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SHIPTALK'S NEWSLETTER TO A FRIEND
Welcome to this the October 2005 edition of the Shiptalk newsletter.
Please take your time to read what we have to say about issues affecting your
everyday lives at sea and do let us know if you have an opinion or comments
on any of this month’s articles or other issues that you would like
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SMS include:
www.shippingjobs.com
www.rayfield-mills.co.uk
www.consultism.co.uk
www.seacurus.com
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CONTENTS: HEADLINE ARTICLE
SEAFARER WELFARE MCA uncover dreadful conditions
MARITIME HEALTH AND HYGIENE So sick at anchor
MARITIME SECURITY Eyes in the sky
MARITIME SAFETY Toys for the boys
LEGAL |
HEADLINE ARTICLE
November 1st 2005 will see ConsultISM, the ISM and
Safety Management experts and consultants, launch their new client and industry
newsletter, “ReportISM”.
ConsultISM is headed by Dr Phil Anderson, President of The Nautical
Institute, former loss prevention chief at North of England P&I
Association and an internationally renowned ISM expert.
Every quarter the ReportISM newsletter will be published providing coverage
of recent developments and future ISM issues, as well as telling you about
the best safety practices and warning you about some of the worst.
ConsultISM aim to provide you and your company with the latest news, views
and ideas on effective safety management and ISM compliance. The aim being
to share the basics of safety management quality, while spreading the ConsultISM
philosophy of safety improvement, excellence and expertise.
ReportISM will condense the vast amount of information available, gathering
relevant news, reports and intelligence to provide you with an insight into
a broad range of ISM and maritime safety affairs.
ReportISM will give you the low-down on current issues and changing legislation,
to arm you with knowledge of contemporary concerns and any potential difficulties.
Providing advice to avoid complications, accidents, and expense, while all
the time seeking to make your SMS the best it can be.
To sign up for your free copy of ReportISM go to www.consultism.co.uk and
register your email address.
Please be advised ISMcode.net has moved, this valuable ISM resource can now be found at www.consultism.co.uk/ismcode
SEAFARER WELFARE
MCA uncover dreadful conditions
Last month saw a worrying spate of high profile detentions involving vessels with appalling living conditions for those onboard.
The Liberian registered “Oil Ambassador” (22,305 dwt, built 1981) was detained in Purfleet, UK on account of numerous deficiencies, including atrocious living conditions for the crew.
The MCA inspector who ordered the detention described the accommodation as the worst he had ever seen, “there was grime everywhere I looked, where you expected to see cleanliness, there was grime” he reported.
The tanker was found to have defective radio equipment, poor cleanliness in the engine room and galley and inoperative fire doors. Other deficiencies to be rectified prior to departure included cockroach infestation, high temperatures and dirt in the cold room, rotten provisions, a lack of hot water in the galley and accommodation and widespread corrosion of the decks.
Apparently even more worrying was the fact that the crew were seemingly unconcerned by the squalid conditions, “they had no knowledge of the threat posed to their health by the conditions on board. They just seemed oblivious”.
Also in the UK the MCA last month detained a Georgian-flagged cargo ship whose crew was surviving on olives and bread because they hadn't been paid or supplied with provisions for three months.
The vessel, the “Berkan B”, was held up at Ipswich, on the east coast of the UK, because of faults including difficulties in launching lifeboats and the fact that the ship was in a poor condition. Living and working conditions were reported as being particularly bad with no fresh provisions on board.
For further details visit The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency at www.mcga.gov.uk
Mission to Seafarers to the rescue
It is not only the UK having trouble which such “slum ships”, last month the Mission to Seafarers had to take action in the Solomon Islands. They stepped in to help the more than 70 foreign sailors stranded without wages and food, living in dreadful conditions on a vessel in the port of Honiara.
The sailors - 46 Indonesians, 21 Chinese, 5 Koreans, and 4 Japanese - are penniless, as they haven’t been paid for months as a result of their shipping company going bust, leaving them to survive on the generosity of the local community.
For details of insurance policies to protect seafarers from such unfortunate events such as abandonment, and non payment of wages visit Seacurus Ltd at www.seacurus.com
Seacurus create fresh thinking on seafarer abandonment
September saw the IMO play host to the 6th session of the IMO/ILO tripartite working group meeting on crew claims for death, personal injury and abandonment. Seacurus, a UK insurance specialist were invited by the UK delegation to attend the meeting to explain their thoughts on possible insurance solutions to the problem of seafarer abandonment.
Seacurus, leading innovators on seafarer protection insurance plans, provided the working group with a formal presentation that outlined how their insurance solutions could provide the key to unlock the door to provide shipowners and their flag states with a simple, reliable and above all affordable system of financial security as required by the existing guidelines and highly anticipated ILO Consolidated Manpower Convention.
Seacurus demonstrated how their insurance solution would safeguard seafarers from the devastating effects of abandonment and allow flag states to comply with their obligations under international law.
Seacurus said, “Now is the time to encourage the insurance industry to enter the market. This working group is six years into its work. The only certainty is that further delays will produce more victims of abandonment at a time of economic hardship and too late to implement a workable solution”.
Seacurus demonstrated how their model is based upon compliance with the international guidelines drafted by the working group and adopted by the IMO/ILO on 29th November 2001. The fact that such a solution is now possible was reassuring to the working group who had for many years been labouring on the creation of effective guidelines largely in a vacuum, in the knowledge that many large banks and P&I insurers had thus far offered no solution to this industry problem.
“Unfortunately these well drafted guidelines continue to be largely ignored”, said Seacurus who went on to point out, “The sad reality is that without the political will to enforce regulation there is always a significant minority who compete unfairly by operating at the lowest possible cost without regard to safety, the environment and their crew. It will continue to be the case that many flag states are unlikely to act unilaterally. Ship registration is a business and even the most high-minded of flag states, let alone the most commercial of them, will not risk being seen as expensive. Industry and government alike will cynically continue to leave the charities and the unions to pick up the pieces unless compelled to do otherwise.”
Protection for the shipping industry’s seafarers and their families against the devastating consequences of abandonment can be provided. The only questions that remain are what will this protection cost and who will pay for it?
According to Seacurus, “Insurance is the least cost option – market forces will keep it so. However, its success or otherwise will depend upon their being a political will to find a long term solution.”
Seacurus have offered their assistance to like minded governments to conduct a funded pilot scheme or feasibility study that would turn the possibility of a solution into a reality.
In the meantime the findings of the 6th session of the working group are keenly awaited in the hope that they can move the industry one step closer to a solution which will eradicate this problem which is unique to the shipping industry at a time when much debate surrounds the image of the industry, the attraction of seafarers into the industry and initiatives to remove substandard shipping.
In conclusion, Seacurus’s managing director, Captain Thomas Brown said, “It is a depressing admission to make, but I genuinely feel that enforceable regulation is often the only way to guarantee minimum standards in certain areas of our industry. Whilst this may seem unfair to good quality operators, I think the reverse is true. Good quality operators already incur the costs of operating above the bar. Sub-standard operators obtain competitive advantage by operating below it. Force the shoddy operators to incur greater cost, force them into compulsory insurance (for which they will have to pay more than good operators) and the playing field will start to look a little more level.
More details of Seacurus’s innovative insurance solutions can be found at www.seacurus.com
It is reassuring to see that not all seafarers are left to go hungry, however the crew of the vessel “ Yeoman Bridge ” may well have preferred an “olive and bread diet” after the crew were all hit with severe illness, thought to be food poisoning.
Six of the worst-hit crewmen were evacuated by the Stornoway lifeboat to hospital on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland after the Master became concerned for their well being.
However, after a doctor and a police officer were winched on board to assess their condition, it was decided that it was not necessary to take the rest of the crew off, but to treat them on board. So the other 24 affected crewmen were treated while the ship sat safely at anchor, about three miles south of Stornoway harbour.
The Bahamas-registered “ Yeoman Bridge ” had been travelling from Hamburg , Germany and was on its way to Glensanda on the Scottish mainland when the crew took ill. An investigation has been launched into what caused the 30 crewmen to be struck down.
That’d never happen on a cruise ship…would it?A disturbing new report, entitled “Behind the Scenes in the Cruise Ship Galleys” was published last month, revealing poor hygiene and numerous health hazards following random checks on 14 British cruise ships docking at UK ports.
Inspectors found veal nearly a year out of date, cockroaches and swarms of flies in food larders.
This is particularly worrying because cruise ships have been at the centre of a number of health alerts recently. Thousands of passengers have fallen ill as a result of a virulent stomach virus that liners seem unable to eradicate. Many of the outbreaks have been caused by the Norovirus, a gastrointestinal bug that causes fever, vomiting and diarrhoea for up to 48 hours.
The report states that stomach bugs were not unusual on cruises, and that last year there were at least 36 outbreaks reported internationally. Germs spread easily among passengers living in close-quarters, which is why hygiene and good food management is paramount.
Prior to its maiden voyage in April the “Thomson Celebration” was inspected, the hygiene inspectors who expressed "little confidence" in the ship's overall food-safety controls. The ship later hit the headlines after a plumbing disaster meant that 230 toilets would not flush.
On the “Caronia”, a former Cunard ship later renamed “Saga Ruby”; inspectors discovered "cockroach activity" had been logged by staff.
Even the P&O Cruises' £200 million liner “Aurora” was not safe from some shocking findings. Inspectors found veal thawing that was ten months out of date along with some cheese and a frozen goose of “uncertain vintage”.
Which? says that when UK inspectors checked Aurora's £170 million sister ship “Oceana” in July last year, they saw large flies in the larder.
Cunard said cockroaches could turn up in luggage or deliveries but it had rigorous checks and dealt promptly with any found. It had not found any more before it handed over the ship last November.
P&O admitted the old veal on Aurora should not have been there, but added that its date would have been rechecked before use. It had clarified confusion over dates on the cheese and goose and found they were safe. It said it now had equipment to kill flies in the Oceana larder.
The report was produced by the UK consumer guide, “Which?”. Details can be found at www.which.net
MARITIME SECURITY
From a new piracy hot-spot to an old favourite stomping ground…the Malacca Straits.
A major initiative to enhance the security of the Malacca and Singapore Straits and the passage of ships along in the area was launched last month by the 3 littoral states - Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia - together with Thailand.
It is called "Eyes in the Sky" with each of the countries involved contributing two aircraft to conduct the aerial patrols and reconnaissance.
Launching the initiative in Kuala Lumpur the attending dignitaries spoke of it as, “an excellent example of how a scheme can be put in place which is practical, useful and serves the needs of security in the Malacca Straits".
They also stressed the importance of sending a strong signal to the international community that they were serious about the safety and security of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. This was no doubt in response to the annoyance and distress these governments have felt at the region recently being designated a “war risk zone” by the Lloyd’s Joint War Committee.
This “Eyes in the sky” scheme has been described as the first phase to enhance the safety and security of the straits, and additional hints have been given that the second phase could well involve the international community.
As this scheme will initially, see each state conducting up to just 2 patrols per week it seems that this international involvement may be needed sooner rather than later.
This is a bold and strong move and all those involved should be applauded for introducing, at long last, some pragmatic measures which may protect seafarers in the area. Let’s just hope that the initial low number of patrols is enough to make a real difference.
Pirates..? Never heard of them!
If you ask the Royal Malaysian Navy First Admiral Ahmad Kamaruzaman Ahmad Badaruddin you might question quite why they are bothering with security initiatives such as “Eyes in the Sky” (see previous article).
According to him the Malacca Strait is one of the safest seaways in the world. He is quoted in the Malaysian press as stating that this vision of Malacca as an extremely safe place is based upon, “statistical analysis of the number of incidences per area and percentage of successes per incident” – no, were not quite sure either…though a little bird tells us that lots of ships do manage to pass through the Straits safely…let’s just hope no-one tells the pirates!
According to a “senior intelligence analyst” although the strait has one of the worst records for piracy, the threat of attack is comparatively minor, a Lloyd’s List report estimated that the risk of attack was a mere 0.0006%.
A 99.9994% chance of not getting hit by pirates…does lend weight to those detractors who question the recent decisions of the Lloyds Joint War Committee!
Though with the report singularly failing to recognise the amount of attacks that simply go unreported, this looks like another case of lies, damned lies, and statistics…or put more accurately 83% of statistics are made up!
Stop thief! Fuel is the new currency for Indonesian smugglers
Pssst wanna buy some cheap oil? The Indonesians have got troubles other than pirates, planes and percentages on their minds...
The Indonesian authorities are continuing to arrest tankers as the country cracks down on fuel smuggling. At present the Government provides heavy domestic fuel subsidies, and the result has been a sharp rise in fuel smuggling cases, as the export of subsidised oil for resale has become a thriving business.
With the government claiming loses of US$850m a year through oil smuggling it has launched a harsh crackdown, and by mid September the authorities had already seized 17 vessels.
The tankers used in the smuggling operations are usually small and older vessels and are chartered in by the smugglers. A number of the vessels have been caught transhipping their illicit cargoes onto other vessels outside of Indonesian territorial limits.As we have been reporting across numerous issues of Shiptalk there has been an ongoing crisis involving a UN chartered vessel being held captive in Somalia .
The pirates hijacked the Kenyan vessel “MV Semlow” in June, south of the capital Mogadishu on its way to Bosasso port with 850 tonnes of rice donated by Germany and Japan .
There have been many twists and turns in the saga, and it recently appeared that the Somali gunmen who hijacked the vessel, captured the 10-man crew and looted the relief food were finally making positive moves to release the ship after nearly 11 weeks.
However as the pirates refused to meet the deadline and raised fresh ransom demands, prompting local authorities to expel the hijackers from the port.
To add further to the drama the pirates then captured a second vessel, carrying cement from Egypt . The pirates hijacked the second vessel while it was sailing from El Maan, a port north of Somalia 's capital of Mogadishu .
"The hijackers contacted us only this morning, telling us that the ship ... was under their control," said a Mogadishu-based businessman who owns part of the cement shipment.
The high-profile nature of the “Semlow’s” cargo has spotlighted the troubles in the region, and heightened the concerns for merchant shipping. In addition to the vessels mentioned above three Taiwanese fishing vessels are presently being held after being captured in Kismayu harbour in Somalia in August.
The Filipino Government has been issuing statements assuring that the 12 Filipino seafarers kidnapped on the vessels "are safe and alive". They stressed that they have not received reports of any of them being hurt or killed despite the fact that their abductors threatened to kill them one by one if the Taiwanese Government would not give in their ransom demand.
The 12 Filipino crewmen of the ship "Cheng Qing Feng" were
among the seamen held hostage by the Somali rebels. The Somali rebels are
reportedly demanding US$1.5 million for the release of the fishing boats
and sailors.
Aside from the 12 Filipino crewmembers, a number of Indonesians, Vietnamese
and Chinese nationals were also members of the crew.
Proof indeed, if it were needed, that Somalia really is a place best avoided – and as the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) have stressed all vessels should keep as far from the coast as possible, at all times.
For updates on dangerous areas visit the International Maritime Bureau website at www.icc-imb.org
MARITIME SAFETY
As use of portable electronic charts (PECs) have arisen in the US, pilots have expressed concern over their potential liability exposure in the event of an accident.
Paul Kirchner, general counsel to the American Pilots Association told delegates at last months International Maritime Pilots Association conference in Quebec that if using a PECs will in the pilot's own judgment help to prevent a casualty and improve safety "the pilot should do so".
Put simply, pilots should be prudent and exercise "common sense measures" to limit their liability exposure, Mr Kirchner stressed that pilots should "avoid trying to think like lawyers", and added that, "if a casualty does occur, the law favours those who can show that they did their best rather than those who tried to avoid liability."
There are a number of different kinds of PECs in use, ranging from laptops to hand-held systems, providing, a range of different data. From “own ship” DGPS chart positions to information on other vessels through Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), radar inputs, and even VTS information.
During the years that pilots had been carrying the units, there had been "no court case, regulation, or other legal authority that would suggest that pilots should avoid using such units because of liability concerns". However traditional maritime negligence and liability principles can give strong clues to any potential liability risks.
To determine whether a pilot is negligent, his actions and behaviour are compared with the standard of care to which the law holds the pilot. The standard was a high one, but on the other hand the pilot was not a guarantor of the safe navigation of a vessel.
Mr Kirchner concluded with some practical suggestions to minimise liability:
Additional details can be gained from The International Maritime Pilots Association, at www.impahq.org
The 3,802 TEU containership “Fowairet”, owned by United Arab Shipping Company was at the centre of a grounding incident on the River Scheldt near Antwerp, Belgium last month.
The vessel was quickly refloated, however, it sustained a 4 m crack and will now be dry-docked for repairs. The company said the starboard oil tank appeared to have fractured, resulting in some pollution.
The 1996-built ship had come from Thamesport in the UK, and was carrying nearly 2,000 containers, a number of which contained hazardous cargo. She had been under pilotage heading for the Belgian port when she suddenly veered from the channel and became stuck in the mud.
The Kuwait-headquartered company said the cause of the grounding was still unclear, but has tentatively been identified as rudder-failure, or perhaps power-failure to the rudder, rather than human failure, according to the Belgian Pilotage Service.
As is the vogue of the moment the Master of the “Fowairet” was duly criticised, as according to some, contact between the captain and his head office was deemed to have taken so long that it became impossible to pull the ship free before the high spring tide went out. UASC managing director Ken Soerensen denied this, ‘there was no delay in that,’ he said, as they quite rightly stuck by their Master.
A “small ship” is apparently under investigation for smashing into an oil tanker on the Huangpu River, China last month causing the tanker to spill some 50 tons of oil.
The larger vessel, “Chaoyangping 8”, was carrying 3,010 tons of oil from Dalian, to Shanghai when a small ship rammed into it. The collision created a gaping 1-metre hole in the middle of the Starboard side of the tanker, causing oil to pour out.
"We warned it (the ship), but it didn't swerve aside," the tanker's Master told the Oriental Morning Post, cunningly forgetting Rule 17 (b) of the International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea (COLREGS).
An official from the city's maritime authorities, said since the collision happened two nautical miles from the wharf the leakage was not very serious. In a spirit of true pragmatism a staff worker from a nearby wharf said "Luckily, it was the ebbing time, so the oil dispersed quickly. By 3 in the afternoon, the strong smell had almost died out."
That’s more than lucky...
The one that should have got away!!
The “Which?” report has shown us that food can clearly be hazardous to your health…whether alive or dead. Events on a Swansea pier gave a new twist last month however.
Swansea Coastguard received a call to attend at Swansea West pier reporting a man that had been pulled from the water by his friends after jumping in after a fish!
Upon arriving on scene, they found a twenty six year old local man with a broken ankle. The Coastguard Rescue team assisted the paramedics by transporting the man along the beach to a waiting ambulance.While we are on the subject of the wise…perhaps the a mateur boat-building, bricklayer from London who spent two days alone at sea in a half-built boat, wasn’t exactly prudent .
Phillip Van der Loo set off from Southampton after an argument with his wife, on a 75-mile voyage to the Channel Islands . He left without any food or water though he did have a supply of beer to drink (hmm maybe not so rash after all!).
Mr Van der Loo spent five years (nearly) building his motor boat from scratch in the drive of his house and he had planned to sail to Guernsey “for a bit of a laugh”, but his trip turned into a nightmare when his engine failed and he had no means to call for help.
He was left drifting for 40 miles along one of the world's busiest shipping lanes before flagging down a passing yachtsman, who reported the incident to the Coastguard.
His home “almost-made” vessel which did not have electric power, rendering all navigational aids onboard useless, had taken on two feet of water through the portholes …which, naturally, had no glass in them.
He was rescued by Weymouth Lifeboat crew and was towed into Weymouth Harbour . Mr Van der Loo spent the evening recovering in the Kings Arms pub, though did manage to express his gratitude, saying he owes his life to the Lifeboat crew.
It all ended happily ever after though, as Mrs Van der Loo came to pick her husband up, after they “resolved their differences”. All together now ahhhhh…
While the Coastguard didn’t offer any advice to other such gung-ho adventurers, allow Shiptalk to offer some simple guidance, “Don’t head off anywhere (even just for a “laugh”) in a half-built boat, with no portholes, food, water, electricity, safety equipment, or clue what on earth you are up to...even if you have got enough beer for the entire voyage!".
LEGAL
Last month the U.S. Coast Guard published a new Best Management Practice for vessels entering the Great Lakes with no ballast on board (NOBOB).
NOBOB is defined as vessels that have no ballast water or only residual ballast in their tanks. The environmental concern is that once their cargo is discharged they will take on ballast water and then potentially discharge that water into the lakes. The resulting discharged ballast would be mixed with the residual that may introduce unwanted marine organisms.
To prevent the potential for discharge of unwanted organisms, the USCG is recommending the following Best Management Practice (BMP):
It is recommended that vessels bound for the Great Lakes should take particular care to conduct salt water flushing on the transit to the Great Lakes so as to eliminate fresh and brackish water residuals in ballast tanks.
The Coast Guard will be monitoring compliance with this BMP for vessels declaring NOBOB, and will be closely monitoring these practices to assess their effectiveness. This may mean additional USCG inspections of NOBOB vessels to sample tanks and measure salinity of residual water, though it should be stressed that these Best Management Practices are recommendations and are not mandatory at this time.
For more information on this or any other issue related to Ballast Water requirements in the United States , visit the US Environmental Protection Agency at www.epa.govHere’s a question for you dear reader…you are intending to send a big, shiny new LNG tanker into a major US port, do you:
Maybe it’s just us, but the answer seems kind of simple – torpedoes and ships simply DO NOT MIX!
However, this is just the debate going on in the USA as developers look to build a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Fall River , near Boston .
The U.S. Navy are presently fighting plans of the LNG Terminal developer that would have LNG tankers trolling through the Navy's torpedo test range in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay.
Last month, the Naval Undersea Warfare Centre asked federal regulators to reconsider the decision to approve the new Terminal as the developers failed to inform them that LNG ships would sail through bay zones where it tests torpedoes, submarines and sonar devices.
The developer has criticised the objection, saying it was made too late…though they have seemingly failed to grasp the potential of LNG Tankers being blown up before they ever get to the lovely new terminal.
Time to drop the sassy attitude and find a new route we think!
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