Shipgaz No 6/09 by Henrik Bergqvist

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The Strait of Hormuz The US Navy keeps a close and constact watch on the the Strait of Hormuz. Here, 90 per cent of the Persian Gulf’s oil and 20 per cent of the world’s overall oil production is shipped. PAGE 26

Recession? So? Dennis Saari and his colleagues just bought themselves a couple of coasters and formed a shipping company. PAGE 48

15 years a er the disaster On September 28, 1994, 852 people lost their lives when the M/S Estonia foundered. What lessons have we learned? PAGE 38

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Recession? So?

Dennis Saari and his colleagues just bought

themselves a couple of coasters and formed a shipping company. PAGE 48

15 years a�er the disaster On September 28, 1994,

852 people lost their lives when the M/S Estonia foundered. What lessons have we learned? PAGE 38

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4 SHIPGAZ NO 6 2009

Intro FEATURE

Buyer’s market WELCOME The Strait of Hormuz is the focal point for endless top-level wrangling. Iran has threatened repeatedly to close traffic in the narrow passage, where 90 per cent of the oil of the Persian Gulf and 20 per cent of the world’s overall oil production is shipped. Shipgaz’ correspondent got a close look of the measure of military presence in the strait, as two US Navy vessels collided on the very day he arrived.

What does it take to establish a shipping company in the middle of a global finance crisis? A passion for shipping, no fear of hard work, good bank connections and the conviction that every cloud has a silver lining. Jimmy Gustafson and Dennis Saari have known each other since they were kids. Now they own a shipping company together. 48

It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. When Dennis Saari got the offer to take over two coasters from a company in bankruptcy, he decided to cease the opportunity to become a shipowner. He and his partners realized that even if many shipowners of today are forced to concentrate on mere survival, now is also the buyer’s market.

»Even if many shipowners are forced to concentrate on mere survival, now is also the buyer’s market«

We are proud to welcome Per Nyström, professional propulsion troubleshooter. In his column, he gives his view on what too much trust in ‘yard practice’ can mean. In his safety column, Eddie Janson takes up the ever so important issue of lessons learned and mentions that 15 years have passed since the Estonia disaster. On page 38, we look closer at what consequences the disaster has had on safety.

We present two newbuildings in this issue. The presentation of the Kanhave is quite unusual, as there seems to be no end to the trouble with this ferry. Just the other day, a report stated that the ferry will be twice as expensive as stipulated in the building contract.

ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Anna Lundberg anna.lundberg@shipgaz.com

REPORT Since the tragic foundering of the M/S Estonia, there have been no casualties due to safety deficiencies in ferry travelling in this part of the world. PAGE 38

REPORT The Mærsk Clipper will soon set a world record as the first offshore vessel to have been sailing continuously for the same charterer for 25 years. PAGE 44

NEWCOMER The delivery and inauguration of the ferry Kanhave has become a shipowner’s nightmare, with endless trouble and doubled costs. PAGE 18

NO 6 2009 SHIPGAZ 5

Intro »Life-long learning must be accepted as a natural ingredient in ship operations« EDITORIAL PAGE 7

In this issue 14

It’s all about positioning

Newcomer nightmare

22 Propulsion sha ing trouble 26 Watched waters 38 15 years since the disaster 42 ECDIS and sleep in IMO 44 25 years in Brazilian waters 48 Finnish company with a Dutch touch 60 How to keep history from repeating itself 62 Awarded for energy efficiency 65 Russia releases Arctic Sea a er investigation completed 74

60 years of bulk shipments

82 Money maker to the bitter end

Regular sections 7

Editorial

Review

Market Review

Portrait

Newcomer

22 Spotlight FEATURE The Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman, is probably the strategically most important fairway in the world. PAGE 26

PORTRAIT Olof Widén of the Finnish Shipowners’ Association says that it is too late to start preparing for the future when the financial crisis is over. PAGE 14

66 Technical Review 70 Fleet Review 74

Retro

Looking for a challenge Able Seaman, DFDS Tor line

NO 6 2009 SHIPGAZ 7

Editor-In-Chief Rolf P Nilsson rolf@shipgaz.com

Editorial

A seafarer is never fully educated »Life-long learning must be accepted as a natural ingredient in ship operations, and not seen as an additional burden«

he STCW convention is once again in focus at the IMO. The aim is that a diplomatic conference in mid-2010 will give the go ahead to a refurbished convention. Although being a profession with a history of thousands of years, education, training and competence requirements for seafarers have only been internationally regulated for some three decades. It started with the Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for seafarers, the STCW-78. This soon became insufficient and outdated and a comprehensive review was launched in the early 1990s, resulting in the STCW 95. This time, the work in the Sub-committee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping of the IMO includes new training and competence requirements, regulations for hours of rest. ECDIS training and special requirements for officers on ships in Arctic waters are some features that could become mandatory (see page 42 in this issue).

One interesting task has been given to a corresponding group within the sub-committee. This group is looking at safe manning levels through three “domains”: the economic, which includes type of vessel, cargo, systems, trade area, length and frequency of trips; the operational, adding work requirements, personnel qualifications, doctrine, infrastructure and last human element, with factors as workload as function of tasks, psychological limits, national and international rules. Together, this will form the basis for safe manning. This work is a result of the changing needs of today’s diversified merchant fleet and recognition of the human element’s importance for safe shipping.

For good and bad, the world is moving faster and faster. The accelerated development in shipping has resulted, and is resulting, in new ship types, new systems, new trading patterns and also new conditions for a life and career at sea. This automatically increases demand for training and competence to ensure that people operating the ships have the right skills and the right conditions to do so.

The basis for manning ships today is however the same as it always has been; officers and ratings. The introduction of stem power gave us the engine department and new crew positions, but still organised as officers and crew. Since then, some job positions have disappeared and new ones have been introduced.

During the last 100 years, the merchant fleet of the world has changed from consisting of just a few types of ships to a myriad a vessel designs created to work in a segmented market with highly specialised niches, creating different operational demands and challenges that requires special skills. Each review of skills and competence requirements will always lead to new demands for additional training. The basic maritime education and training is however still organised mainly based on the traditional way of manning a ship. There is a risk that each review adds to a patchwork and that this in the long run will be counter-productive and inefficient in several aspects.

One thing shipping must learn is that a formal three or four year long education leading to an officer ticket will never be enough to maintaining the competence needed for an officer through his or hers entire career at sea. Additional training is needed and the term “life-long learning” must be accepted as a natural ingredient in ship operations, and not seen as an additional burden. Next time the STCW Convention is reviewed, maybe it could also be time to instead of adding on the top, to start from the bottom. Maybe it is the right time to leave the traditional deck and engine departments, to stop building regulations and requirements by dividing professional seafarers into officers and ratings and to create new ways of organising competence for ship operations.

Rolf P Nilsson, Editor-in-Chief

Forward – Midship – Astern IMPROVED BALANCE Delayed deliveries, cancellations and scrapping are having effect in the liner markets. AXS-Alphaliner reports that the growth of the world’s cellular fleet will fall to around 7.3 per cent this year. It is still too much, but nearly half of the forecasted (and feared) 13.4 per cent.

BLACK LIST REGULAR 5.5 tons of cocaine have been found on a Panama-flagged, 1968-built coaster. Panama might be the world’s largest registry, but it is also a flag steadily parked on the Paris MOU black list, together with those other flags that always attracts substandard vessels and owners and people with shady ambitions.

SURPRISING INTEREST The Swedish government is eager to take command of the EU force in the battle against piracy off Somalia. With a government that seems to have few ambitions for shipping on its national area, the interest in the security of the world’s merchant shipping could be a bit surprising.

8 Shipgaz no 6 2009

Review Photo: rederi aB GotLand

Photo: maersk Line

Photo: Leutenant marCus oLsson/sWedish armed ForCes

Green light for Stena newbuildings business The construction of the world’s largest ferries will commence. Wadan Shipyards has received federal guarantees and has signed a new agreement with Swedish Stena.

“we are delighted that the project now can get back on track”, says Joakim Kenndal, Head of Corporate Communications at Stena Line to Shipgaz. Negotiations between the yard and the shipowner has been going on since June when the shipyard filed for bankruptcy. The now closed deal means that Wadan Yards gets access to EUR 190 million in federal guarantees. the gigantiC 5,500 lane metre ferries with a passenger capacity of 1,200 are intended for North Sea services and were scheduled for deliveries in the first and third quarter next year. According to Kenndal, it is too early to speculate about any possible delays. Wadan Yards MTW is now owned by the Gazprom board member Igor Yusufov who is also advisor to the Russian president in energy matters. Wadan Yards MTW includes the former Aker Yards shipyards in Wismar and Warnemünde in Germany.

Swedes end Gulf of Aden mission PiraCy On September 15, the Swedish Navy concluded its assignment in the Gulf of Aden in the EU Operation Atalanta. For four months, the Swedes, among other things, escorted ships transporting food and necessities for the UN food programme to Somalia. They also arrested seven pirates in conjunction with the attempted hijacking of the Greek-flagged bulk carrier M/V Antonis. The suspected pirates were prosecuted in Kenya, based on the EU-Kenyan agreement from March 6, 2009.

the swedish forCe Consisted of 152 persons, the corvettes HMS Malmö and HMS Stockholm and the support ship Trossö.

Operation Atalanta is a consequence of the UN Security Council resolution 1816, which gives nations the right to assist Somalia’s transitional government to combat pirates and armed attacks. PreParations are already under way for the next Swedish contribution to the EU operation, which is expected to be the HMS Carlskrona. She is expected to join the force sometime in April/May next year to assume command of the EU force. The Swedish Minister of Defence, Sten Tolgfors, will discuss the Swedish contribution when the EU Ministers of Defence meet in the end of September in Göteborg. The Swedish Government will take the final decision in the turn of the year.

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 9

Review Photo: Loksa shipyard

Photo: Hyundai Heavy Industries

Photo review

1. female leaders A P Møller-Mærsk has signed the “Charter for more female leaders” launched by the Ministry of Employment and Gender Equality. 2. CEO steps down The Destination Gotland CEO, Jan-Erik Rosengren, retires as from November 1. 3. Export success South Korea’s ship exports are expected to exceed USD 50 billion this year, rising from USD 43.16 billion in 2008. 4. end of story Odense Steel Shipyard A/S has entered into agreement regarding the sale of its Estonian subsidiary Loksa Shipyard AS.

Photo: u.s. Navy

Photo: vladimir orlov

Maersk-Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips, right, after being rescued by US Naval Forces.

“Do not surrender” The ice-breaker 50 Let Pobedy.

Germans through Northeast passage business Two German merchant vessels, Beluga Shipping’s 12,744 DWT heavy lift carriers Beluga Fraternity and Beluga Foresight, both built in 2008, have managed to transit the Northeast Passage. They were loaded in Ulsan, South Korea, and reached the anchorage off Novyy Port/ Yamburg in the Ob river delta in Siberia on September 7. The cargo consisting of 44 heavy plant modules of 200 tons or more each will be discharged to barges. The vessels transited in a small convoy, assisted by the nuclear ice-breakers 50 Let Pobedy and Rossia.

Beluga plans more voyages through the passage next year, then with newbuildings from the company’s P class, with

deliveries starting this autumn. The class consists of two part series with ten newbuildings each, built in Holland/China for delivery in 2009–2011. The vessels will have a deadweight of 19,100 and 20,000 tons, respectively, with an 800 or 1,400 ton lifting capacity. “To transit the Northeast-Passage so well and professionally without incidents on the premiere trip is the result of our extremely thorough and accurate preparation as well as the outstanding team work between our attentive captains, our reliable meteorologists and our engaged crew”, said a proud Niels Stolberg, President and CEO of Beluga Shipping GmbH in a comment.

piracy The US Maritime Administration has issued new anti-piracy recommendations as piracy is likely to increase off the Horn of Africa and in the Indian Ocean now that the monsoon season has ended. “We must apply the lessons learned from the crew of the Maersk Alabama. We are urging mariners to take defensive measures and not surrender at the first sign of a threat”, says Acting Maritime Administrator David Matsuda. The advisory not only warns vessels to avoid routes where attacks have taken place, but also recommends that mariners “demonstrate a willingness to defend themselves”.

1,7

musd

Clipper Group paid a ransom of USD 1.7 million to pirates to secure the release of the hijacked CEC Future, reveals a TV documentary.

10 Shipgaz no 6 2009

Review Photo: Bent mikkeLsen

Photo: eu Commission

Yards demand EU support PolitiCs CESA, Community of European Shipyards’ Associations, has called for support to bridge the current crisis in the industry. The association warns that a number of shipyards and suppliers will soon face serious problems if stimulus actions are not launched soon in the EU. CESA is calling for active stimulus for newbuilding projects such as replacing ageing tonnage in European waters. Access to project financing is also needed as well as new forms of innovation collaboration. The EU Commission is also urged to find ways to restore and defend a level playing field.

Vote now shiPgaZ Poll According to the survey Baltic Port Barometer 2009, the bottom level of cargo handling volumes has been reached. Do you agree?

44% Yes, it will not go any lower. 42% No, the recession is far from over. 14% I don’t know. Please visit our website at www.shipgaz.com, and take part in our web polls.

Recycler Peter Niemann, Fornæs, acting as human tug handling the Bjal Senior.

Crisis put an end to Bjal Senior business The sheer leg floating crane Samson lifted 744 tons of steel ashore in the port of Grenå in mid July, putting an end to the career of the Bjal Senior after 32 years of service. The ship was originally built by Nordsøværftet in Ringkøbing and delivered on July 5, 1977, as the Eva Bres (#122) for Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling. It was a rather famous ship in Ringkøbing, as it was the first in a new series of 1,050 DWT-vessels with a beam of 10.41 metres, and the first to sail from the Ringkøbing Fjord via a brand new coaster lock at Hvide Sande.

during the 22 years of service under the colours of Rederiet Nielsen & Bresling, the Eva Bres only traded from Swedish ports to ports in northern Africa, the Canary Islands and Spain, which is a rather unusual trade pattern for ships from Nordsøværftet. The other newbuildings usually traded all over the world.

The Fåborg owners sold the vessel in 1998 to Allan Idd Jensen, Nuuk, Greenland, who rebuilt it into a freezing vessel for crabs and fish along the Greenlandic coast under the name of the Bjal Senior. this trade terminated at the end of 2006, when the company filed for bankruptcy, with the Bjal Senior laid up at Hirtshals. More than one year later the ship was sold to Fornæs ApS at Grenå. Originally for the purpose of a resale to another operator, but as time passed by, it became clear that the ship had to be recycled at the plant at Grenå. “It was in very good condition and had a rather new freezing plant. But all attempts to sell the ship were in vain after September 2008, when the financial breakdown stopped all possibilities of potential buyers. If we were to continue to have the ship in stock, we would have had to start a maintenance plant for the ship”, says Peter Niemann, CEO of Fornæs.

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No 6 2009 Shipgaz 11

Review Photo: venstre

Photo: lars adrians

Jacob Jensen, Venstre spokesman.

Denmark opens for new aid

Grounded Full City to Göteborg repair The Full City, which went aground off Langesund in Telemark on the night of July 31 and caused a large oil spill, has been towed to Göteborg after having been berthed in Elkstrand in the municipality of Bamble.

”She’s disabled so we’ll be carrying out a damage survey to see what repairs are

necessary”, says Bjarne Koitrand, MD of Götaverken Cityvarvet. After the grounding, a total of 217 tons of oily sand, stone and seaweed, 242 tons of oil emulsion (oil mixed with seawater) have been retrieved and a further 820 tons of oil emulsion have been transferred from the vessel.

politics Denmark might grant government aid to shipping companies in financial trouble. The two parties forming the Danish Government, Venstre and Konservative, have both signalled that they could be in favour of government supported bank guarantees in the future. Jacob Jensen, Venstre spokesman, says to the newspaper Børsen that if France and Germany start supporting their shipping companies with government funds, Denmark will follow suit. The issue of government support to the shipping industry has been raised after the container carriers Hapag Lloyd and CGM CMA had asked their governments for support.

Born to perform for efficiency and environment

TÄRNTANK REDERI AB Vestre Strandvej 10 9990 Skagen DENMARK +45 98 40 70 60

www.tarntank.dk

12 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Market Review

One year after the bank collapse Analysis Shortly before one o’clock in the morning of September 15 last year, the investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, and the global financial crisis was a fact. Economic indices were already on a southbound path, but the turmoil that followed the bank collapse made them head downwards at an unprecedented speed towards a bottom that nobody dared to guess at what level it would be.

»Even if the world gathers economic speed, shipping will be lagging behind because of its hovering order book« Once again, a financial bubble had been built by speculation, greed and gambling with money generated during economic boom times. For years, people in the US had borrowed, while the rest of the world was

Suddenly, banks ceased to trust each others, bankers left, locked the offices and the last person turned off the lights. Credits for trade became as rare as hen’s teeth.

saving. The Chinese sold merchandise to the US and also provided the money needed to buy them by purchasing US government bills and corporate bonds. Add to this, the US housing bubble that started to burst already in 2006. Shipping had fared well during the boom with Chinese trade as a formidable maritime transport demand generator. This demand drew huge amounts of speculative interest to the shipping sector resulting in a jumbosized newbuilding order book well exceeding the expected increase in actual demand for seaborne transport. The world’s

Fast pick up for AHTS – PSV market crumbling North Sea. A year ago there were just 23. This has led to a collapse of the market, with a basic level for day rates at or below GBP 3,000, which is well below break-even.

Availability of Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) has now outgrown demand, with as many as 43 vessels vying for jobs in the

Against this background it is obvious that a number of ordered vessels will not be built. This affects above all vessels from less experienced shipyards that have run into severe delays. DOF Subsea has now cancelled all three VS470s from Tebma Shipyard in India. The Faroese company Supply-Service has reportedly cancelled two PSVs building with Havyard in Norway.

GBP 1,000 200

150

Week

35 40 45 50 1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

The platform vessel Sical Torino of 3500 tdw built 2006 has now been sold by Sical Logistics of India to Farstad Shipping, Ålesund, at about NOK 150 million, some

Some fixtures Charterer Nexen StatoilHydro Taqa ConocoPhillips ADTI Maersk O&G Maersk O&G BP UK BP UK Marathon/Lundin

Vessel Skandi Waveney Siem Sailor Highland Prestige Highland Champion Toisa Independent Rem Spirit Havila Princess Maersk Fetcher Maersk Feeder Siem Supporter

Type psv psv psv psv psv psv psv psv psv psv

The PSV Far Serenade of Farstad Shipping. Farstad just added the Sical Torino to the fleet at the agreeable price of NOK 150 million. 43 million less than the Indians paid for the vessel three years ago. In the meantime she has been negotiated at a higher price. The two IMR (Inspection, maintenance, repair) newbuildings building with Freire Shipyard in Spain for Sea4 of Norway, have now been acquired by G C Rieber Shipping at about NOK 400 million each. Delivery is set for 2010. Dag Bakka Jr

Operation 60 days from mid-July, GBP 7,500 extended 30 days + opt 5 years from August 1 year firm + 5x6 months opt 1 well + 1 well option, support Sedco 704 1 month firm + d/d 14 from mid August ext 4 months firm from September extended up to mid 2010 extended up to mid 2010 abt 330 days support Transocean Winner

Source: Shipgaz Bergen, September 2009

100

Some owners are seriously considering lay-up. Hagland Offshore, however, in its August report notes several tenders for long-term employment for PSVs, from 2 to 10 years.

Source: Shipgaz Bergen, September 21, 2009

Offshore earnings

Photo: Farstad Shipping

Offshore The North Sea offshore market never ceases to surprise. Even at a time with low utilization of vessels, the anchor-handler market picked up from a slow lull at the beginning of August to rates around GBP 60,000 at the end of the month. Again, coinciding rig moves have effected at much as 10–12 fixtures on specific days, but with excessive waiting time between jobs.

no 6 2009 Shipgaz 13

Market Review response to the financial crisis has been swift and massive. The G20 members decided earlier this year on a USD 250 billion trade finance initiative. It is still however too early to see if this is effective. Trade financing has become more available, but the cost is high. AlthOugh institutiOns such as the International Chamber of Commerce are still cautious of where the world economy is heading, there are signs of improvement with indications that several large economies have bottomed out and are back on the upward track.

hOw fAst A recOvery will be is still anybody’s guess. What seems worryingly clear is however that even if the world gathers economic speed, shipping will be lagging behind because of its hovering order book.

VLCC rates steady at sorry levels

irrespective Of cAncellAtiOns of newbuilding orders, delays of deliveries and scrapping of older tonnage, there will be a lot of new vessels to absorb in the market the coming few years. Add to this the spare capacity that already exists through the significant number of vessels that are laid up.

wet & dry VLCC owners have experienced a tough period the latest months. Westbound rates from Persian Gulf have been stable around Worldscale 22.5–25, meaning that freight income will not cover daily running costs. Stockholm Chartering reports WS 22.5 for Persian Gulf – UK/Cont basis 280,000 tons on Friday week 37, equivalent to daily earnings of USD – 5,600.

Oecd member stAtes is said to be back on track, there are quarterly reports on growing GDP in EU member states.

editOr-in-chief

Rolf P Nilsson rolf@shipgaz.com

the clArksOn reseArch AverAge daily earnings estimate for VLCCs stood at USD 12,827 in 18 September, a wee bit better in a week, but far from USD 92,511, which were the average for the full year 2008.

Sideway slide shOrtseA & dry The market has been

sliding sideways this week (Sept 14–18) with owners having to deal with quite a number of prompt ships both in Northern Europe and Baltic, but it seems that most have been 1,000 able to make some sort of program for coming week.

mgo

800

Source: norBroKer aS, Sept 18, 2009

Source: BunKerWorLd/norBroKer aS, Sept 18, 2009

1,000

the AfrAmAx mArket has improved recently, but from very low levels. An Aframax average earnings estimate of USD 8,227 might not be anything to exactly celebrate, but it is a 62 per cent improvement in a week.

severAl OperAtOrs have also this week been looking for possibilities to take vessels out of lay-up, but rates and earnings forecasts still look too weak to convince most owners to re-fit tonnage for trading. The next few weeks will probably give more reliable indications as to how the autumn marWeek ket will develop. 15 20 25 30 35 geir JerstAd

400 Owners seems reluctAnt to fix too far south due to the weak backhaul market still affecting whole Mediterranean region, but also here things have slowly started to move 200 40 45 50 1 5 10 again in past weeks with minerals and

USD/ton

iFo 180

much Of the increAse in rates has been due to higher fuel prices and has only resulted in marginal increases in earnings so far.

grAin rAtes still rAther sOft with EUR low twenties seen for ECUK / S Spain this week in the 3,000 mt size while Bal600 tic / Span Med has seen levels in region of EUR 23.00–24.00 for same size.

mgO rOtterdAm cif prices

times Are A bit better for Suezmaxes, especially in the Mediterranean, where charterers have been very active. Daily earnings according to Clarksons were USD 26,565, around USD 6,000 more than the suezmax average earnings estimate.

grains dominating the market. 6,000 mt of minerals was fixed from Morocco to North Sea at USD 14 p/mt which is USD 2.00 p/mt higher than earlier this summer.

eArnings estimAtes

Past 12 months. EUR/day 5,000

4,000

3,000

600

After the shArp hike in the Capesize market this summer, rates continue to slide. Activity in the Capesize market is slow and Clarksons reports average Capesize earnings of around USD 25,000, less than a third of earnings reported in June. in the pAnAmAx mArket, average earnings are still above the average for the year to date, but the gap is closing. the hAndymAx tripchArter mArket is the happy saga of the period, with Clarkson’s average earnings estimate having steadily improved since midAugust. rOlf p nilssOn bAltic dry bulk indices

400 1,000

200 40

End ’08 mid-May ’09 mid-Sept ’09

Week 45

50 1

0 40

5,000

4,000

Week 45

50 1

Clean Tanker index

839

478

Dirty Tanker Index

1252

473

510

Baltic Dry Index

784

2544

2390

1,250 dWt

1,750 dWt

3,500 dWt

6,500 dWt

2,500 dWt

478

Source: BaLtic eXchange

2,000

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 15

By Pär-Henrik Sjöström par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Olof Widén

Portrait

It’s all about positioning

When this depression is over, shipping will be booming. Then it is too late for us to start looking for tonnage and trained seafarers, Olof Widén, freshly appointed MD of the Finnish Shipowners’ Association, says to Shipgaz. After a row of re-organisations, Finnish Shipowners’ Association has slimmed down its organisation to better correspond to the changed conditions within the business. There used to be three different trade organisations, representing the shipowners on mainland Finland and Åland. In spring 2008, they merged into the present Finnish Shipowners’ Association (Rederierna i Finland/Suomen Varustamot). During the fist year of activities the new association was led by three Vice Presidents – the directors of the three former associations – each one responsible for their own area of expertise.

Last summer, the association announced that Vice President Mika Nykänen would leave the organisation after having been appointed Managing Director of Metalrefiners Association. The management of Finnish Shipowners’ Association was then reorganised so that Vice President Olof Widén became Managing Director and Vice President Hans Ahlström Assistant Managing Director. These changes became effective on July 1, 2009. After one year of cooperation between the former three separate associations, things began to fall in place. MD Widén explains that in practice it became obvious that the organisation had to be further slimmed on

the management level. “We immediately noticed that we reached a good drafting level in our committees, each one led by an advisor. The work within the board of directors was well functioning too. But we had some problems, mainly on the co-ordinating level. Our executive body became rather heavy and we held lots of meetings, producing reports and protocols to be able to provide proper external information about everything that was decided. If we would have done in any other way, there would have been an imminent risk that the different Vice Presidents would give different messages to the advisors.”

»All parties realise that there will be no newbuildings under Finnish flag unless manning is ensured« Olof Widén took up the position as MD of the Finnish Shipowners’ Association on July 1.

The advisors have now been given a larger drafting responsibility and may profile themselves better as experts both nationally and internationally. In general, the organisation is now lighter and the distribution of work is simpler and more natural, MD Widén thinks. “As a master mariner I am responsible for issues concerning for example recruitment, safety, environment and technical matters, while Assistant Managing Director Ahlström is a

lawyer and has specialised in a labour policy and legislation as well as taxation issues.” “Now the organisation is working. The model has been developed during the summer and the organisation was officially taken into use in late August.”

Environmental protection and nautical safety have become the hottest issues in shipping and this also reflects the work of Finnish Shipowners’ Association. This has changed the nature of the work, which used to have a strong national connection. MD Widén thinks that this is the main reason for why the need of three separate organisations had outlived itself. “More and more of the important decisions concerning shipping take place outside Finland. It became obvious that we would not have the resources to work separately and still get the messages through to the decision makers with three different organisations, all having their own agendas, but generally still working with the same main goal to ensure the existence of the Finnish shipowning business.” MD Widén notices that the amount of travel in his work is about the same as in the 1990’s, but that the travels a lot more often to Brussels and London. “Shipping has to get used to the

16 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Portrait Olof Widén Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

will rise with at least 800 Million Euro. This will be an additional cost for our industry only. It is understandable that there is an imminent risk that the export industry will make future investments abroad and that a modal shift will occur. The risk of a modal shift is not as large as in Sweden, where it will be even easier to move cargo from sea to land.”

MD Widén seriously questions the environmental advantage from a holistic point of view if cargo is shifted from sea to road transports. He says that there are ten countries that will have all of their coastlines facing to a SECA. “Together with the Swedish Shipowners’ Association we are now coordinating interventions, the purpose of which is to reach IMO with a new proposal to reconsider this decision. A maximum Sulphur content of 0.5 per cent would still be realistic, but to put the level at 0.1 per cent in practice means that the ship owners have to use distillates as fuel and this also means a serious supply issue.” “We have also involved land based industry in this process. It is no longer an equal inner market in EU if some countries may be visited by vessels using bunker oil with a Sulphur contents of 3.5 per cent while we have 0.1 per cent. This is simply against the Rome treaty”, MD Widén says.

Another important issue is to

There may not be enough seafarers available in Finland when the depression is over. fact that more and more of the activities are moved to Brussels and London. Many organisations have their own staff in these places. Less and less of the legislation will be handled at home. Our job will mostly be to brief politicians about the latest international proposals and what they mean for our shipping business and what would be the most suitable solutions for us.” As an example he mentions the environmental issues, which he thinks that all ship owners’ associations worldwide must give top priority.

“Today it is about three things – SOx, NOx and CO2 emissions. Now we give highest priority to our work with IMO’s decision to reduce the

»Shipping has to get used to the fact that more and more of the activities are moved to Brussels and London « SECA The Baltic Sea, North Sea and English Channel are SOx Emission Controlled Areas.

highest allowed Sulphur content in bunker oil to 0.1 per cent within the so called SOx Emission Control Areas (SECA). This legislation will come into force in 2015 and will be extremely difficult for Finland to fulfil.” He thinks that it goes without saying that the decision is a step in the right direction as such, but the problem is that it will put different countries in very different positions. “It is estimated that the additional transport costs to and from Finland

be positioned in advance when the boom occurs, which is most likely to follow this long an deep depression. Although it seems like the difficult times in shipping are on everyone’s lips MD Widén stresses the importance of being able to look beyond this. “We better be ready when the turn comes, because else it will not be possible to man the additional tonnage needed under Finnish flag.” According to MD Widén the understanding of problems concerning shipping in Finland seems to have been improved among politicians. “It looks like we are very soon going to have a proper tonnage tax and we have also reached an understanding about the use of mixed crews with the Finnish Seamen’s Union. Now we are negotiating with the trade unions for deck officers and engineers about mixed crews too.”

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 17

Olof Widén

Portrait Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

»There are no possibilities to lock the positions, the reserves of STCWtrained labour are simply used up« Instead of mixed crews, MD Widén prefers to talk about ensuring the supply of competent labour when the need appears.

“All parties realise that there will be no newbuildings under Finnish flag unless manning is ensured. The inflow to the maritime schools in the EU area has not been sufficient to ensure the use of EU labour on all crew vacancies. Indeed the recession has temporarily changed this, but everything will be lost when the next boom is coming unless there are agreements and systems ready. There are no possibilities to lock the positions, the reserves of STCW-trained labour are simply used up.” MD Widén thinks that the bad times should be utilised in a creative way to prepare for the good ones. “During a recession all possible measures should be taken to clean one’s own house. It goes for labour market politics as well as education. We must be able to meet the boom – If we do nothing now we cannot benefit from the boom when it comes. We will neither have tonnage nor personnel.” After many years of booming shipbuilding, it would be an excellent opportunity to buy new and modern vessels or to enter shipment contracts to the rates available.

Managing Director Olof Widén thinks that now would be the right time to buy new vessels. “The market for sale and purchase is as its best”, MD Widén points out. “But it is too difficult to get financ-

ing. The financing institutes may be over cautious in a time when far-seeing should be demanded instead.”

Extensive experience in shipping Shipping has been strong in the Widén family for generations. “My grandfather was a pilot on the Lohm pilot station in Turku archipelago and we had our summer house by the fairway to Turku. As a kid I recognised all the vessels passing by”, says master mariner Olof Widén. Himself he has been professionally active in shipping since 1976, when he during a summer

break from school worked as a deck hand on the fairway vessel Turku. She was an old veteran from the 1930’s, powered by a triple expansion steam engine.

“My grandfather had worked on the Turku as master and my father as a deck hand during his studies. I liked the life on board and the choice of profession became quite obvious after that summer.”

When he graduated from high school as a student he put his name on a list for job applications and the same day he received a call from the Sally shipping company in Mariehamn. He signed on a tanker, where he spent the following six months. “From the older seamen I learned that the best way to see the world was to sign on a reefer of Gustaf Erikson. After my debut on a tanker I served on

reefers in cross trade for many years.”

After finishing his studies to deck officer in Turku in 1983 he was employed by Rederi Ab Engship. He graduated as master mariner in Mariehamn in 1987, where he had lived since 1985. In 1990 he went ashore permanently and became secretary for the Cargo vessel association.

18 Shipgaz No 6 2009

By Bent Mikkelsen, bent@shipgaz.com

Newcomer Kanhave

Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

The Kanhave should have been the first of up to five sister ferries, but the contracts with the Greek shipyard have been cancelled.

Newcomer nightmare

Propeller breakdown, fire in the engine room, delays – the Kanhave building process, delivery and daily run have been full of trouble. Nordic Ferry Services A/S is not a very popular company on the isle of Samsø at the moment. Irritation is simmering all around the island, which was supposed to have the new ferry Kanhave delivered for service in November 2008. Instead, it arrived in the early days of July 2009 and was not at all ready for service.

Following the inauguration at the end of July, the daily run has been what inhabitants on Samsø call a nightmare of the worst kind. Breakdown of one propeller (out of four) and a fire in one of the engine rooms with a week-long cancellation of sailings are amongst the things the islanders have had to put up with. In early September, the top management of Nordic Ferry Service and the Municipality of Samsø had a meeting, which ended when Mads Kofod, CEO of Nordic Ferry Services, and Jørgen Jensen, head of Samsøtrafikken, left the meeting before it officially ended as the tone of the

talks was so harsh and unfriendly. “It served no purpose to stay, but we wanted to rethink and get back to a more friendly tone and cooperation between us”, said Jørgen Jensen to a local newspaper. So the waves are running high on the Samsø service from Hou to Sælvig at the time of writing, but meanwhile, the ferry – which was named the Kanhave in October 2008 – is running better and better after a complicated trial period.

»There was a lot that had to be done more than four times before it met our standards« The delivery of the Kanhave to the isle of Samsø was delayed from November 2008 to July 2009.

Recent in the development of the conflict between the Municipality of Samsø and Nordic Ferry Services is a complaint made to the Minister of Transport, Lars Barfoed, as the political head of Trafikstyrelsen (The Public Transport Authority), which is the contractor on the ferry services. The

minister has said to several newspapers that he will ask his administration for a complete report on the differences and then he will see what he can do. On the isle of Samsø the uncertainty with the new ferry has led to a local initiative to try to raise money to start the islanders’ own ferry service to Jylland. Nordic Ferry Services is also running the ferry service from Samsø to Sjælland (Kolby Kaas to Kalundborg), the east Samsø service, without any technical problems, using the traditional ferry Kyholm. The Kanhave is a product of the Greek shipyard Frantzis Shipyard, which is situated in the harbour of Perama in the Piraeus district. When signing the contract in 2007, it was rather unusual for a Mediterranean shipbuilder to build ferries for Scandinavian service. But Nordic Ferry Services, which is a joint venture between Bornholmstrafikken and the Clipper Group, had good confidence in Frantzis Shipyard. In 2008, the Nordic

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 19

Kanhave

Newcomer Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

The capacity of the Kanhave has been reduced, as the tank-top deck has been closed until further notice by the Danish Maritime Administration.

Ferry Services CEO Mads Kofod, said: “We are quite sure that the shipyard will build a nice ferry in a design that is highly suitable for the Samsø traffic. We know the previous products (Greek owned ferries) and feel that they live up to our standards. Should there be problems with something that has to be rebuilt after the delivery, the price is so competitive that it should be possible to do a refit or rebuild and still have a cheaper ferry than if we built at a Scandinavian shipyard.”

Now in 2009, it has turned out that the building of the ferry has been quite a nightmare for Nordic Ferry Services too. The delivery was delayed as many things had to be altered in the building process, not because the technical design was wrong, but because the work done by the shipyard workers was not good enough. “The ferry is OK in finish and technical standard, but there was a lot that had to be done more than four times before it met our standards”, says Per Siig, Naval Architect and head of the inspection in Perama. “Since we ordered so many changes and redoing of work already done, the shipyard workers got somewhat an-

»The shipyard workers got somewhat angry with the Danish site team, which led to a number of strikes« gry with the Danish site team, which led to a number of strikes at the shipyard, further delaying the delivery process”, says Per Siig. The air is even chillier between Frantzis Shipyard and Nordic Ferry Services now, after it has become clear that Nordic Ferry Services has decided to cancel the following two ferries of the same type as the Kanhave, as well as an option for another two units.

At present, Frantzis Shipyard and Nordic Ferry Services are in dispute over the hull of the second ferry. Nordic Ferry Services has already paid some of the instalments, but the shipyard refuses to release the hull to Nordic Ferry Services, which intended to tow the hull to a Scandinavian shipyard for fitting out to a better standard. The second ferry was destined for the Bøjden–Fynshav service, called Alstrafikken in the Nordic

Dubled cost The end bill for the building and inauguration of the Kanhave will be around twice as much as the owner expected from the start. The modifications, delays and other troubles with the ferry add up to costs of about EUR 15 million, which is close to the contract price.

Ferry Services empire. The company has contractual obligations to provide a new ferry for Alstrafikken as from 2010, to replace the Thor Sydfyen and the Spodsbjerg, built in 1978 and 1974 respectively.

The Kanhave, which was named after a location on the northern part of Samsø, is part of a new concept of ferry services on the Samsø run. The intention, with which Nordic Ferry Services won the bidding round over Samsø Færgen A/S, was a two hour service with a fast double-ended ferry with a much higher capacity than the ferries Vesborg and Sam-Sine from the previous operator. The sailing time was estimated at 45–50 minutes with a 10–15-minute turn around time in each port. So far the reality is quite another. The ferry has at present a much longer turn around time and the crossing time is in reality more like 70–75 minutes, because the ferry does not live up to the required speed estimated in the contract. The service speed should have been 16 knots, but presently the vessel can only sail at up to 14.5 knots. If the Kanhave is pushed to the required speed, vibrations reach an uncomfortable level.

20 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Newcomer Kanhave Photo:

is divided into two sections, a red and a blue section. In between, the cafeteria sells all kinds of refreshments to pass the crossing time to Samsø. All told, the Kanhave has a capacity of 600 passengers. In the passenger area there is a small area with a playground for children.

One deck up from the accommoda-

The delayed delivery of the Kanhave has caused a delay in the rebuilding of the port of Hou. The longer turn around time, a problem especially in the port of Hou, is explained by the delayed delivery of the ferry causing a delay in the rebuilding of the port of Hou. The process was halted as the ramp for the old ferries had to be moved and rebuilt for the Tunø ferry, the ramp area of which should have been part of the Kanhave’s land terminal. So instead of a smooth and steady stream of cars leaving the ferry, they now have to pass through a building site.

Another part of the problem is that when docking in both ports, the ferry needs to make a 90-degree turn in order to reach the land facilities (the Kanhave carries the ramps used for loading and unloading the cars). In order to make the turn the ferry has to reduce speed some distance from the breakwater. “We expect our ferry captain to reduce the docking time as soon as they get more confident with the ferry’s reactions and the weather conditions. And by that time I am sure we will have reduced the sailing time fur-

island routes Nordic Ferry Services, operating the Samsø traffic, is a joint venture between state-owned Bornholms trafikken and the Clipper Group. Through Sydfynske A/S, Bornholms trafikken operates Alstrafikken (Fyn–Als), Fanøtrafikken (Jylland–Fanø) and Langelands trafikken (Langeland–Lolland).

ther”, explains Jørgen Jensen, head of Samsøtrafikken.

The capacity of the Kanhave has been reduced since the arrival in Denmark. The original layout had a main deck with a car capacity of 110 cars on six clear lanes with no obstacles. The additional capacity up to 110 private cars was on a tank-top deck with access from two fixed ramps – one at each end. The tank-top deck has been closed until further notice by the Danish Maritime Administration for several reasons. One of them is that the access to the tank-top deck from the accommodation was by staircases not meeting Danish standards. The tank-top deck itself was complicated to use as a number of stanchions had been placed so that they made driving problematic. The free height on the main car deck is 4.9 metres. From the car deck passengers have access to the accommodation via staircases in each corner of the Kanhave (and lifts for disabled and elderly passengers on both sides of one end of the ferry). The accommodation

tion area is a crew deck with cabins for the crew, which normally consists of seven persons. The crew of the ferry, which partly comes from the old operator, has not been used to having accommodation on board. The old ferries Vesborg and Sam-Sine did not have any day-time accommodation, and when the ferries stayed overnight in Sælvig, the company had sleeping facilities in a house ashore. The crew on Kanhave is signed on for weekly duty and lives on board like on any normal ship. On the top is the bridge with equipment for sailing the ship in both directions from the same room.

The propulsion system on the Kanhave consists of four engines installed in two separate engine rooms in order to give better redundancy in case of a breakdown. The four engines power four Azimuth thrusters – one at each corner of the ferry hull, giving the ferry excellent manoeuvrability. The Kanhave uses the first pneumatic mooring system installed in a European port. It is the New Zealand company Cavotec that has supplied the ports in Hou and Sælvig with two mooring stations that use suction technique to keep the ferry alongside. Each station has a holding power of 40 tons. The system reduces the mooring time to only 25 seconds and is activated from the ferry via radio signals (read more about the system on page 67).

Kanhave to be rebuilt – again

His first job as trouble-shooter was to smooth the way between

the Municipal of Samsø (Ferry committee) and Nordic Ferry Services, by having a meeting with the politicians on Samsø.

Per Gullestrup has drawn up a plan for a rebuild of the Kanhave, in order to make it comply with the contract in terms of speed and turnaround time in the harbours.

The plan is to take the Kanhave to a shipyard and make alterations on the underwater hull as well as the shape of the azimuth propellers in order to gain more speed and reduce vibrations in the accommodation. So far it has been impossible to use all the power from the engines because of substantial vibrations in the ferry. If the Samsø Ferry

Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

The latest news on the Kanhave is that Clipper Group, part owner of Nordic Ferry Services, has taken the lead in the company. Head of Clipper Projects, Per Gullestrup, has been assigned chairman of the board of directors in Nordic Ferry Services.

Per Gullestrup of the Clipper Group. Committee accepts the plan it will be executed in November.

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 21

Kanhave

Newcomer Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

1. The pneumatic mooring system. 2. One of two areas for passengers. 3. The consols on the bridge turned out to be too high, blocking visibility for the navigators. 4. There are plenty of open deck areas for sunny days.

Kanhave Call sign �� OYHS IMO No �� 9548562 Home port �� Sælvig Launched �� November 27, 2008 Delivered �� June 6, 2009 Class ��Bureau Veritas Ro/Ro Passenger ship, unrestricted service + AutUms + Sys-Neq1 + Mach Built by �� Frantzis Shipyard, Perama, # 87

Length o a .................................................... 91.43 m Length b p .................................................... 84.15 m Breadth ............................................................16.2 m Draught ............................................................ 3.0 m Depth . ............................................................... 5.6 m Gross tonnage . ........................................... 4.630 t Net tonnage .................................................. 1.389 t Deadweight . .................................................... 778 t

Capacities 14 watertight compartments, 110 private cars on two decks or 14 lorries + 30 private cars, 600 passengers Machinery 4 x Mitsubishi type S16R-MPTA, 4 x 1,405 kW, all told 4,680 kW. Auxiliary engines: 2 x 312 kW, 1 x 149 kW Speed �� 15.8 knots

Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

22 Shipgaz No 6 2009

By Per Nyström, per@shipgaz.com

spotlight Technology

Propulsion shafting trouble technology: Per Nyström Per Nyström has a long experience as Chief Engineer, Shipyard Superintendent and as troubleshooter when propulsion systems fail. He is part owner of FT Engineering AB.

uring the last decade, chief engineers and superintendents have been increasingly troubled with ships’ shafting and shaftbearing problems, often resulting in extensive loss of hire and high repair costs. It appears that the reason is changing principles in ship design as well as deterioration in yard workmanship in general over the last two or three decades. Here are three cases in brief:

The duty engineer was alerted by the engine room fire alarm, since no temperature sensor was installed in the bearing. The damage to the inner sterntube bearing was found to be that it was worn out and cracked in the top of the bushing, i.e. the shaft was lifting more than the bearing clearance during operation. This was a geared installation and reaction force distribution in gear bearings was adversely affected. The gear

»shipowners have to involve their own technicians to a higher degree, and not only rely on ‘yard practice’, ‘yard standard’ or classiﬁcation societies«

Case 1: A chemical tanker delivered from a European shipyard ruined the inner sterntube bearing seven hours after delivery of the vessel. The bearing was of composite type and not white metal.

manufacturer estimated that the gear could survive not more than one week of operation, if the sterntube bearing had not failed before.

the reason for the damage was found to be failed calculation of shaft behaviour and alignment. The person in charge of the alignment calculations had no knowledge of shafting or alignment, the knowledge was limited to fill in figures in the yards alignment software. Thermal behaviour of double bottom (due to heated tanks under part of the reduction gear), propeller thrust eccentricity, load distribution between shaft bearings and gear bearings had been omitted in the calculations as well as the lack of heat dissipation from the composite bearing bushes. All approved by class.

the repair was done by recalculation and realignment of the machinery and intermediate shaft bearing, the sterntube bearing bushes were replaced by white metal ditto, since the white metal has about 30 times Photo: Per Nyström

Close-up of damaged sterntube bearing due to misalignment.

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 23

Technology

better heat conductivity than composite bushes, this may be the only advantage of the white metal, but it is an important one. The ship has been operating successfully for many years after this repair, but the repair required ten weeks off hire and extra dry-dockings.

Costs The three cases described here caused a total of almost 20 weeks off hire (two existing vessels) and 8 months delivery delay (one newbuilding).

Spotlight

FOR DIESEL ENGINE MAINTENANCE

Case 2: Recently a bulk carrier experienced severe damage to outer sterntube bearing bushing, and had for many years had excessive engine vibrations, damaging other engine equipment and components. The installation was a five-cylinder super long stroke engine, and the shafting system suffered from a certain degree of torsional vibrations (common in five-cylinder installations). During operation the shaft was lifting 0.6 mm in way of intermediate shaft bearing due to failed estimation of propeller thrust eccentricity, therefore this bearing was inactive during operation. Intermediate shaft and tailshaft were found to be bent and had to be straightened to a very high cost. Alignment calculation was checked and verified for various conditions, the result of the calculations were in compliance with original, class approved, calculations. The reason for elevated vibrations and damage to bearing and shaft was found to be the alignment that was actually done at the new building yard. Optimal engine position should be 3.5 mm lower than sterntube axis but was found to be 3.5 mm higher than sterntube axis. In addition the engine had a considerable angular deviation. All fitted bolts for shaft flange coupling were insufficiently tightened, resulting in severe fretting (dynamic surface contact) in way of mating flange surfaces.

Where were the class and the owner representative during the alignment work? At the repair, sterntube bushing was replaced and a slope introduced, the shafts were straightened and the 340-ton engine was realigned to the originally calculated position. All fitted bolts for coupling shaft flanges had to be renewed and all flanges skimmed. The planned dry-docking of two weeks had to be extended to 65

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24 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Spotlight Technology Photo: Per Nyström

curacy of the models and for single static conditions only, all as per class rules. It is hardly surprising that this “yard practice” has established a ground for increasing problems with propulsion trains.

During the computer era shafting

Severe fretting in engine coupling flange, caused by insufficient tightening of coupling bolts.

»It is hardly surprising that this ‘yard practice’ has established a ground for increasing problems with propulsion trains« days in order to complete the repair. At the sea trial, the vibration velocities were measured and it was found that the vibrations had been reduced by 85 per cent. The ship is now operating successfully.

Case 3: A shipyard in Far East had order from a shipowner for a series of comparatively small vessels. This was when engine manufacturers had full order books and the delivery time for main engines was extensive. The yard purchased engine, reduction gear, flexible coupling, propeller etc from various sources without properly checking that the various components could be assembled for safe and reliable operation. Alignment calculations were not performed until the ships were under construction, i.e. too late for any alternation in the propulsion plant. Calculations showed that alignment tolerances due to too short distance between bearings were less than 0.01 mm, not easy to obtain in practice and far from reasonable safety margin. Furthermore, the torsional vibration calculations revealed a very

FT Engineering AB specialises in optimizing of propulsion plants and carries out alignments, calculations and performance testing of engines.

sensitive propulsion plant, both in transient and steady operational condition, for example the torsional angular vibrations in way of the main engine timing gear exceeded the gear backlash, the gear will consequently suffer from damage after a very short time of operation. The delay in delivery of this newbuilding was more than eight months, in an attempt to correct a design error that will still leave the propulsion plant likely to suffer severe damage after a short time. However, the plant was class approved, but the commercial value of such a vessel may be questionable.

The main reason for the above appears to be changing principles in ship design as well as deterioration in yard workmanship in general over the last two or three decades. During the early 1970s, ship designers and engineers using slide rules and calculators were modelling sterntube and bearing reactions using two point reactions per bearing, plot shaft displacement and calculating if bearing bushes required slope boring, also by guestimate taking propeller thrust eccentricity into consideration. The ships built by these principles seldom failed in way of the propulsion train. When computer capacity increased several hundredfold or more, simpler models were created with single point bearing reaction, decreasing the ac-

dimensions has decreased by about 15 per cent in diameter for a given engine power, since calculation can be done more accurately, but this has been done to reduce the cost of shafting material. A 15 per cent diameter reduction for a given shaft material will increase the shaft bending due to propeller weight by about 75 per cent, thus increasing the angular difference between shaft and bearing considerably already in static condition, and causing edge load in bearings. High edge load in sterntube bearings will reduce lubricating oil film thickness considerably and increase the specific load in the affected area, often beyond what the bearing material can carry. In an effort to increase efficiency designers has shaped the ships’ aft body, often in a way that considerably increases the propeller thrust eccentricity and thereby affecting bearing reactions adversely in operational conditions. Severe edge contacts in outer sterntube bearings and absence of bearing reaction in inner sterntube bearing or intermediate shaft bearing are not uncommon.

The tendency toward shorter engine rooms reduces the flexibility of shafting and requires higher accuracy of the design and alignment. The above indicates that shipowners have to involve their own technicians to a higher degree in the project and construction of their ships, in order to avoid costly propulsion plant damage, and not only rely on “yard practice”, “yard standard” or classification societies. Quality assurance systems have proven to be less effective in some new building yards as well as in many repair yards. Poor workmanship may be experienced even if the work description is good. Today’s yard practice, aiming toward reduced manpower and thereby outsourcing design and development to a larger scale than earlier, also calls for a better check-up from the shipowner side.

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Watched waters

The Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman, is probably the strategically most important fairway in the world. Ninety per cent of the Persian Gulf ’s oil and twenty per cent of the world’s overall oil production is shipped through the barely ﬁfty kilometre wide strait. TEXT: ARNE SPÅNGBERG

Iran has threatened repeatedly to close off the strait of Hormuz if ”the west interferes in the country’s internal affairs”. Now the neigh bouring countries are building pipelines and canals to replace transit through the strait. he US and Iran are really like cat and mouse here in Hormuz. Incidents occur time and again”, says the Indian skipper of the dhow we are sailing along the mountainous Musandam coast of Oman, rich in fjords, which just because of the fjords is otherwise known as the Norway of Arabia. He points northward and talks about the smuggling traffic between Iran and the Omani Khasab Fort in Musandam, where Iranian merchants arrive daily in speed boats loaded with goats and sheep. The animals are sold to the highest bidder and American cigarettes and electronics are bought for the money. They return to Iran under cover of darkness.

During our visit to Musandam, two American warships collided in the Strait of Hormuz. It was the amphibian ship USS Newport, with a thousand men on board that ran into the atomic submarine USS Hartford, with a crew of two hundred. The ships were on their way to the base in Bahrain after action with the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group in the hunt for Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The submarine was submerged and fifteen crew members were slightly injured. Two ballast tanks on the USS New Orleans were cracked and the fuel tanks sprang a leak. Over 90,000 litres of marine diesel ran out into the ecologically sensitive strait where large populations of fish, pearl mussels and corals are already struggling against pollution. The sea smelt of diesel the day after the crash. It was the third American submarine accident in the Strait of Hormuz, so there were disaster headlines in the world press. Questions were asked about the submarine’s nuclear reactor which, however, turned out to be undamaged. The incident nevertheless sent shivers down people’s spines and many asked what would have happened if the reactor had been broken. The Strait of Hormuz are international waters covered by the right to transit passage of UNCLOS, the Law of the Sea Convention. The convention has been in force since 1982 and regulates in general terms the use by nations of the world oceans. However, the rules have hardly prevented Iran and the US from being at loggerheads in the Strait of Hormuz. The US worries about attacks on the oil transports. It is said that one month’s closure would cause a

Small fishing villages slumber on the south coast along the oil route. Some of them can only be reached by boat.

Photo: US Navy photo

US Navy watches the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and say they will not allow any attacks. Photo: NASA

Photo: Arne Spångberg

Since antiquity, the Strait of Hormuz has been an essential fairway. As the northern mainland is Iranian territory, the country safeguards the waters.

In the Strait of Hormuz, the traffic separation system TSS is used. The traffic is watched by Omani radar, among others. The narrow passage is shaped by the Musandam Peninsula, an Omani exclave jutting out into the strait. Musandam is separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates.

Deh Barez

Iran

Bandar ’Abbas

Seyyed Jabal od Din

Minab

Qeshm Kuhestak Bandar-e Moghuyeh

Strait of Hormuz

Bandar-e Lengeh

Sirik Jaghdan

Khasab Bukha

Persian Gulf

Ash Sha’m

Jask

Hisn Diba

Umm al Qaywayn ’Ajman Sharjah Dubai

Gangan

Oman

Ra’s al Khaymah

Khawr Fakkan Adh Dhayd

Mina’ Jabal ’Ali Masfut

United Arab Emirates

Oman

Abu Dhabi

Al ’Ayn »If Iran is attacked by Israel or the US, we will stop Al Qabil oil transports through the Strait of Hormuz«

1980

On 22 September Iraq invades Iran. The war is referred to later as the ”Tanker War” since the countries bombed each other’s oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.

1988

On 14 April the USS Samuel B Roberts strikes an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf. Four days later the US retaliates by implementing Operation Praying Mantis, the largest naval battle since the Second World War. On 3 July the US, by mistake, shoots down a passenger plane from Iran Air with 290 people on board. The USS Vincennes is responsible for the firing.

1997

Iran threatens to close the strait after the US has said it is prepared to attack Iranian terrorists.

drastic rise in prices and an acute shortage of oil. Iran fears attack from ”the west” and has declared its intention to block the strait as a counter-attack. Military analysts assume that Iran would then mine the strait and back this up with land based missile systems. Mini-submarines would be deployed to make minesweeping more difficult. This is how Commander Ali Mohammed Jafari of the Iran Revolutionary Guard expressed it: “If Iran is attacked by Israel or the US, we will stop oil transports through the Strait of Hormuz.” The US has said equally clearly that it will not put up with any disturbances in the oil transports. Kevin Cosgriff, Commander of the US fifth fleet, which monitors the oil transports in the Persian Gulf and Hormuz, puts it this way: “We would regard it as an act of war.”

If the deadlock between the countries results in open conflict, the US is considered to be the obvious victor. Reports mention for how long the US intends to spend on defeating the enemy and how much they want to knock out. Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the US has had a tailor-made plan of attack for Iran. TIRANNT, as the operation is called, is said to be upgraded and ready to put into execution. Some time ago, the US and England carried out a TIRANNT based exercise in the Caspian Sea, which borders on northern Iran. TIRANNT stands for Theater Iran Near Term.

Gulf of Oman Shinas Suhar

If Iran should set about the oil traffic in Hormuz, As Sahm the US is presumed to invade strategically important islands in the strait, primarily Abu Musa, on which Al Khaburay Iran has missile sites. But it is also thought that the bases in the town of Bandar Abbas on the mainland would be attacked. Above all, it is pointed out that Iran’s own oil trade would be stopped. This would be a financial disaster for the country. Many people, however, consider that a war is unlikely, as the US intelligence service would probably receive information about action in the strait before it became a reality and would therefore be able to avert it.

In order to reduce the effects of a stoppage in the Strait of Hormuz, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are currently working on new paths for the oil transports. Dubai has far advanced plans for a canal to Fujairah in Oman. This 180-kilometre long creation is reported to cost two hundred billion dollars and be dimensioned for VLCC trade, Very Large Crude Carrier of 200-320,000 deadweight tons. The canal will start from the north Dubai coast and via locks through the Hajjar mountains reach Oman Bay. A few days later we passed the same Hajjar massifs in a four-wheel drive jeep and tried, without success, to visualise a canal through the area and 300,000 tonners passing through locks. Back in Dubai it was difficult to get official government comments on Dubai’s canal construction, though one person said unofficially that ”plans to build a canal instead of the Strait of Hormuz are nothing new”. Abu Dhabi’s pipeline construction to Fujairah goes under the working name of the ADCOP project, Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline. It concerns a 360-kilometre

After colliding with the submarine USS Hartford, the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans got a rip in the hull of 4.9â&#x20AC;&#x2030;xâ&#x20AC;&#x2030;5.5 metres. The vessel was towed to Arab Shipbuilding & Repair in Bahrain for repairs. Photo: US Navy photo

Photo: US Navy photo

Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, commander at the US Naval Forces Central Command, talks about the safety of the region with Vice Admiral Shahin Sultanov, chief of the Azerbaijan Navy. Photo: US Navy photo

Who watches who, one may wonder? The superstructure of the USS Hartford got quite a blow when colliding with the USS New Orleans, but was able to sail in surface mode back to the US to be patched up. Photo: US Navy photo

The Omani fisherman offered us a real snack for a trifle. We said no, but he was happy anyway.

Photo: Arne Spångberg

»International Petroleum Investment Company, owned by Abu Dhabi, has plans to build a refinery in Fujairah« long pipeline with a diameter of 1.2 metres and a capacity of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day. The purpose is to replace at least part of the oil transports in the Strait of Hormuz where, however, seventeen million barrels are shipped daily. This is twenty per cent of the global consumption. ADCOP also includes storage space and terminals in Fujairah for the shipment of crude oil. Moreover, the International Petroleum Investment Company, IPIC, owned by Abu Dhabi, has plans to build a refinery in Fujairah.

Crude oil in pipelines comes from the Habshan field in southwest Abu Dhabi, which is also rich in gas. The Emirate currently pumps ninety-five per cent of the oil in the United Arab Emirates and is thereby the third largest oil nation in the Persian Gulf. Only Saudi Arabia and Iran are larger. We have heard about conflicts based on “energy as a weapon” before. Take for example the October war in 1973, which resulted in the OPEC countries stopping oil exports to countries that supported Israel in the war, mainly the US and the Netherlands. Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez finances propaganda campaigns against the US and aid contributions to Cuba with money from the country’s oil assets. China ploughs money into Sudan to pave the way to the country’s oil deposits. China is a member of the UN Security Council and has for obvious reasons said no to sanctions against Sudan for the genocide in Darfur. The Russian government owned Gazprom recently cut off supplies of gas to Ukraine, who wanted to negotiate on prices. This raised queries on future Russian gas supplies in the pipelines planned on the Baltic Sea bed.

2004

A major exercise is carried out in and around the Strait of Hormuz with forty ships from the US and its allies participating.

2005

On 5 September the US submarine Philadelphia collides with the Turkish merchant vessel M/S Aysen off Bahrain.

2007

On 10 January the USS Newport New collides with the Japanese tanker M/V Mogamigawa just south of Hormuz. Photo: Marja-Liisa Andersson

Cargo is loaded onto speed boats at dusk, for the trip back to Iran. According to estimates, the smuggling traffic between Iran and the Musandam Peninsula constitutes around 50 per cent of the economy in the area. Khasab is the centre of the commerce.

Photo: US Navy photo

Surveillance can be slow and boring. But suddenly, Iranian patrol ships can appear at full speed.

2007

In December and into 2008 Iranian speed boats challenge American warships in Hormuz. The parties disagree as to whether it is a matter of provocations or routine assignments. On 29 June 2008 Iran officially repeats its threat to block the Strait of Hormuz if the US or Israel should attack. On 20 March 2009 the USS Hartford collides with the USS New Orleans. However. Over 90,000 litres of marine diesel leak out into the sea.

We inquired the National Defence College Middle East expert, Magnus Ranstorp, about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. “The security situation in the Strait of Hormuz can rapidly deteriorate if the US or Israel makes a military attack on Iranian facilities that are suspected of producing nuclear weapons. But there is little concern about this, bearing in mind the Obama administration’s new policy in the region. Iran always acts in a calculated manner and there is little to indicate that they are interested in a pre-emptive attack on oil transports as things are now.” Peter Bengtsson is President of the Gulf Agency Company in Dubai and has many years’ experience of shipping in the region: “At the present time I have no feeling that the stress level in the strait is high, though if Iran should now block movements, the US and its allies would probably act forcefully to get traffic going again. The world has, as you know, gigantic interests in the region today. Dubai’s plans for a canal are undoubtedly feasible, though Abu Dhabi’s construction of a pipeline to Fujairah is perhaps more sensible.” Mustafa Alani, analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, says this of the current situation in the area: “The re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejads has increased tension between Iran and the US dramatically and thereby the stress in the Strait of Hormuz. Barack Obama has indeed expressed himself positively about Iran, although western diplomacy does not work with

»The re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejads has increased tension between Iran and the US dramatically« Iran, who will surely continue to drive speedboats in the strait and irritate the Americans. Although I think the country has realised more recently that they cannot manage a proper blockade of the strait.”

Kim Ullman is Vice-President of Stena Bulk, a shipping company that has sailed for many years in the Middle East, not least in the Persian Gulf. “We follow developments carefully and have at present no news of increasing tension in the Strait of Hormuz. We have considerably greater trouble in the Gulf of Aden. As a safety system for at least some oil transport if the strait are blocked, future canals and pipelines are probably good, though the capacity is small compared with that of the overall oil tonnage. I would say that the ‘impact’ is negligible.” Security debater William D O’Neil describes the situation in the Strait of Hormuz as follows: “An Iranian attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz would involve major costs and Iran would have to pay most of them. Although as long as the US and its allies in the region continue to take the threat seriously and to take necessary measures, there is no reason to fear catastrophic consequences.”

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38 Shipgaz no 6 2009

By Rolf P Nilsson rolf@shipgaz.com

Report Lessons learned from M/S Estonia

Photo: jaakko avikainen / sCanPiX

The bow visor of the sunken ferry M/S Estonia is lifted from the bottom of the sea off Utö island overnight November 19, 1994.

15 years since the disaster

Since the tragic foundering of the M/S Estonia, there have been no casualties due to safety deficiencies in ferry travelling in this part of the world. When people around the Baltic Sea switched on their radios on Wednesday the 28 September 1994, they were met by the first reports on something that would turn out to be the worst maritime disaster in the area after the World War II. A passenger ferry with around 1,000 people aboard crossing the sea from East to West had sent out distress signals and appeared to have sunk.

The weather had deteriorated during the night, but at the time when the distress signals were received, it was in no way extreme. Later reports stated that around midnight the ferry sailed in Southwest-Westerly winds with an average force ranging between 12-20 m/s and in waves with a significant height of 4.0 – 4.4 metres. This could be uncomfortable for passengers but not a safety problem for a ferry, at least not if it was approved for Baltic Sea services the year around. Reports saying that a ferry

routinely crossing these waters had more or less vanished from the surface were therefore, beside concern and anxiety, also met with scepticism, both in the public in general and by people in shipping in particular. The reports were however sadly true. The ro-ro/passenger ferry Estonia, flag ship of the young independent Estonian nation had capsized and sunk. Of 989 persons aboard, thereof 803 passengers, only 137 people were saved. 94 bodies were recovered and 757 are missing. The disaster triggered an unprecedented activity in national and international maritime safety rule development arenas, unique in both intensity and speed. Directly after the accident, focus was set on ferries’ bow openings.

»The disaster triggered an unprecedented activity in safety rule development« Of 989 persons aboard, thereof 803 passengers, only 137 people were saved. 94 bodies were recovered and 757 are missing.

Classification societies and authorities introduced new rules. On several ferries, bow doors or visors were simply welded up.

The main maritime rule maker of the world, the IMO, realized that the Estonia disaster called for new ways of working if safety was to be enhanced and public trust in ferry transportation restored. A group of experts were appointed and already in May 1995 a number of suggestions were handed over to the Maritime Safety Committee of the IMO. A diplomatic conference in November agreed on some 30 rule amendments, but some of the expert group’s recommendations were disregarded. This was not enough for member states around the Baltic and North Seas and these coastal states were summoned to a meeting in Stockholm. In February 1996, the Stockholm Agreement comprising tougher damage stability requirements for ro-

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 39

Lessons learned from M/S Estonia

Report Photo: Fredrik Davidsson

»The IMO realized that the Estonia disaster called for new ways of working« ro/passenger vessels were signed by eight states after IMO having accepted a regional set of rules. Today, these rules apply in all EU member states. The ongoing work in IMO concerning improvements in fire safety after the Scandinavian Star disaster in 1990 and the development of the ISM Code that was initiated after the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in 1987 were also speeded up.

In addition, the Estonia disaster also drew the deficiencies and limitations of a ferry’s lifesaving gear, means of evacuation and capability of bringing people in water to safety in harsh weather conditions into daylight. Development in these areas was intensified. In parallel to all this work, the investigation into the cause of the accident continued. On the disaster day, the prime ministers of Estonia,

Sweden and Finland decided to form a Joint Accident Investigation Commission, JAIC. The commission was soon to come under heavy fire. The composition of the commission was, and still is, criticised from several directions, arguing that instead of being an independent body with an ambition to find the actual truth, its findings could be biased and consensus driven.

Above: Model of the M/S Estonia at the SSPA facility in Göteborg, during tests for determination of the sinking sequence.

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The builder of the Estonia, Meyer Verft, launched its own investigation into the accident. This came to conclusions that significantly differed from the JAIC’s. The Estonia was known for always calling in port according to the timetable. According to several observers on other ferries that night on the busy route between Finland/Estonia and Sweden, Estonia also sailed at

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40 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Report Lessons learned from M/S Estonia

The work within JAIC was also disturbed by more or less open disagreements. Members resigned and were replaced for various reasons. The JAIC expert member and maritime psychologist Bengt Schager opted out just months before the final report was finished. He was highly critical to the way the commission downplayed the importance of organisational and human issues as contributing factors. In 1997, he said that the final draw was the commission’s declaration that Estonia was seaworthy when she departed from Tallinn, something he could not endorse as, in his opinion, the safety culture and risk awareness among the crew were insufficient.

Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

a higher speed than the others. The Commission ruled out speed as an accident factor in its part report, published in April 1995, which was met by scepticism and criticism from not least professional seafarers.

This picture of the M/S Estonia was taken on September 12, 1994.

»I cannot see that anything serious has been neglected, when it comes to the lessons from this particular accident«

All this and media reports of varying reliability from digging journalists became a breeding ground for all kinds of conspiracy theories and undermined the authority of the Commission. Although the JAIC’s findings into the cause and the sinking sequence have been more or less confirmed by later studies, the final report was already in question when it was published in December 1997, more than three years after the disaster. From a ferry safety point of view, it can however be argued that the importance of the final report was limited. Many development projects had been launched and completed by then, the extremely fast pace of the rule makers meant that upgrading work had been completed on many ferries and the regulatory path for the remaining ferries were already set. In absence of a definite answer to

the cause, the industry had worked with as wide a scope as possible to be certain that any plausible reason to the sinking was covered by the measures taken.

”The perhaps most important lesson was that water on car deck on a ferry can be really disastrous”, says Pertti Haatainen, Head of Technical Division in the Maritime Safety Department at the Finnish Maritime Administration, and argues that ”the Estonia disaster resulted in so many new rules and regulations that I cannot see that anything serious has been neglected, when it comes to the lessons from this particular accident”. In some cases figures talk for themselves. During these fifteen years, millions of people have travelled by

ferry in the region. To and from Sweden alone, more than 450 million persons have chosen the ferry as transport mode for vacation, for cruising or for business/work reasons. Today, around six million people travel by sea between Helsinki and Tallinn. In this period there has been no disasters, and to my knowledge, not one passenger reported dead or severely injured by causes that could be related to maritime safety. According to concrete facts, ferry travelling in this part of the world is as safe as it can get. This does not mean that shipowners, class societies, authorities and other interested parties can lean back and be satisfied. Things happen, accidents occur and sometimes you’re hit by bad luck. Keeping ferry safety at this level assumes standing on tiptoe, a lot of continuous work and high ambitions. Lessons have to be learned from accidents and incidents to reduce the risk that they happen again. From the Estonia disaster, we also have to learn from the mistakes in how the investigation was carried out.

M/S Estonia: Facts and history The 2,000-passenger ferry was delivered as the Viking Sally by its builder Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany on June 29, 1980, to Rederiaktiebolaget Sally, then one of three partners in Viking Line.

A 4 x 4,400 kW machinery gave the 15,598-gt ferry a service

speed of 21 knots. The vessel was placed on the Åbo – Mariehamn – Stockholm run. In 1986 she was sold to Finland’s Effjohn.

The Viking Sally was transferred to Silja Line and renamed Silja Star 1990, but continued to ply the waters between Åbo and Stockholm. A year later the

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Sweden’s Nordström & Thulin in Cyprus.

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42 SHIPGAZ NO 6 2009

By Rolf P Nilsson, rolf@shipgaz.com

Spotlight IMO

ECDIS and sleep in IMO IMO: Rolf P Nilsson Rolf P Nilsson, Editor-in-Chief of Shipgaz, points the spotlight at IMO in each issue. Check this column to get the latest updates on what’s up in the IMO chambers.

he IMO Sub-Committee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STW) is pressing ahead with a rather substantial revision of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for seafarers, STCW. The goal is to finalise the work at the next STW sub-committee meeting early next year and to have the new convention approved by a diplomatic conference to be held in Manila next summer. STW is considering amendments to existing seatime and training requirements and new competence certificates. Among these are extended fire safety requirements for crews on oil and chemical carriers, training for officers on ships in Arctic/Antarctic waters and also ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems) training, the latter possibly becoming mandatory.

Under current regulations, ships must be fitted with equipment compliant with the ECDIS rules according to a timetable spanning between 2012–2018. By then the systems must be approved and provided with the right electronic charts and, of course, nautical officers must be familiar with the systems and have knowledge of how to use them. Concern has been voiced that navigating with ECDIS differs from the traditional paper chart navigation. It is argued that without proper training and understanding of all new capabilities and features that ECDIS brings, there are safety risks when operating the system. There are reports on accidents when navigators have relied on faulty or insufficient data from an ECDIS system. Today, there are ECDIS courses offered by nautical schools and private

companies. IMO has also developed a model course, but there are no mandatory international requirements or standards for the training. If IMO lands in a decision on compulsory simulator training for officers on ECDIS equipped vessels, a tremendous challenge – and a costly one for shipowners – lies ahead for the maritime training institutions of the world. As many as half a million officers may be in need of training between now and 2018. Assuming that simulator exercises will be a significant part of the training and that IMO might end up with requirements for a five day course, a simulator centre with capacity for twelve course participants might have a theoretical maximum output of less than 500 officers per year, given that the simulator can be used exclusively for this purpose 40 weeks per year. There is also concern that all new special competence requirements will have serious consequences for

»A tremendous challenge lies ahead for the maritime training institutions of the world« ECDIS IMO has agreed on an implementation schedule for mandatory ECDIS on all SOLAS vessels. From July 1, 2012, all new passenger vessels above 500 gt and all new tankers above 3,000 gt shall be fitted with ECDIS. All other vessel types are phased in before July 1, 2018.

the planning and manning of vessels, especially when requirements are extended from the ship to also cover geographical areas. Where do you find the officers needed to take an ECDIS-equipped oil products tanker on a single voyage to an Arctic destination? Do the shipowners have to replace most of the crew? Another controversial issue is the rest period requirements. Fatigue has been found to be a contributing factor in many accidents, and the current discussions include a deletion of the possibility to divide the compulsory daily period of rest over two days. Today, the rest period is ten consecutive hours per day. This can however be divided to two periods of which one must not be less than six hours. Some members want this flexibility to cease and that the ten-hour rest period become rigid.

Others claim that this will make it impossible to keep the watchkeeping systems of today. According to some, fatigue is not a problem because of lax rules, it is a question of observance. The critics argue that if flag states increase their monitoring to make sure that vessels comply with the rules, fatigue would not be a problem. To sharpen rules is in a way to punish those owners and flag states that follow the existing legislation, and one may ask if a shipowner doesn’t follow the current rules, would the same owner obey new ones? Especially if the vessel is registered under a flag with a laissez faire administration.

44 Shipgaz No 6 2009

By Bent Mikkelsen, bent@shipgaz.com

Report Record charter

Photo: Jesper Nørgaard

The Mærsk Clipper stand by for anchor handling, barbecue in the background.

25 years in Brazilian waters

In mid-November 2009, the Danish anchor handling vessel Mærsk Clipper will set a world record as the first offshore vessel to have been sailing continuously for the same charterer for 25 years. In the autumn of 1984, the Mærsk Clipper sailed south from the North Sea and has been employed ever since by Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras. Petrobras operates a fleet of around 300 offshore vessels on the large number of oil fields in the Atlantic basin. “It is quite unique to serve the same customer for that many years”, says Carsten Plougmann, CEO of Maersk Supply Service. “We have been working for Petrobras since 1978, when the first two anchor handlers sailed to Brazil. Ever since, we have had very good relations with Petrobras, which constantly employs a quarter of our fleet.”

»In the North Sea and other hi-tech areas every job started with a 900page manual to read. In Brazil it is still back to basics«

“The Mærsk Clipper employment is special, but the sister vessel Maersk Cutter is closing up now, with 17 years of sailing for Petrobras. The other units that have been working in Brazilian waters have often been replaced

Jesper Nørgaard, captain of the Mærsk Clipper.

by more modern and powerful units. We have followed Petrobras as they have moved to deeper and deeper waters outside their country. In the early days of the 1980s Maersk Supply did anchor handling in 400– 500 metres of water at most, but now we have passed the 2,000-metre mark and we have been part of that development to the benefit of both parties”, says Carsten Plougmann. Anchor handling in deep water will probably continue, as Petrobras has discovered the largest oil reserves ever in the area south of the Bay of Santos in water depths between 2,000 and 3,000 metres. The first job in Brazilian waters for

the Mærsk Clipper was an emergency task. In August 1984, the drilling rig Enchova Central had a blowout followed by fire that continued for weeks and 42 rig workers died. This incident led to Petrobras going into the market for more fire fighting capacity at sea, and as the Mærsk Clipper had the largest capacity in the world at the time – being the only vessel with Fire Fighting 3 – the vessel was engaged in a contract with Petrobras.

The Mærsk Clipper was sent to Brazil in a hurry to fight the fire on the Enchova Central. After this particular task, the Mærsk Clipper was used as anchor handler, especially in the Campos Basin. For a number of years the Mærsk Clipper, with its 160-ton bollard pull from 14,400 horsepower, was the largest anchor handler in the Petrobras fleet. “We had the honour of being the

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 45

Record charter

Report Photo: Jesper Nørgaard

Photo: Jesper Nørgaard

1: Awaiting pilot off Macapa. 2: Towing BGL1 on the Amazon River with the sister vessel Maersk Cutter aft. 3: Rest on deck. 4: Onboard barbecue. state-of-the-art anchor handler in Brazil for a number of years”, says Carsten Plougmann. That position was taken over by much larger supply vessels several years ago – even from the Maersk Supply fleet. But the Mærsk Clipper has continued working for Petrobras and is presently working with tanker lifting on the Campos field.

“We are waiting for ‘our’ pipelaying barge to come back from a 16-month refit”, says Jesper Nørgaard,

captain of the Mærsk Clipper. “In the meantime, we have been used for handling tankers loading from some of Petrobras’ 40 FPSOs working on the Campos Basin. These tankers are usually connected to the Mærsk Clipper in order to hold them in position during loading from the FPSO. During this operation we keep station connected to the tanker with a tension of 12 to 15 tons for two to three days. When the tanker is loaded and lifted away from the FPSO connection, we usually call in to Petrobras shore of-

Mærsk Clipper Built at Dannebrog Værft, Aarhus, delivered May 4, 1983. The vessel is presently at a Brazilian shipyard for a life extension including installation of Dynamic Positioning 1.

fice explaining that the job is done and we are ready for the next. The time between jobs can vary from 15 minutes to one occasion when it took four days before we were called on the HF-radio”, says Jesper Nørgaard. “We are looking forward to being attached to the pipe laying barge BLG1 again. We have been working with the barge for a number of years with much more varied tasks than just anchor handling. With the barge on tow, the Mærsk Clipper has been working as far south in Brazil as the

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46 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Report Record charter Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

Tramandarin near the Argentinean border”, says Jesper Nørgaard. With the BGL1 barge, the Mærsk Clipper and the sister vessel Maersk Cutter have been working at Manaus, some 1,000 nautical miles up the Amazon River, laying a gas pipeline. “It was very special to sail on the Amazon River. The journey up to Manaus took a little more time than normal with a countercurrent of four knots, so towing at eight knots towing meant only four knots over ground”, says Jesper Nørgaard. At Manaus the barge BGL1 places two gas pipeline across the river. BGL1 can work down to a depth of 100 metres and handles items of 1,000 tons with the crane installed on board. “It is an old-fashioned barge, but it is capable of doing the job”, says Jesper Nørgaard. “It has been used for installation of smaller production platforms on the ocean fields as well.”

Sailing in Brazilian waters is much more complicated than in other parts of the world. In order to work for Petrobras the vessels usually have to be nationalized, which are the terms used for the fact that even a Danish flagged ship like the Mærsk Clipper has to meet requirements from the Brazilian government rules. The same

»One of the great things is the freedom to take decisions in close connection with our customers« 17 years on board Jesper Nørgaard shares the command of the Mærsk Clipper with Iver Esager, who has been the captain of the Mærsk Clipper for 17 years.

goes for Petrobras, which has its own standards. “One of the first barriers for foreign ships in Brazilian waters is the language. All communication is done in Portuguese, with no exceptions. I have been sailing in Brazilian waters for eight years and have learned the most commonly used words in the offshore business, but if the communication is more complicated I have to use my Brazilian crew as interpreters”, says Jesper Nørgaard.

The Mærsk Clipper is now sailed by a crew of three Danish citizens, one Romanian and eleven Brazilians. “Our latest welfare extra on board the Mærsk Clipper is the 16th crew member, who is a language teacher”, explains Jesper Nørgaard. “The A P Møller-Mærsk Group has made the decision to work on our skills in the Portuguese language, but also on the Brazilian crew members’ English. So the teacher takes one hour with the Danes, followed by an hour with the

Brazilians learning English.” The Brazilian crew members are usually signed on for four weeks and then have four weeks off, while the Danes have six weeks on board and six weeks off. “It is common for Danish crew members to stay on for six weeks when overseas, like in Africa, Brazil or Far East”, says Jesper Nørgaard. “Otherwise the loss in travelling days will be too high on vacations, as it takes almost two days to reach my home in Esbjerg from the Mærsk Clipper”, says Jesper Nørgaard.

“During the tanker operation and other jobs the Mærsk Clipper usually calls the port of Macae, the Petrobras homeport near Rio de Janeiro, for a crew change every four weeks. The rest of the time the ship is usually at sea.” “I think one of the great things of being signed on to one of our company’s matured supply vessels is the freedom to take decisions in close connection with our customers”, says Jesper Nørgaard. “In the North Sea and other hi-tech areas every job started with a 900-page manual to read. In Brazil it is still back to basics, discussing what has to be done and how to do it between the captain and the customer, like in the old days.”

APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE

Hogia Ferry Systems AB Vallonv채gen 1 B FIN-65610 Korsholm Finland

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Tel. +358 6 319 2800 Fax. +358 6 319 2899 bookit@hogia.fi bookit.hogia.fi

09-05-13 03.05.17

Finnish company with a Dutch touch

What does it take to establish a shipping company in the middle of a global finance crisis? A passion for shipping, fearlessness to do lots of hard work, good bank connections and a conviction that every cloud has a silver lining. TEXT & PHOTO: PÄR-HENRIK SJÖSTRÖM

The smell of new paint is lingering in the air when I step on board the coaster Josefine in the port of Naantali. On her deck, two small dogs bid me welcome by barking for all they are worth. on’t be afraid, they are just a little bit overprotective by nature”, says their master Dennis Saari, also master and partial owner of the Josefine. The dogs soon get used to my intrusion and fall asleep in the master’s chair on the bridge. I learn that they are two miniature poodles named Merza and Simba, and that they have spent all their life at sea. “They have become used to the background noise that is always present on a ship. At home in our apartment, they react to every little sound coming from the neighbours”, says their proud owner.

Sensational is a strong word, but still it is quite unusual that a shipping company is formed in a time when shipping news mainly concerns ships being laid up and low freight rates. Dennis Saari, Jimmy Gustafson, Johan Liljeström and Antti Partanen realized that now is the buyer’s market and decided to acquire two coasters and become shipowners. The process was initiated by Dennis Saari, a chief officer with master’s certificate for smaller vessels in short sea trade. Born and raised in a ship owning family in the Borgå (in Finnish Porvoo) region, where the tradition of ship owning and coastal traffic remains strong still today, he used to run a shipping company called Dennis Maritime for several years together with a companion. In 2006 Dennis Saari sold his share in the company, which changed its name to Wega Shipping. He moved to the Netherlands, where he had already met his Dutch fiancé Benita. Now they are married and Benita Saari-Danser is also a seafarer – like her parents and brothers and sister. Her parents are also owners of several cargo vessels, including a series of newbuildings. In the Netherlands Dennis Saari bought a part in a Dutch ship and got a Dutch master’s certificate for vessels under 3,000 GT. He sailed as a master for a couple of years, until the attraction of the Baltic Sea became too strong. “During these years we hardly ever sailed to Finland. The Finnish short trade traffic is in my blood and I felt I liked to sail with cargo to and from Finland again”, he explains.

As a potential buyer he had inspected several vessels when the opportunity occurred to buy back his old vessels Josefine and Nathalie, which were included in the sale of his share of Dennis Maritime in 2006.

Dennis Maritime is re-established as a shipping company, operating the sister vessels Nathalie (picture) and Josefine.

Jimmy Gustafson and his laptop – the office of Dennis Maritime is wherever he is.

In spring 2009 Wega Shipping became a victim of the depression and went bankrupt. The bank offered the vessels to Dennis Saari, who says he got an offer he couldn’t refuse. But he needed companions for the investment. First he talked to his old friend Jimmy Gustafson, who had gained a lot of shipping experience during several years at Prima Shipping, another Borgå-based company. Together they decided to buy the vessels. Further investors were needed, and two captains who had been sailing with Dennis Saari before, Johan Liljeström and Antti Partanen, were offered the main ownership of the Nathalie. They agreed and two separate companies were founded. Rederi Ab Nathalie was founded as a ship owning company for the Nathalie, while Dennis Maritime Oy Ltd is the owner of the Josefine and also responsible for management and operations of both vessels. Both vessels are operated under the Dennis Maritime name. “The process to become a shipowner had indeed been going on within me for a long time. When Dennis called and I got the chance I was prepared and agreed without hesitation. Still I could not believe that everything would advance so fast. We started discussing seriously in July and we bought the vessels on August 4. There was not much time to think about it, but maybe it was better that way. When you get green light you should go full ahead”, Jimmy Gustafson summarizes his feelings about becoming a shipowner.

When Dennis Saari started planning his “come back” in Finnish shipping he knew what he had to be prepared for. The favourable shipping climate in the Netherlands was like from another planet when compared to Finland. However, Dennis Saari thinks that many things have changed and the climate for shipping is getting better in Finland. But there is still a lot he simply cannot understand – several years in

»In general everything is much less complicated in the Netherlands. The legislation is promoting shipping and encouraging investments in new vessels« the Netherlands has had a strong impact upon how he looks at shipping. “In general everything is much less complicated in the Netherlands. The legislation is promoting shipping and encouraging investments in new vessels. As a matter of fact it is much more difficult to buy a several years old second hand ship than a newbuilding in the Netherlands. They simply want their old tonnage to disappear and be replaced by new and highly efficient and competitive vessels.”

The basic idea of Dennis Maritime is that the owners themselves also work on board the vessels in traditional Borgå-shipping style. Antti Partanen and Johan Liljeström are alternating as captains on the Nathalie while Dennis Saari is sailing as master on the Josefine. Jimmy Gustafson is the only one of the quartet who is not working on board the vessels. His area of responsibility is to keep the fleet running. This has been the intention of Dennis Saari from the beginning if there would be more than one ship involved. “In my former company I handled everything myself at the same time as I was working on board as master. It was possible to handle the administration when we had long contracts and the activities had slowly been built up. But of course I was on duty all the time, also when I had time off at home. This time my idea from the start was to have one person all the time on shore to handle the administration and op-

Dennis Saari takes a cup of coffee before departure. His dog Merza has occupied the captainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chair.

The Nathalie during the refit at Turku Repair Yard in Naantali prior to the traffic start. The hull is painted and she is back in her right element after the drydocking.

erations. The business has changed; today a charter, which is to take place two months later, must be decided in five minutes”, Dennis Saari states. Jimmy Gustafson says that his old customer contacts have been very valuable and that they have been contacting the company. Still the timing to enter the market was not ideal, as some of the large volume contracts had already been fixed for the coming year. “We entered discussions about volume contract in a rather late stage, as the initial talks use to start before the summer holiday season”, he explains. Until long-term co-operation can be established with the export industry the vessels will be employed on the spot market. From the beginning the company has managed to establish good contacts with especially the small brokers. There is also a demand for vessels in the range of 1,000 dwt, as the general trend goes towards larger and larger ships. “We also use our direct contacts with the industry. So far half of our assignments have been signed as a result of our own contacts and half of them via brokers”, Jimmy Gustafson informs.

Even though the timing to enter the market may not have been just perfect, Dennis Saari is convinced that now is the right time to buy vessels. “Financing was arranged by Ålandsbanken, which has been really helpful. I simply don’t agree with the common opinion that it is virtually impossible to get financing for investments in new ships.” According to Dennis Saari the positive attitude of the bank is the same as in the Netherlands, where attractive financing packages are provided. In this way the domestic shipbuilding industry and the important shipping industry is kept alive during the crisis. With the basic financing in order and a sound business idea Dennis Saari thinks it is possible to be successful on a weak market. He says that the freight rates are acceptable, even if it is supposed that a shipowner always should complain about them. “Indeed the rates are lower than we are used to, but I have compared to old rates and found that they are still better now than they were for this very same vessel in 2005. They are still quite high. Other costs, such as bunker oil has increased, but the situation is not disastrous.” His business philosophy has always been to compete by minimizing costs, a typical feature among small shipowners: “You may have as large incomes as you like, but if the costs are not in shape you are in trouble.”

The fixed costs are minimized in the company, which for example has no office. “Our office is at home or in the car, in other words wherever I am with my laptop and my cell phone”, Jimmy Gustafson points out. In one detail both Dennis Saari and Jimmy Gustafson are totally unwilling to compromise. The people working on board the vessel must have a nice and safe working environment. “One could say that I am very economical in my thinking, but I am uncompromising regarding some things. In my opinion everything on board shall be in working order and the crew must have the best possi-

ble conditions. The ship is both a home and a working place. We are only four persons on board and everyone has a tough job.” Jimmy Gustafson also underlines the importance of a proper personnel policy. “It would be a serious mistake to underestimate the importance of good employees. It is obvious that as an owner you have to offer your employees some advantages to get an excellent performance in return.” According to Dennis Saari it is possible to offer challenging but flexible work in a small vessel where everyone has to be prepared to do anything. In return the employee is able to take a whole lot more responsibility than in a large vessel and thus has the possibility to have a real impact on how the job is done. Despite a tough job there is perhaps more freedom in a small vessel, where the crew gets very close to each other and the work of everyone is crucial. Everyone knows exactly what has to be done without being told by a foreman. “Another difference is that our employees have the possibility to work together with the owner. At least I would think that this would be an advantage as you get first hand information about everything that is going on in the company. I hope that our employees think in the same way. As a captain/owner you have to be an authority but also maintain a good spirit of comradeship with your fellow workers”, Dennis Saari stresses. He continues that a welcome break in the everyday routine is provided by the Finnish Seamen’s Service MEPA. “They are doing a fantastic job, bringing newspapers, books and films to the vessels. During our stay in port they have visited us everyday and they always have time for a chat.”

The activities of the company started with an unplanned docking of both vessels. Jimmy Gustafson thinks that this was not so bad after all. “It was indeed a setback when we found out that we could not even start trading before the Josefine had to be docked. We bought the vessel as classed, but it turned out that she had lost her class due to an expired certificate. Therefore we got permission for one single voyage to dock only. However we decided to dock both vessels at the same time to save both time and money as a docking of Nathalie would have become actual during the autumn anyhow. In this business it is important to be adjustable to new situations and conditions at very short notice.” Both Josefine and Nathalie were drydocked at Turku Repair Yard, which Dennis Saari speaks highly of. The shipyard was flexible and provided advice also for works carried out by the ships’ own crews. “Still we learnt that it is no use to try to do everything completely by yourself. Even if the shipyard charges for everything they do there are many things that they do much faster and also better. This time we were not in a hurry, so we did some jobs ourselves that the shipyard would have done much faster indeed. When it is time to do the first scheduled docking we are well prepared and know exactly which kind of work to do ourselves.” From earlier experiences both Dennis Saari and Jim-

»Indeed the rates are lower than we are used to, but I have compared old rates and found that they are still better now than they were for this very same vessel in 2005«

»We knew that we would only get one chance when we started. Before we entered the market we wanted the ships to be totally completed« my Gustafson know that dockings tend to take longer time and cost much more than originally planned. This time the costs were kept strictly within budget. “Careful and detailed pre-planning is everything. There is much to be won but also much to be lost during the week the ship is at the repair yard”, Dennis Saari assures.

During the stay at the repair yard both vessels were painted in a new turquoise livery. “We knew that we would only get one chance when we start. Before we entered the market we wanted the ships to be totally completed and in good condition technically. In addition to that we also wanted them to look smart. The colour scheme I have borrowed from the vessels in the fleet of my wife Benita’s parents”, Mr Saari explains. He stresses that it is not just about cosmetics. When the hatches are opened the cargo holds are in top condition too. “Surprisingly little steel work had to be done during the docking. On both vessels we replaced some five tons of steel altogether.” Although identical sister vessels, there are some individual details. For example a trade mark of Dennis Saari is to paint the anchors white. Therefore the Josefine sails with white anchors, while the Nathalie has her anchors painted conventionally in black.

After serving several years in the Dutch merchant fleet, how does it feel to be back under Finnish flag? “It is great, because of my passion for this type of short sea shipping. It would indeed be possible for us to establish co-operation with large shipping companies in the Netherlands, as they are all the time searching for investors in new vessels that work on board themselves. Together with the financial institutes they also provide attractive financing for vessels of standard types that they need in their fleet. In return the captain/owners are signed for a long term charter to trade for that company. However, right now I like to be totally independent as an owner and sail under the Finnish flag”, Dennis Saari informs. He says that the generally the owners in the Netherlands are used to co-operate and they refer to each other as colleagues, not competitors. This attitude is probably typical for a nation where shipping is an important part of the whole structure of the society. When talking to Dennis Saari and Jimmy Gustafson, it is as a matter of fact a little bit difficult for me to understand the unbelievable loyalty of Finnish owners towards the own flag as the approach is so different in Finland compared to a real shipping nation like the Netherlands. Dennis Saari assures that it is a nice feeling to operate a ship flying the blue and white flag. But he admits that there are still a lot of regulations making life difficult, as in this segment it is crucial

The Josefine outward bound from Naantali. The vessels of Dennis Maritime are trading in the Baltic Sea and North Sea area.

Dennis Saari and Jimmy Gustafson have known each other since they were kids. Now they own a shipping company together.

for the small companies to watch out for every extra cost. As an example he mentions the question whether there should be an engineer or not in the crew. According to international rules no engineer is required in a vessel with a main engine with an output of less than 750 kW. “Finland has implemented stricter national rules. We may only trade in the Baltic Sea without an engineer as long as we have one crew member that is certified to handle the engine. As soon as we go through the Kiel Canal to the North Sea, we need an engineer, which is a huge extra cost. This is not the case in for example a Dutch vessel. One must remember that manning costs are after all by far the largest item for a small company like ours. We simply cannot afford to have one person exclusively in the engine, especially as there is really nothing to do there. Our main engine is somewhat like a large truck engine, if something goes wrong it is not possible for us to make any repairs at sea, we have to call a repairman from land.” Dennis Saari thinks that national special regulations like these also have a direct impact on the commercial performance of the company, not to mention that it puts one EU membership state in a different competitive position than another one. “It may simply become impossible for us to take a cargo to or from a port in the North Sea area at short notice as we cannot find an engineer in such a short time”, explains Jimmy Gustafson.

During my interview with Jimmy Gustafson and Dennis Saari the thought crossed my mind about what shipping in Finland would look like if entrepreneurs like them would be provided the same possibili-

»For both me and my wife this is a lifestyle. I live on board my ship, because this is what I have done for most of my life« ties like their colleagues in the Netherlands. There is certainly no lack of either know-how or enthusiasm. Like most entrepreneurs they are willing to work very hard for their dreams. There is much at stake for all four of the owners behind the Nathalie and the Josefine. Still Dennis Saari is confident about the future. “I know that everyone tries their best and does their utmost to make things work. So far it looks good. But if it still would not work, then we all at least know that we have tried our best.” But in reality this is not an option for Dennis. He already has the next move in mind. “We start the activities with two second hand vessels, but our aim definitely is to order a newbuilding in the 2,000 dwt size.” It is probably only a matter of time before they take the next step. “For both me and my wife this is a lifestyle. I live on board my ship, because this is what I have done most of my life. Soon my wife will join us as a crew member, she has spent most of her life on board ships too.” When I leave the bridge the dogs are still asleep in the captains leather chair. Soon they are at sea again, adapting the normal routines on board the ship, with the same familiar faces around them. Talk about salty dogs!

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14-9-2009 15:57:51

60 SHIPGAZ NO 6 2009

By Eddie Janson, eddie@shipgaz.com

Spotlight Safety

How to keep history from repeating itself i.e. within a no-blame culture. Try to do a Proper Root Cause Analysis and find the real causes behind the accident. Try to go one step further when finding the causes.

Safety: Eddie Janson Captain Eddie Janson of MariTrain AB, instructor and consultant in maritime safety, points the Shipgaz spotlight at safety related matters.

n the previous issue I elaborated on near misses and the importance of learning something from them. But how does it work in reality? Do we learn from our mistakes? Many disasters have lead to new regulations as for example MARPOL, which came into effect after the Torrey Canyon accident and have lead to a reduction of oil spills.

But lessons learned from smaller

»If we were really good at learning from our mistakes, two similar accidents would never occur« TMSA REQUIREMENT 8.3.2 “The incident analysis process ensures that the lessons learned from an incident or near miss are shared across the fleet.”

So how can we become better at learning from our mistakes? Shall we wait for a disaster resulting in new regulations? I believe the correct way is to start in our daily work on board. When you have a near miss or an incident on board it shall be reported, but do not stop there. Discuss the event on board and try to find out why it happened. On board, such events should be discussed with an atmosphere of trust,

accidents and incidents are just as important. A lesson learned from a smaller incident, if used correctly, can help avoiding larger incidents from happening and prevent loss of life, damage to property or the environment. There are many systems in place for experience transfer, such as TANKER INCIDENTS BY TYPE MARS, Insjö etc. Some companies also have regular safety bulletins de1,000 scribing incidents and accidents including Lessons Learned. The oil majors send out regular safety bulletins as transfer of experiences. But do we 800 really take in this vital information and make use of it in order to avoid history repeating itself?

If we were really good at learning from our mistakes, two similar accidents would never occur. Have we for example learned anything from all groundings caused by fatigue? I would have to answer NO to that question because people still fall asleep on their watch and vessels are still running aground due to that fact. If you study the adjacent diagram, it shows that we unfortunately are not so good at learning from our mistakes. The tanker accidents have doubled between 2005 and 2007.

Many times we stop with for example the statement “The accident was caused by fatigue” – but we need to go a little bit further to find the real cause. Why was the officer tired? What were the causes for fatigue? Do not stop with Human Error. Ask why it was possible to make this human error? What were the conditions that enforced the Human Error and what can we do to prevent it from happening again? If you find good answers to these questions and you can communicate them to your colleagues you may actually prevent an accident in the future.

It is now 15 years since the Estonia disaster. What we have learned from that is discussed on other pages in this issue.

SOURCE: INTERTANKO / LMIU / VARIOUS

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Brand new magazine

Shipgaz visits the Orasund alongside:

Fixing up a Dane The front page picture is sponsored by Berg Propulsion AB

Anchor handling on the North Sea:

Waiting for a weather window Officer labour market untouched

Grimaldi – an A ragged beauty Italian conqueror An ST Army Tug with the

Despite alarming headlines on lay-offs and lay-ups, ship officers in the Nordic countries keep their employments, according to a Shipgaz survey. page 50

Despite the strong traditions of the family, Dr Emanuele Grimaldi has never taken his position in the Group for granted. page 20

Special:

paint falling off in flakes caught the eye of Bengt Fredriksson. Now he is determined to make her better than new. page 78

Shipgaz signs on to Immingham:

Onboard insight »Although Shipgaz Long way back is a new magazine, In March 2007, the tug Bohus was smashed to it stands on solid splinters on the rocks off ground with a more Härmanö. Captain Ole than centuryKristiansen tells his story long heritage« of his way back to work EDITORIAL, PAGE 4

after the trauma. PAGE 22

In the land of the polar bear The engine department – a poor workplace?

Too many sea engineers crawl and squeeze their way through work. Monica Lundh at Chalmers checks out why. PAGE 16

Always leave the ship together as a group. Never go ashore without a weapon. Cruising at Svalbard offers astonishing nature and animal life, but you need to move with care. PAGE 27

Custom-made for The adventures the Western Channel of seaman Pålle

Yearbook of Maritime Technology

Built in Bangladesh

Struggling for a sick sea

“It was a long and tedious journey. But it was worth it”, says Jan Fabricius, pioneering by building the Stella Maris in Bangladesh. PAGE 18

Anne Christine Brusendorff of HELCOM thinks that the Baltic Sea still has a future, but only if we act now. PAGE 14

Brittany Ferries introduces the ro-pax Armorique, their largest ever purpose built vessel for the Plymouth–Roscoff service. PAGE 36

A day on the Hansa route Shipgaz signed on the Finnstar in Helsinki and followed captain Jukka Tapiovaara and his crew to Travemünde. page 24

Hushed up grounding Survival technique An anonymous e-mail to the for female seafarers shipowner’s head office revealed that one of their bulkers had been grounded – but sailed on with damages to the hull. The crew had said nothing. page 20

Negotiator, constructor, maintainer or reproducer – which one are you? PhD student Momoko Kitada has identified four strategic roles for women on board. page 16

Shipgaz is a modern shipping magazine for operative personell. Every issue contains current events, newbuildings, onboard stories, technical innovations, safety related information, in-depth features and much more, crucial information as well as entertainment. A weekly e-mailed newsletter is included in the subscription.

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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

62 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Newcomer MSC Splendida

By Pär-Henrik Sjöström par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Photo: MSC Cruises

The MSC Splendida is employed in the Mediterranean.

Awarded for energy efficiency STX Europe has delivered the second cruise vessel of the MSC Fantasiatype to MSC Crociere. The MSC Splendida is first to be awarded the Energy Efficient Design label by classification society Bureau Veritas. Delivered to MSC from STX France Cruise’s St Nazaire shipyard, the 3,952-passenger MSC Splendida was officially named in Barcelona on July 12. In MSC-tradition she was named by the actress Sophia Loren, followed by a spectacular gala show. Ever since the naming of the MSC Poesia in Dover in April 2008, MSC Crociere has chosen to hold the naming ceremonies in different countries. This tradition will continue with the MSC Magnifica in Hamburg next year, the fourth vessel of the slightly smaller MSC Musica-class.

The MSC Splendida is employed in the Mediterranean year-round. Including the MSC Splendida, the MSC cruise fleet comprises ten vessels and one vessel on order. Green values have been of high priority when designing the ship. Bureau Veritas’ voluntary Energy Efficient Design scheme sets high stand-

ards, covering the design of hull and appendices for maximum fuel efficiency, energy saving devices for energy production using the latest generation diesel generators and propulsion using high performance propellers driven by electric motors with frequency converters to optimise power to speed requirements.

»We estimate the vessel may save more than ten per cent of total energy consumption compared to conventional or older vessels of this size« The ship has an advanced passenger cabin monitoring system to most efficiently manage the passenger cabin air conditioning, which takes into account when the balcony door is open or cabin card not in place.

The reduction of energy consumption of systems and equipment required for the public spaces such as air conditioning includes an automatic system to reduce cooling in case of no occupancy of a cabin, a free cooling system allowing climate control of areas without the ship producing air refrigeration and lighting opti-

misation with LED lights. Low consumption bulbs are naturally fitted in the cabins.

“We estimate the vessel may save more than ten per cent of total energy consumption as compared to a more conventional or older vessel of this size. And this is obtained without any compromise on speed, comfort or hygiene”, Senior Vice-President Didier Chaleat of Bureau Veritas says in a comment. “The MSC Splendida is only the second vessel after the MSC Fantasia to which we have been able to award our Six Golden Pearls integrated voluntary scheme certifying corporate compliance with the three highest international standards in the areas of environment ISO 14001, health and safety OHSAS 18001 and food safety ISO 22000 and the additional notation for the vessel Cleanship 2, covering systems which limit emissions to the air and water and waste handling”,

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 63

MSC Splendida

Newcomer Photo: MSC Cruises Photo: MSC Cruises

»The MSC Splendida is the second vessel to which we have been able to award our Six Golden Pearls« Senior Vice-President Didier Chaleat says. The highest standards of accommodation on board is offered by a six-star cruising concept called MSC Yacht Club. There are 99 spacious suites in this category, including a special VIP area as well as a 24-hour butler service.

The standard outside cabins are equipped with balcony and have an area of 18 square meters. This is the most common type of cabin, with a total of 1,151 on the ship. The main restaurant La Reggia spans over two decks and has 1,155 seats. The Strand Theatre is the two deck high show lounge with 1,603 seats. The decks are named after Italian painters. The restaurants and lounges are situated mainly on decks 6 and 7 (Modigliani and Tiziano respectively). Above them there are six decks with passenger cabins only. The vessel has a total of 18 decks.

Energy Efficient Design Bureau Veritas’ Energy Efficient Design scheme allows owners, designers and yards to combine energy saving technologies to deliver the best overall energy performance for the specific vessel and service and consequently the lowest Green House Gas Emissions.

The naming ceremony was held in Barcelona on July 12. Sophia Loren was the sponsor.



64 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Newcomer MSC Splendida Photo: MSC Cruises

1. Club 33 Discotheque. 2. The Splendida Reception with main foyer and information office. 3. Shell therapy “L’Aurea del Mare” at the Spa. 4. Top Sail Lounge.

MSC Splendida Type .................................................... Cruise vessel Built by . ...... STX France Cruise SA, St Nazaire, France Newbuilding No . .............................................. B33 Owner . ............... Naviera Serenata SA, Panama Operator . .............. MSC Crociere, Naples, Italy Delivery .............................................. July 4, 2009

IMO No ..................................................... 9359806 Class ................................................ Bureau Veritas Length o a ................................................... 333.3 m Breadth ........................................................... 37.9 m Draught ........................................................... 8.5 m GT ................................................................... 137,936 Passenger capacity ...................................... 3,274

Passenger cabins .......................................... 1,637 Crew ................................................................... 1,332 Main engines .... 3 Wärtsilä 12V46 (3x 12,600 kW), 2 Wärtsilä 16V46 (2 x 16,800 kW) Propulsion................ 2 Electric propeller motors Output . .............................................. 2 x 20.2 MW Speed . ........................................................... 23.3 kn

Photo: MSC Cruises

NO 6 2009 SHIPGAZ 65

By Pierre Adolfsson pierre@shipgaz.com

The Arctic Sea mystery

Report PHOTO: SOLCHART MANAGEMENT

The vessel was boarded and hijacked off the Swedish island of Öland on August 24, 2009.

Russia releases Arctic Sea a er completed investigation

Nearly two months after the ship was hijacked, Solchart Management will be given access to it. However, the owning company is bankrupt. The owner of the Arctic Sea went bankrupt on August 17, the day when the Russian Navy freed the vessel off Cape Verde, claims the vessel’s operator Solchart Management. “This means that for further operation of the vessel, funds will have to be found in order to return the vessel to working condition and provide it with all the necessities, and also in order to settle accounts with the creditors”, Victor Matveev, chief executive of Solchart Management, writes in a statement published on their website, without mentioning the company being bankrupt.

The Malta-based Arctic Sea Ltd is registered as the ship’s owner. However, Solchart Archangelsk, established in 2008 and the owner of Solchart Management, is understood to have business interests in Arctic Sea Ltd – but not to what extent. It is unclear whether Solchart Archangelsk controls the Maltese company or not.

The mystery of the Arctic Sea is still baffling. Nearly two months after the vessel was hijacked of the Swedish island of Öland, and after several weeks in the hands of Russian investigators – little information has been given. Russian authorities have merely confirmed two things; the vessel was seized and it carried timber.

»The presence of S-300 on board the Arctic Sea cargo ship is a complete lie«

Sergei Lavrov, is Foreign Minister of Russia. He assumed office on March 9, 2004.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed media speculation that the ship could have been involved in a state-sponsored arms trafficking operation, including suggestions that Russia attempted to deliver missiles for S-300 air defense systems to Iran or Syria. “The presence of S-300 on board the Arctic Sea cargo ship is a complete lie,” Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

On September 1o, several weeks after Russian authorities confiscated the vessel due to the “ongoing investigation”, Maltese Police Force and Malta Maritime Authority boarded the ship to carry out a “maritime safety investigation into the ship in parallel with a law enforcement investigation”.

At the time of writing, the vessel is currently in the Canary Islands. According to the Russian Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Russian investigators will leave the vessel soon, meaning that Solchart Management can get on board. The management company was promised access to the ship at an earlier point, but when approaching the Arctic Sea the Investigative Committee denied Solchart’s representative to enter the vessel: “The head of the Investigation Committee unexpectedly declared to him that he is ‘not permitted to access the vessel’ with no apparent reason”, claims Victor Matveev.

66 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Technical Review Photo: wärtsilä

Photo: kongsberg maritime

K-Master integrated aft bridge design K-Master, a new integrated aft bridge workstation, which combines navigation, control and manoeuvring functions in one sophisticated solution will be shown during Offshore Europe 2009. The K-Master provides access to all major control systems through a unique, ergonomic design that significantly improves the safety and efficiency of offshore operations.

For more information:

www.kongsberg.com

13.26

The global cellular ship capacity is expected to reach 13.26 million TEU at the end of the year instead of the 14.02 million TEU that was projected last January, estimates AXS-Alphalines.

First marine SOx scrubber certified environment After successful tests on Neste Oil’s product carrier Suula Wärtsilä’s sulphur oxides (SOx) scrubber has been certified by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and Germanisher Lloyd. The full-size test plant was fitted to one of the Wärtsilä 4L20 auxiliary diesel engines of the tanker and it is the first ever maritime SOx exhaust gas scrubber to be certified.

The project was initiated by Wärtsilä in 2005. The results shows a SOx removal efficiency exceeding 99 per cent throughout the load range and with all fuels. The tests were performed with fuels having a sulphur content of 3.4 and 1.5 per cent. According to Wärtsilä heavy fuel oil with sulphur contents between 1.5 and 3.5 per cent are the most common fuels in marine diesel engines. The performance eventually resulted in the Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) Compliance Certificate from two major classification societies. The certification opens new possibilities for ship owners to reduce SOx emissions from ships in an efficient and cost-effective way by still using HFO instead of low sulphur fuel. Prior to Wärtsilä’s tests, the use of scrubbers as an alternative to the use of low sulphur fuel had been questioned. “This certification demonstrates very clearly that the Wärtsilä scrubbing technology works well and is an efficient solution

Photo: pär-henrik sjöström

”Aft bridge operators are drowning in the amount of activity and flow of navigational and ship systems information. KMaster drastically simplifies the processes while providing secure, optimal bridge awareness for improved safety and professional, efficient OSV operation,” comments Thor Hukkelås, Chief Engineer and project head for the K-Master workstation. K-Master is a complete and independent operating station designed to meet strict aft bridge ergonomic considerations regarding the arrangement of working environment, instrumentation and the operability of the equipment itself. Within easy reach of the operator, the K-Master workstation includes interactive interfaces for: Dynamic Positioning (DP), independent DP joystick, manual thrust control, alarm and monitoring/vessel automation, central bridge alarm system, chart radar, conning display and communication devices.

Neste Oil’s product carrier Suula. in marine applications. We constantly seek, support and combine technologies that offer our customers similar environmental and economic benefits”, states Arnauld Filancia, Director of Marketing at Services, Wärtsilä Corporation, in a comment. A scrubber is an after treatment technology for cleaning exhaust gases of sulphuric oxides. The certified equipment is based upon a closed-loop fresh water scrubber to which NaOH is added in order to neutralize SOx. The closed loop system features cleaning of the small bleed-off extracted from the loop, and thereby fulfils all quality and monitoring requirements stipulated by IMO. Clean effluents can safely be discharged overboard with no harm to the environment. If operation in zero discharge mode is requested, the effluent can be led to a holding tank for scheduled and periodical discharge. Pär-henrik sjöström

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 67

Technical Review Photo: Daros Piston Rings

Photo: Cavotec MoorMasters

Coatings key if components are to meet Tier III

The installation of the mooring system was part of the plan to reduce the Nordic Ferry Service’s Kanhave’s turn-around time in each port.

Vacuum-based mooring system equipment Nordic Ferry Services have purchased the first sets of the Cavotec MoorMasters, designed in New Zealand, which is a vacuum-based mooring system. The system consists of two stations, which are moved to the side of the ferry and utilise a vacuum of up to 400 K/N to keep the ferry alongside.

This means that the system can keep the ferry alongside in winds of up to 24 m/ sec without using traditional mooring lines. The vacuum system is normally able to keep the ferry in place for nine hours at a stretch. The mooring system is fully automatic and is activated by remote control from the bridge of the ferry. After the ferry

has departed, the mooring system returns to sleep mode until the next arrival. “We are very happy with the mooring system”, says Hans-Henrik Simonsen, fleet manager of Nordic Ferry Services. “It has performed well from the very beginning and is living up to expectations”. The installation of the mooring system was part of the plan to reduce the Kanhave’s (To read more about Kanhave, turn to page 18) turn-around time in each port. Cavotec has signed up with Australian Port Hedland as well as St. Lawrence Seaways Management for MoorMasters systems. The latest order comes from Port of Salalah in Oman. Bent mikkelsen

product Environmental restrictions on fuel emissions from ships under IMO’s Tier II and Tier III revisions to Marpol Annex VI demand new thinking on key engine components to deal with operations at higher pressures and temperatures. Specialised Swedish supplier Daros Piston Rings says that, as well as concentrating on component geometry and materials quality, it has been trialling new types of resilient coatings as a means of prolonging piston ring life. Tests are underway on board operational vessels, with coated piston rings working in two-stroke engines from leading suppliers MAN Diesel and Wärtsilä Corp. Daros produces an estimated 120,000 piston rings per year for installation on board ships. “The goal has been to develop piston rings that offer five years of peak performance between overhauls,” said Mr Falkmer. ”This is why we have made investing in coatings one of our top priorities. Our current trials suggest that the five year target is within reach.”

For more information:

Niklas Falkmer, Director Marketing & Sales, Daros Piston Rings AB, Tel: +46 31 338 4000 mail: sales@daros.se

68 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Technical Review Photo: dnv

Photo: MarineLine X

MarineLine X only requires a two-coat system.

New tank coating product Advanced Polymer Coatings has introduced MarineLine X, a new solution for product and oil tanker carriers trading in clean petroleum products (CPP), bio fuels, vegetable oils, crude oil and dirty petroleum products (DPP), wine carriers, FPSOs, FOSFA cargoes, and all tankers carrying IBC Chapter 18 cargoes. In economic comparisons for the tank coating and the application costs, MarineLine X only requires a two-coat system. This eliminates extra days for drying and extra spray application costs, resulting in savings and allowing the owner to maximize return on investment in a short period of time.

For more information:

Advanced Polymer Coatings Avon, Ohio 44011. www.adv-polymer.com

KVH expands VSAT coverage communication In a move designed to expand access to broadband services for commercial and leisure mariners alike, KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq: KVHI) announces a significant expansion of mini-VSAT Broadband coverage in the Atlantic Ocean. Where service was previously available only in the North Atlantic shipping lanes between Europe and North America, the new coverage area brings broadband Internet and voice service as far north as Greenland and Northern Europe and extends south to support vessels travelling to the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa, and approaching the northern coast of Brazil. This new service area is fully operational now and available to all existing and new miniVSAT Broadband service users.

For more information:

www.kvh.com

AMV Njord – Arctic Modular Vessel.

A ship-train crossing the Arctic Ocean ship design This year’s summer students in DNV have now presented their solution to the assignment entitled “Sustainable adaption to climate change – Arctic opportunities and threats”. In the space of six weeks this summer, 13 hand-picked students worked on a concept. They chose the year 2050, by which time the Arctic Ocean will be free of ice all summer. And if ice forms in winter, it will be firstyear ice that is easy to break. They call their solution AMV Njord – Arctic Modular Vessel.

This is a ship that is designed like a train and consists of several modules, each of which is 200 metres long. The ship’s maximum length is 1.8 kilometres. Since the ship-train is to sail right across the Arctic Ocean, there is very little need for detailed navigation and the navigation is otherwise based on advanced satellite technology. A sail attached to each ship-train module efficiently catches the wind at a height of 300 metres. The students have designed a bow that rotates so that it can change from a normal bow for use in open seas into an ice-breaking bow. At each end, there is a 200-metre-long propulsion unit with an engine and submersible propeller thrusters. In addition to wind power, the ship is also run by hydrogen fuel cells. Experienced DNV staff have been able to do calculations regarding the concept and have been unable to find any “faults” in the students’ work. On the contrary, many of

them have been full of enthusiasm and admiration for the innovative concept. When the concept was presented at DNV’s head office, representatives of three Norwegian ministries had asked to be allowed to attend and shipping companies, equipment suppliers and others in the maritime industry were represented. There was also a great deal of interest within DNV. The students had to give their presentation twice so that everyone could see it. ”I’m proud to be responsible for this,” says Gustav Lybæk Heiberg, Project Responsible in DNV. ”Our intention with this student project is to attract the most clever people and get them to look at our problems with fresh eyes. And of course we hope that they’ll go back to their universities as ambassadors for DNV,” he adds. The Wilh. Wilhelmsen and Maersk shipping companies watched the presentation with great interest. “Ships are getting bigger and bigger. We’re pushing boundaries all the time. This concept is a continuation of this trend,” says Wilhelm Mohr, the sales director of Maersk Line Norway.

for more information:

Tore Høifødt, Head of DNV Corporate Communications. Tel: +47 67 57 93 84, www.dnv.com

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 69

Technical Review Initial user test – alternative radar interface

equipment PSM has launched iCT, a new digital level, pressure and temperature sensor with advanced integrated intelligent signal processing and diagnostics. The company claims that, even on smaller ships, 80 per cent of the cable and cabling costs can be saved. PSM says that the iCT is the most advanced marine sensor of its type available. Its benefits for smaller ships have been exemplified by one owner which refitted a series of trawlers with iCT sensors on all fish stock tanks. Now, accurate digital data from each sensor provides a time stamped record of the tank levels, volume and temperature of fish caught for the entire duration of the voyage. This real-time information of storage conditions provides a traceable quality of the fish. Live data is also available to be viewed/recorded in the owner’s office via the internet while the trawler is at sea. Being able to provide this quality assurance means that fish can be pre-sold at the best prices long before the vessel returns to port.

test During May, initial user testing of an experimental radar interface design was conducted with promising results. These user trials completed the independent consultancy company MSI Design’s other work within the Baltic Sea Safety (BaSSy) project. The work centred upon investigating an alternative interface design and its impact on user performance based on the premise that the test persons have not seen the interface previous to conducting the trial and that no pre-trial introduction to the experimental design features was provided. From the results of these preliminary trials, the design appears to be promising, particularly if further refinements are made in the identified problem areas. The design also demonstrates the validity of the design philosophy applied. The development of the experimental interface also worked well in demonstrating a cost effective method of developing a system – both in regards to identifying the functionalities required and also the possibility of testing ideas before a more expensive commitment is taken.

The marine sensor iCT. particularly beneficial to owners in need to replace or refit existing tankers and products carriers. Proving that the system answers the needs of all ship types and sizes, PSM has refitted the fuel and ballast tank management system on board the Royal Navy carrier HMS Ocean. The new system gathers level/volume data of all service, operational and aircraft fuel tanks on a common data highway. Comprehensive displays are distributed at operating stations along this network bus, greatly improving the platform’s entire fuel management. Complimenting the iCT intelligent networks, the company offers a wide range of display, data acquisition, alarm and monitoring stations tailored to suit the needs of the vessel. ICT sensors have achieved marine “Type Approval”, ATEX certification for hazardous area location as well as higher level shock tests for military and navy applications.

for more information:

www.psm-sensors.co.uk mail: sales@psm-sensors.co.uk

Engine Protection Partner AS Schaller Automation’s Oil Mist Detector systems

P.O. Box 2668 Møhlenpris, NO-5836 Bergen, Norway Phone: +47 55 30 19 00 Fax: +47 55 30 19 01 www.epp.no

Photo: msi design

Where conventional systems require a safety barrier for every single level transmitter, the low power digital system enables up to 128 sensors to be used in hazardous locations and supplied from a single safety barrier, with full ATEX certification. This provides a further large cost saving for large ships and tanker cargo systems. Other devices, such as radar gauges can be integrated directly onto the iCT ATEX loops by virtue of its robust network bus running standard MODBUS RTU. Therefore, PSM can provide a cargo gauging system with far fewer deck components and a much simplified installation. This is

Photo: psm

Ships benefit from intelligent sensors

Radar interface design. for more information:

Erik Wagner, tel: +46(0)42344754 www.msidesign.se

Schaller Automation’s repair and service department – come directly to us, save time & money! ➢ repair centre – max 2 days repair time ➢ main stock for spare parts – 1 day delivery time ➢ sales of new and reconditioned VISATRON O.M.D. ➢ open 24 hours/7 days a week ➢ exchange unit service for all VISATRON systems ➢ overhaul and service of the following system series: VN /79, VN /82, VN /87 & VN /93

70 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Fleet Review Photo: Meyer Werft

Photo: Sea-Foto/Hannu Laakso

The Julia sailed from Kotka on September 16.

Julia to Ireland New job The Finnish car- and passenger ferry Julia has been sold to West Cork Tourism Co-Operative Society Limited for EUR 7.8 million. The intention of the new owner is to re-establish traffic between Cork in Ireland and Swansea in Wales in March 2010 under the brand Fastnet Line. In the beginning of this year West Cork Tourism began a campaign to raise EUR 2.6 million to get the Cork–Swansea route back up and running. The Finnish Aktia Bank and its finance company Aktia Yritysrahoitus Oy has supported the acquisition through the provision of a mortgage of EUR 6.3 million. Additional funding of EUR 2.5 million is now required to fund the working capital requirements of the business and to facilitate the development of the infrastructure of the organisation.

The new owner expects a strong demand from both tourists and freight customers. Fastnet Line will also provide hauliers in Ireland and the UK with a sea crossing alternative for freight, potentially reducing round trip road journeys by over 600 km. The ferry flies the Bermuda flag. The Julia was built by AG “Weser” Seebeckwerft in Bremerhaven, Germany, for Olau Line as Olau Britannia in 1982. She was delivered to Fred Olsen in 1990 and renamed Bayard. After Color Line had been established the ferry was renamed Christian IV in 1991. In summer 2008 the 21,699 GT ferry was bought by the Finnish company Oy Stella Naves Russia Ltd from Color Line. Renamed Julia she was put into service between Helsinki and St Petersburg in August 2008, but the traffic turned out to be unsuccessful. The service was closed down in the autumn and the owner went bankrupt in November 2008. The Julia has capacity for some 440 private cars or 30 freight vehicles and 1,860 passengers. Pär-Henrik Sjöström

The Celebrity Equinox has been added to the Celebrity Cruises-fleet.

Second of five from Meyer Werft NEW SHIP On July 16, 2009 Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, delivered the post panamax cruise vessel Celebrity Equinox to Celebrity Cruises, which is one of the brands of Royal Caribbean Cruises. The Celebrity Equinox is a sister vessel to the Celebrity Solstice and is the second in a series of five cruise ships for Celebrity Cruises. The Celebrity Solsitce and Celebrity Equinox will in 2010 be joined by Celebrity Eclipse, followed by a fourth Solstice-class ship in 2011, and a fifth in 2012. The newbuilding was officially named in Southampton on July 29. Her sponsor Nina Barough, CBE (Commander of the British Empire), is the founder of the breast cancer charity “Walk the Walk”. The Celebrity Equinox entered service on July 31 with a an eight-night inaugural Norwegian Fjords cruise. After returning to Southampton the official maiden voyage to the Mediterranean started on August. The ship will be cruising in Mediterranean through the autumn, after which she will be repositioned to the Caribbean with Fort Lauderdale as her port of departure.

According to the builder the ecofriendly ship offers a total energy saving of about 30 per cent compared to similar ships. This is achieved by energy-efficient components such as a photovoltaic system, optimised hull design, an efficient underwater coating and a lighting system using LEDs. About 90 per cent of the passenger cab-

ins are equipped with balconies. The total capacity is 2,852 passengers in 1,426 cabins. The crew is totalling some 1,270 persons. The ship has several interesting features on its 17 decks: a lawn with real grass on the upper deck, a glass blowing studio, plenty of special restaurants and bars, a spacious pool area with a huge indoor pool, night clubs, a shopping mall, a casino and an atrium hall with a 6.5 metres high real tree at its centre. The 122,000 GT Celebrity Equinox has a diesel-electric machinery with pod propulsion system. The prime movers are four Wärtsilä 16V46CR medium speed engines, which may be operated on as well heavy fuel oil as marine diesel oil. The generators have been supplied by ABB and propulsion is provided by two 20,500 kW Azipod units. The azimuthing pods provide excellent manoeuvrability in combination with three bow thrusters. The ship has also a dynamic positioning system. The NACOS 65-4 integrated bridge system from SAM Atlas Marine Electronics includes two Multipilots, presenting the radar picture, electronic charts and important ship data on one screen. The newbuilding meets with the latest IMO rules and regulations regarding damage stability which will be valid as of 2009. The life saving equipment includes 16 life boats and six tender boats as well as a Marine Evacuation System. pär-henrik sjöström

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 71

The editor of the Fleet review section is Pär-Henrik Sjöström, contact him at par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Fleet Review Photo: shipspotting

Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

The new Stevns Icequeen.

New Nordane tug delivered

Rolandwerf-ships on new liner service New liner service The liner and feeder operator Team Lines launched a new container service between Scandinavia and the Continent in September. The container vessels Aldebaran J and the recently delivered Ines Bolten are employed on the route. Each vessel sails with a two week cycle, enabling weekly sailings from Stockholm, Turku, Rauma and Gävle. Destinations on the Continent are several container terminals in Hamburg and Rotterdam.

Both of the employed ships are built by the German shipyard Detlef Hegemann Rolandwerft GmbH & Co KG in Berne and are of a similar type both regarding performance and capacity. The Cyprys-flagged Ines Bolten is of the

builder’s standard type RW850. Delivered in July 2009, the Ines Bolten has hull number 241 and is owned by the German company Aug. Bolten. The 10,950 dwt vessel has a cargo capacity of 974 TEU. Of this capacity 756 TEUs are stowed on the hatches. The Ines Bolten is powered by a MaK 9M43C medium speed main engine, providing a service speed of 18.4 knots. She is 139.6 metres long, 22.2 metres wide and has a draught of 7.36 metres. Depth to main deck is 9.5 metres. The Antiqua-flagged Aldebaran J was built in 2006 and is managed by the German shipping company Reederei Jüngerhans. The Aldebaran J has a container capacity of 962 TEU. Pär-Henrik Sjöström

The new tug (hull no 94) is a sister ship of the previous Stevns Icequeen (no 84), delivered in 2006 and sold in 2007 to the Finnish tugboat operator Alfons Håkans and renamed Poseidon. The new Stevns Icequeen has a length of 30.8 metres and a beam of 11.1 metres. The tug is powered by two Caterpillar engines type 3516B-HD and has a bollard pull of 60 tons. “The tug is on its way to Europe with expected arrival in the end of the month (September)”, Karsten Piil from Nordane Shipping says to Shipgaz. “It is not yet contracted for any operations, but there are a number of prospects that we are working on,” he adds. Nordane Shipping has another three tugs under construction at Irvine Shipbuilding. Nordane was founded in 1965 by Shipowner Niels Højlund Hansen. Bent Mikkelsen

BerCom

The Ines Bolten was completed last summer.

New Ship The Danish shipping company Nordane Shipping has taken delivery of the tug Stevns Icequeen from the Canadian shipbuilder Irvine Shipbuilding at East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, Canada.

– to install a vacuum toilet system

www.jets.no Sanitary Systems – made to please

JETS VACUUM AS. Myravegen 1, 6060 Hareid, Norway. Tel. + 47 70 03 91 00. Fax + 47 70 03 91 01. E-mail: post@jets.no

72 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Fleet Review Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

The Josefine has been taken over by Dennis Maritime.

Newbuilding contracts in the Nordic market Month Owner July

Nat

Dwt

Type

Shipyard

Delivery

Value

Remarks

none reported

Sept

Stena Line

62,000* ropax Nordic Yards

2.10

EUR 200m

Stena Line

62,000* ropax Nordic Yards

10.10

EUR 200m

Secondhand transactions in the Nordic market Month Name

From

Price

Buyer

1982 LPG

BW Gas, Oslo

USD 3.2m

breaking

199 tanker

J L Mowinckel, Bergen

USD 16.8m

Eurotankers, Greece

2009 tanker

Metrostar, Greece

USD 70.3m

Awilco, Oslo

90 m

2010 ahts

Karmsund liquidators

NOK 680m

Solstad Offsh, Skudeneshavn

82,800

2006 bulk

Clipper, Copenhagen

USD 39.5m

undisclosed

15,450

1990 container

KS Phoenix, Århus

Aboitiz Jebsen, Manila

23,000

1987 bulk

Th Jacobsen, Sarpsborg

USD 3m as is

Far Eastern buyers

1993 tanker

Ship Finance Intl, London

USD 18.8m

Chinese

28,300

2000 bulk

Lauritzen Bulkers, Cph

USD 17.8m

Chinese

Tsuneishi resale

58,000

2010 bulk

undisclosed

J J Ugland, Grimstad

Tsuneishi resale

58,000

2010 bulk

undisclosed

J J Ugland, Grimstad

Sigas Duke

2,620c

1982 LPG

Camillo Eitzen & Co, Oslo

USD 750,000 undisclosed

Neptun

28,000

1976 tanker

Salhus Sh, Haugesund

USD 4.3m

July

BW Herakles

Molda

Crude Gamma

Karmsund resale

Clipper Suffolk

Annette S

Jaco Triumph

Front Duchess

Sendai Bulker

Dwt 30,455 c 96,347 165,000

284,000

Built

Type

breaking India

Remarks/New name

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 73

Fleet Review Continued: Secondhand transactions in the Nordic market Month Name

Josefine

Nathalie

August Sichem Pace

Dwt

From

Price

1,278

1986 dry cargo

Built

Type

Wega Shipping, Åbo

Dennis Maritime, Åbo

Buyer

1,300

1989 dry cargo

Wega Shipping, Åbo

Dennis Maritime, Åbo

19,900

2006 tanker

Eitzen Chemicals, Oslo

USD 34m

3,200

1991 tanker

Clipper, Copenhagen

Russian

55,803

Remarks/New name

undisclosed, bb back

Clipper Helle

Nord Emphathy

2006 bulk

DS Norden, Copenhagen

USD 31.0m

IDC

Sigloo Norse

11,605

1982 LPG/et

C Eitzen & Co, Oslo

USD 1.5

Hekabe

41,683

1977 LPG

BW Gas, Oslo

USD 5.0m

breaking Bangladesh

Golden Joy

70,044

1994 bulk

Golden Ocean, Oslo

USD 16.5m

undisclosed

Bauta

41,700

1987 bulk

T Klaveness, Oslo

USD 9.0m

undisclosed

Ballangen

41,300

1987 bulk

T Klaveness, Oslo

USD 9.0m

undisclosed

Jo Brevik

33,190

1986 tanker

JO Tankers, Bergen

Odfjell SE, Bergen

Bow Pioneer

23,016

1982 tanker

Odfjell SE, Bergen

Star Tankers, Haugesund

Bow Hunter

23,002

1983 tanker

Odfjell SE, Bergen

Star Tankers, Haugesund

Cedar 1

70,000

1994 bulk

Viken/Woodstreet, Bergen

USD 21m

Invest Danmark, Copenhagen

Cedar 2

70,000

1994 bulk

Viken/Woodstreet, Bergen

USD 21m

Invest Danmark, Copenhagen

Cedar 3

69,000

1998 bulk

Viken/Woodstreet, Bergen

USD 21m

Invest Danmark, Copenhagen

Cedar 4

43,000

1995 bulk

Viken/Woodstreet, Bergen

USD 15m

Invest Danmark, Copenhagen

Cedar 5

43,000

1995 bulk

Viken/Woodstreet, Bergen

USD 15m

Invest Danmark, Copenhagen

Sept

Norden

56,000

2005 bulk

DS Norden, Copenhagen

USD 31.5m

undisclosed

Bow Asir

23,000

1982 tanker

Star Tankers, Haugesund

USD 5.8m

breaking India

Sical Torino

3,570

2006 psv

Sical Logistics, India

NOK 150m

Farstad Shipping, Ålesund

Freire resale

110.6m

2010 subsea

Sea4, Arendal

NOK 400m

G C Rieber Shipping, Bergen

Freire resale

110.6m

2010 subsea

Sea4, Arendal

NOK 400m

* = gross tons

c = capacity in cubic metres

breaking

G C Rieber Shipping, Bergen All details believed to be correct but not guaranteed

Looking for a new ship? – Let us help you find it! • Sale & Purchase • Ship Management • Valuations For personal assistance contact Mr. Peter Persson or Mr. Fredrik Johansson

Stora Badhusgatan 18-20 411 21 Göteborg, Sweden

telephone +46 31 13 50 28 shipping@pallasgroup.se www.pallasship.se

74 Shipgaz No 6 2009

By Pär-Henrik Sjöström par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Retro ESL Shipping

Photo: G Bunschoten / W Schell collection

It all started with the acquisition of Arkadia in 1949, a steam tramp built in England in 1911.

60 years of bulk shipments

It started with over-aged steam tramps. Now the fleet of ice strengthened geared bulk carriers is the most modern in the Baltic Sea area. Although owned by the large Aspo group, ESL Shipping is operated like a small shipping company. Due to cost awareness and efficient operations the activities have continued for 60 years under Finnish flag.

Most seafarers have strong opin ions about the ships and shipping companies they have served with. ESL Shipping has often been described as extremely economical, but still the company is a popular employer. This year ESL Shipping celebrates its 60th anniversary. Despite operating vessels under Finnish flag, which generates much

60 years with ESL Shipping

higher costs than under flags of convenience (which are the most common flags for bulk ton nage), ESL Ship ping has been able to stay in the bulk sector. One of the secrets behind six de cades of successful operations is no doubt that the company is run like a genuine, small shipping company de spite the large owner. Efficiency is the key word and the company searches all the time for

»The vessels have extremely short time in port due to highly efficient cargo handling« Markus Karjalainen, President of ESL Shipping.

1949: The first vessel Arkadia is bought by a part owning company.

1950: Etelä Suomen Laiva Oy is founded. The main owner is Polttoaine-Osuuskunta.

new solutions to minimize time in port and maximize the number of voyages.

“The solution is simply to keep the costs as low as possible and max imise efficiency by carrying large volumes of cargo in a short time. The vessels have extremely short time in port due to highly efficient cargo handling and optimized transport planning. In this way it is possible to make profit even if the freight rates are quite low for bulk cargoes”, says Markus Karjalainen, President of ESL Shipping. Efficiency is not only a matter

1969: The last steamship Eira was lost after a grounding.

1971: PolttoaineOsuuskunta changes its name to Aspo. The first newbuilding Eira is delivered.

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 75

ESL Shipping

Retro Photo: b fogelberg / Bengt Sjöström collection

The first Alppila was built in 1909 and was added to the fleet of Etelä-Suomen Laiva in 1957. Here she is in the Kiel Canal in the late 1950s with a cargo of coke.

concerning the vessels and other ar rangements. Skilled crews on board play a very important role in that the fleet is well maintained and effec tively and safely operated. Also the administration on shore is minimized to cut costs and is extremely hands on. Everyone in the small team in the office is active in the daily operations with their own field of expertise. Paradoxically the roots of ESL Ship ping are far away from shipping. In 1929, twenty years before the shipping company was founded, a co-operative called Polttoaine-Osuuskunta started their activities in Helsinki.

The main objective was to supply the housing companies in the city with coal and coke for central heating in residential buildings. The co-op erative imported coal and coke with chartered vessels, but due to growing shipment volumes it was decided to

1983: The 47,500-dwt Arkadia was delivered. She was the largest vessel in the fleet so far.

investigate the possibilities to acquire own tonnage.

The war put an end to these plans and it was not until 1949 that the cooperative was able to buy its first ves sel. The board of directors had decided to buy the only two years old Swedish cargo steamer Munkfors, but the deal was never closed. Instead the co-operative bought the 1,990 dwt Marja-Liisa Nurminen, built in 1911, from the John Nurminen shipping company. She was renamed Arkadia after a district in Helsinki. The ship was placed in a part owning company called Laivanisännistöyhtiö Arkadia. In autumn 1950 the shipping com pany Etelä-Suomen Laiva Oy was es tablished. Polttoaine-Osuuskunta be came the largest owner in the limited company while the remaining shares were held by membership companies,

1995: Etelä-Suomen Laiva is renamed ESL Shipping.

ESL Shipping The company’s main clients today are the power generation, steel and chemical industries.

2004: ESL Shipping takes over JIT Trans raw material shipments and pusher/barge system.

clients and employees of the co-op erative. In 1951 Etelä-Suomen Laiva bought its first vessel, the 2,800 dwt steamer Empire Consequence, built in 1940, which was renamed Kaisanie mi. Like the Arkadia, she was named after a district in Helsinki. This tradi tion of naming ships continues in the company still today.

The Arkadia was also transferred to Etelä-Suomen Laiva, thus concen trating all shipping activities of the cooperative into the new company. The vessels were employed on the tramp trade, carrying mainly forest products from Finland to the Continent and coal and coke on the return voyages. The acquisition of a further two second-hand vessels from the Nur minen shipping company in 1957 started an expansion of the fleet, which continued strong during the next decade.

2006: Two newbuildings are ordered from India.

76 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Retro ESL Shipping Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

The fifth Arkadia was the largest ship in the fleet so far. She was sold in 2007. Here she is discharging coal in Helsinki’s Sörnäinen harbour. In the 1960s the market also started to change. The use of coal for heating decreased as more and more house holds were attached to district heat ing generated by power stations. The company now expanded as a carrier of raw materials especially for the steel industry.

Contract shipments became more and more important and subsequent ly started to form the foundation of the activities. Towards the end of the decade virtually all of the vessels in the fleet were employed with contract shipments. The change of the core business also generated expansion. The first newbuilding contract was signed in 1970, resulting in the delivery of the bulk carrier Eira from a Bulgarian shipyard in 1971. In the early 1970s the co-operative also became involved in oil shipments for some years, but the vessels were mostly on charter to ex ternal customers. The last tanker was

sold in the mid 1980s. The fleet re newal continued throughout the 1970s, culminat ing in the order of a 30,000 dwt newbuilding from Wärtsilä Turku shipyard in 1978. She was com pleted in 1980 as the Kontula. When delivered she was the largest geared bulk carrier with ice class 1A.

»Like us, Donsötank understands that this is all about operating the vessels in a really efficient way« Rederi AB Donsö tank at Donsö, Sweden, is a family company registered in 1953. In 2004 Donsötank started to cooperate with ESL Shipping.

The Japanese-built 47,500 dwt Arkadia, delivered in 1983, was the largest vessel in the fleet so far. Ini tially the Arkadia was employed on the coal trade to Helsinki. She also proved to be ideal for the shipments of coal from Gdansk to Finland. As the Arkadia was built to ice class IC she could not reach all Finn ish ports year-round. Wintertime she used to be discharged by the edge of

ice by ice-strengthened vessels. She also made several winter voyages with grain to the US. The modernisation of the steel works in Koverhar initiated the build ing of the 13,500 dwt Hesperia. Ac cording to Executive Vice President Tom Blomberg of ESL Shipping the company signed a shipment con tract with Fundia Wire Oy in 1995. Running for four years, the company should carry 2.5 million tons of iron pellets from Luleå to Koverhar. The same years the name of the company was changed to ESL Shipping. The Hesperia turned out to be suc cessful also in coal shipments and further two vessels of this type were built, the Pasila delivered in 1995 and the Tali in 1998. The pattern of coal shipments changed in the 1990s as the import of coal from Poland de creased when the country became a member of the EU. It was no longer possible with subsidies in the coal trade within the EU. Now Finland

No 6 2009 Shipgaz 77

ESL Shipping

Retro Photo: Krzysztof Brzoza

»Genuine partnerships are a significant asset in crisis situations« started importing more Russian coal instead. For many years during the 1980s and 1990s coal counted for 60 to 80 per cent of the carried volumes. The rates were not high, but the system was very efficient. The shipping activities were profitable as large volumes of bulk cargo could be carried in a short time.

Photo: Krzysztof Brzoza

The following newbuilding Eira was designed as a larger version of the Hesperia type. Of a similar type is also the bulk carrier Credo, deliv ered in 2005 to a joint venture Credo AB, which is owned to 65 per cent by Swedish Donsötank and 35 per cent by ESL Shipping. The vessel is on time charter to ESL Shipping. Tom Blomberg is most pleased with the co-operation. “Like us, Donsötank understands that this is all about operating the vessels in a really efficient way.” In 2004 ESL Shipping entered a new niche, when taking over the whole transport system for raw materials to the steel manufacturer Rautaruukki. ESL Shipping bought the whole push barge system formerly employed by Rautaruukki’s transport organisation JIT Trans. When operated in the same efficient way as the bulk carriers, ESL Shipping noticed that the capacity of the pusher barge system could be uti lized even better. “When we bought the system we thought that it was fully booked all

The Kontula and the first Pasila side by side in the port of Naantali in 1988.

The third Alppila in the port of Turku in 1976. the time. When we became the op erator and started evaluating its per formance we realized that it was not the case. Operated in the right way the system is incredibly fast and effi cient”, Tom Blomberg says.

When Markus Karjalainen took the helm as President of ESL Ship ping in September 2006 the com

The fleet ESL Shipping has a fleet of 14 vessels and barges. Credo is part-owned by Donsötank, while Nassauborg is time chartered.

pany had recently signed an EUR 50 million agreement with an Indian shipyard about the delivery of two ice-strengthened bulk carriers of a similar type as the Eira. The first of the vessels will be delivered in the be ginning of 2010. “This is purely a process of fleet re newal”, Markus Karjalainen explains. “We have to secure sufficient trans

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78 Shipgaz No 6 2009

Retro ESL Shipping Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

»The volumes required by our existing customers are falling, so we’re seeking new customers« port capacity for our customers with efficient and modern vessels.” Markus Karjalainen says that the Eira today represents the optimum size of vessels in the fleet with a draft of some 9.5 meters. In the current fleet both Eira and Credo are of this size.

“What makes this business profit The Credo discharging coal in Helsinki.

ing transport markets in a long term perspective. Markus Karjalainen thinks that ESL Shipping has an advantage with 60 years of experience in the trade.

“Dramatic changes in the economy increase general cautiousness, which in turn increases the value of reli able partnerships. Genuine partner ships are a significant asset in crisis

situations. Our customers know that we have been in the business for 60 years, and that we have experienced and survived deep recessions before. This increases their confidence in us and has a favourable impact on our operations. I believe that when the economy starts to recover, we’ll be in a much stronger relative position than now”, he says. “The volumes required by our exist

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No 6 2009 Shipgaz 79

ESL Shipping

Retro Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

»It is still one of the world’s fastest growing shipping markets and offers plenty of potential« ing customers are falling, so we’re seeking new customers in the Baltic and North Sea regions. There is also, for example, demand for Russian coal deliveries elsewhere in Europe, and such dry bulk shipments suit our fleet very well”, he continues.

“We will continue to expand our range of cargoes with new products. There is no doubt that in five years’ time, we will once again have ex panded into significant new customer segments.” In recent years, however, there has been an oversupply of capacity in the Baltic Sea, which naturally increases competition and decreases freights, especially in the open water season. Winter conditions in the Baltic Sea limit competition. Markus Karjalainen stresses that

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The Hesperia and her younger sister vessel Tali off Koverhar.

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...â&#x20AC;&#x2030;the oil tanker T/T Nanny was built at Swedish Uddevallavarvet AB. When delivered to the part owners Munkedals Bruk AB (75 per cent) and Uddevallavarvet (25 per cent), the 499,000 DWT vessel was the largest oil tanker in the world. Moreover, the T/T Nanny was the largest vessel ever built in Sweden with a length of 364 metres and a beam of 79 metres. The vessel was powered by double General Electric steam turbine machinery built by Kvaerner Brug A/S developing 39,240 kW for a service speed of 16 knots. The vessel was sold for recycling in China in 2003. The vessel had several owners during its lifetime, among them Svenska Varv and a company controlled by John Fredriksen.

82 Shipgaz No 6 2009

By Pär-Henrik Sjöström par-henrik@shipgaz.com

Retro Josefina Thordén

Picture: Håkan Sjöström

Money maker to the bitter end Against all odds, the tanker Josefina Thordén was ordered during the Great Depression, but paid herself back in three and a half years. In 1930 the situation in shipping was much the same as today. It was the time of the Great Depression. After the Wall Street Crash on October 29, 1929, a severe economic depression spread all over the world. The freight rates were extremely low and an armada of vessels was laid up. Despite the difficult times the shipowner Gustaf B Thordén decided to order his first newbuilding, which also was the first tanker in his fleet. Born and raised in Bohuslän, this energetic Swede had moved to Finland in 1920. Together with his Danish friend Henry Nielsen he formed a shipping company, of which he two years later became the sole owner.

The idea of entering the tanker business came when Mr Thordén saw an Italian tanker on the roads of Helsinki. He offered a five years time charter for a newbuilding to the directors of Nobel Standard, who agreed. A motor tanker was ordered from Eriksbergs Mek. Verkstads AB in Göteborg. Due to the depression the shipyards had a lot of surplus capacity and the prices were low. The 9,765 dwt

newbuilding was named Josefina Thordén after the shipowner’s mother and delivered on March 10, 1932. She was the first vessel built by a Swedish shipyard for a Finnish owner in modern time.

»I bought a lotteryticket and scored the jackpot«

ing the short time of peace between the Winter War and the Continuation War the only way for Finland to reach the oceans was from the small port of Liinahamari near Petsamo by the Arctic Sea.

The Swede Gustaf B Thordén was born in Uddevalla in 1894 but started his career as a shipowner in Finland. After 24 years in Finland he moved back to Sweden after the war. He continued with shipping, but became better known as the founder of the shipyard Uddevallavarvet. He died in 1963.

In the evening of May 18, 1941,

Gustaf B Thordén later wrote in his book “All my ships” that 1930 was one of the most important years for his business: “I bought a lottery-ticket and scored the jackpot.” Indeed the Josefina Thordén was a lucky vessel. She had earned back her contract price in three and a half years – that was in one and a half year shorter time than the owner had calculated. And after that an even more profitable time charter was entered with Nobel Standard. The threat of war in Europe had in a short time increased the freight rates dramatically. The Josefina Thordén was an extremely profitable vessel until the very end. Germany had closed the entrances of the Baltic Sea and dur-

the Josefina Thordén was west of the Faroe Islands bound for Petsamo with a cargo of petrol and gasoline under the command of master mariner John Söderman. An armed British trawler came alongside and ordered the vessel to alter course for Tórshavn for inspection of the cargo. Captain Söderman followed orders and in the next morning near Tórshavn the tanker was attacked by an aircraft with gunfire and bombs. A bomb hit one of the cargo tanks and set the vessel on fire. Of the 32 men on board 15 were lost in the burning inferno. The vessel refused to sink and was towed to Tórshavn by the British. She was later repaired by the British and continued trading under her old name with a British crew. On April 6, 1943, she struck a mine in the Thames Estuary and broke in two.

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