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Dear Shiptalk Readers,
Welcome to this the August 2005 edition of the Shiptalk newsletter.
Please take your time to read what we have to say this month about issues affecting your everyday lives at sea and do let us know if you have an opinion on comments of any of this month’s articles or other issues that you would like to air via Shiptalk.com.
Shiptalk.com…….reading you loud and clear
SHIPTALK MEDIA SERVICES
Another service that Shiptalk can offer via Shiptalk Media Services (SMS)
is a complete
multi-media service to the marine industry, websites recently developed by
SMS include:
www.shippingjobs.com
www.rayfield-mills.co.uk
www.consultism.co.uk
www.seacurus.com
In addition to web development SMS offer a specialised design service for any and all corporate literature, marketing and advertising materials. For more information of Shiptalk Media Services contact us on: enquiries@shiptalk.com
CONTENTS:
COMMUNICATIONS Time to tune your radio skills
SEAFARER WELFARE
MARITIME SAFETY ISM bite is even worse than it’s bark!
MARITIME SECURITY UK Security – Panama raises its levels
LEGAL It’s negligence Captain, but not as we know it
RECRUITMENT Make your friends work for you!
EVENTS/CONFERENCES ISF Manning and Training Conference 200
FEATURED ONLINE PUBLICATIONS |
COMMUNICATIONS
SeasearcherAIS is coming
(Advertorial)
Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit (LloydsMIU), the sister company to Lloyd's List, is globally recognised as the only source providing the shipping industry with a comprehensive view of the movements of the world's merchant fleet.
Our aim has always been to make the coverage we offer as accurate, immediate and practical as possible. Thanks to the introduction of Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) and our international investment in new technology, we are pleased to announce the addition of live AIS generated positions to www.seasearcher.com, the world's only totally integrated vessel, company and movements database.
Our new 'Latest Position' tool gives you access to a 'real time' movements service with global coverage, detailing the position of the vessel, the nearest port and the time and date the information was received.
LloydsMIU and Seasearcher provide unparalleled shipping information, but we’ve just got even better, giving our customers an even greater level of coverage, a higher quality of information and access to "real time” data.
For more information on our September launch and a free trial, please go to www.seasearcher.com/ais
Time to tune your radio skills
Bad news for Second Mates… Paris MOU members are planning a GMDSS crackdown.
In one of their regular Concentrated Inspection Campaigns (CIC) port State Control Inspectors will be checking that radio stations comply with Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) requirements.
They will also be verifying that radio operators are able to demonstrate that the station is in a satisfactory working condition and used for its intended purpose.
When there are clear grounds for believing that the requirements are not being met, a more detailed inspection may be carried out.
Deficiencies will be recorded and the Master will be instructed to rectify these either before departure, at the next port, or within 14 days.
Serious deficiencies may lead to the detention of the ship until they have been rectified.
It is expected that approximately 4,000 inspections will be carried out during the CIC, with the campaign commencing on September 1, 2005 and lasting three months, concluding on November 30, 2005.
Further details at www.parismou.org
The ship was hijacked last month while carrying 850 tonnes of relief food from WFP for Tsunami victims at Bosasu in Somali.
The vessel’s operators were allowed to speak to the Captain and Chief Engineer. They were assured that the hostages were safe and that the gunmen had treated them well, "according to our men in Somalia, the hostages are safe and well fed. The gunmen even bought them cigarettes,".
This is just another in a long line of events that have seen vessels taken, crewmembers killed, and cargoes stolen.
These events, while of obvious concern for all seafarers trading in the area, could have even more devastating effects on the population of Somalia – as many are now calling for aid cargoes to be scrapped until such violent crime stops.
Yet again the lives and welfare of an innocent majority are threatened by the greed and violence of a small band of thugs.
Piracy must be stopped – and all efforts should be made to consign this scourge of the modern seas to history.
MARITIME SAFETY
The Seafarers International Research Centre warns that increased levels of safety paperwork generated by the International Safety Management (ISM) code adds significantly to the workload of many seafarers, and as a result it appears, according to vast swathes of research, that seafarers routinely tick boxes on safety checklists without doing the tasks in question.
Things are so bad that many seafarers see the paperwork as simply an obstruction to doing their ‘real’ jobs. As a result, many resorted to simply ticking the boxes required by regulations, irrespective of whether they have undertaken the actions or not.
SIRC quite rightly point out that such routine falsification of safety-related documentation inevitably erodes any commitment to safe practice.
Shore-based managers are said to either not realise that those on board their vessels are falsifying records, which seems unlikely, or they feel unable to do anything about this, perhaps due to the pressures of commercial competition, and thus turn a blind eye.
One tired, dazed deck officer yawned to researchers: "I mean, I know if I have been doing some jobs I take shortcuts, because I know when the job’s finished, I will get to my bed."
It was also pointed out that the attitude of many elder seafarers was one of reluctance to adopt correct safety procedures. The report described the attitude of many older seafarers as one of "why do we have to do this, why do I have to wear that, I’ve never worn a safety harness climbing a mast befo… arrrrgh…… bang, splat, ouch.
Visit www.sirc.cf.ac.uk for details of this and many other projects.
ISM bite is even worse than it’s bark!
ISM bite is even worse than it’s bark!
Slowly but surely the ISM Code is beginning to emerge as the potent legal weapon many knew it would.
In an attempt to demonstrate just how effectively ISM can attack, or defend a company, a mock ‘trial’ was held in London last month by the London Shipping Law Centre.
The trial, which demonstrated just how the ISM status of a ship could be used to prove un-seaworthiness and owners’ lack of due diligence was before Mr Justice Gross, and featured as counsel QC Bernard Eder, who acted for the defending ship managers and Tim Young QC for the cargo owner claimants.
The circumstances of the case involved the collision in the English Channel of the managed containership "Fletcher” and a subsequent fire, which destroyed the cargo.
The collision was caused by the Third Officer being asleep on watch, and the subsequent damage was judged to be a consequence of the newly-joined Chief Engineer being unable to activate the ship’s CO 2 fire extinguishing system.
The cargo claimants maintained that the losses were caused by the defendants’ failure before and at the beginning of the voyage to exercise due diligence to make the vessel seaworthy
Further evidence of bad management was provided by logbook extracts, which demonstrated a cursory attention to training, in particular emergency training, and a range of other inconsistencies that were revealed.
In his judgement Mr Justice Gross concluded that the ship was indeed unseaworthy as the company had failed to exercise due diligence and that the Safety Management System (SMS) was ineffective.
In the face of a bad collision, an "evasive” DPA, a tired and ill trained crew, a shoddy SMS and with damning expert testimony from one of the world’s leading safety management gurus, Dr Phil Anderson of ConsultISM Ltd, the mock trial showed how seemingly trivial non-conformities become both significant and serious when revealed in court and how lawyers are able to bring out weaknesses in the ISM documentation.
Through the provisions of the ISM Code, the seaworthiness of the ship can be challenged, as can the carrier’s right to limit liability. The Safety Management System becomes the "smoking gun” which can prove liability, negligence, dangerous practice and non-compliance with mandatory requirements.
The LSLC is hoping to stage the ‘trial’ in other venues in future, such was the level of interest in the industry in this event, and it seems to be the prelude to more and more ISM cases coming to court.
For more details see www.london-shipping-law.com, or www.consultism.co.uk
SIRC has been turning its attention to the matter of crew certification.
As part of their study into crew certification, the verification practices of five flags of convenience were viewed, and according to the research some flag administrations verify as few as 15% of officers’ certificates presented to them.
This was in the main the result of some flag States using filing agents at major ports as a first line of defence. The flags in question say that their agents are used to seeing documents and can spot obvious forgeries.
Only 15% of tickets actually being viewed by the issuing authority is a troublingly low figure, and as a result a number of recommendations have emerged:
SIRC caused an uproar back in 2001 when it stated that the Philippines was awash with fake certificates – I’m sure they can expect another backlash now, as administrations rush to defend what appears to be disturbingly lax certification procedures.
See www.sirc.cf.ac.uk for further details.
MARITIME SECURITY
UK Security – Panama raises its levels
In the wake of the tragic and despicable terrorist atrocities committed in London last month the world’s largest shipping register, Panama, immediately raised the security level of its vessel’s visiting the UK.
Masters of Panamanian ships have now been mandated to require additional security precautions from British ports, while enacting the measures detailed in their own Ship Security Plans.
According to the Panamanian Register the UK is now regarded as Level 2 in ISPS terms. This is the second tier of the three security levels under the code and represents the evaluation that the UK is at "heightened” risk of security incident.
This can have major implications for both the vessel, its personnel and also for ports, and it has a potential knock on for insurance and possibly some charter parties.
The UK Government, however, has left security levels unchanged, remaining at Level 1, despite the attacks.
It is an unusual step by Panama to unilaterally raise the security level, as most administrations usually keep step with the local Governments, particularly major Western nations. In an example a representative of The Marshall Islands register was quoted as saying that, "until the UK raises to Level 2, we will leave it at Level 1.”
We say that these horrendous attacks on London should serve as a wake-up call to all vessels, wherever they may be and whatever flag they may fly. Company Security Officers, Master’s and Ship Security Officer’s should ensure that they have not allowed any security complacency to creep in over the past 12 months.
Monitor www.amp.gob.pa/amp/isps_eng.html for changes in security levels for Panamanian vessels.
LEGAL
It’s negligence Captain, but not as we know it
The European Union has now finally adopted its infamous ship-source pollution directive, legislation that has been branded in some circles as the "criminalisation directive”.
The Bill covers sanctions following oil spills and makes all elements of the oil transport chain, from classification societies to masters and crews, potentially liable in pollution cases.
In defence of the measures it has introduced, The European Commission maritime director Fotis Karamitsos stated that the directive could be seen as less harsh than existing laws because it imposed the weird and wonderful test of "serious negligence” rather than simple, common, everyday "negligence” when assessing whether crews should be held to account for their actions following an oil spill.
The text that has emerged out of a difficult and turbulent two-year legislative process in the aftermath of the Prestige disaster, in the shadow of the dreadful treatment afforded to Captain Mangouras, and in the wake of vociferous protests in Northern Spain calling for better protection and demanding action to prevent more spills.
The legislation was toned down following objections in the Council of Ministers, but as predicted a number of maritime nations, including Greece, Cyprus and Malta have all hit out at the ship-source pollution directive, and have refused to support the law.
The three criticised the commission for breaking away from international conventions and opposed the council decision to make fines arising from the directive uninsurable.
The fierce criticisms accuse the directive of not being in consonance with international maritime law, of "demotivating” present and future seafarers, and of being a part of the European Commission’s "manipulative” ambition to represent all EU states in the International Maritime Organization.
Other complaints stated that the directive making maritime activity and the maritime profession liable to criminal sanctions goes further than the provisions of the international Marpol Convention and are contrary to the international nature of merchant shipping where uniform international rules must apply.
This could make life a whole lot worse for people at sea – if the threatened waves of criminalised seafarers materialise then we could see many more maritime nations cajoled into revolt. Watch this space…and may all your mistakes be "negligent”, not "seriously negligent”!
A link to the debate can be found at the following website: www.drdni.gov.uk/DRDwww_Legislation/current.asp?id=leg8
RECRUITMENT
Make your friends work for you!
An exciting recruitment development has come to our attention this month, in the form of the Spinnaker Referral Scheme.
Basically if you recommend someone to Spinnaker and they get the job, you will receive a generous referral fee (subject to terms and conditions).
Sounds like a great way of getting rid of colleagues you don’t like, while getting a few bob for your troubles! For more information and to register your details for this scheme, please contact mail@shippingjobs.com
EVENTS/CONFERENCES
ISF MANNING & TRAINING CONFERENCE 2005
The International Shipping Federation is holding its annual one-day Manning and Training Conference in London on Tuesday 13 September 2005 at the Institute of Electrical Engineers.
This event has become well-established and popular in the maritime industry and is aimed at personnel directors and senior managers from international ship operating companies, or anyone interested in maritime manpower issues. It is attended by about 240 people and viewed as a principal event for those involved in employing seafarers.
The keynote speaker this year is Mr David Cockroft, General Secretary of ITF. Other topics include the ILO consolidated convention, manning levels, setting up a training academy and more…
Full details can be found at: www.marisec.org/isfconference
or by contacting:
Mrs Shantel Ryan
ISF
12 Carthusian Street
London
EC1M 6EZ
Tel: +44 20 7417 2855
Fax: +44 20 7417 8877
Email: shantel.ryan@marisec.org
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