Currents…..

Currents…..

In brief ….

TECH SUPPORT: the UK government has announced a £6m package of support for technological projects to boost ‘green’ shipping. The programme includes funding for trials of new energy-saving propellers, on-board waste heat recovery systems, rotor sails to cut fuel consumption, and research into the use of hydrogen fuel cells for ferries. Announcing the aid, shipping minister John Hayes said: ‘The UK is home to a wealth of expertise in maritime technology, but more needs to be done to move this sector toward a zero emissions world.’

AID APPROVED: the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) Surveillance Authority (ESA) has approved changes to Norway’s tax refund scheme for employers of Norwegian and EEA nationals on ships under  the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS).
The amendments will increase the refunds from 26% to 100% for deep sea vessels over 10,000 dwt.
The Norwegian government said the current aid is ‘insufficient to equalise the wage differences in high-cost countries compared to low-cost countries’.

BUILDING BACKED: Nautilus has welcomed the UK government’s decision to back a new strategy for British shipbuilding. Drawn from the recommendations of a report produced by Sir John Parker last year, the policy sets out plans to enable UK yards to compete for the contracts to build the new Royal Fleet Auxiliary solid support vessels and to encourage the Ministry of Defence to make more use of commercial shipping for ‘low- threat’ strategic purposes and to consider converting merchant vessels for defence roles.

PACKET PLAN: a three-week public consultation on proposals to switch Isle of Man Steam Packet Company services to Northern Ireland to the port of Larne was concluded last month, with more than 3,000 responses received. Company chief executive Mark Woodward said a research company is now working through the information and will produce a report that will ‘be central to our final decision’.

TRAINING PACKAGE: a new software package which aims to provide shipping companies with real- time monitoring of crew training records from any web- enabled device has been launched by KVH Industries. Videotel Performance Manager can also be used to generate training schedules for seafarers and to provide evidence of compliance for external audits.

CLYDE PRAISE: Scottish government business minister Paul Wheelhouse has praised the marine and o shore training facilities at the Clyde Training Solutions centre, which opened last year. During a visit to the site last month, Mr Wheelhouse said he was delighted to see the way in which the centre would bene t the local community ‘for years to come’.

SKIPPING MEALS: one in eight UK workers are skipping meals to make ends meet, the TUC revealed last month. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said a survey of more than 3,200 workers showed how many are ‘on a financial cli edge’, struggling to cope with rising household bills and shrinking pay packets.

DUNDEE DECOMM: plans to create a new o shore oil and gas decommissioning centre in the port of Dundee have been revealed by Forth Ports and AF Offshore Decom UK. A £10m quay extension is being constructed to enable the port to handle the large-scale loads involved in the work.

BALLAST FINE: the US Coast Guard has imposed a $5,000 ne on the Panama- flagged bulk carrier ANSAC Moon Bear after an inspection revealed it had discharged untreated ballast water into the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon.

RED ORDER: Red Funnel has announced an order with the Wight Shipyard for a new 41m high-speed catamaran. Due to come into service next summer, Red Jet 7 will be a sister vessel to Red Jet 6, built by the same yard last year.

FEES SCRAPPED: the Danish government plans to scrap registration fees for merchant ships as part of
a plan to increase its fleet. Ministers are also aiming to abolish the special fee on second-hand ships using the Danish International Ship Register. Danish owners have welcomed the move, claiming that it can be three to four times more expensive to register a ship in Denmark than under flags such as Singapore.

LIVESTOCK REVIEW: the Australian Maritime Safety Authority is reviewing rules governing the age of ships being used for livestock exports and the welfare conditions for animals being carried following a recent exposé which revealed that 3,000 cattle died on board the 1980-built Kuwait-flagged vessel Al Messilah during a voyage from Australia to Doha.

SECURITY CORRIDOR: a new security corridor for merchant shipping has been established in the Gulf of Aden and Bab Al Mandeb. The Combined Maritime Forces urged vessels to make use of the new corridor to benefit from military presence and surveillance following recent attacks in the region.

TICKETS ‘RINGFENCED’: more than 7,200 New Zealand seafarers have registered with the country’s maritime authority to ‘ringfence’ their ‘legacy’ certificates before the 1 September deadline following

a year-long campaign to raise awareness about new certification rules.

STENA ADDITION: Stena Line has deployed a fourth ship, the 3,652gt Gute, on its route between Gdynia, Poland, and Karlskrona, Sweden following a significant increase in its Baltic Sea South freight operations in the first eight months of the year.

MEGA ORDERS: the French shipping group CMA CGM has revealed plans to build nine of the world’s largest containerships at two Chineses shipyards. Due to come into service in 2019, the vessels will be of 22,000TEU capacity.

SINGAPORE SMASH: five seafarers were feared dead last month after the Indonesian-registered tanker Kartika Segara collided with the Dominican-registered dredger JBB De Rong 19 in the Singapore Strait last month.

CREW RESCUED: 11 crew members were rescued last month when the 42-year-old Mongolia- flagged general cargo ship Leonardo split in two in the Black Sea o Turkey’s NW coast while en route to Tuzla dockyard for repairs.

GROUNDING PROBE: an investigation was launched last month after the Panama- flagged bulk carrier Star of Sawara grounded at Gedser, Denmark, and had to be towed free by four tugs.

CRUISE BOOM: cruise ship capacity in Asia increased 38% last year to a new total of 4.24m passengers, the Cruise Lines International Association reported last month.

GREEK SPILL: authorities in Greece have been criticised following an oil spill caused by a tanker which sank o Athens in almost perfect conditions last month. The government announced measures to improve vessel audits and inspections after the accident involving the 45-year-old Agia Zona II. The maritime union PEMEN claimed the ship had been badly repaired and water had leaked through holes in the ‘patched up’ engine room.

INDIAN HOTLINE: the Indian government
has set up a special reporting hotline to help stranded seafarers following a series of abandonment cases in United Arab Emirates waters. The Mumbai-based Directorate General of Shipping Communication Centre aims to serve as a ‘one-stop shop’ to coordinate the response to crews’ complaints, issues and grievances and it will create a centralised database of incidents.

SEAFARER LOST: a 47-year-old Filipino seafarer who was about to return home after several months at sea was feared dead after being reported missing from the Gibraltar-flagged gas carrier Eship Shamal o the French port of Saint-Nazaire last month. The crewman was thought to have fallen overboard, but extensive searches by rescue boats and a helicopter proved fruitless.

FATAL COLLISION: a total of 20 seafarers died after a collision between the 48,200dwt bulk carrier Royal Arsenal and the Iraqi-flagged o shore support vessel Al Misbar just outside the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. A court ordered the detention of the St Vincent & Grenadines-registered bulker while investigations into the accident were conducted.

LNG CONVERT: the 1,036TEU containership Wes Amelie, owned by the German operator Wessels Reederei, has re-entered service after becoming the first vessel of its kind to be retrotted to run on LNG fuel. The conversion work, backed by Germany’s transport ministry, is expected to extend to other ships in the company’s 36-strong fleet.

MALAYSIAN JOBS: Malaysia’s transport minister has announced plans to increase the country’s seafarer workforce. Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said there are currently more than 6,000 foreign crews working on Malaysian-registered ships and the country needed to increase its supply of seafarers to sustain its maritime industries.

MANAGERS MERGE: Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement and Marlow Navigation have secured regulatory approval for their proposed merger. The tie-up will create one of the world’s biggest technical and crew management companies, with responsibility for some 1,500 vessels and about 24,000 seafarers.

FAROES PLAN: the Faroese government has formulated a strategy to make the Faroe Islands a North Atlantic maritime centre for all types of ships, with particular focus on o shore vessels. Faroese o cers account for some 25% of all senior positions on-board Danish ships.

Officers ‘don’t make the best managers’

Seafarers do not make the best leaders in shore-based jobs, according to a survey of more than

3,000seniormaritimeexecutives. Research conducted by the recruitment firm Faststream found

that 78% of industry managers considered that former mariners do not make the best leaders, because of the differences between the working environment at sea and ashore.

The study also found 60% of executives thought that being a senior officer does not prepare you for being a senior manager ashore, and sea time needs to be matched with commercial experience in the office.

‘Vessels are hierarchical with multiple tiers of management,’ the report points out. ‘Organisations ashore increasingly have much flatter structure and collaborative leadership is becoming prevalent. Life on-board

a vessel is process-driven, there is
a rulebook, regulations and huge emphasis on compliance, whereas life ashore—and especially so for those looking to transition into leadership positions, need to be autonomous, free-thinking and have a sense of entrepreneurialism about them.’

The report also found that 52%
of maritime executives have been worried about their job security at some point over the last two years and 65% considered that the maritime industry doesn’t pay enough to compete with other sectors for new talent.

Singapore was ranked as the top source of future talent, with 36% of executives believing that it would have the most skilled people to o er over the next five years, beating London (12%), Copenhagen (10%), Hamburg (9%) and Hong Kong (5%).

Flags flown high to honour MN crews

This year’s Fly the Red Ensign for Merchant Navy Day campaign was the biggest and best yet.

Organised by Seafarers UK, the initiative resulted in a ‘red duster’ being flown ashore at more than 650 locations, far inland as well as in coastal towns and cities. The total this year compares with more than 400 in 2016.

Nautilus raised the Red Ensign at its UK offices and took part in services for Merchant Navy Day

on Sunday 3 September, the annual event to highlight the nation’s dependence on seafarers.

Staff and residents at Mariners’ Park in Wallasey also gathered in remembrance at the Liverpool parish church of Our Lady and St Nicholas.

The Union was represented at the Merchant Navy Day memorial wreath-laying ceremony in Dover on Friday 1 September, and again in London on 3 September at the Merchant Navy Memorial service in Trinity Gardens on Tower Hill.

Many flag-hoisting ceremonies were attended by local Mer- chant Navy Association and Royal British Legion members, who welcomed being part of a nationally coordinated promotion.

A special Roll of Honour, on the website www.merchantnavyday.uk, lists all the local authorities and councils that agreed to fly a Red Ensign on 3 September. Local media coverage was widespread, helping to raise public aware- ness of the UK’s dependence as an island nation on MN seafarers, past, present and future.

Campaign manager Nick Harvey commented: ‘Flag flying locations included town and village halls, civic centres, churches and historic buildings, including quite a few castles.

‘Our flag supplier alone sold 100 Red Ensigns that we now expect will be hoisted annually on Merchant Navy Day,’ he added.

Ship’s crew ‘forced to drink sea water’

Fresh concerns over ‘modern- day slavery’ in the shipping industry have been raised by the

seafarers’ charity Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) after it found crew members on a Turkish-owned ship detained in a UK port having to live o sea water and out-of-date food.

The AoS and the International Transport Workers’ Federation have been providing assistance to the crew of the Panama-flagged general cargoship Tahsin, which had been detained in Sharpness Docks since 2 June after a port state control inspection uncovered a long list of de ciencies on-board.

As well as unpaid wages and invalid seafarers’ employment agreements, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency found problems including missing charts, defective life-saving appliances, damaged

hatchways and inoperative ventilation of working spaces.

The AoS team in Sharpness has been visiting the ship three times each week, providing the crew with Turkish, Indian and English newspapers, bringing baked goods and fresh produce from their gardens, and providing transport for the seafarers to go into town to send money home to their families.

ITF inspector Darren Proctor said there was evidence that the crew had been drinking seawater as there had been no potable water on the ship for more than 10 days.

Following intervention by the ITF, seven of the nine crew members were paid owed wages and repatriated, including one who was on just US$250 a month, but their replacements had also complained about poor conditions and broken promises.

Credit: Nautilus Telegraph: https://nautilusint.org/en/what-we-say/telegraph/