely shaped ship M/S Halland, Pålle visited Calcutta twice during 1957 and 1958 and learned quite a lot about the peculiar way of living in that city.
On board the M/S Bromalm, ex Holmialand and a sistership to M/S Halland. In this photo, Pålle sits in the middle taking a break from loading logs of teak and mahogany in Borneo.
»He burned like a torch, and his colleagues did nothing to help him, so I threw him in the cold water«
The sailing junior boxer Pålle’s first seaman’s passport was issued the first of June 1950. The swollen lips that can be seen on the young man are the remains of a junior boxing tournament. He had two losses and three victories.
The stacks of dead bodies were higher than the piles of wood needed for burning the victims of the plague. The crew gave away their last money so more wood for the funeral piles could be bought.
After graduating with a Chief Engineer degree from the Maritime Academy in Göteborg in 1960, life on board was easier than before, though not less adventurous. One Saturday morning in Ellesmere Port the Frans Gorthon suddenly got a 20-degree list while unloading props from Newfoundland. Luckily the vessel leaned against the pier – if she had gone the other way the ship would probably have turned over in the port. As the ship had a lot of heavy cargo on deck, she carried a maximum amount of ballast water. The thought was to reduce the ballast at the same pace as the deck cargo was unloaded. What the first engineer on watch did not know was that the unloading was stopped after a while. He continued to deballast while the amount of deck cargo remained the same. The result was hard to hide and much spoken about. Pålle had his first job as a Chief Engineer in 1963, when he signed on the Ragna Gorthon, and his last job at sea was in 1967 as Chief Engineer on the Markland. In 1964 he returned to Broströms and when he was promised a career as a Superintendent, he studied Naval Architecture. But after graduation in 1968 he found out that he had been forgotten and his job given to someone else. He looked for other options and got eleven good, interesting years at KaMeWa. During most of that time he was a kind of inventor and worked with electronic equipment together with his friend, Alf Lundin. He started his own company, Sundby Elektronik, in 1977 and remained at KaMeWa for a few years more. As it is close to impossible to keep two full-time jobs at the same time he left KaMeWa and continued to be his own employer. During the years as a service engineer and inventor, Pålle visited more than a hundred vessels in all parts of the world. When he starts to talk about this time, he is hard to stop and now might be the right time to introduce the flambéed Japanese. It happened at Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Kobe. It was in December and chilly winds blew through the Kii-Suido sound and kept the coast in a frozen grip. In an attempt to keep the temperature at an acceptable level, charcoal was burning in old pots hanging down from the poop deck. Pålle and a couple of men from the yard were occupied with Magnafluxing the propeller blades, when one of the Japanese came too close to one of the heat sources and caught fire. “He burned like a torch”, Pålle says with a laugh, “and his colleagues did nothing to help him, so I threw him in the cold water. He disappeared for quite some time and I was afraid he had drowned. Suddenly I saw a black mop of hair just beneath the surface and I managed to reach him by the hair and pull him out of the water. He was cold and almost half dead, but he was extinguished.” “It was amazing”, Pålle continues while pouring some more coffee. “He just went up to change clothes and was back within half an hour, only complaining of a headache.”
Before retirement in 1990, Pålle spent two years as Superintendent at the US-based Horizon Development. He got the job because he was familiar with MAN engines and among other things his job was to convert a barge of 18,000 tons to a fresh water tanker for the Bahamas. At the Nassau Island there is no fresh water and all the water used on the island has to be transported there from the nearby Andros Island, approximately 40 nm to the west.
They managed to find four Hedemora Pielstick with generators, in Texas of all places, and they were put on board the barge before it was towed to Cadiz in Spain for conversion. The electrical equipment was ordered from Strömbergs in Finland, who delivered instantly. All the furniture was bought at IKEA and the four thrusters were found in Italy in very bad shape but as nothing is impossible for an old Chief Engineer, it all went well. When the rebuilt tanker left for the busy fresh water trade in the Bahamas, Pålle went back to Sweden for well-earned retirement.
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A German cargo ship loaded with scrap stranded at Santo Domingo just before the hurricane Gilbert stroke the island in 1988. Pålle was involved in the efforts to salvage her. It is easy to see that the efforts were in vain. The M/T Ragna Gorthon in 1962 with water on deck. The need of a catwalk is obvious. Seamen, like cats, don’t like wet feet.
66 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Bent Mikkelsen, bent@shipgaz.com
Report Shipping lobby
Photo: bent mikkelsen
A day with a shipping lobbyist
Peter Olsen is the Danish shipping lobby’s own man in the heart of the European Union. His employer has been represented in Brussels for 20 years. “If we boil it down to the bone, my job is to walk about this place in the centre of Europe and help people understand the mysterious ways of shipping.” Peter Olsen, the Danish shipping lobbyist in the EU capital Brussels, describes his work in plain words. He is the latest addition to the Danish Shipowners’ Association’s long tradition of being one of very few owners’ associations represented in Brussels. Since 1989, the Danish Shipowners’ Association has had its own man stationed in the heart of European legislation.
“There are quite a number of examples of how Danish shipping in general and the members of the Danish Shipowners’ Association have ben-
efited from our presence in Brussels”, explains Jan Fritz Hansen, vice president of the Danish Shipowners’ Association. “It is mainly in proposals and future legislation where we have managed to have alterations made at an early stage of the preparations, in order to make them workable in practice and also make them possible in terms of the rather special business that we represent”, says Jan Fritz Hansen. The day-to-day work in Brussels is at present done by Peter Olsen, who has been stationed in Brussels for a
»It is mainly in proposals and future legislation where we have managed to have alterations made«
Jan Fritz Hansen, vice president of the Danish Shipowners’ Association.
little more than a year. He was the first one to live in a house owned by the Danish Shipowners’ Association, which has invested in a four-storey combined office and housing building in the centre of Brussels.
The Danish Shipowners’ Association has been the tenant in several houses since 1989 and has now decided to be the proud owner of its own building fitted with a brass plate on the front. “That is simply a matter of business as the association, like many private people in Europe, could see the advantage of investing in a house instead of hiring”, says Peter Olsen. “Two storeys are office and conference rooms and one floor is our private home. And there is still room for
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 67
Shipping lobby
expansion, as the fourth floor is still only used as storage”. “The office facilities and the conference room are not only for our own use, but also for our members’ use”. “Let’s say that perhaps D/S Torm wants to explain certain ideas to some civil servants in the EU system, they can conduct a meeting on our premises instead of hiring external premises. It could also be a meeting with colleagues from other European countries.”
“Otherwise it is a little difficult to define what my tasks really are. Part of my job is to put my ear to the ground or listen trough the grapevine in order to find out what is going on in the corridors of Brussels and what part of it that could effect the Danish shipping industry”, says Peter Olsen. “A glorious example from one of my predecessors in this position is from the early 1990s, when a proposal was under construction in Brussels concerning working environments in general”, explains Peter Olsen. “The overall bill had a passage saying that no employee was allowed to stay in the work place more than eleven hours in a row and with exceptions. Our man got hold of the information and realised within a few minutes that this would cause enormous trouble to the shipping industry.”
“No one had given a thought to crews on board ships and how to manage the legislation. Should the crew be changed by helicopter every eleven hours or what? Somehow our man in Brussels managed to explain the impossibilities of that proposal and it was altered to something useful.” Another important function for the Danish shipping representative in Brussels is to support the 14 Danish members of the EU parliament. The Danish lobbyist spends time
Photo: european commision
»My job is to walk about this place in the centre of Europe and help people understand the mysterious ways of shipping«
Report
68 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Bent Mikkelsen, bent@shipgaz.com
Report Shipping lobby
Photo: The european commission.
»We can help and support our MPs to catch up on the various committees and on the details in the proposal under construction.« preparing them intellectually to take the best possible decisions in the different fora in Brussels. “There is so much paperwork and so many proposals in all directions in Brussels that it is totally impossible to keep up with all the necessary details. The individual MP has no chance of catching up with all kinds of segments of business and that is where we enter the scene.”
“We can help and support our MPs to catch up on the various committees and on the details in the proposal under construction. It works both ways. We get a better knowledge of what is going on inside the circles in Brussels and we can push things in the best possible direction for Danish shipping”, says Peter Olsen. The same goes for the national parliament in Copenhagen and even with 176 members, the workload for each member to catch up with is beyond belief.
The Berlaymont building houses the EU Commission, a place frequently visited by Peter Olsen.
Denmark and the Danish Shipowners’ Association were the first to open a representation office in Brussels. The reason for taking the lead is the relative size of the shipping industry in Denmark. The Danish maritime cluster is a huge and valuable industry in the
The DSA The Danish Shipowners’ Association was was established in 1884.
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Danish community, while the shipping industry in other European countries has a lot less attention. For example the German shipping industry is much larger than the Danish, but measured by the rest of German industry shipping is rather small
compared to the car industry. So that is part of the explanation why Denmark is the only shipping association with its own representation in Brussels, although shipping has moved much closer to shore over the last few decades.
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No 2 2009 Shipgaz 69
By Pär-Henrik Sjöström, par-henrik@shipgaz.com
Cruise business
Update Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström
Difficult year ahead for the cruise industry
The market leaders Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises foresee a challenging year 2009 for the cruise industry. The worldwide economic downturn has resulted in a dramatic change in the operating environment in the cruise business. Compared to the previous year, Carnival Corporation & Plc, the largest cruise company in the world, reported a 12 per cent higher revenue (USD 14.6 billion) for the full year, ending on November 30, 2008. However, the net income decreased by 4 per cent to 2.3 billion during the same period. The trend is somewhat similar for the second largest cruise company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Indeed their financial year ended on December 31, 2008, and the impact of the economic downturn is therefore more visible. Last year their total revenues grew by 7 per cent to USD 6.5 billion. The net income decreased by 5 per cent and totalled 573.7 million.
The situation will by no means be easier during 2009. The management of Royal Caribbean International Ltd expects the net yields to decrease fur-
ther in the range of 9 to 13 per cent this year. The executives of Carnival Corporation deliver a similar forecast, expecting the full year net revenue yields to decrease 6 to 10 percent.
»We believe that we will secure committed financing for these ships« The two Oasisclass vessels under construction have commitments for financing guarantees from Finland’s Export Credit Agency Finnvera for 80 per cent of the financed amount.
Both companies continue to increase their penetration on markets with high growth potential outside the North American market. Carnival Corporation carried a total of 8.1 million passengers during the fiscal year 2008. Carnival increased their passenger capacity in Europe by 21 per cent during that period. Royal Caribbean Cruises reports that passenger ticket revenues generated by sales originating in countries outside of the United States were approximately 40 per cent and the number of international passengers have grown from 0.5 million in 2004 to 1.3 million in 2008. The total
number of passengers carried by Royal Caribbean Cruises’ brands in 2008 was 4 million. Royal Caribbean estimate that the global cruise industry carried 17.2 million cruise passengers in 2008 compared to 16.6 million in 2007.
The executives of Royal Caribbean Cruises predict that it may now be more difficult to secure financing for the two Oasis-class vessels. “We are working with the relevant export credit agencies and various financial institutions to obtain committed financing for Oasis of the Seas. This includes exploring opportunities to increase the guarantee level and obtain partial funding support from the relevant export credit agencies. Although we believe that we will secure committed financing for these ships before their delivery dates, there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so or that we will do so on acceptable terms”, it is stated in the company’s annual report.
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70 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Technical Review Smart air technology Auxiliary The Oslo based Tamrotor Marine Compressors focuses on the TMC Smart Air technology. The production of compressed air is adjusted precisely according to the demand and the energy consumption is reduced by 40–50 per cent compared to a conventional compressor. This new technology combines environmental savings with big cost savings for the ship owners and several large shipping companies have chosen TMC Smart Air on board new buildings. TMC’s Sales Director Per Kjellin says that: “The success of TMC Smart Air we see now confirms that the idea we had when we started developing TMC Smart Air for marine use a few years ago was right.”
For more information: For more information, please contact: Marit Holen, Tel: +47 – 975 44 525 mholen@tmc.no, www.tmc.no
By Robert Hermansson, robert@shipgaz.com
A new antifouling with global potential environment In advance of the commercial launch Medetomidine, a new antifouling substance is currently undergoing regulatory scrutiny by the European authorities. The substance has proven to effectively prevent adhesion of barnacles and other shell forming marine animals by stimulating larvae swimming behaviour rather than exerting toxic effects, which is the norm for other biocides used as antifouling agents in marine paint. Barnacle larvae have an exploratory surface behaviour, necessary for settlement that is blocked by Medetomidine. Instead a deterrent behaviour is promoted and the attachment and permanent settlement is inhibited without killing the larvae.
In tests during more than two years, Medetomidine has proven effective in amounts less than 0.1 per cent by weight when added to traditional marine antifouling paint systems and is an ideal substance when it comes to reducing the need for copper. When used as an antifouling, copper is scrutinized both in Europe – especially regarding the effects in the Baltic Sea – and in the USA – mainly in the states of California
on the west coast and Chesapeake bay on the east coast. It has shown that Medetomidine has the full potential to replace copper as an antifouling. A long-term comparison between copper and Medetomidine shows that 0.025 per cent Medetomidine added to marine antifouling paint without other biocides, is more effective than 30 per cent copper to the same paint over one year of follow-up. The new antifouling substance does not endanger other marine organisms due to its efficacy at very low concentrations and its specific non-lethal mode of action. The compound has been thoroughly tested in the North Sea, the Mediterranean and in tropical waters. The development of Medetomidine has been made possible by collaboration by University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology and I-Tech, a company that will explore the commercial opportunities.
For more information: Lena Mårtensson Lindblad, Tel: +46 (0)31 703 1949 Lena.lindblad@i-tech.se, www.i-tech.se Photo: nasa
Adjustable cable ramp equipment A strong, portable ramp designed to protect expensive cables has been introduced by Furrion. The lightweight adjustable-width ramp assembles in seconds and features a quick connect system for joining multiple ramps, reflecting surface symbols and rubber feet for added traction and stability.
For more information: Mark Curry, Tel: +1 203.528.8422 mark@furrion.com www.homeportmarine.com
The antifouling compound has been thoroughly tested in the North Sea.
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 71
The editor of the Technical Review section is Robert Hermansson, contact him at robert@shipgaz.com
Technical Review Photo: Thrane & Thrane
Photo: MacGregor
New VHF radios from Thrane & Thrane Photo: MacGregor
Lightweight fibre rope equipment Cargotec’s MacGregor has developed a technology for handling lightweight fibre rope that has several advantages compared to traditional steel wire rope. The world’s first sub sea knucklejib crane that will use fibre rope was delivered in January and will be installed on the sub sea vessel Havila Phoenix. The 250-tonne Hydramarine active heavecompensated (AHC) offshore crane is designed with a 250-tonne/3,000 metre singleline winch and is prepared for a 250-tonne single-line fibre rope. “MacGregor’s technology for handling lightweight fibre rope rather than traditional steel wire rope offers several advantages that will meet the ever-increasing demands of the offshore industry as operators move further into deeper and more remote terri-
tories”, says Øystein Bondevik, sales director in MacGregor’s Offshore division, and continues: “Due to the neutralisation of the weight of the fibre rope in water, much heavier loads can be handled without strain to the crane at unlimited depths. The new generation of MacGregor Hydramarine subsea technology with operational capacity of up to 600 tonnes at depths down to 10,000 metres ensures indispensable precision, efficiency and safety in extreme conditions during year-round operations.”
For more information: Øystein Bondevik, Tel: +47 95 72 34 13 Oystein.bondevik@macgregor-group.com www.macgregor-group.com
communication Thrane & Thrane has recently unveiled the latest generation of its Sailor VHF series. The new Sailor 6210 VHF, Sailor 6215 VHF DSC Class D and FCC approved Sailor 6216 VHF DSC Class D will be on sale in the spring and they are specially designed and developed for fishing boats and work boats.
The VHF:s are easy to use and the features include full waterproof to IPx8, replay, easy to read display with red backlight and dimming, powerful loudspeaker, up to two additional handsets/control speaker mics, interfaces for AIS output and optional loud hailer, DW, Tri-match and scanning. A large display with red backlight protects the user’s night vision and makes it easy to read the menu. The tactile feel of the buttons and knobs provides easy operation and the powerful loudspeaker ensures good sound quality even in noisy environments. The replay function allows the user to clarify received information and ensures that it is not lost or ignored if the user was occupied doing other things when the information was received. All three radios can automatically receive AIS signals and an interface enables connection to a PC or chart-plotter. Additionally, a built in interface and functionality for loud hailer and foghorn is standard.
For more information: John Alexandersen, tel: +45 39 55 88 35 ja@thrane.com www.thrane.com
72 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Technical Review Photo: maersk line
Photo: SNAME
Revised chapter 4 of PNA out now education A new edition of PNA, Principles of Naval Architecture: Strength of Ships and Ocean Structures is now available from the Society of Naval Architects and Marne Engineers, SNAME. The volume is a revision of the previous chapter 4 of PNA and addresses several topics of ships strength in greater depth, bringing much of the material up to date and introducing some new subjects. Revisions of the other eight chapters of PNA will be released during the next two years. The book offers extensive coverage of the last developments in dynamic sea load and predictions, including nonlinear load effects, slamming and impact plus new sections on mechanics of collisions and grounding. Problems encountered in ships of special type and size that have been developed in recent years require a design approach based on first principles, receive special attention. Modern developments in classification society strength standards and modern rule developments are covered, including Common Structural Rules for tankers and bulk carriers. The book can be bought by e-mailing Susan Evans Grove on sevans@sname.org.
business Chris-Marine provides high precision maintenance machines for marine diesel engines and in power-plants ashore and IOP-Marine makes fuel injector test equipment and hydraulic power packs. The products from both companies are used for low and medium speed engines.
For more information: Karina Linnér, Tel: +46 (0)40 671 26 00 www.chris-marine.com
MAN and Maersk – a strategic partnership propulsion MAN Diesel PrimeServ and Maersk Fluid Technology have formed a strategic partnership where MAN will represent Maersk’s SEA-Mate line of products to operators of MAN Diesel equipment on a global scale. The philosophy behind the SEA-Mate product line is to provide innovative and technologically advanced products, services and solutions with respect to fuels or lubricants, that will give operators flexibility, advanced performance and reduced operating costs.
In the beginning, the focus will be on two-stroke engines and on both the optimisation of system and cylinder-lubricant usage as well as improved engine performance. In addition, tools will be provided for near real-time oil analysis. The initial systems provided; the SEAMate Analyzer and SEA-Mate Blending on Board, developed by Maersk Fluid Technology, will enable operators to analyse lubricants and fuels and allow for the fine-tuning of the engines. At the same time, the blending of used system oil with a MAN Diesel approved additive package will provide a flexible composition of cylinder oil meeting the actual fuel sulphur level requirements, this gives
not only reduced costs but also reduces environmental impact. In addition, various other fluid solutions and services are under development and will be introduced during 2009. “This is a great opportunity for the engine operators who ultimately will be able to blend cylinder oil on board to a suitable base number and thereby cater for the actual engine condition”, states Otto Winkel, Senior Vice President MAN Diesel PrimeServ.
For more information: Peter Dan Petersen, Tel:+45 33 85 14 70 Peterd.petersen@man.eu www.mandiesel.com Photo: man Diesel
Chris-Marine acquires IOP Marine A/S
A number of the container vessels in the Maersk Line fleet use the SEA-Mate analyzer.
no 2 2009 Shipgaz 73
Technical Review
CD guide to navigation
the cd incorporates five separate sections: certification, Tideland data sheet, the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) guidelines and recommendations, range tables, technical notes and a video demonstrating Tideland’s 55-metre optic light tunnel. The information is designed to be of use to maritime professionals as well as giving an insight into the background and general principles for engineering contractors, buyers and others only occasionally involved. The IALA section gives a practical explanation to the use of lanterns, buoys and other aids. The technical notes give more detailed
Photo: tiDelanD siGnal
software A CD providing a comprehensive and illustrated guide to aids to marine navigation, AtoN, together with easy-to-use sections on the technical background, standards, certification and deployment is available from the UK based Tideland Signal. Tideland Signal has specialized in aids to marine navigation and solar generation for ports and harbours as well as lighthouse authorities and commercial installations for more than 50 years.
guidance on each of the different types of aid to navigation, including LED as well as incandescent lights, flasher equipment, buoys and their moorings, radar beacons, remote monitoring and control and Automated Identification Systems, AIS. The company designs, manufactures and assembles a large range of aids to navigation and is also a supplier for navigational aids to the offshore industry.
for more information: Tideland Signal Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 1444 872240 sales@tidelandsignal.ltd.uk www.tidelandsignal.ltd.uk
University gets new sponsor education Kongsberg Maritime has signed a five-year research and education agreement with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The agreement is based on sponsorship of one professorship within marine cybernetics at the Department of Marine Technology within NTNU. Three PhD scholarships will be connected to the professorship, which the university will be responsible for continuing once the five-year sponsorship agreement is completed. “Over the past few years, the governmental funding of our institute has seen a significant decline. In parallel to this, we experience a high demand for our candidates by the industry”, Stig Berge, Manager at the Institute of Marine Technique, says in a comment. “We consider it a vote of confidence that the industry takes responsibility for technological education by sponsoring scientific positions and our cooperation with Kongsberg Maritime strengthens the relevance and capacity of NTNU within marine cybernetics.”
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74 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Retro Steamers of the 1960s Photo: Widerøe
Haugesund in 1953 from the air, with two of the three shipyards. Haugesunds Mek Verksted to the left, with the Lindhaug (1920) and the Vardal (1921). To the right Haugesund’s Slip with a score of smaller vessels.
The last of the timber steamers
As late as the mid-1960s, there was still a fleet of timber steamers owned and operated out of Haugesund, the busy Norwegian shipping town. The heavily loaded vessel would come out of the twilight with her deck cargo of timber stacked high, often with a slight list to starboard. Her oil-fired lanterns dimly lit, an elderly officer on the bridge, with a hiss from her funnel and steady propeller rhythm as she moved slowly past, leaving a trail of oil and sweet-smelling timber in her wake. Such was my teenage impression of the last timber steamers as they passed on their way from the Russian timber ports on the White Sea to British or Continental ports.
Deeply fascinated by ships even then, I could somehow perceive an atmosphere of decline, being the last
of their kind, the final chapter in what had been one of the mainstays of the Scandinavian shortsea trade for a century. She was a Haugesunder, one of the last fleet of cargo steamers under the Norwegian flag, owned and operated out of Haugesund, the busy shipping town on the West coast. As late as the mid-1960s, there was still a fleet of steamers owned there, well-known names like the Karma, Marvel, Lindborg, Rex, Vard, Granli, Raagan, Kongshavn, Solhavn, Facto
»A good number of the fixtures were on NABSA terms – Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground«
and others, all dating from around the First World War. Displaced from most other trades, they were now almost entirely employed in the White Sea timber trade and laid up in their home port over the winter.
Haugesund was built on herring and shipping and expanded to become a leading shipping community with some well-known names like Knut Knutsen OAS, Christian Haaland and H M Wrangell. But what was characteristic, was the great number of small companies with one or two ships, often operated in combination with herring export or even as timber merchants; a feature that remained well into the
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 75
Steamers of the 1960s
Retro Photo: Haugesunds Avis
The S/S Vard (1930) about to join the row of laid-up steamers at the end of the 1960 season. 1960s. Why were the Haugesund owners able to operate their elderly ships with crews of 16–19 men, when modern ‘paragraph’ ships had problems making their ends meet? The reason was largely that the vessels were written down; there were no debts and as long as they covered running expenses and the cost of docking and survey, there was no reason to quit. “Remember, the operation was deeply rooted in the economic fabric of the town”, says Erik Kongshavn, himself a former shipowner, though not in the timber trade. “The vessels were manned locally, laid up here, docked at local shipyards, of which there were three. They were insured by Haugesunds Sjø, supplied by local chandleries like Sjur Lothe every time they passed through the port, they even took fuel here, be it coal or oil. The Kopervik Coal Depot was the last place on the coast for coaling.”
The distinctive operational pattern of the timber trade evolved during 1958–1960, when the ships became obsolete in the ordinary shortsea market. Instead, they were chartered through the local brokers like R G Hagland or Johs Mæland to Sovfracht, the Soviet chartering organisation with an office in Oslo.
The Russian exports of DBB – Deals, Battens and Boards – were usually sold on CIF terms (Cost, Insurance and Freight) and the export programme was usually circulated during the late winter. The shipowner would book a number of cargoes for his ship, commencing at F O W – First Open Water – to be followed by two of three more later in the season. The deals were fixed on the Russwood C/P form, or White Sea Wood Charter of 1933. The charter rate was expressed in GBP per standard (one standard = 165
Haugesund Haugesund was founded in 1855 when it was divided from Torvastad, a former neighbouring municipality.
cubic feet), and a 2,400 dwt steamer would normally carry some 800 standards. Incidentally, a good number of the fixtures were on NABSA terms – Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground. Most of the quantity would be for British ports, but there were also cargoes for German, Dutch and Belgian ports. The Haugesund timber fleet used to gather at “Hønå”, the lay-up berth at the southern end of Risøy in the inner port area. Here, a row of 12–15 vessels spent the winter with funnels and ventilators covered, with the wind singing in the rig and a small group of engineers carrying out maintenance work on board.
The first cargo was fixed for loading at F O W, which usually meant some time in May. This meant that the activity picked up around Easter, when officers were hired and the ships made ready. One by one the
76 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Retro Steamers of the 1960s Photo: Alf J Kristiansen
The first trip of the season might well meet with ice in the White Sea, as experienced by S/S Solhavn in 1963. vessels were shifted to a shipyard for docking and painting. Then they would take on water, fuel, stores and provisions. The crew would come aboard and find their quarters aft; the galley was fired and the ships came alive.
If the trade pattern was particular, so were the men. The captains were mostly elderly, experienced personalities; Captain Magne Høen of Kongs havn had done 58 cargoe runs from the White Sea and Captain Harry Pettersen of Lindborg was dubbed ‘the Admiral of the White Sea’. The Chief Engineers belonged to a similar stock, and even engineers and stokers were often elderly men who remained ‘in steam’. Also a good number of the crew were regulars, who sailed the same ship year after year.
white sea The White Sea is an inlet of the Barents Sea on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast.
“Some of the older men, particularly those who had been ‘out’ during the war, had close contacts in the British ports. When you went ashore in their company, you could be in for the most unexpected adventure”, says Halvor Habbestad who sailed as a young mate in the trade. The H&M insurance east of the North Cape only commenced on May 15, so the ships were made ready under some sort of rivalry to be the first to arrive in the port of loading. As 15–20 ships were ready to sail at the same time, departure time was kept secret. One by one the steamers cast off around May 10 and headed north on the seven-day passage to Archang elsk. Given reasonable dispatch, a steamer could do three or at best four cargoes in a season, before the ice
closed in during October. Ice could be a problem in May and at the end of the season, and it is almost amazing that these old single skin vessels without ice class could manage so well in the White Sea, considering that the propeller was only half submerged when in ballast.
This was the day before prepacked and unitized timber. Every board and plank had to be brought on board and stowed manually. It was essential to have tight stowage, both to utilize the space and to ensure stability. The older single-deckers were designed for deck cargo, and it served you little honour to come down the Haugesund port area with a low deck cargo. Slow loading and congestion would
No 2 2009 Shipgaz 77
Steamers of the 1960s
Retro
Photo: NSS-Jenssen Collection
The old single deckers had a generous timber intake, as shown by the S/S Rex (1919), the last coal fired vessel in the fleet.
»Some of the older men, particularly those who had been ›out‹ during the war, had close contacts in the British ports« often undermine the financial result of the season. The last voyage in the autumn might also be troubled by tough sea conditions in the Barents Sea and the North Sea. The deck cargo might easily draw sea spray and cause a list and under adverse conditions, the deck stowage could be broken and the cargo dispersed over the side.
Being discharged, the vessels would usually head north as soon as possible. There might be a return cargo of coal to northern Norway, but not very often. It was only after the last cargo in October/November that the ships might be fixed with other cargoes in the shortsea market, until everything quietened down around Christmas. Then the ships would head home for Haugesund and Hønå. The timber steamers were also used by the Norwegian intelligence service. After Norway joined NATO in 1949, a project for collecting information from Russian ports began. Operation Delfinus was conducted by agents contacting officers on board vessels due to call at Russian ports. The officers were asked to gather information on port facilities, radar stations, radio masts and every sort of military activity.
Most did their best to take photographs, spot interesting installations and gather information. Great care had to be taken while taking photographs in Russian ports and the
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78 Shipgaz No 2 2009
Retro Steamers of the 1960s Photo: alf J KristiaNseN
cameras had to be hidden while in Russian waters. Intelligence agents turned up on board in Haugesund or in British ports to collect whatever material had been gathered. In 1963 the Norwegian intelligence service employed 316 such agents on board ships in northern waters and received reports and 4,399 photographs. This material proved valuable as a supplement to air and satellite surveillance.
In 1960 there had been 27 Norwegian vessels employed in the White Sea timber trade, of which 18 were owned in Haugesund. As the years passed, the elderly vessels dropped out as they were due for special survey or sold abroad. Operating costs escalated, in particular manning. At the same time the Russians were building new vessels for the timber trade, making it a matter of time before they would be self-sufficient. Also, the gradual introduction of pre-packed timber would make the steamers obsolete. It was, for the owners, simply a matter of time before the steamers
The steamers would take fuel, stores and provisions from local suppliers, like Kongshavn bunkering at Storesund.
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No 2 2009 Shipgaz 79
Steamers of the 1960s
had to be retired. Some did, however, invest in newer second-hand vessels, often steamers built around 1950. As there would be capital costs involved, the results were largely discouraging. The 1966 season saw 14 Haugesund steamers being fitted out for the White Sea season. It was, however, to be a bit of a disappointment. The rates were moderate and loading was slow, with congestion at the berths. For most of the owners, results were poor. The owners were looking for buyers. This was certainly the end of the trade.
The following season – 1967 – only eight were fixed, and in a few years the timber fleet crumbled and vanished. Only two veteran ships sailed north in May 1970, the Vard (built in 1930) and the Ramsnes (built in 1916, but now diesel-engined). When the Vard berthed at Haugesund’s Garpeskjærskaien in December 1970, it was an era that had come to its end. A few weeks later the vessel was sold for breaking. The Ramsnes carried on the fol-
»In Haugesund, the timber steamers are still missed and fondly remembered. Ask anyone.« The trade In 1960, 27 Norwegian vessels were employed in the White Sea timber trade, of which 18 were owned in Haugesund.
lowing season, for long the oldest ship in the Norwegian fleet, until she suffered grounding damage in September 1971 and was consequently declared a constructive total loss after discharge in Shoreham. Was the operation of ageing steamers purely conservatism, or did it make financial sense? Accounts for the S/S Karen, built in 1921, owned by Johan Amundsen & Sønns Rederi AS, show some interesting aspects. For one, maintenance and classification costs were moderate. Some costs even diminished, certainly thanks to strict economic discipline. Manning costs grew by 42 per cent from 1960 to 1964, while the gross freight income remained at about NOK 1.2 million. Still, the bottom line ended at some NOK 120,000– 150,000. Was this good or bad? There was
Retro
no capital cost involved, her share towards administration of the company amounted to NOK 18,000. The ship had been acquired for NOK 800,000 back in 1952. Over 16 years she made a total profit of NOK 2.038 million, and even in her last season in 1968, she contributed NOK 30,823.
In relation to the 25 per cent equity, or whatever, out up at her acquisition, she must have been a sunshine story. In retrospect, the White Sea timber trade may look a little bit like the cherished S/S Martha – it was not. But it was a regular trade in wellknown waters, organised within the town of Haugesund, under strict supervision of economy-minded shipowners and elderly autocratic captains and chief engineers. Yet it is remembered as a fine trade, good company and pleasant stays in the ports of discharge. In Haugesund, the timber steamers are still missed and fondly remembered. Ask anyone. Dag Bakka Jr
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In 1926 …
… the Norwegian tanker Sommerstad, owned by A F Klaveness in Oslo, is on sea trials. She was built at the Lindholmen shipyard in Göteborg and is assisted by the Transatlantic tug Glan. Photo courtesy of the Fotopumpen archive, Göteborg.
82 Shipgaz No 2 2009
By Pär-Henrik Sjöström, par-henrik@shipgaz.com
Retro Kungsö
Painting: Håkan Sjöström
Åland’s first new ship after the war Originally ordered by German owners, the Kungsö was part of a large series of Finnish-built standard cargo vessels, mainly delivered to the Soviet Union. In 1937 the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku delivered the 2,200 dwt cargo steamer Rigel to the Helsinki-based Finnish Steamship Company (FÅA). During the continuation war, when Finland was allied with Germany, Crichton-Vulcan started negotiations about building cargo vessels for German owners. In 1943 the shipyard signed the contract about building a series of cargo steamers for Germany. The vessels were of modified Rigel-class, having a larger deadweight of 3,200 tons. The keel of the two first ships were laid in late summer 1944, just a few weeks before the armistice between Finland and Russia, forcing Finland to turn its weapons against its former ally.
The cancelled contracts for the first two hulls were transferred to Soviet owners as part of Finland’s vast war reparations programme. How ever, the Soviet Union was not interested in the following five vessels in the series, opening the chance for domestic owners to add some new-
buildings to their war-worn fleets. FÅA took over the contracts for the four following vessels while the last one was transferred to Gustaf Erikson in Mariehamn. The shortage of building steel was acute and apparently most of the steel for these vessels came from Sweden.
»The Kungsö was of the Fredrikstad type, a ›three island‹ steamer« The Åland-based owner Gustaf Erikson became famous for his large fleet of large sailing vessels, the last "windjammers", in the 1930's.
Eight more vessels of this type were included in the war reparations programme to the Soviet Union, which continued the series by ordering further vessels on normal trade basis. A total of 36 vessels of this type were built between 1945 and 1959. With the exception of the five domestic ones, they were all delivered to the Soviet Union. The keel of Gustaf Eriksons newbuilding was laid on November 9, 1945. Launched on February 23, 1946 and named Kungsö, the delivery took place on January 3, 1948. She was the
first newbuilding to be handed over to the Åland merchant fleet after the war. The Kungsö was of the Fredrikstad type, a ‘three island’ steamer with its masts on the poop and forecastle and king posts forward and aft of the superstructure. As the winches were located by the masts and the king posts, this originally Norwegian design left the weather deck free and was therefore suitable for carrying sawn wood on deck. A triple expansion 1,440 ihp steam engine provided a speed of 11 knots. The boilers of the Kungsö were originally coal fired but they were converted to burn oil in 1952.
The Kungsö remained in the Gustaf Erikson fleet until 1971 when she was sold to Flandermar Shipping in Piraeus, Greece, operated by the Agoudimos family. Renamed Alexandros A, she sailed under Greek and later Cyprus flag until October 1979, when she was sold to Greek shipbreakers at Skaramanga.
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