May 2009

✪ newsfront2–13 ●✪ letters16–17 ●✪ reports19-30 ●✪ international14–15 ●✪ appointments34–41 ●✪ crossword32 ✪

Concern over the impactof obesity has beenraised by new seafarermedical exam resultspage 19

A WEIGHT ON THE MINDFour pages of reports onhow to keep afloat in themaritime jobs marketduring the downturnpages 21-24

SURVIVING THE CRISISA special supplementwith the pick of thepictures in the ‘life atsea’ photo competitionpages i-iv

PRINTS CHARMING

Telegraphthe journal of

Volume 42 ●✪ Number 05 ●✪ May 2009 ●✪ £2.75

INDUSTRY PUTSFORWARD NEWSUPPORT PLANIN A BID to break the two-yearstalemate over the UK shippingindustry’s proposals for improvedseafarer training support,Nautilus has helped to table a newpackage for the government toconsider.

A detailed submission given toministers by Nautilus, the RMTand the Chamber of Shipping callsfor urgent action to improve themaritime training aid measures,to ensure that ‘essential seagoingskills in our island nation are pre-served into the future’.

The call comes two years afteran earlier industry submissionwas made to the government. Inthe absence of a formal responseto that package, the unions and theowners have given transport min-ister Geoff Hoon a proposed newframework to deliver improvedincentives for investment in UKseafarer training.

In a letter to the minister, theindustry partners stress theimportance of maritime skills forthe UK, and warn that ‘seriousconcerns’ remain on the supply ofexperienced seafarers.

Despite recent increases in theofficer trainee intake overall offi-cer numbers continue to decline,the industry alliance warns, andrating training levels havedropped ‘to an alarming degree’.

As a result, the submissionwarns, the average age of Britishofficers and ratings ‘continues torise to unacceptable levels’.

The owners and the unionsstress the urgent need to ensure ‘asustainable flow of maritime skillsand professional expertise into thewider £55bn turnover, shore-based maritime cluster’.

Recent research shows a needfor some 16,000 senior-level for-mer seafarers in the key roles in awide range of maritime businessesand services, ports, educationalestablishments, and offshore andsubsea businesses, the submissionpoints out.

The global seafarer skills crisisand the existence in the UK ofworld-class education and train-ing establishments ‘provide aunique opportunity to build on thetraining link within the tonnagetax system’ and to ‘provide UK-based skills to a global shippingmarket,’ it adds.

Improvements in SMarT train-ing support would help to cut thecost differentials between UK andforeign seafarers, the documentargues, and would help to encour-age individual officer and ratingtrainees to progress their careersthrough higher levels of learningand skills development, to thehighest level they can achieve.

If the return for enhancedSMarT payments — which wouldprovide 100% support for alltraining costs up to the second offi-cer certificate and for ratings —shipping companies would givevoluntary employment and train-ing commitments.

‘We urge the government notto delay further,’ the industry adds.‘Action now would both boost themaritime skills-set in this countryand strengthen the perception ofthe government’s commitment toa positive maritime policy in theface of the uncertainties whichhave surrounded it in recent years.’

Nautilus general secretaryBrian Orrell told Council mem-bers last month that he wasextremely disappointed at the gov-ernment’s failure to respond to thepolicy plans presented by theindustry in April 2007.

‘There seems to be no real rea-son for the delay,’ said Mr Orrell,‘but we do not believe the politicalwill seems to be there.’

With the economic downturnnow hitting the shipping industry,he added, it is by no means certaincompanies would still be willing tocommit to the ongoing employ-ment promises they had madewhen the original package was puttogether.

Despite this, the unions and theowners are continuing to lobby thegovernment and the revised pack-age — reflecting the government’smeasures to support the develop-ment of ‘apprenticeships’ — hasbeen submitted.

‘It is worth one further attemptto secure something positive ontraining and employment,’ MrOrrell added, ‘and hopefully atsome stage we will get a positiveresponse.’

Unions and owners unite on package for jobs

NAUTILUS has welcomed therelease last month of two ship-masters who were captured inattacks on their ships off thecoast of Africa.

Nautilus member CaptainRobin Hughes was freed by aNigerian rebel group after sevenmonths in captivity since beingkidnapped from the offshoresupport vessel HD Blue Oceanlast September.

And US shipmaster CaptainRichard Phillips was given ahero’s welcome when hereturned home following a dra-matic piracy incident off thecoast of Somalia.

Capt Phillips had offeredhimself as a hostage to protecthis ship — the US-flagged con-tainership Maersk Alabama —when pirates came aboard some300nm off Somalia. He was heldprisoner on a lifeboat for fivedays until the US Navy rescuedhim, killing three of the piratesin the process.

Capt Hughes had been heldcaptive by the Movement for theEmancipation of the NigerDelta, and reports suggestedthat he was freed by MENDbecause of apparent ill health.

Capt Hughes’ brother, Mark— a P&O Ferries engineeringofficer — said his family were‘over the moon’, adding: ‘Wecouldn’t see an end to it, to behonest, because it was such apolitical issue.’

Nautilus asssistant generalsecretary Mark Dickinson saidhe was delighted to hear thenews — but said the case of CaptHughes highlighted the need forgovernments and shipping com-panies to focus attention on thesafety and security of seafarersin this area.’✪Big rise in attacks — page 44

Hostagemastersfreed inAfrica

In this issue:

ABOVE: Maersk Alabama master Capt Richard Phillips, right, is welcomed aboardthe US Navy vessel Bainbridge by Cmdr Frank Castellano following his rescueBELOW: Nautilus member Capt Robin Barry Hughes, who was freed by a Nigerianrebel group last month after seven months in captivity PICTURES: US NAVY/REUTERS

UNIONS CONSIDERRECESSION IMPACT

2●✪Nautilus UKTelegraph●✪ MAY 2009

nautilus uk at work

NAUTILUS Council membershave welcomed the government’spromise of action to combat sea-farer fatigue.

But last month’s meeting alsoheard calls for more funding to begiven to the Maritime &Coastguard Agency to ensure thatit has the staff and resources toproperly police the hours of workand rest requirements.

General secretary Brian Orrelltold Council members that thetransport minister had written tothe Union following a recenthard-hitting Marine AccidentInvestigation Branch report on aship grounding caused by fatigue.

‘It was with some satisfactionthat we received the response con-firming that both the Departmentfor Transport and the MCA fullyaccepted the recommendationregarding safe manning andfatigue and also fully accepted the“intention” of the recommenda-tion to take robust unilateralaction to ensure the safety of ship-ping in UK waters,’ he added.

Dennis Ayling said it was hightime the authorities did some-

thing to address the problem. ‘Ihave been at sea for 39 years, andin the last 20 in particular we havebeen reading about fatigue adnauseum and I have yet to see anyimprovement in manning levels.’

Roger Stuart said he believedprogress is being made, with theproblem of fatigue at sea nowbeing officially recognised insteadof being ignored. But unilateralaction was essential he added. ‘Itcan bring a lot of pressure to bear— the US does it all the time, andtheir actions are taken very seri-ously.’

Glyn Garland said tanker com-panies were particularly respon-sive to the hard line adopted by USauthorities, and every effort wasmade to ensure records were inorder before visiting US ports.

‘If the Europeans did the same,they could sort the problem outquickly,’ he added. ‘But it seemsthat the governments are notinterested.’

Trustee John Lang saidadvances are being made — butfatigue is a difficult thing to proveand there is still a long way to go

before the problem is dealt with. ‘Iam afraid the answer is that we aregoing to have a lot more accidentsbefore the penny will drop.’

Council chairman John Epsomsaid he was concerned that clearevidence of non-compliance withthe regulations was not beingpicked up during ship inspectionsand audits. ‘Companies admit thatthey are not following the regula-tions and our own cloth are as badbecause they do not fill in therecords correctly,’ he added.

Mr Orrell said Nautilus hadbeen told by the MCA that noships have been detained as aresult of breaches of the workingtime rules. ‘We accept that theissue of detention is difficult, butthe problem will not be addressedunless there is strict enforcementand the MCA needs more moneyand more staff to get consistentenforcement,’ he added.

‘In the same way that seafarersare now exposed to random drugand alcohol testing, why can’t wehave random fatigue testing aswell?’ he asked.

Ulrich Jurgens explained the

problems facing port state controlinspectors when trying to checkcompliance. ‘It is complicatedwork to compare the records withthe actual hours worked,’ hepointed out.

‘Seafarers should be saying thatthere are rules in place and thatthey are going to comply withthem,’ he added. ‘If we don’t com-ply with them, then we can’t askthe authorities to come in and fix itfor us.’

But Stephen Gudgeon blamedthe MCA for issuing safe manningcertificates that failed to deliverrealistic and practical crew com-plements onboard many ships.

Mr Orrell said he hoped theintroduction of the internationalMaritime Labour Conventionwould help to change things. TheITF is drawing up guidelines forits inspectors as part of theenforcement procedures, heexplained, and the so-called ‘bill ofrights’ would enable seafarers tomake confidential reports to portstate authorities if their condi-tions were not in line with inter-national requirements.

MCA ‘MUST ACTOVER FATIGUE’Council members warn of continuing problems with long hours

MN TRAINING IS ADEGREE BETTERNAUTILUS has welcomed newfigures showing the success ofthe Foundation Degree/ScottishProfessional Diploma officertraining programmes.

Senior national secretary AllanGraveson told Council memberslast month that a Merchant NavyTraining Board review had

assessed the value and thebenefits of the variousprogrammes to train to firstcertificate level.

The percentage of the autumnofficer trainee intake followingFD/SPD courses has risen from25% in 2006 to 31% last year,he said. Retention rates on theFD/SPD courses are particularlyencouraging, said Mr Graveson,and were running at an averageof more than 80% over the pastyear.

EMERGENCY TESTFOR TYNE STAFFA SIMULATED collision betweena tug and a pleasure craft with12 people onboard was carriedout in real time at SouthTyneside College last month aspart of an emergency trainingday for the Port of Tyne’s marinedepartment, pictured right.

The exercise was overseen by

more than 30 representativesfrom the port, police, fire andrescue service, ambulance,Coastguard and RNLI, as well asobservers from the Maritime &Coastguard Agency.

Deputy harbour master AlanMcPherson said the exercise —which was held as a requirementof the Dangerous Substances inHarbour Areas regulations —has taken six months to planbecause of the multi-agencyinvolvement.

NAUTILUS has recruited more than 1,500new members since the start of last year,Council members heard least month.

National secretary Garry Elliott, whoheads the Union’s recruitment and organis-ing team, said intensive work is being car-ried out to meet the aim of membershipgrowth.

Activities have included visits to 11 mar-itime colleges and universities in the UKand Ireland, as well as ship visits and con-centrated campaigns in sectors such as large

yachts. The new members have includedalmost 800 trainee officers, 100 ratings andmore than 100 shore staff.

‘The welcome increase in training meantthat officials have met more trainee officersthan ever before,’ Mr Elliott said. ‘However,it is also pleasing that we have recruitedfrom a wide range of different categories,including a significant number of main ratepayers.’

Nautilus is intensifying its recruitmentcampaign in the large yacht sector, he

explained, by attending a number of showsand meeting yacht agencies.

Talks are also taking place with a numberof yacht management and crew agencies onthe potential for strategic partnershiparrangements to provide enhanced supportand protection for professionals in the sec-tor.

‘In the next few months, the team willlook to further develop campaigns in theshore-side area and within hotel onboardservices,’ Mr Elliott said.

Recruitment boost for the Union

NAUTILUS senior nationalsecretary Paul Moloney ispictured above addressing aUnions 21 conference on therecession, held at the TUCheadquarters in London lastmonth.

The meeting — which wasattended by Treasury chiefsecretary Yvette Cooper andemployment relationsminister Pat McFaddam —was called to discuss theimpact of the economicdownturn on union members.

Mr Moloney told theconference of the scale of thenational and internationalseafaring skills crisis, andsaid unions should identifysectors where there areproblems with supply anddemand of expertise.

Nautilus has been workingwith the ProfessionalFootballers’ Association in abid to explore the potential for

a ‘skills exchange’ betweenthe two sectors, he added.

The conference also heardthat a survey of trade unionleaders showed that 45% donot believe the economicclimate will improve until2010 — and nearly one-thirdof them fear there will be norecovery until late next year.

The survey showed thetop priority for union leadersis to protect their members’terms and condition ofemployment (cited by eight in10). Since the recessionbegan, a third of all unions(35%) said their membershad been asked to acceptlower pay rises; a similarproportion (30%) say theirmembers are facingredundancy; one in five havebeen asked to acceptchanges to terms andconditions; and 7% have beenasked to accept pay cuts.

MAY 2009●✪Nautilus UK Telegraph●✪3

nautilus uk at work

briefly...Dover addition: the expanding French ferry operator LDLines has announced plans to launch a new fast ferry servicebetween Dover and Boulogne. The company will be operatinga new 112m Incat wave-piercing catamaran on the service,increasing frequency on the route to six sailings a day. The11,000gt vessel will carry up to 1,200 passengers and crew, asmany as 417 cars or 567m of freight and 417 cars.

Master jailed: the Indonesian master of a Sierra Leone-flagged cargoship that sank after being chased by Russiancustoms vessels in January has been jailed for three months bya Russian court. Eight crew died when the vessel New Starcapsized in rough seas after leaving the port of Nakhodkafollowing a row over the condition of the cargo.

Eleven detained: eleven unseaworthy foreign flagged shipswere detained by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency in UKports during February. The list included a Georgian-flaggedgeneral cargoship with 26 deficiencies, and a St Vincentregistered general cargoship with 12 deficiencies.

Prestige prosecution: a Spanish court has ruled that threeGreek officers should stand trial in connection with the 2002Prestige oil tanker disaster. The ship’s master, chief engineerand chief mate are being accused of obstructing attempts totow the stricken vessel away from the coast.

Service delayed: plans to launch a new fast ferry servicebetween Ramsgate and the French port of Boulogne weredelayed last month by the operator Euroferries. The companysaid the service — which will run in partnership with FredOlsen — is now likely to start in May.

Idle reduction: the number of idle containerships has fallenfor the first time in six months, according to the consultancyAXS-Alphaliner. It released figures last month showing that486 ships totalling 1.31m TEU — equivalent to 10.4% of theglobal fleet — was laid up.

DP development: Bibby Ship Management has opened aUS$1.5m purpose-built DP training centre in Ukraine. TheSevastopol-based facility will offer training to around 250students in its first year.

Antarctic ban: cruiseships carrying more than 500passengers will be barred from landing in Antarctica undernew rules agreed by the Antarctic Treaty ConsultativeMeeting.

Cadet competition: Nautilus UK is urging officer traineemembers to enter this year’s British Shipping safety at seaawareness awards. Entries need to be submitted by 28 August.

Spill fine: a Russian shipmaster has been fined S350,000 afterbeing found guilty of discharging oily water off the coast ofFrance last July.

YOUNG SEAFARERSVOICE CONCERNSNAUTILUS UK member JOEMATTOCK was among a groupof young seafarers from all overthe world for a special ‘focusgroup’ session to discuss issuessuch as criminalisation, shoreleave access, onboard training,safety and security, job security,accommodation standards andonboard living conditions. Thisis his report on the event…

The meeting was jointly stagedby the International TransportWorkers’ Federation and thetanker owners’ body Intertanko.The focus of the group was to voiceyoung seafarers’ concerns andcompile these into recommenda-tions to be given in a final meetingwith the International MaritimeOrganisation secretary-general.

The possibility of building anetwork of young seafarers for theITF was not ruled out.

During the three days of meet-ings a variety of issues were dis-cussed. However, unlike otherevents there was no set agenda.The emphasis was much given tofree thought and an open table fordiscussion.

On the afternoon of the secondday of the conference, heads of the

industry — including Nautilusassistant general secretary MarkDickinson — met with the youngseafarers to talk about currentissues. Once again, it was an opendiscussion and many issues wereexplored in ways which conven-tional methods wouldn’t allow.

The main issues such as thecriminalisation of seafarers werediscussed and everyone agreedthat this was unacceptable. In par-ticular, the Hebei Spirit case washighlighted and how all partieshad planned to protest outside theKorean embassy in the fight forjustice. This showed the unitedindustry fight against criminalisa-tion.

Throughout the first day theseafarers were split up into groupsto discuss separate issues and togenerate food for thought. As partof my group, the reasons forchoosing a life at sea were dis-cussed and the perception by thegeneral public was explored.

We felt that the public did notknow enough about the MerchantNavy and that we seemed only toget bad publicity with relation tomajor accidents. It was generallyfelt that there are other problems

with the MN which needed to beresolved. The issue being that wecannot improve retention andrecruitment if there are underly-ing problems stopping peoplefrom serving at sea.

A number highlighted the factthat many trainees had a muchmore glamorous view of what lifeat sea might be like and so left assoon as they went to sea.

Throughout the focus group itwas discussed that seafarers fromdifferent parts of the world werelikely to have varied contracts. Forexample, a European officermight typically work eight weekson, six weeks off. Whereas some-one from Asia might work a nine-month contract, with noassurance of continuation. It wasgenerally expressed that moreshould be done to help those onlonger contracts to provide betterjob security.

On the third and final day ameeting was held with the IMOsecretary-general, EfthimiosMitropoulos, who gave a briefintroduction about the IMO’s ‘Goto sea!’ campaign. This was fol-lowed by two statements whichwere produced in the previous

days to voice the concerns ofyoung seafarers. Mr Mitropoulosreplied in a statement which verymuch supported and understoodour concerns, and explained whathas been done to address theissues highlighted — referring tothe famous Winston Churchillquote that ‘never before in the his-tory of mankind have so manyowed to so few’. Key summaries and conclusions ✪seafarers have the right to shoreleave and the ISPS Code shouldnot be used as an excuse for denialof this basic right✪the IMO guidelines on the fairtreatment of seafarers should bemade mandatory✪there is a strong need to reviewmanning onboard ship to takeinto account the quality and safetyof life at sea✪onboard internet should beavailable for work and personaluse, free of charge to ship’s crew✪consideration needs to be givento highly repetitive and tediouspaperwork. Solutions couldinvolve a database system,onboard administrator, more effi-cient procedures, avoiding over-complication

Focus group highlights criminalisation and communications

AGENCY FUNDING ALARMA GOVERNMENT spending watchdog has upheldNautilus arguments for an increase in funding forthe Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

General secretary Brian Orrell told Councilmembers last month that a National Audit Officereport had highlighted the need for thegovernment to boost the Agency’s staffing andresources. But, he added, the Union wasconcerned that the NAO had suggested the MCAcould outsource more of its work to classificationsocieties.

GLOBAL MARATHON FORQM2 CREW MEMBERQUEEN Mary 2 personnel manager SallySpiers didn’t let sea service disrupt hertraining for last month’s London Marathon.

She is pictured left with hotel managerDavid Stephenson, chief engineer BrianWattling, and Captain Nick Bates aftercompleting a run onboard the 345m loavessel.

‘The ship is huge, but three laps is only

equivalent to a mile and I would have torun 78 laps to match the 26 miles of theLondon Marathon, so as well as trainingonboard, I trained when we stopped off atports,’ Ms Spiers said.

So her training also involved ‘runsashore’ under the bright lights of HongKong, near Sydney Opera House, and onthe sands of Brazil’s Copacabana Beach.She aims to raise £2,000 for the BritishRed Cross (the charity partner of Cunardthis year) through her marathon run. Findout more on: www.justgiving.com/run4redx

PICTURE: RED CROSS

Nautilus member Joe Mattock, in the centre of the front row, was among 20 seafarers from seven different countries who met industry leaders in London last month

nautilus uk at work

briefly...IMT claim: following consultations with members servingwith International Marine Transportation, Nautilus hassubmitted a claim for a ‘reasonable’ pay rise in line withcompany performance. The Union is also seeking recognitionrights for members serving on FSOs, and talks on securityissues off Nigeria.

Stevie Clarke offer: Nautilus is seeking feedback frommembers employed by MMS on Stephenson Clarke vesselsafter being offered a 1% pay increase last month. Industrialofficer Gavin Williams said the proposals would be acceptedunless there was substantial opposition.

Manx meeting: further talks on the harmonisation of termsand conditions for Isle of Man Steam Packet Companymembers were set to take place late last month. Industrialofficer Steve Doran said he hoped to be able to move closer toagreement.

PNTL pay: Nautilus has presented a claim for a substantial payrise, an extra two days leave, and an extra responsibilitiesbonus for members serving in the Pacific Nuclear Transportfleet. The Union also wants leave to move to a one-on/one-offsystem.

Wightlink hours: Nautilus officials and officer reps have heldmore talks with Wightlink on issues including masters’ mealbreaks and hours of rest. Industrial officer Jonathan Havardsaid further discussions are being sought.

Shell settlement: following talks between Shell InternationalShipping Services management, Nautilus officials andshipboard reps, a 2% pay increase — effective from April —has been agreed.

NOCS terms: following further talks on proposed changes toterms and conditions for members serving with NOCS(NMFD), Nautilus is awaiting a final draft from management.

Epic offer: members serving on Epic Shipping ro-pax ferriesare being consulted on a 2.5% pay offer. The company has alsoproposed improvements to leave and travel arrangements.

Western rejection: Nautilus has urged Western Ferries totable an improved offer after a 3% proposed package wasrejected in a membership consultation.

Union pressed: Nautilus is pressing Union Transport for aresponse to a claim for a 5% pay increase.


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LITTLE PROGRESSON ORKNEY PLANPICTURED right is industrialofficer Steve Doran withNautilus, Unite, T&G, RMT andPCS representatives, along withOrkney Islands Council officialsat recent talks on restructuringproposals.

Unions have been seeking tosettle last year’s outstanding pay

negotiations, with an additional0.5% linked to the release of theAshworth Black report oncomparisons with other Scottishferry operators.

The unions are also trying tosecure an agreement on theframework for the marinerestructuring proposals —involving the merger of OrkneyTowage and Orkney Ferries —and although some progress hasbeen made, Mr Doran saidfurther talks are required.

TALKS BEGIN ON 4% HEYN PAY CLAIM

Concernover EMScutbacksNAUTILUS is seeking to ensurethat members’ redundancyrights are upheld followingthe announcement of joblosses from the EMS ShipManagement fleet.

The posts are going as partof a series of cutbacks beingmade by parent company EitzenMaritime Services in responseto the slump in shipping mar-kets.

The company says it is scrap-ping some vessels and handingothers over to other technicalmanagers to take its fleet from37 ships to just 11.

Industrial officer SteveDoran said he had been frus-trated by the company’s failureto communicate effectively andto consult properly over themoves.

‘We are determined toensure that members’ contractsof employment will be hon-oured, but have experiencedserious problems in gettingdetailed information and for-mal notification of redundan-cies from the company,’ heexplained.

Some officers had been givennotice of termination of employ-ment with effect from 20 April,but the company has assured theUnion that contractual terms —including severance payments,bonus payments and noticeperiods — will be honoured inthe event of redundancy.

SCOTTISH trade unionists havebacked Nautilus calls to resist anymoves to privatise the country’sferry services.

At the Scottish TUC annualcongress last month, delegatesrallied behind a resolution movedby Nautilus senior national secre-tary Paul Moloney urging theSTUC to ‘campaign vigorously’ for‘safe, efficient, publicly-ownedlifeline ferry services’.

Mr Moloney said members feltas if they were in an experiment —subjected to successive reviews oftheir services by the ScottishExecutive and the EuropeanUnion.

‘My Union smells a rat,’ Mr

Moloney told the conference. ‘Thetiming of these reviews cannot becoincidental, and we believe thiscontinual round of reviews isbecause the private sector wantsthe rules changed so they canbreak the service up and competefor some routes.’

The EU had said it was investi-gating whether there had been anabuse of state and guidelines, hesaid, but Nautilus could tell theEU about abuse — ‘about compa-nies receiving subsidies fromEuropean countries, flying flags ofconvenience and employing few ifany EU nationals’.

This he said was not the case onScottish ferries at present, ‘where

nationals are employed on termsand conditions appropriate toScotland, not the Philippines’.

But if the private sector got itshands on some routes — as it triedand failed to do before — MrMoloney warned it would ‘openthe door to low cost, low standardoperators who compete by beingthe cheapest, not the best’.

He said the STUC should cam-paign to ensure that members ofthe public recognise that theirinterests as passengers are thesame as seafarers.

‘Safety and quality have a price,and the onus is on us to make surethat this is understood,’ MrMoloney added.

CalMac ballot consultMEMBERS serving withCaledonian MacBrayne arebeing consulted on whetherthey wish to be balloted onindustrial action following thecompany’s failure to improve arejected pay and conditionsoffer.

Talks between Nautilus andmanagement were unable tosecure any improvement to a‘final’ offer made in January.

CalMac had offered a one-

year deal worth 5% or a three-year deal with additionalimprovements to variousallowances and benefits. TheUnion had tried to persuade thecompany to agree to a simplifiedpackage, but this had beenrejected.

Nautilus industrial officerGary Leech said the Union was‘extremely disappointed’ by thecompany’s refusal to improvethe package.

The offer had been resound-ingly rejected by members, andfell far short of their aspira-tions, he added.

It would do ‘little or nothing’to address the problem of differ-entials or to reflect theincreased workloads experi-enced by many officers.

All members have beenurged to take part in the consul-tation, which is due to close on 5May.

MEMBERS serving onboard the HeynEngineering ship rv Corystes are pictured abovewith Nautilus industrial officer Steve Doranduring a ship visit last month.

The meeting was held ahead of talks withmanagement in Belfast on this year’s pay andconditions claim. The Union has sought a 4%pay rise, and improvements in annual leave togive a ratio of one for one.

Mr Doran said the company needed to reflecton the loyalty shown by members at a time ofgrowing global skills shortages.

The Union also argues that it needs to offer apackage that would ensure it could recruit andretain the quality of personnel required tomaintain high standards.

A formal response from the company wasawaited late last month.

STUC backs call tosafeguard ferries

INTRADA SEEKINGFLEXIBLE RELIEFSMEMBERS serving with IntradaShips are being consulted onproposals for flexible workingarrangements in response to theeconomic downturn.

The company has told theUnion that it has had to changethe trading patterns of its vesselsas a result of the different market

conditions, but as a result it hadexperienced problems in relievingofficers on time.

Industrial officer JonathanHavard said management hassought to avoid redundancies andNautilus had been givenassurances the two for one leaveratio would remain valid, but thecompany could not guarantee10-week periods.

Members’ views on theproposed changes are beingsought, he added.

MERSEY JOBSNAUTILUS UK is involved in aseries of discussions over redun-dancies at Mersey Docks &Harbour Company. Industrialofficer Steve Doran said jobs areat risk in the docks and stagesand floating plant sections. TheUnion was also due to meetmanagement late last month formore talks on revised shift pat-terns for VTS staff.


nautilus uk at work

briefly...BP dispute: Nautilus has expressed concern at a decision byBP Maritime Services to challenge an Isle of Manemployment tribunal ruling on a member’s case for unlawfuldeduction of wages. National secretary Ronnie Cunninghamsaid the company could end up spending much more in legalfees than the amount of money in dispute, and said he did notunderstand why it was opposed to a tribunal hearing.

P&ONSF concern: Nautilus is set to hold more talks with P&ONorth Sea Ferries management following a presentation onthe company’s trading position. Industrial officer JonathanHavard said the company had warned of ‘unsustainable losses’created by the economic downturn, and various cost-savingstrategies are being considered.

BW deal: consultations with members serving with BWFleet Management have shown a majority in favour ofaccepting a 4% pay rise, together with increased deathcompensation, effective from 1 January.

Smit submission: following feedback from members servingwith Smit International (Scotland), Nautilus has submitted aclaim for a substantial pay rise, and discussions on issuesincluding differentials and seniority.

BP rejection: members serving with BP Oil UK have rejectedcompany proposals for a pay freeze. Industrial officerJonathan Havard said management have been asked toreconvene negotiations.

VT claim: Nautilus has presented a claim for a substantial payrise to be given to members serving with VT IntegratedServices on Environment Agency vessels.

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PAY RISES RUNNINGAHEAD OF INFLATIONCouncil hears that Nautilus settlements are better than averageNAUTILUS is managing to secureabove-inflation pay rises for mem-bers despite the impact of theglobal economic downturn,Council members heard lastmonth.

Assistant general secretaryMark Dickinson presented themeeting with an analysis of the2009 pay reviews, showing amedian settlement of 3.5%.

A total of 49 agreements aredue for review on 1 January — andby the middle of March 24 of thesehad been settled, five were at theconsultation stage, and negotia-tions were continuing in 20 oth-ers.

‘This year’s negotiations havebeen notable for quite a bit of slip-page,’ Mr Dickinson said. ‘Themain reason has been the reluc-tance of employers to meet mem-bers’ aspirations in the economicclimate of recession and fallinginflation.

‘Many shipowners have usedthe economic situation to insist onlow increases and, in some exam-ples, pay freezes,’ he added.

Despite this, he said the figuresshowed the Union’s negotiatorshad managed to deliver increasesthat were significantly above thelevels achieved in other industries,and ahead of the inflation rate.Multi-year deals agreed with somecompanies had also deliveredgood results for members in thecurrent situation.

Although the RPI inflation ratehad dropped to 0.1% in February,the CPI rate had risen to 3.2% inthe same period. But, MrDickinson cautioned, it would notbe sensible for the Union to aban-don RPI as a core element of itspay claims.

‘Our view is that we need tostick with RPI because it remainsthe most appropriate benchmarkby which to measure real payincreases and it will serve mem-bers better in the long-term thanflip-flopping between the indices,’he explained.

Mr Dickinson also told themeeting that the Union’s labourmarket analysis made for ‘quitesobering reading — with the list ofjob losses getting longer by theweek’.

The speed of the downturn inshipping had been remarkable, headded, and the Baltic Exchangedry cargo rate had shown levelsthat were ‘dangerously close tobreak-even and barely capable of

covering combined operatingcosts of vessel, fuel and crew’.

However, Mr Dickinsonpointed out, it is likely that thechronic shortage of skilled officersmay help to act as a buffer and easethe threat of mass redundancies.Owners may instead seek to keepas tight a lid as possible on theiremployment costs.

Nautilus has reviewed its inter-nal procedures for dealing withredundancies, but it has been con-cluded that the existing approachis appropriate — with an emphasison ensuring that any job losses arevoluntary, and that members aregiven the opportunity as part of apackage to acquire additionalqualifications, such as dangerouscargo endorsements or dynamicpositioning certification.

‘We are taking the downturnvery seriously, and analysing thesituation to make sure that all ourpolicies and procedures are robustand capable of dealing with what-ever comes our way,’ Mr Dickinsonadded.

Several Council membersexpressed concern about the wayin which some companies wereresponding to the slump — and inparticular that certain operatorswere suspending all non-manda-tory training as a result of marketconditions — and they urged theUnion to maintain pressure onemployers not to slash theirinvestment in seafaring skills.

MEMBERS serving onboard the Holland AmericaLine vessels Eurodam and Osterdam are picturedduring one of a series of ship visits by Nautilus NLand UK officials last month. The visits werearranged to discuss members’ aspirations beforetalks on this year’s pay claim.

Subsequent consultations with membersshowed a three to one majority in favour of animproved offer giving a 2% pay rise plus meritincreases. National secretary Paul Keenan saiddiscussions will now be held on proposed newsailing systems.

TUPE TALKS WITHNORFOLKLINEPICTURED right are: Norfolklineliaison officer Peter Underwood,Gemma Griffin, generalmanager, fleet crewing; liaisonofficer Ross Watson andNautilus industrial officer IanCloke at talks last month ofproposed TUPE transfers.

The company is planning to

reorganise its crewingarrangements as part of a cost-cutting package in response tothe economic downturn.

Mr Cloke said the Union hadexpressed concerns over issuessuch as training, pensions andcommunications, and had beengiven assurances on some ofthese points — although theoption of not transferring to NFLcould not be offered. Furthermeetings and consultation are totake place, he added.

ASSURANCES FORHEBRIDEAN CREWNAUTILUS has been seeking toprotect members’ jobs followingthe collapse last month ofHebridean International Cruisesand the sale of one of its twoships, Hebridean Spirit.

Administrators were called inafter the company announcedthat it was withdrawing from

international operations in theface of rising costs.

The administrators said theyhad taken steps to ensure theHebridean Princess couldcontinue sailing whilst the sale asa going concern was arranged.

National secretary PaulKeenan said the Union hadsecured assurances overredundancy pay for members,and trial jobs had been agreedwith the new owners of theHebridean Spirit.

offshore bulletin


briefly...BPOS offer: members serving with Boston Putford Offshoresafety are being consulted on a 2% pay offer. In talks with theUnion last month, management said it was the most theycould afford — but agreed to consider calls for safety officersand bosuns to be paid in line with AMAs, and for a bonus to bepaid for ship security officers. Results of the consultation willbe known early this month.

Vroon volunteers: Nautilus is seeking more volunteers toserve as liaison officers. Industrial officer Steve Doran said thework of member representatives was essential — particularlywhen the two-part 2009 pay increase was being imposed bythe company in a way that undermined the collectivebargaining process.

Farstad claim: Nautilus has presented Celtic Pacific ShipManagement with a claim for a substantial pay rise formembers serving on Farstad vessels. The Union has alsocalled for improvements in such areas as leave, travel andstudy leave. A formal response was awaited last month.

Maersk consult: members serving on Maersk Offshoresupply vessels are being consulted on an RPI plus 1.5% payoffer. Together with improvements to pensions andincrements, the package is valued at between 2.5% and 3%.Results of the consultation are due early this month.

Saipem rejection: fresh talks are being arranged with Saipemafter a unanimous rejection by Nautilus members of thecompany’s ‘derisory’ 3% pay offer. Industrial officer JonathanHavard said the reconvened negotiations would also involvethe RMT union.

Sealion deal: consultations with members employed bySeahorse Maritime on Sealion vessels have shown a 105-12majority in favour of an offer giving increases ranging between4.5% and 6% on basic salary, effective from 1 December 2008.

Swire submission: a 5% pay offer has been tabled in talksbetween Nautilus and Swire Pacific. Industrial officer GaryLeech said the proposal failed to meet members’ aspirations,and further talks were being arranged late last month.

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NAUTILUS has backed calls fromNorth Sea helicopter pilots for areview of the reliance upon DaconRescue Scoops in adverse condi-tions.

Concerns over the safety of thesystem were raised by the pilots’union BALPA in a motionapproved by delegates at theScottish TUC conference lastmonth.

BALPA says the Dacon Scoopor other forms of mechanicalrecovery should not be the pri-mary means of rescue in all seastates if a helicopter ditches.

Nautilus official Mike Jess toldthe STUC conference thatBALPA’s position should be takenseriously. ‘If the pilots are con-cerned, their views should berespected rather than swept underthe carpet,’ he added.

Concerns over the potential forcommercial pressures to be placedon pilots or shipmasters to operatehelicopters or fast rescue craft inadverse conditions lie behind thequestions over the existingarrangements, Mr Jess said.

And recent tragic incidents inthe North Sea had served tounderline the scale of the seriousand ever-present dangers thatface workers in the sector — aswell as highlighting the impor-tance of reliable emergency andrescue resources, together with agood mix of rescue methods.

Whilst the Dacon Scoop is atried and tested system, Mr Jesssaid its effectiveness as a means ofrescuing survivors is open to ques-tion and more research needs tobe undertaken into improved res-cue technologies.

PICTURED left is the FarSamson — claimed to be mostpowerful offshore supportvessel ever built, which hasgone into service with FarstadShipping following anacceptance ceremony inEdinburgh.

Registered in the Isle ofMan and built by STX Europe,the 15,620gt vessel wasdesigned and equipped byRolls-Royce and is a specialdevelopment of the UT761 CDdesign.

Far Samson is said to bethe world’s strongestconstruction vessel, with themain winches havingdemonstrated a continuous

bollard pull of 423 tonnesusing all available power, andmore than 377 tonnes usingjust the main engines.

The multifunctional vesselis capable of carrying outheavy ploughing operations forpipes and cables on theseabed, as well as subseainstallation work in ultra-deepwater, towing, remoteunderwater (ROV) and othersubsea operations. It can cuttrenches 2.5m deep in theseabed — a metre more thanpreviously possible — in waterup to 1,000m deep.

Far Samson’s first job is afive-year contract for SaipemUK.

SAFER TRANSFERSFROM SHIPPINGPICTURED left is theNorwegian-flagged multipurposeoffshore support vessel REMMermaid, which has beenequipped with a new accesssystem claimed to offer a saferand more efficient form ofpersonnel transfer betweenships and installations.

Supplied by OffshoreSolutions BV, the OffshoreAccess System (OAS) is a heavecompensated telescopicgangway designed to operate in2.5m significant wave heightsea states.

The REM Mermaid’s OAS willservice four platforms, and willinitially be used to connect thevessel to GDF Suez E&PNederland’s K12D and L10Lplatforms, in the Dutch sector ofthe southern North Sea.

SED CALL BACKEDSCOTTISH TUC delegates have given unani-mous support to the Nautilus campaign to pro-tect seafarers’ income tax concessions.

The STUC conference last month backed aNautilus motion, seconded by the TUC, con-demning the government’s attempts to restrictthe Seafarers’ Earnings Deduction.

The resolution also calls on the governmentto amend the scheme ‘to meet its original aimof encouraging the recruitment of all Britishseafarers’.

Industrial officer Gary Leech told the con-ference that the special tax rules were intro-duced to reflect the fact that seafarers’ jobsoften take them out of the country for months,

that they work in one of the world’s most com-petitive labour markets, and that the countryrequires a supply of seafarers for defenceneeds.

The SED ‘183-day rule’ was introduced in1991 to safeguard the employment and train-ing of British seafarers and bring the taxregime in line with most other major maritimenations, he added.

But ever since then, he said, the system hascome under sustained attack from the InlandRevenue and the Treasury — with a series ofmeasures that increasingly restrict the numberof seafarers able to claim the concession.

Mr Leech said the proposed new rules

tabled by HMRC late last year could haveexcluded many thousands of seafarers workingin the North Sea from the concessions.

The impact on maritime employment couldhave been devastating, he said.

In the face of a storm of protest from mar-itime unions, owners and politicians, theybacked down and modified the changes. ‘Butwe fear that they will come back for more,’ MrLeech warned.

‘It’s time this nonsense stopped,’ he said,‘and ministers act to ensure that the rules dowhat they were always intended to do: protectthe recruitment and retention of all British sea-farers.’

STUC conference supports Nautilus on seafarer tax motion

Farstad’s new ship is ‘the strongest ever built’

OFFSHORE operators haveagreed to make urgent changesto the technical specificationsfor personal locator beacons(PLBs) after they were found tohave interfered with long-rangerescue beacons in a North Seahelicopter accident.

Investigations into theFebruary ditching found thatthe interference from the PLBsworn by passengers hadresulted in the main aircraftlong-range rescue beaconsbeing shut down — which couldhave seriously hampered searchand rescue operations.

A draft new specification wasdrawn up last month, and dis-cussed with the Civil AviationAuthority. If accepted andimplemented, the operators sayit will allow the use of PLBs

without interfering with thelong-range rescue beacons fit-ted to helicopters and liferafts.

The problem was deemed tobe one of the most importantsafety issues to be addressed byan industry task group set up inresponse to the loss of a secondNorth Sea helicopter, on 1 April,in which 16 people died.

Initial results from the AirAccidents Investigation Branchshowed that the EurocopterSuper Puma L2 had suffered a‘catastrophic failure’ of themain rotor gearbox.

Nautilus senior national sec-retary Allan Graveson said hewas concerned at the develop-ments, and said there appears tohave been a transfer of risk fromthe platforms to ships and heli-copters.

Pilots raise concernover Dacon Scoops

Operators agree tourgent PLB changes

MASSIVE SLUMPIN N SEA ACTIVITYOFFSHORE activity on the UKContinental Shelf has slumped byas much as 78%, according tofigures released last month.

A review published byDeloitte’s Petroleum ServicesGroup last month said thenumber of appraisal wellsspudded in the first quarter of

2009 was down by 78% fromthe same period last year.

The survey also showed a41% decrease in drilling activityover the same period.

Operators said the figuresshowed the need for theChancellor to implementmeasures to increase North Seaproduction.

Oil and Gas UK said tax cutsfor oil and gas projects would payfor themselves in the long termthrough extra revenue.


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IT’S TOO early to tell if, or by howmuch, the slump in shipping willhit seafarer training programmes,UK owners said last month.

Speaking following his app-ointment as new president of theChamber of Shipping, JesperKjaedegaard — the former chiefexecutive of the Maersk Company— said continued investment intraining is vital.

And vice-president JanKopernicki, from Shell, said theindustry could not yet say whetherrecruitment budgets will beslashed in response to the down-turn. ‘It is evident that the eco-nomic situation will have animpact on shipping, but it is verydifficult to see how long the situa-tion will last and what the fullimpact will be,’ he added.

Mr Kjaedegaard — who is thefirst foreign national to hold thepresident’s post in the Chamber’s131-year history — said urgentgovernment action on the indus-try’s joint training and employ-

ment package proposals is essen-tial.

‘For a number of years now, wehave seen an increasing numberof young people training asMerchant Navy officers in the UK.And that’s absolutely great! Butwhile the cost of employingBritish junior officers remainsuncompetitive, owners will neverbe able to offer training andcareers to as many as they mightlike,’ he argued.

‘We all recognise the advan-tages of employing British officers.They have an enviable reputationfor quality throughout the world,but during the junior officer phasethey cannot compete on cost and— particularly at a time like this —that presents a major challenge.Many owners simply find it toocostly to employ UK junior offi-cers.’

Mr Kjaedegaard also urgedowners not to skimp on safety inresponse to the slump. ‘We haveseen some industry casualties

already, and I am unfortunatelyconvinced there will be more tocome,’ he stressed. ‘2009 will betough, and I am not convinced2010 will be much different.Shipowners around the world areall feeling the pinch.’

In such circumstances, headded, ‘there is a real risk thatsome shipowners, operating infinancial survival mode, mayresort to spending shortcutswhich could compromise safety.In my view, this would be bothmadness and bad business. Thehuman, environmental and eco-nomic costs of an incident are toohigh for any sensible shipowner tocontemplate making cutbacksthat affect safety — even in thesedifficult times.

‘By nature I am not a controlfreak — but this is one area whereI appeal to all owners, in all partsof the world, not to make any com-promise,’ said Mr Kjaedegaard. ‘Ifyou cannot operate safely, youshould not operate at all.’

The new Chamber presidentsaid he was concerned about theapparent lack of governmentinterest in the shipping industry— with a range of political prob-lems including a ‘ludicrous’ pro-posed increase in light dues,possible changes to capitalallowances for investment in newtonnage and instability in the ton-nage tax system.

‘This has a big impact,’ heexplained. ‘If you are orderingships, you have to consider the sta-bility of where you flag into.’

Mr Kjaedegaard said theuncertainty over maritime poli-cies had cost the UK flag at least50 ships — with Evergreen beingthe latest operator to choose a rivalregister (in this case Singapore)for its vessels.

‘This is what we are up against,’he added, ‘and the Treasuryunderstands that we would like tosee individual shipping compa-nies treated as customers whohave a choice’.

OWNERS’ TRAINING CALL

Outgoing Chamber of Shipping president Martin Watson passes the badge of officeon to his successor, Jesper Kjaedegaard

Chamber of Shipping’s new president warns of need to address ‘uncompetitive’ UK officer costs

RFA SHIP GETS ALONG LIFE REFITPICTURED right is the 33-year-old Royal Fleet Auxiliary supplyship Fort Rosalie leaving theMersey after completing a £28mrefit that will extend its workinglife well into the next decade.

Birkenhead shipyardCammell Laird completed thework as part of a £180m five-

year 11-ship contract with theMinistry of Defence.

‘The scale of this job wasformidable,’ said Commandingofficer Captain Bill Tait. ‘Thewhole ship has undergonemassive changes.’

The project included a £5moverhaul of the accommodation,installation of new weaponry,navigation and communicationsequipment, and upgrades to firesafety systems, engines andmachinery. PICTURE: GRAHAM BRASSENDALE

STUDY WARNS OFORDERS IMPACTTHE WORLD fleet of dry bulk andgeneral cargo vessels is expectedto continue growing through2012, in spite of weak freightrates and general overcapacity oftonnage, a new report fromLloyd’s Register-FairplayResearch predicts.

While scrapping of existing

ships is starting to increase, itwill not be sufficient to offset themassive influx of new ships —resulting in a net growth oftonnage in most sectors of themarket, which includes dry bulkcarriers, general cargo ships,reefers and dry cargo barges.

But in spite of the currentovercapacity and depressedfreight rates, the report cites theunderlying strength of worlddemand for seaborne deliveries ofkey bulk commodities.

INTEREST in careers at sea isrunning at a high level, accord-ing to Clyde Marine, the UK’slargest maritime trainingprovider.

The Glasgow-based companysays it has dealt with a total of2,737 new applications fromschool leavers in the last 18months. Of the new applica-tions, 7.2% were received fromfemales — some 2% more thanthe industry average.

Operators and trainersattending Clyde Marine’s 19thconference in Glasgow heardthat a major recruitment cam-paign — including TV and radioadvertising — has helped to gen-erate increased interest in sea-

faring, with particular empha-sis on attracting engineeringcandidates.

Clyde Marine is currentlymanaging 887 trainees workingtowards their first deck, engi-neer or electro-technical OOWcertificate of competency — andthe number is expected to reach1,000 later this year.

But training supervisor KatyWomersley warned about thedifficulties of finding berths forsome trainees. The reasons forthis included suitability andberth management, sheexplained, and training man-agers were urged to consideroffering additional berths,where feasible.

Clyde Marine Training direc-tor Colin McMurray told themeeting about the developmentof the company’s trainee

extranet following a client sug-gestion at a previous confer-ence. ‘This advanced systemallows our sponsoring compa-

nies to log in from any remotelocation and access up-to-datedata about their trainees andtheir progress,’ he said.

An open session was held inwhich four current trainees atdifferent stages responded toquestions on their experiencesof life onboard, the importanceplaced on senior officers inassisting them in completingtheir training record books, andtheir aspirations.

The four trainees were: VickyGren, a deck trainee who issponsored by Wilhelmsen ShipManagement; Peter Abram, adeck trainee sponsored byChevron Manning Services;Gordon Bagwell, an engineertrainee sponsored by S.B.SMarine; and Matthew Lloyd, anengineer trainee sponsored byO+P Zodiac Maritime Agencies.

Officer trainees Vicky Gren, Peter Abram, Gordon Bagwell and Matthew Lloyd answer questions at the Clyde conference

‘Increased interest in MN careers’

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THE 14th China InternationalBoat Show, held in Shanghai lastmonth, underlined the growingimportance of the country to thelarge yacht business.

Ahead of the show, MarineDragon Consulting released fig-ures for 2008 showing bigincreases in the value of theChinese boating industry.

China has strengthened itsstrategic industrial and commer-cial partnerships with leading USyacht and equipment makers, andfigures show trade in this area roseby US$178m last year.

The network of marinas alongthe coastline of China keeps grow-ing, with 15 projects receivingapproval in 2008.

✪by MICHAEL HOWORTHCREW members on the 31m yachtDiamond Girl have become thelatest victims of gun crime in theCaribbean.

Four of the yacht’s crew wereheld up during an island tour theymade while sightseeing on theisland of St Lucia.

All four lost money and valu-ables to masked gunmen wieldingsawn-off shotguns, but werethemselves left unharmed.

The attack happened close tothe fishing village Anse La Raye.The gunmen did, however, show ahumanitarian streak — by return-ing to the captain the SIM cardfrom his mobile phone and to

another of the crew, the storagecard containing photographs onthe digital camera they stole.

Captain Mark Robinson, themaster of the US-flagged yacht,said: ‘There is no way that the per-petrators of this crime knew thatwe were crew from a yacht.

‘The crime took place well awayfrom any yachting centres ormarinas at a waterfall in the rain-forest. The crew were not wearinguniforms and, at the time of theincident, the yacht was berthed inRodney Bay Marina some 25miles by road away from the scene.This was, regrettably, anothertourist crime, not a specificallyyachting crime.’

MODERN luxury yachts dependon good communications — butmany could be simplified byreviewing existing service plansand pricing structures.

In the current lean economicclimate, e3 Systems — a companythat specialise in advanced yachtelectronics — is offering all exist-ing and potential clients a freeaudit of their communications.

Communication systems on ayacht have often evolved rather

than being strategically planned,it says, and could benefit frombeing consolidated and moreactively controlled and managed.

The company has devised adetailed questionnaire which canbe completed by the captain, man-ager or owner. Once the question-naire has been assessed, e3Systems will make recommenda-tions on how cost savings can bemade, or how systems can be man-aged in a more cost-effective way.

NAUTILUS UK officials GarryElliott and Steve Doran arepictured at the Union’s standat last month’s Antibes YachtShow, in the south of France.

Officials from the Unionwere among more than 140exhibitors at the prestigiousevent, which also attractedmore than 80 yachts.

Mr Elliott said attendanceat the show is a valuable partof the Union’s recruitmentand organising efforts. ‘Therewas a keen interest inNautilus, in particular fromcorporate bodies on theservices that we offer,’ hesaid.

‘We also were able to meetwith existing members,potential members and crewsat the back of their yachts.Concerns were raised by all inrelation to pendingregulations and the need toprotect both their certificatesand safety.’

Mr Elliott said that a

number of fresh approacheswere made via agencies andcorporate bodies during theevent, and these may formpart of a new strategy inrealising the large potential ofmembers that exists in thelarge yacht sector.

‘The possibility of aframework agreement wasraised on numerousoccasions by interestedparties,’ he added. ‘I also feelthat a framework agreementis largely overdue andindustrial support and servicedoes hold the key to spreadingthe word positively.’

Nautilus believes that theeconomic climate willunderline the importance ofthe membership benefits, MrElliott said, and theapplication of the MaritimeLabour Convention 2006 tothe large yacht sector will alsoincrease the need for dialogueand professional industrialrelations.

CHRIS Burden, Julian Cuzon and SophieChudziak are three naval architects partici-pating in QinetiQ graduate developmentscheme, who have been selected among thefinalists in the Superyacht Young Designerof the Year 2009 competition with a trulyinnovative trimaran design they havenamed Eurydice after the mythological seanymph.

Using the company’s own Paramarine

software product to optimise and extend theconcept into a fully analysed and balanceddesign, the yacht’s shape combines effi-ciency, comfort and elegance.

The philosophy of the design is driven bythese three themes and balances art withscience. The idea of a trimaran/monohullhybrid is inspired by the pursuit of a lowenvironmental impact yacht with largeusable deck areas while maintaining com-

fort and aesthetics to the highest possiblelevel.

The software programme used by theteam is the world’s only fully integrateddesign and analysis naval architecture prod-uct that can deal with the complexities ofboth military and civil ship and submarinedesign.

The overall winner will be announced atthe awards ceremony in London this month.

IN DAYS gone by, sailors who had roundedCape Horn were entitled to put one foot uponto the table after dinner and those who hadcrossed the Arctic Circle were entitled to putboth feet up.

With the intention of achieving both privi-leges, yacht broker Chris Cecil-Wright — fromEdmiston’s Monaco office — has set up anexpedition force called Two Feet on the Table.

Raising money for charity, the team of nineset out last month from Ice Station Barneo in aquest to reach the geographic North Pole byfoot.

Mr Cecil-Wright will be accompanied byteam members Doug Stoup, Jim Ratcliffe,Jeannot Joly, Henri Thurier, Sam Ratcliffe,

George Ratcliffe, Adam Carey and FredWadsworth.

On the way, they will be contending withtemperatures as low as minus 40 degrees centi-grade, broken ice pressure ridges as high ashouses and skiing whilst hauling their equip-ment in sledges.

Conditions can become so treacherous thatfrequently the daily ice-drift can see a wholeday’s northward gain wiped out while theysleep.

They will be raising money for TheAquaLung Trust — an organisation set up byNick Baker, a yacht broker with Camper andNicholsons International in London. In June2001, as a non-smoker, Mr Baker was some-

what surprised to learn he had lung cancer.After setting up the trust and raising over

£500,000, Mr Baker died in May 2008 — buthis fund continues to fire the imagination ofequally brave adventurers.

The AquaLung Trust helps fund cancerresearch and also to provide health care to vul-nerable people caught up in natural disasters,conflict, disease and health system collapse.

In addition, the trust funds programmespromoting understanding and toleranceamong young people of different backgrounds,faiths and cultures by means of challengingadventure programmes.

Donations can be made on the website:www.justgiving.com/Twofeetonthetable

BUSY TIMES FORYACHT CARRIERTHE SPECIALIST large yachtcarrier Dockwise YachtTransport says it is fighting offthe economic recession with ahigh number of recentmovements.

The DYT vessel Super Servant3, pictured left, recently carried32 power and sailing yachts,

worth some US$140m, from theUS and the Caribbean to Toulon.

In early March, SuperServant 4, departed from PortEverglades, heading to Palma deMallorca with another $140mworth of yachts.

‘It’s clear that our services,which once were a novelty, arenow integral to the economy ofan extensive global network ofmarine businesses anddevelopments,’ said DYTpresident Clemens van der Werf.

SUPER TERMINALIN BERMUDAPERFECTLY positioned on thecruising route between NorthAmerica, the Caribbean and theMediterranean, Bermuda is nowoffering the first new superyachtdocking facility in the islands.

The new Super Yacht Terminalcan accommodate yachts of100m-plus, either alongside or

stern-to, on a berth that is able tosupply yachts with duty-free fuel.

Secure dockage, a dockmaster and line handlers are nowavailable year-round in StGeorge, Bermuda.

Additional dockside servicesinclude: complimentary high-speed wifi, a crew recreation areaand a concierge service.

The superyacht terminal areais a short cobblestone stroll fromhistoric downtown St George,Bermuda’s oldest town.

Innovative trimaran prototype in the finalsof young superyacht designer competition

ANTIBES ATTENDANCE SPARKS‘KEEN INTEREST’ IN NAUTILUS

Edmiston broker aims to get bothfeet on the table in charity trek

Attack on yachtcrew in St Lucia

Free comms audits

China keeps growing

Ship’s maiden call to namesake port


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SHIPPING companies are threatening to bypassBritish ports if the government goes ahead with con-troversial plans for increases of up to 67% in UK lightdues.

Ministers say the rises — which could increase thecosts of a call for large containerships from £12,000to £20,000 — are needed to cover a £21m deficit inthe General Lighthouse Fund between this year and2010.

But owners and port groups have labelled theplanned new dues as ‘staggering’ and warn that theycould cause significant damage to the UK maritimesector, with some major operators — including cruisecompanies — talking of re-routeing their tonnage tocontinental ports.

Under the plans, the light dues levy wouldincrease from 35p to 41p per net registered ton, along

with an uplift in maximum chargeable tonnage from35,000 to 50,000 net registered tons, and anincrease in the maximum number of chargeable voy-ages from seven to nine.

The French shipping line CMA CGM said itsannual bill could rise by £1.5m, and the car carrierWallenius Wilhelmsen said it was facing a £300,000a year increase.

The Independent Light Dues Forum (IDLF) —which represents the owners and operators of morethan two-thirds of UK-flagged tonnage — said:‘Increases of this magnitude are almost unprece-dented and certainly have not been seen over the lasttwo decades. There is a significant risk that someships would divert to ports on the continent wherelighthouse costs are financed through public expen-diture.’

Michael Drayton, chairman of the maritimeorganisation One Voice, said light dues ‘are a signifi-cant cost and the increase creates a real danger of areduction of traffic to UK ports, significantly increas-ing the cost of our trade in both directions’.

In a letter to the shipping minister, he urged thegovernment to re-think the proposals and to come upwith different ways of tackling the deficit — includinga combination of cost reductions, the exploitation ofother sources of funding and the immediate endingof the annual subsidy to Ireland.

Opposition shipping spokesman Julian Brazierhas also urged the government to drop the plans —calling for the three existing general lighthouseauthorities to be merged into a single organisation,delivering cost and efficiency savings.

‘Any additional and unnecessary cost pressures at

this time could lead to lines missing out stops at UKports altogether,’ he added. ‘The City of London, asthe global centre for shipping, could also ultimatelybe affected.’

Mr Brazier said it was ‘absurd’ that the UK gov-ernment is continuing to subsidise Irish lights some80 years since the Irish Free State received its inde-pendence.

Mark Brownrigg, director-general of theChamber of Shipping, warned of potentially ‘disas-trous consequences’ if the dues increases go ahead,and said successive ministers had failed to act on apromise made in 2004 to end the Irish subsidy.

Port of London Authority chief executive RichardEveritt described the proposed increases as ‘crackers’and warned that they could spark a ‘downward spiral’in the UK maritime sector.

THE GLOBAL economic slump isstarting to fuel an increase in thenumber of stowaway cases, a lead-ing P&I club has warned.

A 60% increase in the numberof stowaway incidents during thepast year has been recorded by theStandard Club — reversing adecline over the previous fiveyears.

In an analysis of the problempublished last month, the clubsaid it had dealt with 982 claimsinvolving 2,051 stowaways since2000.

The club said the number ofstowaways involved in the 80cases it dealt with last year was 149— compared with 87 in the previ-ous year.

‘There is the beginning of anupward trend which bottomed

out in the years 2006-7,’ it added.‘This may continue to increaseowing to the recent economic tur-moil.’

In a bulletin to members, theStandard warned that the task ofpreventing stowaways from get-ting onboard is becoming harderin many areas, and the biggestthreat is in ports and terminalswhere the ISPS Code ‘is not beingimplemented with any vigour’.

Some 35% of cases occurred inwest Africa, 35% in South Africaand 15% in Columbia, whilstalmost half of all the stowawaysoriginated from west Africa.Around 45% of cases involvedcontainerships, 16% bulkers and11% car carriers.

‘Masters must ensure thatrobust counter-stowaway meas-

ures are implemented in allwest African ports,’ the clubadvised. ‘South African portsare also popular with stowawayswho come from countries likeTanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabweand Mozambique. Ports inColumbia and Venezuela are alsocause for concern as stowawaysattempt to enter the US.’

‘Shipowners should reviewtheir stowaway procedures andgive the resources to masters andcrew to prevent stowaways fromboarding,’ the club added. Theyshould ensure that crews areproperly trained, and provideinstructions and procedures toensure the ship can ‘provide adetermined deterrent stoppingstowaways from boarding and/orsailing with the ship’.

PICTURED right is the 974TEUcontainership BG Felixstowemaking its maiden call to itsnamesake port in March.

Owned and operated by BGFreight, the 8,246gt vessel hasbeen deployed on the ‘DublinExpress Link’ — a weeklyservice between the Port ofFelixstowe and Dublin. TheAntigua & Barbuda-flaggedvessel will provide additionalcapacity between Rotterdam,the UK and the Republic ofIreland.

Chris Lewis, CEO ofHutchison Ports UK,commented: ‘The new servicefurther enhances the range ofshortsea and feeder optionsavailable at Felixstowe.’

The Port of Felixstowe isalso part of a new weekly eastcoast coastal service —Feederlink — which offerstwice-weekly calls fromFelixstowe to Teesport, inaddition to calls atGrangemouth and SouthShields.

NAUTILUS has registered itsopposition to proposals to fur-ther delegate Maritime &Coastguard Agency radio sur-vey work to classification soci-eties.

In a response to a consulta-tion on a draft Marine GuidanceNote, the Union said it has con-sistently opposed delegation toclass — believing it to be a dero-

gation of responsibility by theflag state — and had reluctantlyaccepted the authorisation of asingle designated authority forthe conduct of radio surveys.

The response expresses theUnion’s opposition to any fur-ther delegation to class, andstresses the need for ‘authorisedpersons’ to be exclusive survey-ors employed directly by the

respective classification soci-eties.

Senior national secretaryAllan Graveson said it wasessential that the MCA alsoensures that it has the ability toeffectively monitor and auditsurveys carried out by classifica-tion societies and others itauthorises to carry out radiosurveys.

UK LIGHT DUES DISPUTEOperators threaten to divert ships if government goes ahead with proposed rises of up to 67%

Global slump ‘sparksstowaway increase’

Union opposes plans for furtherdelegation of radio survey work

DOLPHIN ARRIVALIN PORTSMOUTHPICTURED right is the arrival ofa new dolphin structure forPortsmouth’s Continental FerryPort on 19 March. The deliveryis part of a big project to improvepassenger and freight facilitiesin the port.

Work is currently underwayto extend Berths 3 and 4 to

handle larger ships, such as theferries Pont-Aven and NormanVoyager, which now regularlyuse the port.

Work is also underway toreplace the 1976-builtpassenger terminal with a newbuilding. The replacementterminal is expected to cost£15m and will be fullyoperational for the start of the2011 season.

REPORT & PICTURE:

GARY DAVIES/MARITIME PHOTOGRAPHIC

UNION WELCOMESTRIBUNAL RULESNAUTILUS has welcomed a newstreamlined process for resolvingdisciplinary and grievance issues,which came into effect lastmonth.

The government says thechanges to the employmentlegislation are intended to reducethe number of people going to

employment tribunals and tosimplify the systems for dealingwith workplace disputes.

Charles Boyle, director ofNautilus legal services, said thenew rules should simplify mattersand were welcomed.

‘It is hoped that the newsystem brought in by theEmployment Act 2008 will bringin flexibility, with an incentive tocontinue to resolve disputeswithin the workplace beforeresorting to a tribunal,’ he added.

Wight masters present award toCarisbrooke Shipping trainee

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OFFICER training past andpresent was discussed whenNautilus member Orry Crewswas presented with theMerchant Mariners of Wight(MMW) Tony McGinnityAward for 2009.

Prior to the presentation,MMW member Capt HedleyKett DSC, RD, RNR spoke ofhis own cadetship — whichcommenced 80 years ago in1929! — and comparednavigation then and now.

Orry delivered anillustrated presentation on acadet’s life at sea in the 21stcentury, which wasintroduced by MMW memberCapt Jill Kernick, a seniorlecturer at Warsash MaritimeAcademy and one of theselection panel for the award.

Orry grew up in Cowes,where he developed his loveof the sea. His first maritimejob was as a Cowes Harbouroperative before becomingcoxswain on an ABP pilotlaunch at Portsmouth, where— seeing the large shipscoming and going — he gotthe urge to ‘go deepsea’.

After some research, Orrywas fortunate to obtainsponsorship withCarisbrooke Shipping, and isnow in the second year of hisapprenticeship and studyingat Warsash MaritimeAcademy.

The first two sea phases ofOrry’s training involved two

two-month voyages on shipssailing to and from SouthAmerica. The third sea phasewas to join the CarisbrookeShipping vessel Natacha C inSouth America, involving twotransits of the Panama Canaland loading and dischargingvaried cargoes at severalports on the east coast ofSouth America.

He told how the muchsmaller crews employed onmodern ships (only 11 intotal on his last ship) meant

that ‘all hands’ had to worktogether — the motormanand cook could findthemselves ‘turned to’ onarrival and departure fromport. Small vessels gave amore ‘hands-on’ training inship-handling and, under themaster’s supervision, Orryoften found himself carryingout much of the enginecontrol and steering of theship during berthingmanoeuvres.Orry praised Carisbrooke

Shipping for its support in histraining; unlike many othercompanies, Carisbrooke iswilling to offer employmentand a career to cadetsfollowing qualification.

Pictured above, left toright, at the presentation areVincent Powell — runner-upfor this year’s award, Capt JillKernick, Capt Hedley Kett,Orry Crews, Peter Hedley(MMW chairman) andGeorgie Hibberd, MrMcGinnity’s partner.

MAIB WARNS ONBRIDGE MANNINGTHE MARINE AccidentInvestigation Branch has urged aNorwegian shipping company toreview its bridge manning levelrequirements following a contactincident on the river Cylde.

The 9,125dwt bulk carrierMornes suffered structuraldamage after striking a concrete

dolphin whilst leavingHunterston jetty in March.

An MAIB preliminaryinvestigation found that themaster, who was alone on thebridge, had instructed themooring parties to let go the headand stern lines before he hadcontrol of the propulsion systemson the bridge.

The MAIB has written to theowner, Erik Thun AB, expressingconcern that the master wasalone on the bridge at the time.

CREWING FEARS RECEDESurvey shows ship owners and operators are now more worried about finance and fuel costs SHIPPING industry concerns over skillshortages have receded in the face of theglobal economic downturn, a new surveyhas revealed.

The annual Shipping ConfidenceSurvey published by the maritimeaccountancy and consultancy firm MooreStephens shows that overall confidencelevels among owners, managers, charter-ers and brokers have slumped by some20% over the past year.

It also uncovers a significant shift overthe past 12 months in the factors that theindustry considers most critical for busi-ness performance.

Last year, ship operating costs, crewsupply and tonnage supply were cited asthe three most influential issues. In thelatest survey, demand trends (27%), the

cost and availability of finance (21%), andcompetition (20%) were named as the topthree factors.

Crew supply — which was the secondbiggest area of concern a year ago — isnow the seventh-placed business per-formance issue, overtaken by factors suchas tonnage supply, fuel prices and operat-ing costs.

But despite the marked downturn inaverage confidence levels, the survey diduncover some grounds for optimism —with a number of industry executives sug-gesting that the situation is likely toimprove over the coming 12 months.

Comments included: ‘As owners wehave already touched the bottom, and Idon’t believe we can go any lower’; ‘Assoon as the financial markets stabilise, the

shipping markets will be the first torespond’; ‘There are clear signs that tradeand shipping are picking up in some partsof the world’; and ‘We are quite confidentthat there will continue to be good busi-ness opportunities in the months ahead,and perhaps this is a good time to enterthe market from the point of view ofinvestment.’

Some operators suggested the biggestproblems could come in the next six tonine months — warning of a ‘dominoeffect’ as companies go bust.

Although some respondents sug-gested that the slump would force a lot ofsubstandard operators out of the market,others were worried about ‘unhealthycompetition in all sectors, because every-body is looking for cashflow’.

However, there were signs that manywithin the industry believe the shippingrates slump has bottomed out.

The number of respondents expectingfinance costs to rise fell from 60% to 47%.The number who anticipate an increase isdry bulk rates is up from 35% in Octoberlast year to 46% in February this year,whilst the number expecting tanker ratesto fall has dropped from 52% to 42% overthe same period.

More than one-third of respondentssaid they expected containership rates tobe lower in 12 months’ time, comparedwith 50% last year, while the number antic-ipating higher rates rose from 20 to 23%.

Moore Stephens shipping partnerRichard Greiner commented: ‘Givenwhat has been happening in the world

economy, the fall in confidence levels wasto be expected.

‘Perhaps the real surprise is that confi-dence levels have not fallen by even more.The fact that they haven’t is doubtless dueto the fact that shipping is historically aresilient and resourceful industry, andbecause, even in a depressed world econ-omy, there is still sufficient demand forglobal trade which can only be trans-ported by sea.

‘Shipping is a cyclical industry, and thecurrent slump in rates is all the morekeenly felt now because it comes on theheels of a prolonged period of buoyancy,’he added.

‘Those who ride — and survive — thecycle will, as always, be those who are bestprepared to do so,’ Mr Greiner stressed.

‘Seafarer safety net’hailed by IMO leader

NAFC WINNER ONCOURSE CHANGEALAN MOODY, a student at theNAFC Marine Centre inShetland, is pictured left beingpresented with an engravedtrophy for receiving the highestmark in the Class 1 FishingNavigation exam.

Presently working for SolentTowage in Southampton, Mr

Moody was unable to attend theannual prize giving held inDecember 2008 as he was atsea. But he has now returned toShetland to undertake theOfficer of the Watch conversioncourse, with a view to joining theMerchant Navy.

‘I’m extremely honoured towin this award,’ he said. ‘Out ofall the colleges I’ve attended,studying at the NAFC has beenthe most productive in helpingme achieve my goals.’

INTERNATIONAL MaritimeOrganisation leader EfthimiosMitropoulos has welcomed therecent agreement on a global‘safety net’ system to protect aban-doned or injured seafarers.

He said the joint IMO-ILOagreement on the provision offinancial security for claims fordeath, personal injury and aban-donment of seafarers has rightlybeen described as ‘historic’.

The IMO secretary-generalsaid the measures — which arelikely to be adopted as amend-ments to the 2006 MaritimeLabour Convention — should helpefforts to boost the recruitmentand retention of seafarers.

But, Mr Mitropoulos warned,the industry’s continued ability torecruit and retain is being threat-

ened by the unfair treatment ofseafarers in many parts of theworld.

‘In this context, it is worryingthat, in certain prominentlyreported cases, criminal sanctionshave been applied against seafar-ers following maritime accidents— especially when no criminalintent or even negligence hadbeen proven,’ he added.

Mr Mitropoulos urged theIMO’s legal committee last monthto consider what further measurescould be implemented to safe-guard seafarers’ basic humanrights.

He said countries should alsobe encouraged to comply with theinternational guidelines on thefair treatment of seafarers follow-ing maritime incidents.

Four RFA ships take part insix-month RN task force


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NAUTILUS has voiced concern at a freshcase revealing shortcomings in theMaritime & Coastguard Agency’s surveyand inspection work.

A Marine Accident InvestigationBranch report on a case last year in whichthree seafarers died during a fishing ves-sel fire concludes that the incident mighthave been prevented had the MCA spot-ted that the vessel’s intermediate surveywas overdue.

Filipino crew members RamilitoCalipayan and Benjamin Potot, andLatvian Rimants Venckus were killed on 1August last year when fire broke out andthick black smoke spread through theaccommodation areas onboard the UK-flagged trawler Vision II in the port ofFraserburgh.

The MAIB said the most likely cause ofthe blaze was an electric fan heater in thegalley, but investigators concluded that anon-extinguished cigarette could alsohave been to blame.

The report on the incident raises par-ticular concern about the significantexpansion over the past decade in the

numbers of foreign crews working on UKfishing boats.

At the time of the accident, the MAIBestimates that there were some 200 for-eign seafarers serving on fishing vesselsbased in Fraserburgh and Peterhead.

The report notes the consequentialincrease in the numbers of foreign crew‘in semi-permanent residence’ onboardvessels in UK ports.

‘Current regulation and designrequirements for fishing vessels have notadapted to the increased use of vesselsalongside as a place of accommodation,’ itadds. ‘There is therefore a need for a “newapproach” toward fishing vessel regula-tion, applicable to those vessels employ-ing crew who will be expected to liveonboard in port.’

The MAIB said it had recorded 26crew deaths since 1999 while fishing ves-sels were secured alongside in port. Fireaccounted for five fatalities, carbonmonoxide poisoning three and 21 werethe result of falling overboard.

Investigators said they found that a firedoor onboard the Vision II had been held

open with a hook and a self-closing mech-anism disabled, in contravention of safetyregulations, which led to an oxygen flowthat caused the flames to spread rapidlythrough the vessel.

A piece of scaffolding had been used tolock one of the doors, and an emergencyescape hatch from the main cabin wasfound to have been wedged shut.

Investigators also discovered that asmoke alarm, which should have had twosources of power, had been turned off —probably when the crew switched fromonboard batteries to an on-shore powersupply.

None of the crew had undertaken thefishing industry’s mandatory basic safetyawareness course and no routine safetydrills had been conducted.

The MAIB found that there was norecord of annual verification checks hav-ing been conducted by the skipper or arepresentative onboard the vessel, andthat an intermediate inspection had notbeen carried out by the MCA within theDecember 2007 deadline.

Had the intermediate inspection

taken place, the report added, it couldhave identified some of the safety short-comings and revealed the lack of annualself-certification checks, the failure toconduct routine safety drills, and theabsence of formal written risk assess-ments onboard.

The MCA said it had reviewed thesafety issues associated with crews livingonboard fishing vessels in port inresponse to the incident, and had alsoimplemented a regime of targeted inspec-tions. But the MAIB report calls for theMCA to broaden its review — and, as aminimum, examine: the impact of secu-rity arrangements on emergency accessand egress; provision of fire, flood, gasand other detection and alarm systems;limitations of operating on shore powerand the requirement and procedures forreverting to ship’s power in an emergency;emergency training drills; and safe accessrequirements to and from the vessel.

Nautilus senior national secretaryAllan Graveson said the report raisedworrying questions about the MCA’s per-formance. ‘It is little wonder that the fish-

ing industry is 115 times more dangerousthan the average shore-based industrywhen the regulatory authority is failing toact diligently in exercising its functions,’he added.

Mr Graveson said there had been anumber of other cases showing shortcom-ings in the MCA’s survey and certificationof fishing vessels. ‘There is a clear need fora more structured policy approach in thisarea, and significantly more staff andresources to meet the demands for greaterconsistency in enforcement,’ he argued.

International Transport Workers’Federation coordinator Norrie McVicarwelcomed the report. ‘We’re delightedthat the findings back our call at the timeof the fire for a wider investigation intoconditions for foreign workers in theScottish fishing industry,’ he added.

‘We utterly endorse the MAIB’s call forthe MCA to take an urgent and muchwider look at what is going on in ourwaters today. These are working boats,not living quarters. If the vessels aren’t fitfor their purpose, then the crews shouldbe housed ashore.’

FRESH CONCERN OVER MCA‘Fatal fire might have been prevented if Agency had spotted vessel’s survey was overdue’ — MAIB

FOUR Royal Fleet Auxiliaryships are taking part in thelargest UK task forcedeployment to the Far East inmore than a decade.

Eleven RFA and RN ships inthe six-month Taurus 09deployment, led by the flagshipHMS Bulwark, are picturedright.

The task force left the UK inFebruary and is expected toreturn in August aftercompleting a 20,400 mileround-trip.

RFA vessels involved in thetwo-phase operation — which isdesigned to exercise the abilityto deploy globally — includeMounts Bay, Lyme Bay, FortAustin and Wave Ruler.

As well as carrying outamphibious training, the taskgroup is being made availablefor a range of potentialmaritime security missions —such as counter-piracyoperations, deliveringhumanitarian aid and disasterrelief.

COMPENSATION of S750,000 has beenagreed for the family of a Polish officer whowas killed when a mooring cable brokeonboard the Norfolkline ferry DublinViking in August 2007.

The payment to the family of second offi-cer Patrycjusz (Patrick) Zawadowicz wasagreed in a High Court settlement, securedwith the assistance of the InternationalTransport Workers’ Federation.

Mr Zawadowicz — who left a wife anddaughter, who was born shortly after hedied — was struck by a stern mooring line asthe 21,856gt UK-flagged ferry was prepar-

ing to leave Dublin. Both his legs were bro-ken and the left leg was almost severed. Hedied in hospital six days later.

Accident investigators found that MrZawadowicz had to stand in ‘snap-back’zones near the fairleads whilst supervisingthe casting off operations so that he couldrelay orders to line handlers ashore anddeck crew. The Marine AccidentInvestigation Branch found that the moor-ing line’s breaking load had reduced from60 to 35 tonnes, largely as a result of expo-sure to sunlight.

It also discovered that the operator of the

stern line winch had heaved in the lineinstead of paying out slack. The winchequipment operated in the opposite direc-tions to those indicated on the controlsbecause power supplies had been reversed.Although the operator was aware of this, thereport found that he was distracted and hadprobably been affected by stress and fatigue.

ITF inspector Ken Fleming said theMAIB report demonstrated ‘a litany oferrors’ and ‘that even ships operated byleading shipping companies can be danger-ous places if proper procedures are notobserved’.

Settlement agreed for family of ferryofficer killed by broken mooring line

FIRST LNG CARGOFOR SOUTH HOOKTHE 136,410gt LNG carrierTembek is pictured leftdelivering the first cargo to thenew South Hook marineterminal at the Welsh port ofMilford Haven.

The Marshall Islands-flaggedvessel discharged a cargo ofmore than 210,000 cu m of LNG

from Qatar as part of theberthing and commissioningprocess for the new facility.

A second LNG terminal at theport — the Dragon — is due tobe commissioned within the nextfew months. The two sites willhave the capacity to supplyaround 25% of UK gas demand.

Tembek, which was deliveredfrom Samsung shipyard inNovember 2007, is one of sevensister ships of the Q-flex design.Each has cost $235m to build.

PRAISE FOR COOLTALL SHIP’S CREWEMERGENCY services havepraised the professionalism ofcrew members serving on theJubilee Sailing Trust square riggerTenacious following a medicalalert last month.

Tenacious was in the Irish Seaen route from Cork to GranCanaria when one of the

volunteer crew members onboardcomplained of feeling unwell.

An RAF helicopter wasscrambled from the Culdrose airstation in Cornwall, winched theman onboard and airlifted him tothe North Devon DistrictHospital.

The helicopter crew praisedthe professionalism of the crewunder Captain John Etheridge,whose efforts ensured a speedyevacuation was carried out fromthe deck of the tall ship.

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NAUTILUS is calling for a newcode to govern shipping opera-tions in polar waters following thepublication of a report on the lossof a cruiseship in the Antarctic in2007.

The Liberian Registry investi-gation into the sinking of the2,398gt Explorer off the SouthShetland Islands concludes thatthe prime cause of the casualtywas the master’s mistaken inter-pretation of the nature of the ice inthe area the ship was entering.

The Swedish-owned ship sankon 23 November 2007 whilst onan 18-day cruise from Argentinainto Antarctica. All 54 crew and100 passengers abandoned theship without loss of life or majorinjury and were rescued by theNorwegian vessel Nordnorge.

The ship suffered rapid flood-ing after it struck what crewdescribed as ‘a wall of ice’ and sus-tained a 3.1m hole in the hull.

Investigators said theExplorer’s Swedish master — whohad more than 25 years of experi-ence working on ships operatingin ice — had been ‘under the mis-taken impression that he wasencountering first-year ice whenin fact ...it was much harder landice’.

The report says that while themaster was familiar with ice inthe Baltic, he was unfamiliar withthe type of ice encountered inthe Antarctic. ‘The master shouldhave altered course to open waterand not have entered the ice

field during darkness,’ it adds.‘However, once he had entered theice field and approached the wallof ice there is no indication that hereduced the Explorer’s speed as heapproached and then made con-tact with the wall of ice.’

It recommends that adminis-trative action should be takenagainst the master’s certificate ofcompetency ‘in view of the lack ofknowledge which contributed tothe cause of the casualty’.

And it also calls for the IMO toestablish competency trainingrequirements for ice navigation –arguing that the incident may nothave occurred had the Explorer’smaster been trained for ice condi-tions in the region.

However, the report praises thecrew for their ‘heroic efforts’ toprevent loss of life. Engineers had‘demonstrated ingenuity andbravery’ in their work to keeppower going while the evacuationtook place, and in doing so hadhelped to save lives, it points out.

But the report also warns:‘Although the rescue of the pas-sengers was successful due to theactions of the crew and because offavourable weather conditions,the outcome may have been differ-ent under different circumstancesand there are lessons to be learnedfrom the accident.’

It highlights a number of prob-lems, including the failure to startthree of the four lifeboat engines,passengers not being adequatelyprepared for the evacuation, and

the failure of crew to follow aban-don ship procedures.

Investigators were unable todetermine the extent of the roleplayed by the diminution of shellplating on the 1969-built vesselbecause records dating back toconstruction were not available.

The report recommends thatthe Explorer’s classification soci-ety, DNV, should revise its proce-dures to ensure that gaugingrecords are maintained and avail-

able throughout the life of any ves-sel, and also revise its minimumrequirements for deck and shellplating thickness for all ice-classvessels.

It also calls for DNV to reviewits survey procedures — focusingon the lessons learned from theinvestigation — so that surveyorsreview flooding boundaries todetermine if vessel systems andcomponents, such as the sewagesystem and down-flooding ducts,

can compromise the vessel’swatertight boundary in the eventof damage and flooding.

The report also urges theExplorer’s operator, GAP Ship-ping, to review its abandon shipand crowd control procedures,and drilling and training in con-nection with lifeboat engines.

The Liberian administration isto undertake another review todetermine whether some of theIMO guidelines, circulars and res-

olutions — such as those relatingto vessels operating in Antarcticand Arctic waters, minimum safemanning, float-free or quick-release VDR installation — shouldbe made mandatory.

Nautilus senior national secre-tary Allan Graveson said the casehighlighted important safetyissues, including training andexperience for seafarers servingon ships operating in theAntarctic and Arctic.

‘It also demonstrates the ur-gent need for a new polar code togovern the operations of vessels insuch areas, to ensure that they arefit for purpose and that the gradeand thickness of steel is appropri-ate for the conditions,’ he added.

‘Watertight integrity alsoneeds to be such that any floodingis minimised in the event of abreach of the hull,’ Mr Gravesonstressed. ‘The existing standardsremain inadequate across all ves-sel types.’

Steve Wellmeier, executivedirector of The InternationalAssociation of Antarctica TourOperators (IAATO), said hismembers had taken a numberof measures in response to theExplorer’s loss. ‘We understandand share the concern thathas arisen from this and otherrecent ship-related incidents inAntarctica,’ he added. ‘However,the overall safety record and envi-ronmental stewardship of ship-based tourism over the past 40years is very good.’

POLAR CODE IS ‘VITAL’Antarctic loss report shows need for improved controls over shipping in ice regions, says Union

The passengership Explorer sinks in the Antarctic after hitting a ‘wall of ice’ in November 2007 PICTURE: REUTERS

THE SLUMP in world shipping seems tobe improving the industry’s safetyrecord, marine insurers have suggested.

Figures released by the InternationalUnion of Marine Insurance last monthindicate that total losses last year fell byaround 10% from 2007.

Total tonnage lost was down by almosta quarter over the same period.

Cédric Charpentier, chairman ofIUMI’s ‘facts and figures’ committee,said there are grounds for cautious opti-mism — with the reduced loss rate con-trasting with significant expansion of theworld fleet throughout much of 2008.

IUMI said it had recorded a total of 74

ship losses last year, totalling some372,000gt, and against 82 vessels at thesame time last year. It forecasts that thefigure will eventually rise to 95 ships of470,000gt as more losses are confirmedin the next few months.

If the predictions are correct, the vol-ume of tonnage lost in 2008 could be thesecond lowest total over the past 28years.

The insurers said there were similarsigns of a fall in serious or partial losses— with the total of 748 down by 18% fromthe previous year.

IUMI believes the final figure will bearound 800, which compares with what

it described as a ‘staggering’ 975 in 2007,and against 725 in 2006, 515 in 2005 andjust 247 in 1998.

Whilst weather was the main cause oftotal losses (42%), machinery damagewas the most common cause of majorserious losses (35%-plus of the number ofincidents during the past five years), fol-lowed by collisions (26%) and ground-ings (22%).

IUMI president Deirdre Littlefieldsaid it appears that the 2008 loss figures‘may be helpfully spiked by the greatlyreduced number of ships in service and,at last, an increasing amount of old ton-nage heading to the breakers’ yards’.

She also noted ‘encouraging pointersthat the safety culture is taking firm root’in the shipping industry.

Despite this, Ms Littlefield warned,there is a need for caution in the currentclimate — and insurers are concernedthat ‘catastrophic consequences’ couldresult from ill-advised cutbacks.

‘Ship operators are being buffetedfrom all sides in the growing economiccrisis,’ she pointed out. ‘But to cut cor-ners on maintenance or training can onlyhave one result in the long term: morecasualties, higher claims on insurers,and higher premium and deductible lev-els for shipowners.’

Slump in world fleet has helped toimprove safety, insurers suggest

NAPOLI REMOVALWORK CONTINUESWORK on removing the stern sectionof the containership MSC Napolifrom the Devon coast has reached itssecond milestone, pictured right.

Following a successful test, theproject team — led by the Dutch firmGlobal Response Maritime — hascompleted positioning all 12 liftingchains under the wreck.

The 12 chains were put in place inless than three weeks with the firstsuccessful, totally subsea, use of arevolutionary subsea drilling systemin an offshore wreck removal.

With all lifting chains in position,the main operational phase is set toget under way early this month.When the stern section is brought tothe surface, wreck sections of around100 tonnes each will be cut untiltotal weight is reduced to around1,200 tonnes and a decision will bemade on final removal and disposal.

ENGINE FAILURES ‘ON THE RISE’TANKER owners have expressed concern after revealingthat incidents involving main engine failure have more thandoubled over the past five years.

Peter Swift, MD of the independent tanker owners’organisation Intertanko, said the increase is likely to belinked to ships and seafarers being worked harder. Otherissues — including fuel quality and the standards ofcomponents — are also thought to lie behind the problem.

Intertanko said it is looking at inter-industry workshops— including manufacturers and bunker suppliers — to findways of reversing the increase.

Stack collapse led to loss of 31 boxes in a minute


health and safety

FATIGUE BLAMED INGROUNDING CASE

A CONTAINERSHIP lost more than 30boxes off the Australian coast within thespace of a minute, investigators havefound.

A major counter-pollution operation hadto be mounted when two bunker tanks onthe Hong Kong-flagged Pacific Adventurer,right, were holed as the containers wereswept overboard in adverse conditions offQueensland in March.

A preliminary report published by theAustralian Transport Safety Bureau last

month describes how the Swire Navigationvessel began to roll violently in force eightwinds and 8m swells during a voyagebetween Newcastle and Brisbane.

A container stack was seen to collapsewhen the ship rolled by as much as 40degrees, causing 31 containers to fall fromboth sides of the ship.

Around 270 tonnes of fuel oil was lostfrom the ship as a result of the bunkertanks being holed.

The ATSB said the ship had

implemented risk assessment proceduresbefore sailing, and the cargo had beenlashed in accordance with the chiefofficer’s lashing plan.

However, it added, the investigation willcontinue and will focus on issues includingthe adequacy and condition of the lashingequipment, the departure loadingcondition and the associated ship stability,the actions of the crew during the voyage,and the safety management and riskassessment systems.

OFFICER fatigue and a failure tomake proper use of electroniccharts and display systems havebeen blamed for an accident inwhich a German containershipran aground in the Dover Straitslast year.

Nautilus UK has raised con-cerns over the case of the 90,499gtLT Cortesia, which was strandedon the Varne Bank sandbank lastJanuary after the officer of thewatch altered course to avoid whathe had mistakenly assumed to befishing vessels.

A report from the Germanaccident investigation body BSUcriticises the ‘incomprehensible’failure of the German officer andhis lookout to recognise the Varnelightship and the two cardinalbuoys.

A joint probe by the BSU andthe UK Marine AccidentInvestigation Branch found thatthe OOW had taken an evasivemanoeuvre that took the6,170TEU ship between the twobuoys after they were interpretedas moving fishing vessels.

The 53-page report says thatup to 20 different acoustic alarmshad gone off as the shipapproached the sandbank andgrounded — but the 58-year-oldchief officer had assumed thesewere related to a problem with theengine system.

Investigators said the confu-sion over the buoys would nothave occurred had the officertaken ‘the necessary care andattention’.

And the report says it was‘astounding’ that neither the offi-cer nor the lookout had spotted

and identified the buoys beforethe grounding.

It criticises the crew’s ‘inade-quate voyage management systemskills — particularly in relation tothe depth contours, the chartalarms and the depth settings’.

Accusing the officer of miscon-duct, the report says he failed toexercise due diligence in inter-preting the chart display. Had hechosen a better night display, or atwo-colour display in conjunctionwith a better setting of the safetycontour, the incident might havebeen avoided.

The 57-year-old officer hadrelied too much on the electronic

charts and display system andnavigated ‘solely according to thecomputer’, the report states. ‘Achief officer with such extensiveprofessional experience musthave been able to foresee that suchaction entails extreme risks.’

However, investigators notedthat the officer was probably suf-fering from fatigue at the time —even though he had joined the ves-sel only six days earlier. His work-ing hours in two of the days beforethe accident ‘significantly exceed-ed’ the maximum limits, thereport adds, as they totalled up to18 hours in a 24-hour period.

He had also worked a total of

76.5 hours over the week — andthe report concludes that therewere ‘legitimate indications’ theofficer was ‘overtired’ at the time ofthe incident, and that fatigue wasthe reason why had had failed tonotice the ship had run aground.

Recommendations include acall for better training in voyagemanagement systems — and inparticular the varied deviceparameters and settings, and dif-fering electronic chart system-sta-tus information.

The report also urges Germanflag ship operators to ensure thatseafarers’ work and rest time lim-its are abided by. ‘If necessary,arrangements are to be made torelieve the chief officer by anotherwork organisation — particularlyin the case of coastal trading,’ itadds.

It says the InternationalMaritime Organisation shouldintroduce compulsory trainingrequirements related to ECDIScarriage requirements — in par-ticular for planning, conductingand monitoring voyages.

Nautilus senior national secre-tary Allan Graveson said the casedemonstrated the way in whichfatigue can rapidly affect seafar-ers, and underlined the impor-tance of the new EuropeanUnion-backed research into howthe problem affects performanceand decision-making.

‘The report also delivers apretty damning indictment on theindustry for its failure to integratethe human element — trainingand education — with the equip-ment fitted onboard ships,’ headded.

‘Near-miss’ yachtpassed within 3mof Danish ferryGERMAN maritime investiga-tors have reported on an inci-dent in which a collisionbetween a sailing yacht and aferry was very narrowly averted.

The incident — reported bythe BSU, Germany’s federalbureau of maritime casualtyinvestigation — highlights simi-lar concerns to those raised bythe Union in the case of theOuzo, the yacht whose threecrew drowned off the Isle ofWight in 2006.

The latest incident occurredon 3 May 2008 after the trainingyacht Intention IV left its moor-ing in the Baltic resort ofWarnemünde in NE Germany.The skipper and four traineesfor the coastal skipper certifi-cate were aboard.

Soon after casting off, visibil-ity rapidly worsened because ofthick fog. ‘The crew suddenlyheard a fog signal very close on

the port side,’ the BSU reportstates.

The skipper managed tomanouevre the yacht out ofdanger, but it was estimated tohave passed within 3m of theDanish-flagged ferry KronsprinsFrederik. Later, Intention IVwas involved in a further nearcollision — this time withanother yacht.

The report concludes thatIntention IV was in command ofan experienced skipper, but thatelectronic aids and the VHFradio were not used sufficiently,given the decreased visibility.

In the Ouzo case, the watch-keeping officer from the P&Oferry Pride of Bilbao was triedand cleared on manslaughtercharges, but the incident height-ened fears in the industry aboutthe number of close encountersbetween merchant vessels andleisure craft.

Channel incident highlights shortfalls in training, Union argues

The German-flagged containership LT Cortesia aground on the Varne Bank inJanuary last year PICTURE: MCA

SAR ADVANCE FOR AFRICATHE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organisation haswelcomed a major advance in the standards ofsearch and rescue cover off the east coast of Africa.

IMO secretary-general Efthimios Mitropouloshas commissioned two new SAR sub-centres — inDar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Victoria, Seychelles— which will operate in conjunction with theMRCC in the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

He said the new centres would play animportant role in strengthening safety, security andenvironmental protection in the Indian Ocean.

‘GREEN’ FEATURES FORNEW UK-FLAG BOXSHIPPICTURED left is the new UK-flaggedcontainership CMA CGM Andromeda –claimed by its owners to be the world’s firstboxship to be fitted with a ‘state-of-the-artfast oil recovery system’ designed toprevent marine pollution.

Built in South Korea, the 11,400TEUvessel utilises the system originallydesigned for tankers, in which pipes are

strategically located to enable the rapidrecovery of oil from a ship’s tanks followingan incident without having to make a hole inthe hull.

The 131,332gt Andromeda alsoincludes a number of other special ‘green’features, including an electronicallycontrolled engine which is said to cut fueland lubricants consumption by as much as25%, a ‘pre-swirl’ fixed blade stator systemand a ‘twisted leading edge rudder’ toimprove hydrodynamic qualities, andonboard equipment to enable the use ofshore power while at berth.


international news

briefly...Finnlines shake-up: the Italian shipping company Grimaldiis to shake up the Helsinki-based ferry firm Finnlines in acost-cutting move that will reduce its workforce. Grimaldi,which took a majority shareholding in Finnlines in 2007, saidit had been chartering expensive tonnage while demand wasfalling and operating the wrong ships on the wrong routes.Ships will be repositioned and jobs lost in a bid to reduce costs.Talks are underway with the unions.

Pay strike: seafarers serving on the flag of conveniencegeneral cargoship OMG Gatchina went on strike in the Frenchport of La Rochelle in a bid to secure unpaid wages worthsome £120,000. Following intervention by a local ITFinspector, the crew were repatriated with some of theirsalaries paid, while the ship — owned by the Vyborg ShippingCompany was seized by the port authorities for unpaid bills.

Hapag cuts: Hapag-Lloyd — the world’s sixth-largestcontainer line — has frozen recruitment and slashed itsspending in a big cost-cutting and restructuring programmethat will save it $360m this year. The company says it hopes toavoid job losses with measures such as returning charteredtonnage and renegotiating charter contracts and those withterminal operators.

African rescue: the German-owned containership Dorianrescued 75 passengers and crew from the sinking Comoro-registered vessel Ile d’Anjouan off the coast of Tanzania lastmonth. A crewman on the 1,524TEU Liberian-flagged shipwas killed during the rescue operations, which took place inadverse sea conditions.

Recruitment campaign: the French navy has launched one ofthe biggest recruitment campaigns in its history in a bid toattract 3,500 young people to fill officer and rating positions.Aimed at 15 to 24 year-olds, the campaign has the tagline ‘ittakes ordinary people to do extraordinary things’.

Biggest boxship: Daewoo Shipbuilding in South Korea hasdelivered what is claimed to be the world’s largest containership. The 14,000TEU MSC Denit — which is 365.5m loa —takes the title from the 12,500TEU Emma Maersk.

$2.5m PENALTYFOR OIL DUMPINGA SPANISH ship operator hasbeen fined US$2.5m in the latest‘magic pipe’ dumping case.

The penalty was imposed onMadrid-based Consultores deNavegacion — operator of the43,538dwt tanker Nautilus —after it admitted chargesincluding conspiracy, falsification

of records, false statements,obstruction, and failing tomaintain an accurate oil recordbook.

The US district court in Bostonheard that a US Coast Guardinvestigation had discovered thatengineering staff on the Cyprus-flag tanker had rigged up abypass around the oily wasteseparator and used it to dumpoil-contaminated bilge wateroverboard between June 2007and March 2008.

NEW SHIP JOINSTHE AIDA FLEETPICTURED right arriving in theFrench port of Le Havre on itsmaiden voyage is the newGerman-managed cruiseshipAIDAluna.

Built by Meyer Werft inGermany, the 69,200gt Italianflagged vessel brings the size ofthe AIDA fleet to six ships. The

company has three othervessels, each of 2,174passenger capacity, due to bedelivered over the next threeyears.

Costing some M315m,AIDAluna can carry some 2,100passengers and 634 crew and isthe third in a series of six.

The ship will operate a seriesof cruises in the Baltic over thesummer, before transferring tothe Canary Islands in September.

PICTURE: ERIC HOURI

THE NEW Zealand MerchantService Guild has voiced concernabout an appeal court judgementruling that chief officers can beclassed as masters while havingthe con of a ship.

The union said it is disturbedby the ‘grey area’ created by thecourt’s decision last month touphold an appeal against a HighCourt judgement involving thefirst mate of the Cook Strait ferrySanta Regina.

In what was seen as a prece-dent-setting case, David Birchallhad been cleared of a conviction offailing to report an incident to theauthorities as soon as possible —on the grounds that he was notmaster of the vessel at the time thevessel nearly ran aground in June2005.

But the regulatory authorityMaritime New Zealand appealedagainst the High Court ruling —and the latest judgement backs itscontention that Mr Birchall fell

within the legal definition of mas-ter whilst Captain SteveHoedemaecker was asleep in hiscabin.

The appeal court argued thatMr Birchall was the person ‘hav-ing command or charge’ of theSanta Regina at the relevant time— which included the responsibil-ity to comply with the incidentreporting rules.

‘We don’t agree with this deci-sion and its “functional” approach,which still doesn’t make themate/master the real master inour view,’ said NZMSG generalsecretary Helen McAra. ‘But if themate/master is now to be heldaccountable in law as a master,then it definitely raises the issue ofaligning the two pay rates.

‘Of concern to us is the greyarea created — is every OOW nowthe master in the absence of thereal master from the bridge?’ sheadded. ‘Does that therefore createreal confusion who the master is

for the purpose of regulatory mat-ters including reporting?’

The Guild says there is a possi-bility of appeal to New Zealand’sSupreme Court on a question oflaw, but because Mr Birchall’s con-viction was not reinstated theunion is unlikely to take the mat-ter any further via legal channels.

The earlier High Court judge-ment had highlighted ‘a surpris-ing dearth of authority’ on thecircumstances in which an officercan be legally held to be a master,and referred to other cases —including a UK employmentappeal tribunal involving theterms of employment of mastersserving on a dual command sys-tem onboard P&O’s cross-Channel ferries.

It also argued that the overalllevel of responsibility as master is‘such that only one person is capa-ble of meeting that description fora particular vessel at any point intime’.

NZ UNION WARNSOVER RULING ONRELIEF MASTERSAppeal court judgement ‘creates grey area’

A CHINESE shipmaster has beenfined A$6,500 (£3,113) for sailingthrough part of Australia’s GreatBarrier Reef without a pilot.

A court in Gladstone heardthat Capt Xu Chang Quan, masterof the Hong Kong-flaggedCharlotte Bulker, had crossed theWhitsundays compulsory pilo-tage area without a pilot and

sailed outside the designated ship-ping lane on 3 March.

Prosecutor Clive Porritt saidthe compulsory pilotage areaexisted to protect the reef and therelated economy. It was onlythrough ‘good fortune’ that the32,000dwt ship successfully navi-gated the passage without strikingthe reef, he added.

Defence solicitor Barry Rosssaid his client — who had admit-ted the offence — took the inci-dent extremely seriously andexplained that the master hadinadvertently broken the lawbecause his limited knowledge ofEnglish led to a misunderstandingover which reef areas required acompulsory pilot.

Brittany’snew routeto SpainTHE FRENCH cross-Channeloperator Brittany Ferries haslaunched a new route tonorthern Spain with a weeklyservice from Portsmouth toSantander using the £100mflagship Pont-Aven, picturedleft.

The company claimed arecord for the 690m crossingbetween the ports, with theinaugural voyage taking 23hours and 15 minutes — somefive hours quicker than therival service to Spain operatedby P&O Ferries’ Pride ofBilbao.

The new crossing will beoperated alongside theestablished Brittany Ferries’route from Plymouth toSantander, which nowbecomes weekly instead oftwice-weekly.✪Brittany Ferries (BAI) claimsto be shrugging off the eco-nomic crisis despite a 2.2%year-on-year drop in turnoverand a big fall in profits — fromM37m to M4.5m betweenSeptember 2007 andSeptember 2008.

BAI blamed the figures onhigh fuel costs and theweakness of sterling, but saidits performance was boostedby a doubling of freightvolumes between the UK andSpain following inaugurationof the Poole-Santander routeat the end of 2007.

PICTURE: GARY DAVIES/MARITIME PHOTOGRAPHIC

Master fined for pilotage offence

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P&O Ferries is mounting a legalchallenge against the fundingarrangements of French cross-Channel rival LD Lines.

It is seeking an injunctionagainst Syndicat Mixte dePromotion de l’activitéTransmanche (SMPAT), whichis providing French public sec-tor support for LD Lines’Transmanche cross-Channelferry services — including theFrench operator’s recent expan-sion to new routes from Dover toDieppe and Boulogne.

P&O has filed the claim at acourt in Rouen, and says itsaction is based on allegedbreaches of French administra-tive law and EU state aid law.

But LD Lines insists it hasdone nothing to contravene thelaw, and warns that it ‘reservesthe right to take any measuresnecessary to protect the com-pany’s name and reputation’.

P&O seeks toblock aid forFrench rival


international news

briefly...‘Shortage continues’: V.Ships president Roberto Giorgio saysthat the officer shortage is continuing to bite, despite theglobal economic crisis, and especially on chemical carriers andtankers. The Monaco-based ship manager has added morethan 40 ships for management this spring and, since it tookover International Tanker Management and its 45 managedships earlier this year, now claims to have around 26,000seafarers and 1,000 ships on its books.

French fears: members of the French officers’ union UGICT-CGT have expressed concern at the growing number of vessellay-ups. New general secretary Rolf Monloup told the union’snational conference in Le Havre that the ITF estimates some1,200 ships are laid up worldwide — with 20,000 jobs atstake. At the national level the union is concerned at threats tocurrent officers’ rights laid down in the national labour code.

MSC expansion: Mediterranean Shipping Company — theworld’s second largest containership operator — increasedfleet capacity by 11.6% in the second half of 2008, to reach1.5m TEU. Latest figures show MSC has just 1% of its fleet laidup, compared with 1% for Maersk, 16% for CSCL and 10% forCosco.

PSC warnings: the European Commission is to sendwarnings to Poland and Spain for failing to comply with EUport state control rules. Brussels says the two countries havenot yet satisfactorily implemented the 1995 safety rules thatwere updated in 2002 following the Erika disaster.

Scandlines support: the German ferry operator Scandlinescould soon be asking for state aid to avoid redundancies. TheRostock based operator has already begun to reduce itsworkforce from 2,400 to 2,000, but so far is maintaining itsroutes to Denmark, Sweden and Baltic ports.

LIBERIA TAKES ON3,000thVESSELPICTURED right is the 3,000thship to join the Liberian register— the 105,400dwt aframaxtanker Ise Princess.

Managed and operated byPiraeus-based Tsakos Shipping,the tanker is one of almost 600Liberian-flagged Greek-ownedships, totalling some 38m dwt.

Scott Bergeron, LiberianInternational Ship & CorporateRegistry CEO, said there was ‘adelightful symmetry’ that IsePrincess had become the latestmilestone for the flag as the firstship to use the Liberian registry— the World Peace, in 1949 —had also been a Greek ship.

Liberia is claiming continuedgrowth of the flag despite thedownturn in world shipping,with 110 ships added in the firsttwo and a half months of 2009.

PRESSURE MOUNTS ONDUTCH CREWING COSTSNAUTILUS NL is continuing topress the Dutch government formeasures to enhance the employ-ment and training of the country’sseafarers.

But in a close parallel of theposition in the UK, Dutch minis-ters are taking a long time torespond to proposals jointly sub-mitted by the union and owners.

The two sides have been dis-cussing the plans with ministersfor more than a year. They havepresented a package which seeksto boost recruitment and training,and to cut the number of seafarersleaving the industry prematurely.

The proposals also seek to

reduce the cost of employingDutch seafarers by around 40%,with income tax concessions tomatch the support given in coun-tries such as Germany andBelgium.

Dutch owners are concernedthat Holland — which was one ofthe first countries to adopt a ton-nage tax scheme — has slippedback into a ‘middle of the road’position in terms of competitive-ness.

The size of the national fleethas dropped since 2003, follow-ing seven years of strong growing,and the number of Dutch-flaggedvessels has fallen back to under

750. The number of Dutch seafar-ers has also declined, to around4,500.

Nautilus NL and the Dutchowners’ association KVNR bothwelcomed the recent approval bythe European Commission of newtonnage tax rules which aredesigned to make it cheaper toregister a ship in the Netherlands.

But both the union and theowners say the employmentmeasures are more important.

‘We’re happy with the tonnagetax changes as these, in an indirectway, are good for the employmentpossibilities of Dutch seafarers,’Nautilus NL president Marcel van

den Broek told the Telegraph.‘However, we would be even hap-pier when the governmentapproves tax changes that wouldbenefit the Dutch seafarersdirectly. This also is one of theaims of the joint Nautilus-KVNRTaskforce but has, until date, hadno success,’ he said.

KVNR managing directorGuido Hollaar said the ownershave been given positive assur-ances by the government, but anannouncement on the package isstill awaited. The owners say thesupport is essential to ensure theycan crew the large amount of ton-nage they have on order.

Nautilus and owners await decision on employment support

UNCLEAR FUTUREFOR SEAFRANCETHE PLOT thickens at ailingChannel ferry operator SeaFrance— with the initial end-of-Marchdeadline for deciding its futurerunning out with no apparentsolution in view.

Seafarer unions haveunanimously opposed thecompany’s cost-cutting plan that

would reduce the workforce by40%. Rival operator LD Lines nolonger appears to be in therunning to buy the operation,although a bid by Brittany Ferriesto take a 75% stake in SeaFranceremains on the table.

The CGT and CFDT sefaringunions firmly reject both LDLines’ and Brittany Ferries’takeover plans, as they believethat SeaFrance can survive thecrisis and should not be sold offto the private sector.

US reveals plan to create world’sbiggest emissions control zonePLANS to establish the world’s biggest ship-ping emissions control area have been tabled atthe International Maritime Organisation bythe United States and Canada.

The two countries are seeking the go-aheadfor a proposal to establish a consolidated emis-sions control area stretching out 200nm fromtheir coastlines.

If approved, the US and Canada would des-ignate most areas of the coastal waters coveredby their Exclusive Economic Zones for the con-trol of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, andparticulate matter emissions.

‘This is an important, and long overdue,step in our efforts to protect the air and water

along our shores, and the health of the peoplein our coastal communities,’ said Lisa Jackson,administrator of the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency.

The proposed emissions control area wouldcover waters adjacent to the Atlantic, Pacificand Gulf coasts, and the main HawaiianIslands. Not included are the Pacific US terri-tories, smaller Hawaiian Islands, the AleutianIslands and Western Alaska, the US territoriesof Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, andthe US and Canadian Arctic — but they couldbe included in the future after assessments aredone.

The emissions control area would aim to cut

sulphur levels by as much as 96%, particulatematter emissions by 85% and nitrogen oxideemissions by 80%.

One recent study suggested that some 87mpeople in the US are at risk from shippingemissions. The creation of the US/CanadianECA would save up to 8,300 lives in each coun-try every year by 2020 and avoid some 3.4mcases of respiratory ailments, such as asthma,according to an analysis the two countries con-ducted in support of the application to theIMO.

The plans are to go before the IMO in July,and a decision is expected to be made by themiddle of next year.

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NEW SHIP FORSAFMARINEPICTURED left is the namingceremony in Korea for theSafmarine Benguela, thesecond of two new 3,100TEUcontainerships being deliveredto Safmarine in 2009. The35,835gt vessel has beenplaced under the UK flag andwill be deployed on thecompany’s Europe-SouthAmerica service.

Pictured from left to rightare: chief engineer StanleyBroers, Jörg Conrad (owner andpresident of Anker LeschacoGroup), Elke Conrad (the ship’sgodmother), and CaptainAndrew Walker.

A REUNION of seafarers who sailed on the Furness Bermuda Line in the 1950s and early 60s is set to take place on Saturday 16 May 2009. Some 50 former crew and their relatives have already confirmed their attendance — some coming from as far away as Canada, Bermuda and New Zealand — and the organisers of the event are hoping to find even more.

The reunion of crew members from the Furness sister ships, Queen of Bermuda and Ocean Monarch, is taking place at The Merchant Seaman’s War Memorial Society in southern England.

Queen of Bermuda and Ocean Monarch departed on Saturday afternoons from Pier 95 on New York’s Hudson River to make the 700-mile voyage to Bermuda. Stephen Card, born in Bermuda and renowned for his paintings of these and other ships, recalls ‘the many Monday mornings when I would arrive by ferry in Hamilton and, instead of rushing to school, wait to watch the Queen slowly come alongside at No 1 dock. On Wednesday afternoons, as sailing

time approached, her triple-chime steam whistles could be heard all over the island’.

Queen of Bermuda made her maiden voyage to Hamilton in 1933. Accompanied by Monarch of Bermuda until the outbreak of war in 1939, they became known as the ‘Millionaires’ Ships’ as they attracted the wealthiest passengers — and the famous, including Clark Gable, TS Eliot, Gertrude Lawrence and child film star Shirley Temple.

After a distinguished war service, Queen of Bermuda returned to the Furness Bermuda Line, this time running with the newly-built but smaller Ocean Monarch. Throughout the 1950s, they were dubbed the ‘Honeymoon Ships’, their Saturday departures from New York fitting in well with the week-long honeymoons of many couples. The celebrity list continued, this time including former US president Harry Truman, Cary Grant, Noel Coward and Princess Soraya, former wife of the Shah of Iran.

It also included a Cockney lad called Tommy Hicks, who joined the Queen as a bellboy, later returned to London to become a rock ‘n’ roll singer and changed his name to Tommy Steele.

Most of the crew came from the UK, and many later made their homes in North America and Bermuda. Bob White, from London, now lives in Canada. ‘After serving as assistant purser on both ships from 1961 to

1966,’ he says, ‘I joined Canadian Pacific Airlines and, in the early part of my career, lived all over the country. I married in 1971 in the Yukon Territory, honeymooned in Bermuda — of course — and eventually settled in Toronto.’

Another Brit, Des Kirkpatrick, has lived in Manhattan for more than 40 years. ‘I left Ocean Monarch in 1966 and went to work in the shore excursion office of American Express in New York. Several years later, I moved to Swedish American Line, Flagship Cruises and then Lindblad Travel.’

Others, like David Gillmon, returned to the UK. He joined Queen of Bermuda as a radio officer in 1955 and sailed on her final voyage to Faslane in Scotland in 1966. ‘I went on to join P&O Lines,’ he says, ‘serving on Oriana for 18 years, then moved to passenger ferries in the UK and finally swallowed the anchor in 2002.’

Shirley Thompson (now Layne) also returned to the UK. She ran the souvenir shop on the Queen for four years and recalls that ‘in the 60s, there were usually just 10 women crew members on the ship: me, a hairdresser and the stewardesses.’

Bermudians also found employment on these ships. Allen Soares, bellboy and waiter on Queen of Bermuda from 1961 to 1965, remembers the fine dining on the ship. ‘Dinner was a very elegant occasion, all silver service

and usually five courses with many selections. The passengers were very generous, some tipping a waiter as much as $100 for the week’s round trip from New York.’

Another Bermudian, Allan Davidson, joined the Queen as a cadet in 1956 and, as he moved up through the ranks to become junior chief officer, returned from time to time to serve on both Queen of Bermuda and Ocean Monarch. ‘As cadets,’ he says, ‘we learned to navigate the ocean by the stars. We met all sorts of interesting people and forged friendships, which have proved to be enduring.’

For many, life aboard these ships was a happy, memorable experience. Dave Townson, from Liverpool and now living in Toronto, was an assistant purser on Ocean Monarch. He recalls: ‘The ship was our address but, week after week, we enjoyed both the excitement of New York and the enchantment of Bermuda. Off duty on the island was an afternoon at the beach, a stroll at sunset back to the ship and a dinner of pate de foie gras, caviar and steak, accompanied by the

familiar chorus of tree frogs on a still sub-tropical night.’

Now, more than 40 years on, he and other crew will reunite to share their memories and mementos. Bill Cox, assistant purser on both ships from 1956 to 1966, is always on the lookout for memorabilia. ‘I hope,’ he says, ‘the reunion will feature a model of Queen of Bermuda, originally displayed on Pier 95 and recently discovered in the Fred Olsen Line warehouse. The model is due to be presented to the Bermuda Maritime Museum.’

While the focus is on Queen of Bermuda and Ocean Monarch, Peter Manley, reunion organiser and former bellboy-deck steward on both ships, has been contacted by a Monarch of Bermuda

veteran. He says: ‘Fred Burney served for three years on the Monarch. Now 91, he is planning to join the reunion in May, thanks to his son-in-law, who read about the event in the Ships Monthly magazine. Fred is the oldest-known survivor of the Furness Bermuda Line crew.’

The organisers would love to hear from more crew — or their relatives — and, of course, welcome them to the reunion. ✪Contact: Bill Cox at [email protected] or Peter Manley at [email protected]; tel +44 (0)1282 695121; or Bob White in Toronto at [email protected] tel +1 416 762 5707.SARAH AVERYReunion press officer

What’s on your mind?Tell your colleagues in Nautilus UK — and the wider world of shipping — through a letter to the Telegraph. Keep to a limit of 300 words if you can — though longer contributions will be considered. ✪ You may use a pen name or just your membership number if you don’t want to be identified — say so in an accompanying note — but you must let the Telegraph have your name, address and membership number. ✪ Send your letter to the editor, Telegraph, Nautilus UK, 750-760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB, or use head office fax 020 8530 1015, or email [email protected]

16 ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ MAY 2009

Have your say: onlineLast month’s poll asked: Do you think DNV is right to warn that the shipping crisis could get much worse? As the Telegraph went to press, there was an emphatic result:

This month, we want your views on the continued threat of piracy off the coast of Africa —

Do you think there is a danger that pirate attacks will get more violent if naval forces use lethal force to recover ships and seafarers?

Vote now, onwww.nautilusuk.org

Thonof

DDDDDDtttttththhhtttmmmmmmmmmmmuuuuuuuusuussssssh

93% Yes

7% No

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A simple solution to the seafarer tax problemFURTHER to various articles and letters concerning Seafarers’ Earnings Deduction (SED) and the apparently unrestricted issuance of ‘Seafarers’ Discharge Books’ (emphasis on SEAFARER), let us go back to the original method — a discharge book should only be issued to a person with a valid employment offer/contract from a recognised company.

When I joined the Merchant Navy (Ben Line Steamers) I had to supply a letter from the company to the then Department of Trade requesting that I be issued with a discharge book.

I also had to prove I was a British citizen and, therefore, entitled to apply before I was issued with my discharge book and other seafarers’ documents.

If the MCA and Inland Revenue got together and reverted to this method, maybe things could be sorted for the bone-fide seafarer.ULRICH SIGNERmem no 136859

The Ocean Monarch, built in 1951, sold by Furness Bermuda in 1967 and sunk in 1981 following a fire during a refit

In the purser’s office onboard Ocean Monarch in 1964

I AM writing to take issue with what I feel was irresponsible reporting by the Nautilus Telegraph, regarding the Zhen Hua 4 incident (Page 15 — March 2009).

As a person closely involved in anti-piracy operations, in my role as Merchant Navy Liaison Officer with EU NAVFOR — Operation Atalanta (MSCHOA), it is clear that East African piracy presents a very real danger to merchant shipping operations in the region.

Even with a significant increase in military assets in the region, it is still recognised that the key to preventing hijacking is effective preparation/planning and comprehensive shipboard anti-piracy measures which either deter the attackers or allow

more time for military units to provide assistance.

In the Zhen Hua 4 article you have discussed and photographed crew members whom had opted to engage attackers (who boarded their vessel) using fire hoses and improvised molotov cocktails and had been handsomely rewarded.

In this case, actions of the crew proved successful — but what would happen onboard the next vessel who, after reading your article, opt to use ‘improvised molotov cocktails’ but the pirates fight back and gain control of the vessel?

How does the Telegraph expect such crew members to be treated by the pirates?

How would Mr Grady (same issue, page 19) have expected to

be treated had he and his colleagues ‘taken on’ the pirates once they had boarded the Sirius Star?

Obviously guidance and advice will differ from company to company and the security of the vessel will ultimately rest upon the master and ship security officer, but in general I would advise that crew members are directed to use only non-lethal force to defend their vessel.

Anti-piracy measures are designed to make it as difficult as possible for attackers to gain access and control of the vessel. With this in mind, you may be interested to note that the rigging of fire hoses is generally designed to ‘swamp’ pirate boats and not directly fight the pirates.

Lastly, do you consider that

news of such handsome rewards would now encourage crew members to ‘have a go’ at the pirates?

In closing, I would confidently suggest that the large majority of your readers families and employers would much rather they did not put themselves in harms way should they be unfortunate enough to come face to face with pirates!STUART WALKER

The editor replies: Nautilus policy has consistently been against any move to arm the crews of merchant ships, and the Telegraph has repeatedly carried articles giving advice on the recommended best precautions for ships to adopt to deter attacks. The article about

the Zhen Hua 4 was included because it was judged to be of interest to readers — its inclusion does not imply endorsement of what the seafarers did. Our

editorial approach is to include a broad a range of articles, so that members are given as much information as possible about the industry in which they work.

MAY 2009 ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ 17

lettersTraining is first victim of cuts

Broadstairs to mark the role of the MN at Sea Sunday eventI WONDER whether it would be possible for the Telegraph to devote some space to an event being held here in Broadstairs on 5 July this year?

I am co-organiser here of the annual event called ‘Sea Sunday’, which consists of a

parade through the town of civic leaders from across southern England, together with ex-Service groups, youth organisations, and all the local churches.

We move through the town to a service for seafarers at the harbour and whilst offshore we hope, once again, to have representative vessels from the Royal Navy, Revenue & Customs, Trinity House, HM Coastguard, the pilot service, RNLI and many more!

Our last such event in 2007 was led by the Band of HM Royal Marines — this year our lead band is the Royal British Legion Youth Band.

Our theme this year is ‘The Merchant Fleets’ and, as such, we are cooperating closely with local members of the MNA and Marine Officers Society.

I am sure many of your members would be interested — can you assist by ‘spreading the word’?✪Please look at our website — this will givea better idea of what we are about —www.broadstairsseasunday.org.uk

MICHAEL R. BONChairmanBroadstairs Sea Sunday 2009

Please don’t encourage seafarers to ‘have a go’ at the pirates

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Royal Alfred 6 x 2.indd 1 20/2/09 14:17:46

IT WAS with some interest that I read the lead article in the March Telegraph on the research by Drewry Shipping Consultants that the shortage of ships officers will keep the pressure on to increase pay and conditions.

Last year, the UK officers in this company were offered the fantastic opportunity to accept a 0% increase in salary — although this was very reluctantly negotiated to an unresistable 2% basic.

This year, our crewing manager has been changed to the Far East, and in an obvious attempt to prove their value they have immediately set upon a programme to ‘standardise’ the level of welfare across their managed ships — ie, reduce things to the minimum all round (a la STCW); which has meant the removal of long-established welfare items such as the seafarers’ library from the Marine Society and the provision of DVDs from the Walport company.

This, together with the company collection of sludge

money previously used to improve life onboard, as well as a reduction in the company welfare budget, have not in my opinion done anything to improve the standard of life aboard ship.

Despite frequently being told by management of the value of UK officers to the fleet, and the desire to ‘see’(note not keep) UK officers as part of the manning schedule, they are giving a pretty clear impression that actually they would be happy to see the back of us, sooner rather than later, and are keen to drive away as many as possible — which to a large part they are succeeding well!

Regarding the amount of cadets being taken on — where are they? Certainly they don’t appear frequently on UK flag ships, and when they do, they seem to have been fed such wonderful tales of life at sea — mostly by people that have never been there — they are totally disappointed with what they find onboard and leave; a 50% failure rate in my recent personal experience!

There are, I am sure, enough of us around of the age to remember this cycle from back in the 1980s, when the first victim of cuts was training (we have recently been told all non-flag state required courses will be stopped — including renewal advanced fire fighting!), and recruitment of cadets — that is why now there is this alleged shortage; whole generations lost relatives who worked at sea and the link with the sea was cut.

I do not see any fleet personnel manager being strong enough to resist the same action again if the current crisis continues.

Not that it would trouble owners for too long — they will march cap in hand to the IMO and demand a further reduction in the standard of junior officers and crew, thus leaving the few senior officers to be spread around further, so at least there is still someone to point the finger at and carry the can when there is an accident!

STCW 2010 is on the way!mem no 179029

Shipmates reunitedWISH you’d kept in touch with that old colleague? Why not try Shipmates Reunited? Nautilus UK’s electronic friend-finding noticeboard is still going strong after seven years, and it gets regular hits from seafarers all round the world. Maybe someone’s looking for you. To find out, go to www.nautilusuk.org and click on the link from our homepage. And if you want to put a posting on Shipmates Reunited, simply send your message and your contact details to [email protected]

The view from Muirhead


readers’ letters

Dave keeps on going for charity

QE2’s final master downsizes vessel to highlight success of clean river projectCAPTAIN Ian McNaught — the last master of the QE2 — went onboard a somewhat smaller vessel on the river Tyne lastmonth to show his support for an

environmental project to keep the waterway clean through a mix of ‘prevention and cure’ techniques.

He took control of the 15m debris collection vessel Clearwater — some 278m shorter than his previous ship — to launch the new Clean Tyne Project website.

The project — which operates two debris collection vessels — is a partnership between the Port of Tyne, SITA Trust and the river’s bordering council authorities of Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Newcastle.

Using a mix of practical measures,

education and awareness-raising, the project aims to keep the Tyne’s status as one of the cleanest rivers in the country. The river now has one of the best salmon catch rates in England — a far cry from the industrial scenes of the 19th and early 20th century when it was heavily polluted.

‘I am very proud of the North East and,in particular, our rivers,’ Capt McNaught said. ‘This project is an excellent exampleof how local authorities and the community can work together to make our rivers abetter place to live, work and enjoy our leisure time.’

DAVE Fryer from Liverpool is a retired member — but the 68-year-old can’t keep away from the sea and the picture shows him in his role as a volunteer aboard Africa Mercy, the world’s largest charity hospital ship.

The vessel is operated by Mercy Ships, the international charity that for the last 30 years has provided free medicals to the poorest people in more than 70 countries, and helped local communities develop water, sanitation, agricultural projects and education programmes.

Every crew member — including the captain, deck and engineer officers, surgeons, nurses, chefs, and electricians — is a volunteer who pays for their own accommodation onboard, as well as transport to the ship.

Dave first went to sea as a junior engineer with Blue Funnel in 1965, and subsequently sailed with Container Fleets to get a steam endorsement to his chief’s ticket. He left the sea in 1975 to become a lecturer at Riversdale College of Technology in Liverpool, mainly to teach on the engineer cadet alternative training scheme.

‘I first volunteered with Mercy Ships in September 2006 when the Africa Mercy was being converted from a Danish rail ferry to what it is today, a state-of-the-art hospital ship,’ he says. ‘I was involved in helping prepare the ship for operation. I went on sea trials and also sailed on the maiden voyage to Liberia.

‘I felt honoured to be part of something that was going to help so many people have a better life. It really was an overwhelming experience.’

Dave has since revalidated his certificate, and has been serving as watchkeeping engineer onboard Africa

Mercy, with additional responsibilities for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and hospital services systems.

‘My first trip with the Africa Mercy was for 11 months and I have since been back for two more trips, one for five months and the last for two months,’ he says. ‘I hope to keep returning to the Africa Mercy for as long as I can continue to pass my medical. The experience has changed my life for the better. Not only have I seen first hand the lives that Mercy Ships has changed but the experience has increased my knowledge of my profession.’

‘Volunteers such as Dave are so valuable to us,’ says Judy Polkinhorn, executive director for Mercy Ships UK. ‘The volunteer engineers ensure the ship is fully functional enabling the medical teams to treat the thousands of patients suffering at the hands of poverty.’✪For more information, to make a donation or volunteer, visit www.mercyships.org.uk or call 01438 727800.

SEAWELL’S SAFETY SUPPORTCAPTAIN Mick Swan, master of the offshore multi-role support vessel Seawell, is pictured above presenting Deacon Brian Killkerr, of the Aberdeen branch of the Apostleship of the Sea, with an £800 charity donation.

The donation was part of a total of £12,000 presented to charities from money earned under a scheme to reward safe working practices and behaviour by the ship’s owner, Helix Well-Ops UK.

Under the scheme, the charity fund builds up over the year from January to December — with monthly targets being met when the vessel achieves zero recordable incidents, zero high potential incidents and zero environmental discharges.

Crew members are asked to nominate a charity each December,

and at the first safety committee meeting of the year the nominations are reviewed and charities are chosen and the size of the donations decided.

‘It was a pleasure to support the Deacon towards the aim of establishing a seafarers’ centre in Aberdeen and continue our support of his work,’ Capt Swan told the Telegraph.

‘The crew have selected over a dozen charities from around the country with money donated by the company to reward an excellent safety culture onboard, and I can only commend them and their selections of the charities who will benefit from the cash.’

and at the first safety committee

attack or developing other forms of arterial disease, as well as fre-quently needing insulin treatment in a few years time,’ Dr Carter explained.

‘Both heart disease and the need to use insulin are commonly reasons why careers at sea are ter-minated prematurely,’ he added. ‘Maritime employers can do much to reduce these risks by provision of dietary options that encourage weight control and by running exercise and weight control pro-grammes for their seafarers.’

The total number of medical examinations carried out in 2008 was 41,479 — compared with 39,346 in 2007 and 24,987 in 2006.

The MCA stresses that these

numbers relate to the number of examinations — and not to the number of seafarers examined. ‘While some of the increase has come from the issue of a larger number of certificates with dura-tions of less than two years there has also been some growth in the number of examinations,’ Dr Carter explained.

‘In part this continues to arise from the increasing numbers of medicals done for the commercial yachting sector. It is also apparent that, because they trust the assess-ment process, some employers — for instance in the growing offshore wind farm sector — are requiring these medicals for work-ers who are outside formal scope of the Medical Examination Regulations.’

Almost 94% of the examina-tions resulted in the issue of ENG 1 unrestricted fitness certificates. Almost 5% were restricted, 1.2% were temporarily unfit and only 0.34% were permanent failures.

The most common causes of permanent failure were joint dis-eases and joint replacement, car-diac events, and insulin-using diabetes.

The most common causes of time-limited and restricted cer-tificates were obesity, hyperten-sion and eyesight issues.

The analysis shows that the

number of restricted certificates has remained relatively constant in recent years, as have the num-bers failed either temporarily or permanently.

However, the number of cases seen by referees has increased to its highest level since 2002 — the year when the present fitness standards were introduced, which was followed by a fall in cases for the next few years.

With the existing standards now due for revision, the MCA says doctors are encouraging sea-farers to refer certain cases to ref-erees on the grounds that advances in medical treatment have made it more possible to continue work-ing at sea.

Mr Graveson said Nautilus believes the referral process is working well, and the Union will be making an input into the revi-sion of the medical standards.

Two categories in particular — cardiac events and hip replace-ments — accounted for a significant proportion of addi-tional referrals last year, as well as for the high frequency of changes to AD decisions by the referees.

‘When the new standards are in place they will contain revisions relating to these conditions that will allow ADs to let more seafar-ers return to a wider range of duties at sea,’ Dr Carter added.

NAUTILUS has expressed concern at some of the trends revealed in the analysis of the seafarer medi-cal examinations carried out by Maritime & Coastguard Agency approved doctors last year.

The Union is particularly dis-turbed by a marked increase in diabetes cases — with a 25% increase in 2008 in the number of seafarers whose certificates were restricted as a result of diabetes not requiring treatment with insulin.

‘This is an extremely worrying development, and we have to ask whether there is a link between this and factors such as night work, excessive working hours, and the quality of food onboard,’ said senior national secretary Allan Graveson.

In his commentary on the fig-ures, Dr Tim Carter — the MCA’s chief medical adviser — notes that the number of cases where seafar-ers’ fitness is limited by diabetes that does not require treatment with insulin rose from 360 in 2007 to 448 in 2008.

‘While some of this rise may represent a more active approach to diagnosis in the community and a greater need to maintain close surveillance of the condition, an increase of 25% in a year almost certainly represents a real increase in the condition,’ he pointed out.

‘The form of diabetes that does not initially require insulin treat-ment (Type 2) is to an extent a complication of obesity — an issue that also continues to be a major cause of limitations placed on fit-ness.

‘However it is of even more concern in terms of the future crewing needs of the industry because it is associated with a con-siderable increase in the likeli-hood of a person having a heart


health and safety

Weighty problem

Maritime medics are concerned about the connections between obesity and the number of seafarers affected by diabetes PICTURE: LIQUIDLIBRARY

KEY FIGURES from the report on the seafarer medical examinations conducted by the MCA’s approved doctors during 2008:

✪Total number of examinations — 41,479

✪Number of Cat 1 ENG 1 certificates issued — 38,880

✪Number of Cat 2 restricted ENG 1+3 issued — 1,956

✪Number of Cat 3 temporarily unfit issued — 502

✪Number of Cat 4 permanent failures issued — 141

✪Number of cases referred to medical referees — 90

✪Number of AD decisions changed on appeal — 56

✪Number of cases involving obesity — 1,709

✪Number of cases involving diabetes — 507 (of which 448 were non-insulin)

✪Number of cases involving hypertension — 1,376

MEDICALS: MEDICALS: THE VITAL THE VITAL STATISTICSSTATISTICS

We have to We have to ask whether ask whether

there is a link there is a link between this between this and factors and factors

such as such as night work, night work, excessive excessive

working working hours and the hours and the quality of food quality of food

onboardonboardAllan GravesonAllan GravesonSenior national Senior national

secretarysecretaryNautilus UKNautilus UK

LATEST UK seafarer medical statistics show an alarming rise in diabetes cases

Maritime & Coastguard Agency chief medical adviser Dr Tim Carter

clearer and more accurate alter-native,’ says Mr Lyon. ‘Unlike 121.5MHz PLBs, the Mobilarm V100 provides the actual GPS coordinates of the victim’s loca-tion, using the VHF radio band in plain English and via VHF DSC. This means that the MOB casu-alty’s position is automatically marked and can be tracked on a chartplotter connected viaNMEA to the VHF unit.

‘Just seconds after going over-board, the closest potential res-cuer, being the victim’s own vessel or other vessels sailing within VHF range, will be alerted, allow-ing crew to take immediate action. This will reduce the casu-alty’s time in water and greatly improve chances of survival.’

The VPIRB can be activated automatically or manually, there-fore ensuring an alarm will sound even if the casualty has been knocked out during a fall, or on impact with the water.

The Mobilarm V100 VPIRB automatically sends out the ini-tial ‘Mayday, Man Overboard’ distress alert as a DSC data mes-sage on Channel 70. As soon as a GPS lock is obtained by the inte-grated GPS receiver, usually within 45-60 seconds, the device transmits the distress call again, complete with position coordi-nates, and also in a synthesized voice on VHF Channel 16. The message is repeated at regular intervals to update the rescuers on its current position. This con-tinues until the device is deacti-vated; the Mobilarm V100 battery will support transmission for at least 12 hours in normal condi-tions.

The pocket-sized VPIRB is a very personal safety device. It has been designed specifically for the commercial marine environ-ment, so is ergonomic, can easily be attached to clothing or life-jackets and won’t get in the way when you’re at work. ‘The VPIRB offers personal choice, but the fact that it is a simple solution that requires no onboard infra-structure means that offshore and merchant marine employers can easily bring it in as part of their safety regulations too,’ adds Mr Lyon.

His company launched a new ship-wide network system at December ’s International Workboat Show in New Orleans. Mobilarm Crewsafe will auto-matically initiate a vessel-wide

alert to all personnel within sec-onds of an incident occurring, such as MOB. With additional features including duress, gen-eral and covert alarms, paging and employee location monitor-ing, it offers security as well as safety benefits.

‘There is a perceived high cost and complexity of scaling MOB detection systems for larger mer-chant vessels, platforms and for dockside operations, which means that voluntary investment by private firms is not as common as some would like,’ says Mr Lyon.

‘So in developing our new Crewsafe system, we placed a lot of focus on providing extra func-tionality to enhance crew com-munications and security onboard. These additional fea-tures could be the key factor in more operators and owners deciding to install the system.’

Each employee carries a palm-sized transceiver — a Tag — whose wireless signal keeps them con-nected to the network via a series of wireless sensor routers. The network immediately detects any break in the Tag signal and will automatically raise the alarm if the connection is not re-estab-lished within a few seconds. Therefore, if a worker goes over-board, the signal is lost, the alarm is raised and GPS tracking is implemented. The Tag also fea-tures a duress button that can be manually activated if an employee is in distress but not in the water.

The system can be scaled to almost any size of vessel and number of crew and offers a choice of management systems, which can provide access to com-

munication functions such as crew paging, vessel and personnel details, safety equipment logs and emergency response procedures, as well as full network operational and performance functions.

Unlike VPIRB and other emergency distress beacons, Crewsafe is an active monitoring system which will raise an alarm if communication is lost, rather than when a distress signal is received. The protection pro-vided by the technology is based on a ‘fail-safe’ principle; any com-munication failure, for any rea-son, raises an alarm to make sure crew are safe. If the Tag is dam-aged, if its battery dies or if a per-son moves out of range of the network, the alarm is raised to ensure that co-workers are imme-diately aware of a potential emer-gency, an operational fault or un-networked zone.

When installed on vessels, the Crewsafe network can interface with onboard navigation systems and GPS. Therefore, in a man overboard emergency, Crewsafe automatically logs a waypoint position on the vessel’s chartplot-ter of where the incident occurred and provides the essential track back navigation data to that posi-tion. The system can report and track multiple events, but will always prioritise the more serious risk of man overboard over other emergencies.

Until MOB alarm carriage requirements are introduced, Mr Lyon says the answer has to be systems that put the responsibil-ity in the hands of the individual seafarer or are designed to offer a more attractive investment for employers.


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‘MAN OVERBOARD’ ‘MAN OVERBOARD’ incidents continue to incidents continue to be one of the biggest causes of death at sea. be one of the biggest causes of death at sea. But seafarers and owners are now being But seafarers and owners are now being offered new alarm systems that could help offered new alarm systems that could help boost the chances of survival…boost the chances of survival…THERE ARE currently no regula-tions that oblige employers to equip vessels with dedicated man overboard (MOB) alarms or safety systems — even though MOB is one of the largest causes of death at sea.

Because of the varying condi-tions of the marine working envi-ronment, it is difficult for employers to completely remove the risk of a MOB event — so the focus has to move to using tech-nology that automatically detects the MOB.

Over the years there have been a number of attempts to solve the automatic detection challenge, with varying outcomes. Detection is crucial in a MOB event, as the chances of survival are directly related to the time the person is in the water.

‘There is a sharp incline in the time in water/water temperature curve for a MOB casualty,’ explains Lindsay Lyon, CEO of the Australian company Mobilarm.

‘Less than two hours in 5°C water could cause death from exposure, whilst even water tem-peratures up to 20°C could still lead to exhaustion by hypother-mia and eventual drowning.

‘If ships continue to sail with-out a reliable way of detecting a MOB incident, therefore limiting the ability to act and retrieve the victim quickly, we will certainly continue to see accidents turning into tragedies,’ he adds.

The most popular MOB detec-tion method to date has been the use of Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) using 121.5MHz radio fre-quency for both event detection and subsequent location of the MOB.

The 121.5MHz technology was also detected until recently by the COSPAR-SARSAT satellite net-work. The satellite detection of 121.5MHz has now been phased out, although 121.5MHz direc-tion finding is still supported on most search and rescue (SAR) retrieval assets.

But the 121.5MHz MOB sys-tem has not been without its drawbacks, with radio directional finding (DF) equipment deliver-ing mixed results and hand-held systems faring the worst, being

exceptionally difficult to use in any sea state over a fresh breeze. Another limitation has been the system’s problems in distinguish-ing between multiple signals in the case of multiple MOBs in the water.

Mobilarm’s take on personal MOB detection — the V100 VPIRB (VHF Position Indicating Radio Beacon) — sends out an automatic or manual alert on VHF radio should the device be activated through a MOB inci-dent.

It also ensures that seafarers can choose to protect themselves, as it doesn’t require any onboard infrastructure to be installed.

‘We looked at the positioning technology of the traditional PLB and believe that VPIRB offers a

Cause for alarm Cause for alarm

The Crewsafe display console on the bridge of a ship

The Crewsafe Tag can be worn on a belt

ABOVE: the Mobilarm V100 VPIRB will automatically transmit an initial man overboard alert as a DSC data message on Channel 70 — and subsequently as a synthesized voice on VHF Channel 16.

LEFT: the Crewsafe display console, which will raise an alarm and implement GPS tracking if communication is lost with the Tag transceiver carried by crew members

the jobs market


THE ECONOMIC downturn has failed to make a significant dent in shore-based demand for skilled and experienced seafarers, according to research carried out by a leading agency.

And the study reveals that salaries in the sector are also remaining buoyant — with an average annual rate of £55,620 for former seafarers filling technical roles within the shipping industry.

Shipping companies, classification socie-ties and other organisations needing mari-time expertise are ‘all too aware of the demographic timebomb facing their busi-nesses,’ says the specialist recruitment com-pany Faststream.

It has analysed the posts it helped to fill between September last year and February this year and concludes: ‘Salaries remain firm and good experienced candidates are still in demand. The sector has an older age profile and many companies do have succession plans in place.’

MD Mark Charman said the study showed that ‘despite the doom and gloom, there are still positions which need filling and high quality candidates are in demand’.

Faststream said the shipping industry is facing difficulties, like almost every sector of the global economy, as a result of the severe global economic slump. ‘In many cases these difficulties have of course translated into job losses, hiring freezes and a general lack of confidence in the employment market,’ the report points out.

However, while some companies — nota-bly those in the energy sector — have declared recruitment freezes, they still need to fill crit-ical safety and technical roles. Tanker compa-nies in particular continue to demonstrate a strong demand for technical personnel.

The Faststream research examined tech-nical roles within shipowning, operating and management companies, classification socie-ties and marine consultancies. It notes the impact of the worldwide maritime skills shortage — with some 40% of the existing classification societies’ workforce due to retire within the next five year.

‘A workforce approaching retirement age, a greater number of ships to be surveyed, man-aged and maintained mean that companies are having to address staffing levels,’ it points out.

The study says that recruitment is all too often viewed as a problem and a distressed purchase, and companies need to take a longer term approach to recruitment by plan-ning well in advance.

Faststream said salaries for technical roles in the shipping industry remain firm, with the average across all sectors standing at £55,620 and the highest rates — averaging £59,583 — being paid by ship operators and managers. These businesses also offer the best packages — with nearly three-quarters of candidates placed within shipping companies being offered some form of bonus scheme, com-pared with only a quarter of those placed with classification societies.

Shipping companies are also more likely to offer pensions and private healthcare, said Faststream, while classification societies appear to be more creative with packages — offering incentives such as free accommoda-tion, gym membership and car allowances.

Classification societies are currently una-ble to compete with shipping companies on salaries — offering an average rate of £46,431 — but Faststream says the sector remains attractive because of the variety of work and the career opportunities offered.

Faststream said it had placed around 200

people with classification societies in the past two years, but it cautioned that many of the societies have put their investment plans on hold as a result of the slump in shipping mar-kets.

Its research showed the average age of can-didates placed with a classification society now stands at 30, compared with 41 for tech-nical superintendents with shipping compa-nies.

‘The shipping companies have an immedi-ate demand for experienced people which is making it more difficult for younger candi-dates to gain employment through these companies,’ the report adds.

Typically, says Faststream, many candi-dates are straight from sea or are younger and less experienced. ‘Many western shipping companies more often than not will hire peo-ple who have experience in similar types of organisations,’ the report adds. ‘Shipping companies are often more likely to express a preference about the type of seafaring experi-ence of ex-seafarers they hire, with many larger operations preferring ex-seafarers who have sailed with similar size outfits.

‘Classification societies however, with their broad customer base, welcome seafarers with first-hand experience of a range of shipping companies.’

Faststream said staff seem less willing to leave their jobs in the uncertain economic cli-mate ‘and prefer to stay put if possible’. Candidates placed within a shipping opera-tion had been with their previous employer for an average of nearly four years, it found.

‘The best salaries on offer are still those in the Middle East and there are a number of large scale LNG and oil infrastructure projects with a requirement for experienced technical shipping people,’ the report states.

‘However, it would be unrealistic for can-didates to think that a couple of years in the region will pay off the mortgage back home as the cost of living has soared. Space in interna-tional schools is short and many companies prefer candidates without dependents who can accept positions immediately.’

The survey was carried out by Faststream consultants in Southampton, Oslo, Fort Lauderdale and Singapore. Just over half the candidates it placed were UK nationals, and 55% of the posts filled were based in the UK.

The company said it will continue monitor developments and plans an update of the sur-vey later this year.

A MAJOR maritime employment agency says it has evidence to show that there are still plenty of well-paid positions on offer for skilled seafarers considering making the move to shore-based work...

A MAJOR maritime employment agency says it has evidence to show that there are still plenty of well-paid positions on offer for skilled seafarers consideringmaking the move to shore-based work...

Despite the Despite the doom and doom and

gloom, there gloom, there are still are still

positions positions which need which need

filling and filling and high quality high quality candidates candidates

are in are in demand demand

Mark Charman Mark Charman Managing Managing

directordirector

FaststreamFaststream

Faststream predicts strong demand for seafarers from classification societies, as 40% of their current surveyors are due to retire within the next five years

Reasons to be cheerful: Faststream MD Mark Charman says seafarers remain in demand ashore

Top dollar: average salaries on offer in the key shore-based employment sectors where Faststream has placed former seafarers during the past year GRAPHIC: FASTSTREAM

MAY 2009 ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ 2322 ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ MAY 2009

nautilus at work

AS THE global recession bites harder and seaborne trade vol-umes tumble, the spectre of redundancy has begun to haunt the maritime profession for the first time in many years.

Although redundancy may often come as a shock, very many members find another job quite quickly. Redundancy need not be the end of your seafaring or marine career — the national and international shortage of skilled and experienced officers means vacancies continue to arise in many sectors.

But because the industry has been buoyant for the past dec-ade or so, many Nautilus members may not have experience of losing their job.

As a result, the Telegraph has put together this basic guide to redundancy and job-hunting.

It is important to remember that the laws are complex — especially for seafarers employed on non-UK contracts — and individual circumstances may vary dramatically. It is always important to seek advice and assistance from the Union.

Q: I think my company may be on the verge of announcing job losses. What should I do?

Firstly, tell Nautilus. If we have an agreement with the com-pany, officials can get involved at an early stage in consulta-tions and negotiations. Often, the Union is able to reduce the number of planned job losses and to ensure that any redundan-cies are on a voluntary basis.

If the company is of a certain size, and has a recognitionagreement with the Union, it is required to discuss reasons for the redundancies, the numbers and descriptions of those affect-ed, the proposed method of selecting those to be made redun-dant — such as ‘last in, first out’ — and how any redundancy payments better than the legal minimum will be worked out.

Q: What should I do if I believe that I have been unfairly selected for redundancy?

It is important to note that UK employers are required to fol-low proper procedures — including consultation and notice periods — when making people redundant. The UK laws on redundancy changed with effect from 6 April 2009, but the rules require employers to discuss your redundancy and to consult with you about alternative jobs. You have the right to be accompanied by a colleague or a trade union official. If this does not happen, then your dismissal may be legally unfair and you may be entitled to compensation. Again, it is important to always seek advice before taking a complaint to an employ-ment tribunal — contact the Union!

Q: What factors do employers consider when deciding who will be made redundant?

UK companies are not allowed to select on the basis of sex, race, disability, age (unless objectively justified), sexual ori-entation, transgender status, religion or belief, pregnancy or trade union membership. They can make selection on the fol-lowing grounds:✪ skill and capability (sometimes this can lead to the particularly stressful process of people having to re-apply for their jobs)✪ attendance record✪ conduct record✪ any agreed existing procedure✪ type of work needed to be done by those remaining

Q: My company says it will continue to employ me, but not in my existing role. Is that legally acceptable?

If your employer offers you an alternative job, you will need to think carefully. If you turn it down you may no longer be legally redundant, and would be in the same position as if you had just resigned. If your employer says you have left a suitable job and is refusing you redundancy pay, you will need to make a claim in an employment tribunal and show them why the job was unsuitable. If the tribunal finds that you have refused a suit-able offer of alternative employment you will lose your right to a redundancy payment.

Q: I have been made redundant. What are my rights to redundancy pay?

UK law sets out minimum redundancy pay, but not everybody is entitled to it. To be entitled to the legal minimum you must have:✪ worked continuously for at least two years for your employer and✪ be an employee. (The difference between an employee and a worker is a complex legal point. Most people are employ-ees, but you may be a worker if you do not have a contract of employment and have a looser relationship with your employer — many agency workers are not employees, for example.)

Q: What about notice?

If you are made redundant you are entitled to a minimum period of notice.

For every year you have worked for your employer, you should get one week’s notice, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. If your employer makes, or lets, you leave before this period you should still be paid for the full notice period. Your contract of employment may be more generous.

Q: How much will I get?

The UK legal minimum you should get depends on:✪ how long you have worked continuously for your employer✪ redundancy pay (maternity, paternity and parental leave

count as part of continuous employment)✪ how old you are✪ how much you are paid

Some employers will offer better terms and some will include these in your contract of employment. If your company has an agreement with the Union, improved terms may be in place or negotiated.

Your employer may also offer a ‘severance’ payment, which is a lump sum offered as compensation for ending your employ-ment. This must be above the legal minimum if your job is being made redundant.

When you leave, make sure your employer gives you:✪ your P45 form✪ written details of your redundancy package, and✪ a good reference

Q: What should I do with my redundancy pay?

Redundancy payments are often quite modest and will only help tide you over until you get another job. But with long serv-ice or a redundancy payment greater than the legal minimum, you may get a decent amount. A redundancy cheque may be one of the biggest amounts of money you receive in one go. It can be tempting to spend it all!

But unless you know you have another job to go to, think carefully. A priority should be paying off any debt that you have. Servicing debt is expensive, and you can quickly get into real difficulties if you find that you cannot keep up payments while you are unemployed. If you have any left over then you may need it simply to help meet everyday living costs.

If you have got a more substantial sum, it might be good to use it towards studying for a higher certificate or qualifications such as dynamic positioning or dangerous cargo endorsements that will improve your chances of finding another job.

Q: What should I do about my pension arrange-ments?

Members who are in pension schemes (whether defined ben-efit or defined contribution) will have to carefully consider the options open to them.

Those who are in company pension schemes should have their options explained to them by their employer when they

cease to be employed. For some, early retirement might be an option — but this should only be considered after receiving independent advice.

For those still contributing to the MNOPF it may be possi-ble to continue making voluntary contributions of, say, £5 per month which will maintain their contributor member status under the MNOPF rules. This status is important as it may protect certain rights relating, for example, to ill health pen-sions and death benefits.

For members who are forced to come out of a company scheme, MNOPP or the MNOPF, it may be appropriate to join The Maritime Stakeholder Plan which does not require employer contributions.

Independent financial advice on pension and other mat-ters can be obtained from Russell Warman, Pensions & Wealth Planning Limited, Pensions Lakeside Business Park, Swan Lane, Sandhurst, Berkshire GU47 9DN. Email: [email protected]; Tel: 01252 861380; Fax: 01252 861381.

Q: What about state benefits?

If you are made redundant, you are likely to be eligible for Jobseeker’s Allowance. Other benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance or Income Support may be available in limited circumstances. From April 2009 income support for mortgage interest (ISMI) benefit will be paid on the first £175,000 of your mortgage and will begin after 13 weeks of unemployment for new claimants. However, the benefit will only cover interest repayments; it will not cover any repay-ments of capital.

For further information, contact:

✪ Your Nautilus official✪ The TUC’s Know Your Rights line — 0870 600 4 882. Calls are charged at the national rate✪ The Citizens Advice service website www.citizensadvice.org.uk✪ HMRC (formerly the Inland Revenue) is on 0800 597 5976 or you can use the website www.hmrc.gov.uk to find your local office. ✪ The Jobcentre Plus benefits claim line is 0800 055 6688 (Monday to Friday, 8am–6pm). Your local office will be in the phone book and the website is www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk

CV CV can give can give you a good you a good head starthead startA CURRICULUM VITAE (CV) is often your first chance to market yourself to potential employers, who will often use them to decide who to interview for a vacancy. Use it to emphasise your strong points, and include details about personal qualities, skills and achievements, education and work experience.

Make sure your CV is well presented, clear, concise and easy to read. Ask someone else to check it for content, spelling and grammar before you send it. Keep it to one A4 page, if you can, and certainly no more than two.

✪ first, collect all the factual information required — including dates, grades of qualifications, experience, etc

✪ include relevant non-work activities, such voluntary/community work, hobbies, sports, etc

✪ensure that you include experience, skills and qualifications that are most relevant to the job on offer

✪ there is no set order for the headings in your CV, but your name should be given at the top. Other personal details can go either with the name or at the end

✪decide on the headings that present your positive points in the best way. Although many CVs begin with education, qualifications, employment etc., you might feel that your skills, abilities and achievements gained through other life experiences are more important

✪personal details should include: name, address, telephone number (including day contact number), date of birth (if you feel that your age may be off-putting to the employer, you do not have to put it on the CV)

✪education should include: dates (year), names of schools, colleges and training courses

✪Qualifications — give dates (year), examinations, subjects and grades

✪Work experience (or work history) — start with your most recent or present job. Give the dates (year or month and year) of employment, name of firm and address if relevant. Do not forget to include details of holiday jobs, temporary and voluntary work

✪Achievements — these can be work related or personal, such as getting awards for voluntary work and winning prizes, or non-academic qualifications like first aid or sport

✪ Interests and hobbies — particularly those that are relevant to the job and support your application

✪Additional Information — such as special knowledge or an ability to speak another language. Membership of any relevant organisations could also be included here

✪References — referees are usually teachers and/or employers. You can use ministers of religion, youth leaders or someone who knows you well. It is not always essential to list referees on a CV and may not be appropriate if you are making a speculative application

Finding a new jobFinding a new jobNAUTILUS staff and officials are dealing with an increasing number of queries from members seeking fresh employ-ment. If you haven’t been in the jobs market for a while, it can be confusing — because things have changed a lot in recent years.

Where to look for jobsWhere to look for jobsVacancies can be advertised in many different types of places — newspapers, magazines, vacancy boards and on the inter-net. The Telegraph has more jobs for maritime professionals than any other publication, and members can also access recruitment pages on the Union’s website. Other newspa-pers, such as Lloyd’s List and Tradewinds, also feature job adverts in the maritime industry.

How to reply to job adverts How to reply to job adverts Make the right impression with prospective employees by following their instructions. Read the adverts carefully — don’t call if they want you to write, and enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope if requested.

Don’t expect an acknowledgement of your application. Many companies no longer bother to confirm that they have received your reply to their advert.

Some adverts ask you to telephone for details. If so, it is important to be prepared, and make sure you have a copy of the advert and any relevant reference numbers, a pen and note pad to take down any details, and be prepared to answer any questions — this may be part of the interview process.

You may be sent a recruitment pack containing an appli-cation form, a job description, a person specification, and guidance notes.

When preparing When preparing your application:your application:✪ find a quiet place to work in and make sure you have plenty of time set aside✪ read any guidance notes, follow all the instructions, and answer all the questions✪ think ‘ABC’ — Accurate, Brief and Clear ✪ study the person specification and make sure you demon-strate how your knowledge, skills and experience relate to these points when you write your supporting statement✪ pay attention to spelling and grammar✪ ensure the application is clear and easy to read — you could complete the form in pencil first✪ ask someone to check it before you send it✪ keep a copy of the application, as it may be referred to if you are asked to go for an interview✪ use the space for adding further information or support-ing statement, if available

If you are called If you are called for an interviewfor an interview✪ Make sure you get all the details — when, where and with whom, and how to get there!✪ Prepare thoroughly — re-read your application and the information in the recruitment pack, and find out as much as you can about your prospective employer✪ Some of these questions are bound to be asked — make sure you have the answers ready:

— The ice breaker: Did you have a good journey? or Did you find us all right?

— What can you tell us about yourself?— Why do you want to be a...?— What can you offer us?— Why do you want to work for us?— What do you see yourself doing in 5-10 years’ time?— What are your hobbies/interests?— What do you consider your greatest strength and

weakness?

✪ Assemble a record of work and any other relevant mate-rial. Take this with you, and be sure to organise it so that it is well presented and can be looked at quickly✪ Make sure you have some key points and examples of your relevant knowledge, skills and experience to give to the interview panel✪ Think of any questions you wish to ask✪ Make sure you arrive on time

At the interviewAt the interview✪ Wear clothes that make you feel professional, confident and comfortable✪ As soon as you arrive behave as if the interview has started — reception staff may be asked for their impressions of you✪ A selection test may be included as part of the interview. If you know the type of test in advance, you could spend time practising similar exercises✪ Be polite, courteous and respectful. Thank the interviewer(s) for seeing you✪ Sit up and appear interested, alert and enthusiastic — and don’t be negative about yourself: you have been successful at getting an interview when others were not!✪ Make sure you state all your key points✪ Try to expand on what you put in your application form✪ Listen carefully to the questions and think before answering✪ Don’t worry if you get stuck for words, and pause before answering if you need to think about your reply✪ Ask for the question to be repeated if you didn’t hear it properly or are unsure what was meant✪ Feel free to use a pen and paper to jot down any thoughts or points that arise✪ Prepare a list of questions about things you want to know, to ask at the end of the interview

Lying idle: ships awaiting orders off Singapore last month — some reports suggest that more than 10% of the world containership fleet had been put into lay-up PICTURE: REUTERS

What to do if the axe falls on youWhat to do if the axe falls on you


the jobs market

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AS THE global economic crisis starts taking its toll on members’ jobs, some good news has blown in by way of the Nautical Institute — the arrival of a website-based service that promises to be a great aid to seafarers in planning their future careers.

In the current climate, the NI’s Cont inuing Profess ional Development (CPD) scheme — launched last month in London — might be viewed as an internet portal in a recessionary storm for the seafaring community.

The timing of the launch is just coincidental, however, as the Institute began contemplating the benefits of a CPD scheme sev-eral years ago, and set up a work-ing group some 18 months ago to bring it to fruition.

The Institute’s scheme — the first such initiative in the ship-ping sector — promises to be an invaluable tool to assist seafarers in making the optimal employ-ment, training and qualification decisions throughout their career.

The Institute is party to the ‘Go to Sea!’ campaign — the In t e r n a t i o n a l Ma r i t i m e Organisation-backed initiative launched last autumn to attract new recruits into the industry as the shipping world faces up to projections that the global short-

fall of officers could reach almost 84,000 by 2012.

Where the new CPD scheme differs is in its primary aim of keeping maritime professionals employed in the industry. Peter Aylott, the Institute’s director of professional development, com-ments: ‘Few people actually plan their careers or know where to go to get information about train-ing. This lack of information of career opportunities can lead to frustration.’

The inconvenient truth for the maritime industry, he points out, is that not enough people are being attracted in, not enough are staying and there is no formal link to industry or career. ‘Things have to change and the NI decided that it could help with this.’

So it developed the CPD scheme. ‘There is nothing like this in the maritime industry at the moment, although it is stand-ard practice in other industries,’ Mr Aylott adds.

The NI scheme, developed with the Northern Ireland-based CPD specialist Aurion Learning — which previously established CPD systems for organisations such as the Law Society — is a password-protected service. Accessible via the NI’s website, it was still being tweaked as the Telegraph went to press, and the

Institute took note of delegates’ feedback from workshops at the launch.

The scheme, which was planned to go live by the start of May, will enable users to:✪ electronically store, in one secure place, their certificates and other evidence of their pro-fessional development — includ-ing participation in programmes of mandatory and approved vol-untary study, research, job exchanges and secondments and job shadowing, and attending, writing for and making presenta-tions at workshops, at seminars and conferences✪ look at jobs, career pathways, and learning opportunities

Developing nicely...

✪ access a facility called ‘The CPD Wheel’, which helps users to research, plan, record and then reflect on their learning, in line with career aspirations

Another benefit — directing users towards mentors within the industry — was highlighted at the launch by Chris Haughton, MD of the educational consultancy Haughton Maritime, and chair of the NI’s CPD working group.

And as Dr Maureen Murphy, Aurion managing director, informed delegates at the launch, the NI system is designed to oper-ate on low bandwidth. ‘You don’t need a very high speed internet connection.’

The keynote address was given

by Captain Martin Burley, group training director of V Ships. He explained that there are three dif-ferent types of CPD system — mandatory, obligatory and voluntary.

Capt Burley explained why the NI has plumped for the voluntary CPD model. ‘It would be difficult to enforce a CPD requirement upon Institute members when they already have so many manda-tory training requirements as it is.

‘Instead,’ he added, ‘the Institute looked at how a CPD system could fulfil a need for per-sonal development. The opportu-nity within the industry is vast, but many maritime professionals are poorly informed, do not have

role models or access to informa-tion to research their options and identify their aspirations. A CPD system can have a role here in facilitating opportunity as well as learning.’

The Institute, Capt Burley added, had decided to provide a voluntary CPD system to support seafarers in their research and career development, identify career aims and objectives, seek the required learning and then reflect upon the outcomes against their plan.

The system, he said, would complement the competence management systems that many companies already have. ‘The former enables the individual to manage their own learning against their own goals; the latter manages the collective capability of a company’s employees to ensure that they can fulfil assign-ed duties.’

Captain Andy Winbow, direc-tor of the International Maritime Organisation’s administrative division, took the opportunity to made a broader point: ‘We have had enough examples in the recent history of the shipping industry where the savings axe fell on training in the search for economies, only for those short-term gains to return in the guise of a long-term shortage of the skilled, professional seafarers the industry so clearly needs. I think all of us here would wish to see the range of opportunities in the shipping and maritime industries that are available being taken by those with seagoing experience — not only to provide a welcome career progression for individu-als but also for the health of the maritime industry at large.’

Peter Aylott, NI director of professional development; Capt Andy Winbow, from the IMO; Chris Haughton, conference chairman; Capt NI president Richard Coates; Dr Maureen Murphy, Aurion Learning MD; and V Ships training director Capt Martin Burley

A NEW website has been launched to promote continuing professional development in shipping...

safety at sea


THE TENTH anniversary of the first mandatory implementation date for the ISM Code has prompted much retrospection and not a little introspection. Rather like a middle-aged man approaching yet another ‘signifi-cant’ birthday, we seem driven to ask, with a sense of urgency not to be found at other times, ‘How did it go?’ ‘Was it worth it?’ and Where do we go from here?’

Our inclination to focus on questions like this at particular intervals may appear irrational, but the questions themselves are no less worthy of our attention because of it. Let us take the first two questions together.

For the Kelvinists* among us, the answers must lie in measure-ment and numerical analysis. There just has to be a definitive statistical indicator out there somewhere that will provebeyond all doubt the success or otherwise of the ISM Code — it is simply a matter of knowingwhere to look. Unfortunately, the quest for such a number is futile.

It was apparent from the out-set that, if the Code was to have the anticipated impact, a funda-mental change in attitudes and culture would be required throughout the industry, and that this would take time: several years, if not a generation or two.

There is a great deal of qualita-tive evidence available that is at least as reliable and informative as any statistic. Those who carry out audit and certification work every day in hundreds of compa-nies and on thousands of ships have a very clear impression of the Code’s impact. They will tell you that the results have been mixed. Some companies have embraced the Code and benefited greatly. Some already good oper-ators have surprised themselves and done even better. Others rub along, not altogether convinced. And the rest we all know about.

This analysis could be applied to every regulation ever enacted, but in the case of the ISM Code it is often presented as a cause for condemnation. Since the Code was introduced, collisions, groundings and other incidents have been quickly followed by articles, speeches and papers insisting that it has all been a

waste of time and effort, and that the Code should be torn up. The underlying assumption appears to be that the ISM Code was intended to eliminate all risk and provide a guarantee that there would never again be another accident.

It is not clear why, of all the rules and regulations governing shipping, only the ISM Code is expected to deliver perfection.

So, has the ISM Code worked or not, and was it worth it? In a very important sense, these are the wrong questions. The imple-mentation of the Code was not a single event to be evaluated like the introduction of a technical fix that either worked or did not. It is a process. The question we should be asking is not ‘Has it worked’ but ‘Is it working?’ The answer is that it has begun to work. Is it worth continuing the effort? Most certainly it is.

So, where do we go from here? There is no doubt that things could be improved. The process began badly and is still strug-gling. But it can be made to work better. To achieve this, we need to understand why the Code had such a difficult birth and why it continues to be controversial.

To begin with, it was oversold. For a variety of reasons, the impression was allowed to take hold that it was a panacea. As a consequence, expectations were too high and the results were

always going to disappoint. The Code was to be the single, all-embracing remedy for all that messy, ill-defined and difficult stuff that lurks wherever people are to be found. Unfortunately, and to everyone’s consternation, people persist in being compli-cated, unpredictable and wilful.

It was oversold to an industry that was under-prepared for it. Before the Code’s introduction, shipping regulation had con-sisted almost entirely of very detailed, very prescriptive, tech-nical rules. For the first time, ship operators were confronted by a set of requirements that were anything but detailed, were delib-erately non-prescriptive and con-tained not a single technical term. Achieving compliance would require a completely different approach.

The qualifications of those whose job it was to make it all work — ashore and on board — were also mostly technical. People with little or no training in, or understanding of management, systems thinking, risk, organisa-tional design and human factors were left to develop, implement and maintain their own manage-ment systems and create a safety culture.

No attempt was made to inform and educate the people upon whose understanding, acceptance and effort the whole enterprise depended. Even now,

the ISM Code features in seafarer training courses as just another piece of regulation to be complied with.

There are many other reasons for the Code’s difficulties. It still prompts the usual human response to anything new and different; not all organisational cultures are amenable to more formal, systematic ways of work-ing; the Code’s introduction in more deferential and strongly hierarchical societies continues

‘The underlying assumption seems to be that the ISM Code was intended to eliminate all risk...’

to be difficult; old attitudes per-sist; myths and misunderstand-ings abound.

Not everyone is opposed to the ISM Code, but even among those who support it in principle there is widespread unease about just how effective it has been. They worry that momentum has been lost and wonder what can bedone to revive it.

Unfortunately, as so often happens when a set of require-ments appears not to have had the intended effect, the response has been to tinker with the regu-lation itself.

Many industry organisations lack confidence in the Code. Nervous about the lack of pre-scription and seeking precise measures of an operator’s ability to reach an acceptable standard according to their own preferred criteria, they have developed checklists and inspection proc-esses of their own. Each one is presented as the ‘successor’ tothe ISM Code or is described as ‘going beyond’ it: in other words, the next magic bullet.

I think we are missing the point. There are useful ways in which the Code could be amend-ed and the wording could be clar-ified, but if we are to bring about the significant improvement that so many would like to see, we need to step back and take a much broader view. We must create the conditions in which the objec-tives of the ISM Code are more likely to be achieved. The follow-ing steps would be a beginning:

1. a fundamental re-appraisal of seafarer training from the point of view of management, systems, organisational design and human factors to promote understand-ing and acceptance of the princi-ples that underpin the Code and provide the skills necessary to improve implementation

2. a thorough revision of the guidelines to administrations (as adopted by Resolution A.913(22)) to produce a coherent document based on the many lessons learn-ed since the Code’s introduction3. enhancement of the Code, not by simply adding to the list of operational requirements, but by incorporating provisions that embed within it genuine systems and human factors concepts4. an examination of the audit and certification process in the light of experience during the past decade5. a coordinated, industry-wide initiative to rationalise the pleth-ora of audits, inspections, surveys and assessments that impose excessive demands on ships’ crews, create pointless repetition, cause people to see the ISM Code as just one more in a long list of rules and regulations, and bring the whole regulatory process into disrepute.

Many will view this as an ide-alistic wish list, but the ISM Code has long-term implications for the regulation of shipping that go far beyond its significance as a piece of regulation per se, and it is important to realise that what has been created is a foundation, not an edifice. Many more ele-ments need to be brought together, in a systematic way, before the building is complete. Endlessly chipping away at the cornerstone will not get the job done.

*Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, (1824 – 1907), Scottish mathematician and physicist, held that unless one can measure something and express it in num-bers, one does not know enough about it. (He also said that X-rays would turn out to be a hoax, radio had no future, and heavier-than-air flying machines were impos-sible.)

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SINCE 1851 the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society has been mak-ing annual awards for outstand-ing acts of skill and gallantry at sea and probably has one ofthe UK’s most comprehensive records of such incidents and the people involved.

In the 19th century the awards were gold and silver medals, barometers and amounts of

money. Over time, these have changed and today there are three principal awards and individual commendations.

The oldest of these is theEmile Robin Award. In 1880 the French philanthropist Monsieur Emile Robin gave the Society a sum of money in trust to provide an annual award for the British master and chief officer of a

British merchant vessel who incurred the greatest peril in res-cuing survivors at sea.

The term ‘British merchant vessel’ now includes British-owned but flying a foreign flag, and rescues by other civilian craft are also considered. Last year it was won by Coxswain Mark Criddle of the Torbay Lifeboat for his part in taking off eight crew members from the general cargo-ship Ice Prince.

The Edward and Maisie Lewis Award is given for an outstanding air/sea rescue. It was instituted in 1980 by Richard Lewis, in mem-ory of his father and mother, Sir Edward (of Decca fame) and Lady Lewis.

The award is made annually to the helicopter crew who together displayed the greatest skill and courage in carrying out an air/sea rescue or casevac. Last year it was awarded to the crew of ‘Rescue 137’ — a Sea King helicopterfrom D Flight 202 Squadron RAF Lossiemouth, who rescued a severely ill crewman from the Russian fishing vessel Semyon

Lapshenkov at the extreme limit of its range.

In 1973 the Lady Swaythling Trophy was instituted and is awarded to an individual for the most outstanding feat of seaman-ship. Preference is given to instances that prevented the loss of a ship or reduced the risks to life or limb, but the emphasis is on seamanship not rescue.

All categories of vessel — including commercial, private and public service vessels and off-shore energy installations — are eligible. Last year it was awarded to Captain Glenn Wostenholme of the Maersk Kendal — on her maiden voyage — for his part in finding and rescuing survivors from the cargoship Pailin Maritime.

Commendations are also made to individuals whose endeavours are regarded as being worthy of public recognition, but whose actions do not fit into any of the main award categories. The presentations are made at the Society’s awards ceremony and annual general meeting which is held at the Fishmongers’ Hall in October.

Each year in late March the Society writes to over 100 organi-sations and companies seeking nominations (deadline mid-May) — but confesses that where mer-chant shipping companies are concerned it can be difficult toget a response, even when the Society is aware from other

sources that an action worthy of an award has occurred. Chief executive Malcolm Williams believes this is due to a combina-tion of factors, including pressure of work, the split between owners and managers, and a lack of knowledge about the awards.

So, if you know of an incident that you believe is worthy of pub-lic recognition then contact the Shipwrecked Mariners through its website or by phone at any time of the year.

The Society’s trustees believe that it is important to recognise acts of heroism — not only for their intrinsic worth, but also to help keep in the public eye an awareness of the perils faced by those whose business is the sea.

This year — to celebrate its 170th anniversary — the Society is producing an ebook, which will be available on CD, listing all the awards it has made since 1851, together with details of the inci-dents concerned. It will be avail-able from the Chichester office from August onwards. Proceeds will go to support its principal activity — providing support to former merchant seafarers and fishermen and their dependants who are in need.

✪ To find out more: visit www.ship-wreckedmariners.org.uk or contact; Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society, 1 North Pallant, Chichester PO19 1TL. Tel: 01243 789329. Email: [email protected]


safety at sea

Many seafarers we note are under the illusion that to qualify for the 100% foreign earnings deduction, all they have to do is spend 183 days out of the country on foreign going voyages.Many have found to their cost, when investigated by the Revenue that it is not that straightforward and of course it is then too late to rectify.Make sure you are not one of them by letting Seatax Ltd plan your future claim step by step.

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Seatax 16 x 4.indd 1 16/4/09 14:21:08

DO YOU know of an act of bravery or a dramatic rescue at sea? A UK charity is seeking nominations for awards to honour them….

Maersk master Capt Glenn Wostenholme was presented with the 2008 Lady Swaythling Trophy for the most outstanding feat of seamanship

Honouring heroes

The 2008 Emile Robin Award went to RNLI coxswain Mark Criddle for his role in rescuing crew from the stricken cargoship Ice Prince

The Society’s trustees

believe it is important to

recognise acts of heroism to

help keep in the public eye an awareness of

the perils faced by those whose

business is the sea

PORT OF London Authority pilots, VTS officers, boat crews, divers, salvage teams and shore staff have taken part in a series of events to mark the centenary of the organisation.

Gatherings took place at Richmond Lock and Weir, Bakers Hall in central London, the Thames Barrier Navigational Control Centre at Woolwich, and at London River House and Denton in Gravesend to kick off the celebrations.

Chief executive Richard Everitt told them: ‘Reaching 100 years is a major achievement. It means 100 years of keeping the river open to traffic, 100 years of helping keep the river safe, 100 years of facilitating trade.

‘That work is as essential today as it was 100 years ago. The need for our work will continue as long as people need to eat, wear clothes and have fuel for heating and power.’

One hundred years to the day since the PLA was formed, ship-ping minister Jim Fitzpatrick opened a special celebratory exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands.

The three-week exhibition featured rare archive material and images, as well as stories from PLA staff documenting their time working on the tidal Thames over the last century.

The PLA has deposited its entire archive of documentary records, and some 30,000 photo-graphs, on the second floor of the museum. The archive — which is open not only to researchers but to the general public by prior appointment with archivist

Claire Frankland at [email protected] — includes materials from the private port system that pre-dated the estab-lishment of the PLA.

Mr Fitzpatrick — in whose Poplar and Canning Town con-stituency the museum is located — said the exhibition served as an important reminder of the bene-fits that ports bring to everyone.

London is Britain’s second largest port, the minister added, praising the ‘professionalism and

commitment’ of PLA staff who ‘continue to make London a very safe, efficient and competitive port’.

Other centenary events have included a concert (Celebrating London and the Sea) in aid of the RNLI last month and the publi-cation of a new book, Port of London Authority: A Century of Service, which was also launched at the museum. A review will appear in next month’s Telegraph.

members at work


Available this month:

Inspection Repair and Maintenance of Ships

Structures 2nd Edition

Price £95

Witherby Seamanship International Ltd4 Dunlop Square, Livingston, Edinburgh, EH54 8SB, Scotland, UK

web: www.witherbyseamanship.com

One of the PLA’s longest serving employees, John Window, cuts the centenary celebration cake at the Gravesend headquarters

Chief Harbour Master David Snelson slices the cake with staff at the PLA Thames Barrier Navigation Centre as the centenary celebrations kicked off last month

The Port of London chalked up a 0.4% increase in overall trade last year, handling some 53m tonnes of cargo

THE PORT of London Authority’s centenary is being marked by a series of special events...

100 not out for PLA100 not out for PLA

PICTURED left is the US Mail steamboat Kate Adams. Built in 1882, the vessel was hailed as one of the fastest and most successful packets ever to have operated on the Mississippi.

PICTURED right is the City of Albany, originally built as the Hudson River steamboat Adelphi in 1863. The vessel was rebuilt and renamed after a boiler explosion and fire in 1878 .


maritime history maritime history


‘WHEN it reaches you from some-where off in the distance, a steam-boat whistle is the sweetest music ever heard’ — the words of Captain Henry Miller Shreve, a veteran of 40 years on America’s western rivers, who could justly be described as the creator of the steamboat.

The contribution that steam-boats made to the development of the continent was inestimable, yet today Henry Shreve is evi-dently uncelebrated in the annals of America’s history. The echoes of his achievements are as indi-vidual as the signature blasts from the days of the great rival-ries amongst steamboat captains, where it was no idle boast that a boat could be recognised by its whistle long before it was seen.

The railroads are often cred-ited with opening up the West, but steamboats have a more sub-stantiated claim. On the small rivers, as well as the big, wherever there was sufficient water under their extremely shallow hulls, the

steamboats made and supported hundreds of new settlements and growing towns. Often they were the only means of wider commu-nication — as true on the Rio Grande as on the Upper Missouri, the rivers of California and the Pacific Northwest.

Robert Fulton — the acknowl-edged creator of the steamship — was also to become Henry Shreve’s arch business rival. In 1811 the vessel New Orleans, designed by Fulton, made the remarkable first steam transit of the Ohio and Mississippi, from Pittsburgh to the home port whose name she bore — a journey of 2,000 miles in turbulent and uncharted waters. At New Orleans, the press extravagantly but accurately forecasted the day when a multitude of steamboats would ply the Mississippi with their riches: ‘The future prosper-ity and growth of this city is now assured.’

Fulton went on to secure an exclusive grant from the state of

New York for the steam naviga-tion of its waterways. Anticipat-ing similar grants from states having sovereignty over the Ohio and lower Mississippi, his mono-polistic designs failed to recog-nise the temperament and response of the populace in the west: ‘Our rivers have always been free and they must remain free. The pioneers and their sons did not wrest this western country from the Indians to have it turned over for the special privilege of any group of Eastern capitalists.’

Steam governorsTREVOR BOULT reflects on the pivotal, yet often uncelebrated, role of the steamboat in the evolution of the United States...

If the heyday of If the heyday of the steamboat the steamboat

provided provided elegance and elegance and luxury for its luxury for its passengers, passengers,

one thing it did one thing it did not guarantee not guarantee

was safetywas safety

ibsrtt

Only the key state of Louisiana capitulated, sufficient for the Fulton group to thwart other shipping from reaching New Orleans. The appearance of the New Orleans sparked a lengthy controversy. As a Fulton ‘monop-oly’ ship, her more appropriately designed — and more accurately named — steamboat successors legally choked all competition. They were also able to ‘attach’ any rival craft attempting to reach the southern city.

But the Fulton group were about to more than meet their match, in Henry Shreve. At that time a man of modest means, he was still an unwavering warrior for justice. He refused to becowed by the imperialistic hostil-ity of the monopolists. In open defiance, he steamed into New Orleans and put bail up for his boat even before it was attached. It was to take years of legal skir-mishing to wear down the so-called steamboat monopoly, which eventually saw such grants ruled unconstitutional and invalid.

In heroically establishing the freedom of steam navigation, Henry Shreve became one of the West’s greatest benefactors. His later contributions to river navi-gation by steam power were many — not only on the Mississippi, but wherever paddle wheels were to turn on the inland waters of

America. Steamboats carried the great tide of emigration westward long before the railroads; sleepy river towns became thriving cit-ies and a measure of culture, romance and prosperity flour-ished in the outback.

An ex-flatboat captain, Shreve was a consummate riverman. Almost single-handed, he devised the structural and mechanical innovations without which the steamboat would have been rela-tively useless. He had cast a criti-cal eye over the building of Fulton’s New Orleans. Seeing her boiler and engine being placed deep in the hull, which gave the vessel a draught of 5ft, the con-cept ran contrary to what he believed a functional steamboat should be: time proved him right.

Rivermen knew to copy the lines of the traditional keelboat in their hulls. Flat and shallow, they would skim over the water’s sur-face, not plough through it. Shreve’s radical ideas included an engine for each paddle wheel to enhance manoeuvrability, deck-mounted boilers and high pres-sure horizontal engines, their connecting rods permitting the cylinders to remain stationary, and new features which made huge fuel savings. All had merit, for steamboat builders down through the years were to adopt them in nearly all the 2,000-plus

boats that were to grace the Western rivers.

The early steamers were crude and ugly, but they steadily evolved into the form that represented the famous Mississippi style of steamboat architecture. Not in any way progeny of the steam-ship, unlike Fulton’s short-lived New Orleans, their shallow draught could contend with the numerous shallows, sandbars, shifting channels and submerged timber ‘snags’.

Shreve’s first proper steam-boat was the Washington. Her round trips from Louisville to New Orleans in 1817 dispelled doubts about the ability of such craft to navigate the great rivers and their tributaries. Such relia-ble, fast, economical transport would bring even the remotest settlements and towns closer together and provide a market for the products of farms, factories, mills and mines. Emigration fur-ther west would also benefit.

Shreve was also to invent the snagboat. With their help, in two years, he cleared some 300 miles of the Mississippi of thousandsof snags, rendering it, in press terms, ‘as harmless as a mill-pond’. Similar success attended his years of breaking up the Great Raft that had closed the Red River to navigation for 150 miles — all this whilst he was US Superintendent of Western River Improvements.

When a steamboat announced its coming with a long mellow blast of its whistle, there was evi-dently something personal about its arrival, unlike a train arriving at a depot to pause briefly to dis-gorge passengers and goods before speeding onwards. The steamboat was never in such a rush. As it lay tied up at the land-ing, blowing off steam, its big wheels idle, the town would come to life and there would be a gen-eral movement down to the river to see who was coming home and catch the latest news. If the boat was lying over for the night some entertainment would be forth-coming.

If the heyday of the steamboat provided elegance and luxury for its passengers, one thing it did not guarantee was safety. Owners accepted the fact that three years was the average life of a steam-boat, no matter how palatial. In that time they would not only return their cost but accrue hand-some profits. A boat was no sooner lost than its successor was ordered.

Most were lost by striking hid-den timber snags. Some were lost by fire, collisions, or the effects of ice, particularly in the annual spring break-up. A far greater number succumbed to exploding boilers and burst steam pipes. In the beginning there was little supervision of steamboat opera-

tions, but the frequency of acci-dents and disaster soon spawned a whole body of state and federal laws. Regular boiler and hull inspections became mandatory. Explosions were always spectacu-lar and responsible for the great-est loss of life. Some were traceable to ignorance and carelessness, but the vast majority were due to the foolhardy practice of racing.

Racing was the great sport of the times. Dangerous as the trav-elling public knew it to be, it chose to ride the packets that had a reputation for accepting anychallenge. Thus, a captain who sensibly refused to race soon found his boat unpopular. Captains also knew that to be caught racing meant instant dis-missal. The phenomenon of rac-ing was to reach its climax in 1870 with the famous duel between the Robert E Lee and the Natchez.

Steamboats were fundamen-tal in opening up the central val-ley of the United States, from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, in the great American adventure that was the settle-ment of the West.

In the early decades of the 19th century the strategic position of the old French settlement of St Louis ensured its growth and prosperity as the hub from which the pioneering movement ema-nated. When St Louis recognised the importance of the steamboat, and enthusiastically embraced it as the prime mode of transporta-tion, it inevitably became the metropolis of the Mississippi val-ley, and the steamboat capital of the United States.

Steamboats were instrumen-tal in the movement and distribu-tion of particular ethnic groups and creeds, to lasting effect — including Indian tribes, Chinese

workers, and black crew mem-bers who had been made free men by the Emancipation Proclamation.

In the south, the lower Rio Grande and its use by steamboats had also shaped the course of his-tory. After the war with Mexico the river became the boundary between the two republics. It took the conflict to bring the first steamboats to the Rio Grande. As transport for troops, supplies and munitions, it was to be their busi-est time.

The great rivers played their roles in the American Civil War. It brought threats to steamboat-ing as a business, as both the Union and Confederacy seized what craft they could, for conver-sion into rams and gunboats. Many others were taken into gov-ernment service, at profit to their owners.

After the end of hostilities it soon became apparent that what was to become the golden era of the packets was beginning — a

phenomenon that endured until the advancing railroads super-seded them.

The discovery of gold in California had brought an inter-national prospecting rush of ‘forty-niners’, many of whom needed onward transport. As the Sacramento River was the main thoroughfare to the Mother Lode country, steamboat owners made fortunes out of the two-way traf-fic. In 1860 the steamboat Antelope had the honour of rac-ing to San Francisco with the first mail to arrive at Sacramento by Pony Express. Graced with an accident-free record, Wells Fargo entrusted her with bringing downriver millions of dollars in gold dust and bullion, to its bank in San Francisco.

Natural wonders of a different variety were tenaciously pursued by the naturalist John Audobon. Constrained to travel by steam-boat on the Upper Missouri, the frequent stops for wooding and for cleaning the river mud out of

the boilers gave Audobon and his party frequent opportunities for going ashore. Many birds and animals they secured proved hitherto unknown to science.

Many steamboats were una-shamedly utilitarian. On the Red River they were floating work-horses, shifting huge tonnages of cotton, molasses and other sugar-cane products, sulphur and farm produce out of one of the richest valleys in America, to the New Orleans market of the outside world. Steam boating on the Arkansas reaped unparalleled prosperity. In support of the gov-ernment’s treaty obligations, they transported rations, basic imple-ments of husbandry and livestock to some 100,000 semi-civilised Indians on their newly allotted lands. On the Upper Missouri steamboat operations came to monopolise the fur trade.

From the humble beginnings on the Sacramento River was to come a great fleet of packets. Every year new boats appeared — always faster, finer and more luxurious than those they replaced. Many closely echoed the traditional Mississippi pat-tern. They were also joined by former east coast steamers, deep draughted paddle wheelers that had braved the Atlantic, their decks boarded up to maximise the carriage of fuel, traversing the Straits of Magellan and the Pacific in order to reach San Francisco Bay. These fine vessels, which now had salt in their veins, also ran coastwise: south to beyond San Diego and north to the Columbia River.

In 1865, the small stern wheeler Forty Nine became the first to cross the 49th parallel, overcoming ice and rapids, under the redoubtable command of

Captain White. A topographical survey of the Colorado River did not lend encouragement to its potential for navigation. Yet with government backing venturers proved it to be viable. They intro-duced the steamer as an emblem of civilisation. The navigable river became the territory’s lifeline; from every steamboat landing good roads radiated many distant camps and settlements.

However, like their brethren of an earlier period on the Mississippi, they made a grave error in believing that the bur-geoning railroads would be a great feeder for the Colorado river traffic. Even at their peak, realists had dimly perceived the future effects of what was to become the mortal enemy of the steamboats.

Several collaborative ventures between boat and rail operators did flourish and inaugurated the first steamboat schedule in his-tory. Central Pacific Railroad itself invested heavily in new lux-urious craft. The ultimate in Sacramento River steamers were the huge identical twins, Delta Queen and Delta King, which appeared in 1926.

The railroads had driven the steamboats off the Upper Mississippi and were now about to do the same on the Missouri. Within a period of 30 years the great business of the river had peaked and vanished. The fur trade had slumped and the Plains Indians had been subjugated. The steamboat was generally becoming an anachronism. With growing frequency boats began to sink or burn, leaving insurers to underwrite the losses.

Without any regard for senti-ment the railroads gave Arkansas River steamboating the final coup de grace by acquiring the disem-bowelled hull of the once-renowned Robert E Lee for use as a wharf boat, before finally being lost to fire. Its formidable rival of earlier days, the Natchez, ended up as a storage hulk before suffer-ing the same fate.

America’s great rivers had been a sound economical means of transportation, but with the fading of the steamboat era their usefulness waned. The Sacra-mento River steamboats were the last to succumb to progress. Government dams, toll bridges and irrigation projects ensured their demise.

It has been said that, with the passing of the river steamboat, something that was good, and as truly American as the water on which it floated, disappeared. Songs and stories have been writ-ten about them which at least may help the steamboat’s echoing whistle endure.ACKNOWLEDGMENTThe author kindly acknowl-edges the material assistance of Harry Drago.

A US Coast Guard safety and security team passes the New Orleans steamboat Natchez at the Tall Stacks steamboat festival on the Ohio River PICTURE: US COAST GUARD

Riverboats at New Orleans in a busy waterfront scene painted by an unknown artist in the 1840s

Steamboats were as important to the development of the west of the United States as they were to the south

Built in 1927, the Mississippi steamboat Delta Queen is now on the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark

SOME claim the City of Adelaide — a once illustrious 19th century British clipper — is of even greater historical sig-nificance than the Cutty Sark. Yet the vessel is rotting away on a slipway leased by the Scottish Maritime Museum, and the museum has given up on any possi-bility of raising the funds to preserve and eventually restore her.

Two cities a world apart — Sunderland and Adelaide — have historic and emo-tional stakes in this ship, and both have ardent lobby groups that are seeking to raise the readies to take City of Adelaide off the museum’s hands and save her.

Built at the William Pile and Hay shipyard, Sunderland in 1864 for London merchants Devitt and Moore, City of Adelaide is nearly six years older than Cutty Sark — the only other surviving composite clipper — and is similarly ranked among our top 10 National Historic Ships.

Her significance in the early develop-ment of Australia cannot be overstated. City of Adelaide completed some 23 trips in as many years carrying British and German immigrants to Adelaide in the new colony of South Australia, and returning to London loaded with wool, wheat and copper.

At the time, she was the fastest pas-senger clipper, capable of making the trip to Australia in only 64 days. Some quarter million Australians are reckoned to be descendents of those immigrants.

‘It is difficult to imagine a more vital icon of the making of modern Australia, and of the relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies,’ says the website of the Save the Clipper ShipCity of Adelaide Action Group.

The group has been campaigning for some 10 years in South Australia, the state of which Adelaide is the capital. Its website at http://cityofadelaideclipper.org is packed with fascinating historical infor-mation, including the 1864 to 1865 crew list.

According to Traditional Boats & Tall Ships magazine, the Australians ‘real-ised some time ago that a full Au$40m restoration of the clipper would not be possible, and their focus has since shifted

from restoration to preservation. They are working hard with the state govern-ment to secure the Au$3.5m needed to move her overseas’.

Not if the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recover Foundation (Scarf) gets its way — and, unlike the Australians, its plans include an eventual full restoration. The Telegraph learned about Scarf ’s cam-paign through Nautilus member Aidan Osmialowski, whose father, John, is on Scarf ’s committee.

John, a salesman who began working

life as an apprentice marine engineer, says: ‘We do need to save some of our maritime heritage.’

But what if the Australian group got the Adelaide? He’s philosophical. ‘It’s like that biblical story, about the baby (King Solomon) — it’s got to be saved, whoever gets it.’

Scarf ’s chairman, Sunderland coun-cillor Peter Maddison, is adamant that his city is the natural home for the vessel. ‘After 600 years of building ships, we can claim to have an even greater emotional and physical relationship with that ship. We built her, and our need as a city and people is greater than the Australians.’

So committed is Cllr Maddison, he named his daughter Adelaide after the ship, and saving it is the reason he entered politics as an independent. ‘I got involved with local politics because I saw the great need for regeneration to hap-pen in the city. The Adelaide is the blue touch paper which will reignite that regeneration. Every city needs its iconic symbol to tell the rest of world who we are and what were about and Sunderland was once the greatest shipbuilding city in the world.’

Cllr Maddison was in the Royal Marine Volunteer Reserve when City of Adelaide, renamed HMS Carrick, was used as RNVR’s HQ club on the Clyde in

Glasgow. His seagoing career began when he joined his first ship in Rotterdam as junior engineer. ‘I was in the British and Norwegian merchant navies. I ended up as skipper and owner of a 20m Norwegian old wood sailing ship built in 1913. I sailed as electrician, as AB, as old wooden boat restorer, rigger and crew. So I know about restoration projects, what can be done and how to do it.’

In fact, Scarf can call on a broad range of specialist ability — including archi-tects, designers, and former shipwrights, shipyard workers and engineer officers.

Scarf is calling for donations to help raise £2m, but estimates that far less is needed initially to transport the ship to Sunderland. ‘A recovery company in Rotterdam has calculated that we could do the job for less than £400,000,’ Cllr Maddison explains. ‘More importantly than the money, we’ve had to demon-strate to National Historical Ships, and the Scottish Maritime Museum that not only are we capable of recovering the ship but we are capable of sustaining a 25-year full restoration project,’ he adds. ‘That is going to take millions. What’s important is that they feel confident that Scarf and the people of Sunderland are going to look after that ship.’

Scarf has already raised half that ini-tial £400,000, and Cllr Maddison reveals that he has just returned from a highly promising meeting with a Sunderland businessman: ‘He’s joined Scarf, he’s a Sunderland patriot and determined that that ship will be brought back to Sunderland and willing to com-mit his money, time and contacts to that cause. We’re working towards a recovery date in September.’

Will that be too late though? The Telegraph has been in touch with Scottish Maritime Museum acting director Jim Tildesley. The reason the vessel is in Scotland, he points out, is because that is where she spent the greater part of her life. In 1887 she was sold to the bulk cargo trade, used as a Newcastle to Dover collier, then as a transatlantic timber carrier. Southampton Corporation bought her in 1893 for service as a chol-era isolation hospital.

Scotland enters the frame in 1923 when, bought by the Admiralty and renamed HMS Carrick, she functioned as a RNVR drill training ship in Greenock, as a WW2 merchant ship

gunner and detention centre for desert-ers, and post-war as an RNVR club.

After she sank a second time, the museum acquired her for a token £1 in 1992 and moved her to a slipway inIrvine owned by Ayrshire MetalProducts. There she has lain ever since.

Mr Tildesley said the museum acquired the City of Adelaide prior to the reorganisation of local government in Scotland and initially had no problem in raising the first £1m to save the vessel, and to start restoration. However, after re-organisation bodies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and other trusts and government agencies would not support the museum’s projects, as there was no guarantee of adequate revenue on a long-term basis.

‘With no funding, no support from HLF and a requirement to move the ves-sel, the trustees had no choice but to dis-pose of the ship,’ he added.

Disposal would allow for the reten-tion of the bow, stern and a midships frame by the museum, subject to fund-ing. If funding is not available then a small number of sample materials will be retained.

There can be no further delays with-out jeopardising the future of Scotland’s entire national maritime collection, Mr Tildesley warns. ‘The only way to pre-vent deconstruction now is for an organ-isation to guarantee they can remove the vessel from the slipway in a matter of months. To do that, our experts believe that they must have around £1m ready to spend and be able to commence work by early summer.’

Unless Scarf or the Australians can raise the funds quickly, they both risk missing the boat.✪ For further information about the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recover Foundation, or to pledge a donation, go to www.cityofadelaide1864.co.uk. Or contact Cllr Peter Maddison at 19 Azalea Ave, Sunderland, SR2 7EY, or phone him on 07908 520 842.


maritime heritage

The 20th anniversary of closure of the last shipyard in Sunderland, outside the yard gates. Peter Maddison’s daughter Adelaide is the girl sitting on the red ensign PICTURE: COURTESY OF EASTWISE PUBLICATIONS

Race for survivalRace for survivalMIKE GERBER reports on a fight to save a ship ranked as highly as the Cutty Sark...

LEFT TO RIGHT: Bow view, Irvine SlipwayAdelaide as she wasOn the slipway, from the sternIn the hold, 2004 PICTURES: SCOTTISH MARITIME MUSEUM


ONRUST IN DEWATERBOUWHET is de laatste tijd wat onrustig inWaterbouwland. Eerder hebbenwerkgevers de dringende wens geuit omhet personeel op de hoppers niet meeronder de CAO te laten vallen. Dit verzoekwas tijdens de onderhandelingen voor hetbuitenlandcontract naar voren gebracht enhiervoor was al een onderzoekswerkgroepin het leven geroepen.

De werkingssfeer van de CAO: hetwaar, wanneer en voor wie is de CAO vantoepassing? is niet iets wat eventussendoor kan worden aangepast envergt natuurlijk het nodige onderzoek.Het moet immers voorkomen worden datmensen tussen wal en schip vallenbetreffende de geregeldearbeidsvoorwaarden en BedrijfstakEigen Regelingen.

BoekjeBij de CAO-onderhandelingen in 2008 ishet onderwerp werkingssfeer echter niet

ter sprake gekomen. De huidige regelvoor werkingssfeer die in de CAO staat,blijft daarom ongewijzigd van kracht tothierover andere afspraken wordengemaakt.

Ook heeft u tot op heden nog geenCAO-boekje ontvangen; dit is deels tewijten aan de opstelling van werkgeversin dit dossier. Tot het moment van hetschrijven van dit stuk was er nog geengoedkeuring op de reglementtekstenwaardoor nog geen CAO-boekje konworden gemaakt. FNV Waterbouw doeter nu alles aan om deze twee zaken niet

met elkaar te laten vermengen. Devakbond wil best meedenken overoplossingen, maar dit mag natuurlijk nietten koste gaan van reeds gemaakteafspraken.

WerkingssfeerHet onderwerp werkingssfeer van deCAO zal ook ter sprake komen tijdensonze jaarvergadering op maandag 18mei 2009 op het kantoor van FNVWaterbouw te Woerden, waarvoor alleleden inmiddels een uitnodiging hebbenontvangen. U bent dan ook van harte

welkom als u met ons over dit onderwerpvan gedachte wilt wisselen. Uiteraardhouden wij u van de laatste stand vanzaken op de hoogte viawww.fnvwaterbouw.nl of via de e-mailnieuwsbrief. Ontvangt u nog geen e-mailnieuwsbrief ? Vul dan uw emailadres inop de website van FNV Waterbouw.

netherlands news

A new era for Dutch news in Nautilus International Telegraph

VOOR u ligt het laatste nummer van NautilusMaritiem Magazine. Met het ontstaan van denieuwe bond Nautilus International komt erimmers een nieuw maandblad voor de Britseen de Nederlandse leden gezamenlijk. Datvonden wij voldoende reden om terug teblikken op het ontstaan en de ontwikkeling vanNautilus Maritiem Magazine.

Nautilus NL is voortgekomen uit eenheleboel bonden die in de loop van meer danhonderd jaar fuseerden, opgeheven werden ofvan naam veranderden. De meeste van dieorganisaties hadden al een periodiek of eennieuwsbrief waarin de leden op de hoogtegehouden werden van de strijd die de bondenvoor hen voerden. Het waren mededelingenvan het bestuur aan de leden en daar wasblijkbaar veel behoefte aan. Als je bijvoorbeeldhet maandblad ‘Ons Bestek’ van de CKVbekijkt, zie je paginalange verslagen vanvergaderingen en uitvoerige verhandelingenover ‘de doolhof der sociale verzekeringen.’Een in januari gehouden jaarvergadering boodin die dagen stof voor een feuilleton van maarliefst zeven afleveringen waarin verslaggedaan werd van alle gebeurtenissen.

Ook de latere periodieken ‘Journaal’ en‘Peiling’ begonnen hun leven met gedetailleerdeverslagen en boden vooral ook voorlichting. Zowas de bespreking van interpretatiegeschillenbetreffende het CAO reglement razend populair.De juiste uitleg werd in Journaal en Peilingonderbouwd met letterlijke citaten uitcorrespondentie, rapporten en verslagen vanvergaderingen. De lezer kreeg op deze maniereen helder inzicht in het juridisch onderbouwdestandpunt van de bond. Weliswaar gedegen enuiterst correct, maar niet altijd even makkelijkleesbaar.

Dat was enerzijds de geest van de tijd,tegelijkertijd was het de keuze van deredactie. De voorlichting moest vooraldegelijk en correct zijn. Er werd namelijkgevreesd dat een meer journalistieke aanpakhet risico van misverstanden met zich meezou brengen.

NIEUWE RUBRIEKENIn de loop van het bestaan van Journaal enPeiling en later FWZ Maritiem Magazine zien wede stijl van de bladen geleidelijk aan veranderen.Er komt meer afwisseling in de behandeldeonderwerpen, de artikelen worden minderuitgebreid en de lay out wordt levendiger.

Het was Jacques Gerritse, die eindredacteurwas van 1967 tot 1983, die in 1980 eeningrijpende face lift gaf aan Journaal en Peiling.De bladen bleven apart als Journaal (voor dekapiteins en officieren van de GHV) en Peiling(voor de overige zeevarenden) bestaan. Veelartikelen kwamen overeen, maar de bladenoogden moderner en er werden nieuwerubrieken geïntroduceerd.

Terug van weggeweest was ‘Kort nieuws vande lange deining’, een rubriek metscheepvaartnieuws in het hart van het blad. ‘Uitde dienstgang’ was een nieuwe rubriek waarinveel aandacht was voor individuele zaken metook een algemeen belang. Tenslotte hoortindividuele belangenbehartiging tot dekerntaken van de bond. Verder werd door middelvan interviews de schijnwerper gericht op deonbezoldigde bestuurders van de VKO en de AVZ.De bladen zorgden er mede voor dat leden enbestuur dichter bij elkaar kwamen.

DE INHOUDMaar ook al was het belangrijk het bondsbladeen aantrekkelijk aanzien te geven, het draaideuiteindelijk wél om de inhoud. CAO-onderhandelingen, overleg met de overheid, deinstelling van ondernemingsraden in de zeevaarten experimenten met geïntegreerde gezellen engeïntegreerde officieren, waren onderwerpen diein de zeventiger en tachtiger jaren van de vorigeeeuw nadrukkelijk aan de orde kwamen.

Bestuur en staf van de FWZ werdenaangespoord onderwerpen aan te dragen en erook zelf over te schrijven. En om deze schrijverservan te doordringen dat het schrijven van eenartikel toch wel iets anders is dan het schrijvenvan een beleidsnota of een ledencirculaire, werdeen spoedcursus journalistiek schrijven

georganiseerd. Vakbondsjournalist Bert Duijngeeft waardevolle adviezen die gewaardeerdworden en dat is duidelijk terug te lezen in debladen.

In aanmerking nemende dat de schrijvers vanal die artikelen het werk doen naast hundagelijkse bezigheden als vakbondsbestuurdersof –medewerkers, geeft dit natuurlijk een extradimensie aan de onverbiddelijke deadlinewaarmee het maken van een blad gepaard gaat.

FWZ MARITIEM MAGAZINEVan 1983 tot 2007 was Ed Sarton eindredacteurvan de bladen. Hij zette de door Jacques Gerritseingezette lijn voort. Het aanzien van de bladenbleef herkenbaar, maar Sarton ging wel met zijntijd mee. Zo kregen de gebruikte foto’s en andereillustraties een nadrukkelijker functie in deartikelen.

Behalve de schrijvers en de eindredacteur,speelde ook het redactiesecretariaat eenbelangrijke rol bij de totstandkoming van debladen. Mies Hagendijk zorgde jarenlang voor deorganisatie van het blad, de contacten met deuitgeverij, de correctie van de drukproeven en deverzending naar de schepen. Zij beheerde hetfoto archief en zorgde waar nodig voor hettypwerk.

In 1993 werd een grote stap voorwaartsgezet. Journaal en Peiling waren in de loop derjaren zo op elkaar gaan lijken, dat besloten werdafscheid te nemen van afzonderlijke bladen voorde twee verenigingen AVZ en VKO. Er kwam eennieuw blad: FWZ Maritiem Magazine. Dit werd inde introductie overigens meteen gerelativeerd:‘De vormgeving van het blad is vernieuwd, maaraan de inhoud van de artikelen zal niet veelveranderen. Het blijft tenslotte eenverenigingsblad waarbij de leden van deverenigingen op de hoogte gehouden worden vande activiteiten van de organisatie die voor hunbelangen opkomt.’

Die zinsnede uit het redactionele voorwoordzou je gerust de missie van alle maandbladen vanNautilus NL en zijn voorgangers kunnen noemen.

Het nieuwe magazine opende met een

verhaal dat de aandacht van andere media trok.Een pakkend verhaal over misleidendepersoneelsadvertenties in de cruisevaart en watde ITF daartegen wilde doen. Een goede startvoor een nieuw tijdschrift. Een ongebruikelijkestart ook, want door de lange productietijd vanhet ma gazine moest het blad het niet van deactualiteit hebben.

VERNIEUWINGIn 2002 veranderde het uiterlijk van FWZMaritiem Magazine opnieuw. Nieuwe techniekenmaakten het financieel mogelijk een aantalpagina’s in kleur uit te voeren. En een blauwesteunkleur gaf het blad een fris uiterlijk enmaakte het op de leestafel gemakkelijkherkenbaar.

Toen in 2006 de FWZ zijn naam veranderdein Nautilus NL betekende dat automatisch ookhet einde van FWZ Maritiem Magazine. Deredactie besloot echter tot een beperktewijziging. Het werd Nautilus Maritiem Magazineen de kleurstelling werd aangepast aan denieuwe huisstijl. Dit alles in afwachting van devorming van de nieuwe bond NautilusInternational.

En nu staat een nieuwe wijziging voor dedeur. Samen met Nautilus Maritiem Magazinehebben de leden al een tijdje de Telegraph, hetblad van Nautilus UK, ontvangen. Veel ledenzijn enthousiast over het blad, dat naastvakbondsnieuws, ook veel nieuws bevat uit descheepvaartwereld. Daarom is besloten dat deTelegraph het verenigingsblad van NautilusInternational zal zijn. Ten behoeve van deNederlandse leden komen er twee pagina’s inde Nederlandse taal. Maar ook in de rest vanhet blad zal plaats zijn voor nieuws uitNederland. We nemen afscheid van NautilusMaritiem Magazine met dank aan allen die erjarenlang aan hebben meegewerkt. Als hetwas blijven bestaan was het ongetwijfeldverder met zijn tijd meegegaan. Maar nu kijkenwij uit naar de Nautilus InternationalTelegraph, het nieuwe blad van onze nieuwebond!

NAUTILUS NL WAVES FAREWELLTO MARITIEM MAGAZINE

TERUGBLIK OP EEN BIJZONDER VAKBONDSBLAD

top left and right: 1958 and the last cover design; centre: two copies from1983; bottom: other designs used over the years

WITH the launch of NautilusInternational in May, Nautilus NLwill discontinue their MaritiemMagazine and news will be includedin an all-new monthly journal, theNautilus International Telegraph.

Over the last 100 years, severalunions merged to become NautilusNL. Before, most of these organisa-tions used to inform their membersby using some form of communica-tion. Most of the time the tone was aserious one with a legal touch. Forexample, a single annual meetingcould easily provide text for anextensive serial in ‘Ons Bestek’(CKV monthly).

The editor of ‘Journaal’ and

‘Peiling’, Jacques Gerritse, played asignificant role in progressing newsfrom the union world — a definitebreak in tradition was made in 1980when Peiling and Journaal receiveda facelift, both on the outside andwith editorial content.

Though they still existed as twoseparate monthlies, subjects weresimilar and interviews with hon-orary board members helped bridgethe gap with members.

The trend continued withGerritse’s successor, Ed Sarton. Amore journalistic approach tookshape and in 1993 the two maga-zines became FWZ MaritiemMagazine.

The new magazine adopted aconsistent approach to their mem-bers, where the appearance of thepublication often changed but neverthe subject and style of editorialcontent.

In the first issue, FWZ explainedhow it believed the magazine shouldcontinue its responsibility of look-ing after the interests of membersand inform them of the activitiestaking place within the organisa-tion.

In 2002 the looks of FWZMaritiem Magazine changed onceagain and new technologicaladvances made it possible to useextra colour in printing.

In 2006, FWZ became NautilusNL and the editors decided to con-tinue Maritiem Magazine withsome minor changes.

Together with MaritiemMagazine, Nautilus NL membershave been receiving the NautilusUK Telegraph.

When the new NautilusInternational Telegraph is launchednext month, there will be two pagescompletely dedicated to Dutchmembers in the Dutch language.

Members have expressed a largedeal of enthusiasm, hence theNautilus International Telegraphwill be the new monthly for allmembers.

✪by TREVOR BOULT

PAUA was the first purpose-builttanker for the New Zealand coast,and the first such vessel to fly thatcountry’s flag.

A one-off design, she was builtas Yard No. 750G by Harland &Wolff Ltd, at Govan, Glasgow. Shehad nine oil compartments: threecentre tanks with a capacity of804 tons of motor spirit and threeport and starboard wing tanksholding another 273 tons.

The tanks were also fitted withspecial hatches so that they couldbe used to carry cased oil. Therewas a forehold able to stow afurther 2,550 cases.

Bulk oil was discharged by twocargo pumps, each with an hourlycapacity of 100 tons. Derrickswere used for self-handling caseoil.

Twin six-cylinder oil enginesgenerated 225nhp, delivering aservice speed of 10 knots.

Launched in April 1927 andregistered initially in London, herdelivery voyage began atSouthampton, in ballast forSingapore, via Suez. At Singaporeshe loaded some 800 tons ofpetrol, taking a further 28 days toreach New Zealand. Shedischarged at Bluff and Timarubefore arriving empty atWellington, where her port ofregistry was changed. She begancoastal trading in the September.

In 1939 the Paua had her tank

section renewed in Hong Kong.Opportunity was also taken toextend her length by 26ft,increasing her size to 1,412 grosstons. Returning to service thefollowing January, she tradedaround most of the New Zealandports, including Auckland,Wanganui, Wellington, Picton,Lyttelton, Oamaru and Dunedin.

At the end or 1950 her NewZealand registry was closed whenshe was bought by ColonShipping of Hong Kong andrenamed Heather. In 1954 shewas sold to Pan Norse SteamShipping and given the nameLucky Carrier.

Some years later she wentaground in heavy weather off theBurmese coast. Towed toSingapore, she was declared aconstructive total loss. The vesselwas broken up in 1957, atSingapore.

Her original name, in additionto being a prized and boat-shapediridescent seashell, meansmutton-fish, and the Maori forfish hook.

This dedicated little vessel ablyinaugurated the growingmovement of oil about thechallenging coasts of NewZealand, and the development oflarger purpose-built craft for thetrade.

General detailsBuilt by: Harland & Wolff, GlasgowDates: 1927-1957Dimensions: 217ft overall; 36½ft breadth; 15ft draughtPicture: Michael Pryce


ships of the past

50 YEARS AGOIN A previous issue of theJournal, we reported a case inwhich a member had lost thesight of an eye due to a heavysea striking the wheelhousewindow, splintering it, and afragment of glass entering themember’s eye. A little whilelater, a similar incident occurredon a Dutch north Atlanticpassenger liner when the

master, who was in thewheelhouse at the time, suffereda severe injury to his eye. TheMNAOA has raised this matterwith the Ministry of Transport,urging that it should be acompulsory requirement to fitunsplinterable glass inwheelhouse windows. At thepresent time, there are no rulesrequiring either toughenedarmour plate or unsplinterableglass — MN Journal, May 1959

25 YEARS AGOINCREASING pressure is beingplaced on governments aroundthe world to provide proper wastedisposal facilities in ports byOctober — the date by which thatsection of the MARPOLConvention comes into force. Anew survey published by theInternational Chamber ofShipping highlights the scale ofthe problem. The survey — to

which many MNAOA memberscontributed — covers 300 portsin almost 100 states, and shows‘a disturbingly large number ofreports of inadequate facilities’. Itdescribes the overall picture as‘depressing’ and saysgovernments need to showgreater urgency. The MNAOA isurging members to provideupdated reports on disposalfacilities around the world —The Telegraph, May 1984

10 YEARS AGONUMAST is stepping up thepolitical pressure for thegovernment to introduce atonnage tax as part of itspackage of measures to end thedecline of the UK shippingindustry. The Union hassubmitted detailed evidence toan independent inquiry set up byChancellor Gordon Brown toconsider the case for the special

tax regime. NUMAST saystonnage tax is of ‘criticalimportance’ to the future of theBritish merchant fleet and thecontinued recruitment andemployment of UK seafarers.The Union argues that theestimated £10-20m annual costof the scheme is ‘a drop in theocean’ compared with themassive economic and socialbenefits that it would deliver— The Telegraph, May 1999

This month’s Telegraph cryptic crossword is a prize crossword!The winner of this month’s cryptic crosswordcompetition will win a copy of the book The Cruel SeaRetold (reviewed on the facing page).To enter, simply complete the form below and send it,along with your completed crossword, to: Nautilus UKTelegraph Crossword Competition, Oceanair House,

750–760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB, or fax 020 8530 1015. Closing date is Tuesday 12 May 2009.You can also enter by email, by sending your list ofanswers and your contact details [email protected] by the same closing date.

Telegraph prize crossword

QUICK CLUESAcross

1. Paternal chronometer (6,4)6. Potato (4)9. Arrangement (10)

10. Hairdressing implement (4)12. Racer (8,4)15. Headwear (9)17. Intestine (5)18. Induction coil (5)19. Forced entry (9)20. Over the top (12) 24. Wild party (4)25. Part of watch (6,4)26. Satisfy appetite (4)27. Without consciousness (10)

Down1. Kingdom of Scotland (4)2. Pastry (4)3. Stationery (7,5)4. University teacher (5)5. A beggar (9) 7. Good on film (10) 8. Lowering (10)

11. Farming economics (12)13. Temperate (10)14. Torch (10)16. Disturbance (9) 21. Less than 90 degrees (5)22. Young sheep (4)23. Nervous (4)

CRYPTIC CLUESAcross

1. Symbolic of climate change, MBE thrown in (10)

6. Drunk by England after victory (4)9. On the way around defence, that’s

a relief (10)10. A long time chopping sage (4) 12. National confidence to hold back the

drink, after one or two (5,7)

15. Quite a performance, but could be torturous (9)

17. North of border, landowner’s home for animals and daughter (5)

18. Country watering hole is fashionable (5)

19. Carrier brother in France took in a number of (9)

20. A close shave … (5,7)24. … or neat cut (4)25. Global factories had banks on the

defensive (10)26. Go on about the fish (4)27. As optimistic as an astronomer (6-4)

Down1. See a chapter has every one in it (4)2. Bad piece of theatre, however it may

be blown up (4)3. Change into suit love, you’re after

Darwin (12)4. Old Mexican street atlas,

transformed etc (5)5. ‘Songs of --- and Experience’

(William Blake) (9)7. Get into favour with Tina, a tiger of

sorts (10)8. Londoners in the soap business (4,6)

11. Soup from Western isle, I state an owl colour (12)

13. Artificial rope stitch, tied to branch of surgery (10)

14. Not acquainted with this sort of fun airmail (10)

16. Tell worker he’s a useful source (9)21. A learner with road cover found in

church (5)22. Useful when waiting in restaurant (4)23. Employed American an news

chief (4)

Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Telephone: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Membership No.: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. A total of 64.2m gt of new tonnage was completed last year. What was the total of tonnage demolish-ed during the year?

2. What percentage of the world’s merchant fleet was under the red ensign at the outbreak of the second world war?

3. Roughly how many ships are presently on order around the world?

4. Luxembourg is one of a few

landlocked countries operating a ship register. What does its flag look like?

5. Carnival is the world’s biggest cruise shipping company, with a 45% stake in the market. Which operator is second biggest, and what is its stake?

6. What contribution did John Harrison (1693-1776) make to navigation?

✪ Quiz and quick crossword answers are on page 42.

The Quiz

First tanker underNew Zealand flag


BEAUTIFUL SERIES OF SHOTSFROM A CLASSIC PERIODFOR COASTAL SHIPPINGCLASSIC ships from a classic period — even if, asauthor Bernard McCall says, it is hard to find asuitable definition of the word that covers the shipsfeatured in his publication Coasters of the 1950s.

This 80-page work brings together a collection ofmarvellous images of a rich variety of vessels in anequally rich variety of locations — ranging from

Malaysia, Turkey and the Bristol Channel —demonstrating the versatility of coastal shipping andits remarkable development in the post-war period.

Each picture comes with an informative captionsummarising the ship’s history, and often putting itswork in a bigger context — such as the role of coastalshipping in the massive reconstruction workcommissioned in Europe after the war, or the‘lifeline’ supply services to island communities.

The book is organised largely around the countryof build — starting with the Grangemouth DockyardCompany’s Ballycastle, built for John Kelly ofBelfast. Particular attention is paid to Dutch ships —

with nine pages devoted to coasters built at yards onthe Winschoterdiep — and there are also many fineGerman vessels on display.

As Rod Stewart once sang, every picture tells astory — and these pictures tell much about the wayin which the coastal shipping sector has beenneglected in recent years, with few ships that matchthe post-war vision of ‘joined-up’ transportationstrategy demonstrated by the purpose-built gas andelectricity board vessels Sir John Snell and Lambeth. ✪Coasters of the 1950s by Bernard McCall (ISBN978 1 902953 373) costs £16 and is published byCoastal Shipping — www.coastalshipping.co.uk

NICHOLAS Monsarrat’s 1951 novelThe Cruel Sea was a powerful workthat did much to inform the public ofthe horrors of the Battle of the Atlantic.The success of the film that was basedon the book ensured huge exposurefor the tale of life and death on theconvoys.

Now former shipmaster BernardEdwards has turned his hand to givingthe story new life in the 21st century,with The Cruel Sea Retold: The Truthbehind Monsarrat’s Epic ConvoyDrama.

In doing so, he looks at three keyconvoys — OG71, HG73 and HG76— which all took place on the UK-Gibraltar route and each serve as wellchosen representations of the differentstages of the war at sea.

OG71, in fact, was the convoy thatMonsarrat drew from his ownexperience as a Lieutenant onboardan escort corvette. Making extensiveuse of first-hand accounts andcontemporary reports, BernardEdwards does a fine job of conveyingthe drama, the danger and thedifficulties that were an inherent partof the operations described inMonsarrat’s book.

There’s no shortage of incrediblestories within these pages — such asthe 900-mile voyage completed by alifeboat with survivors from the HG73convoy ship Lapwing, navigated by anofficer using an uncorrected boat’scompass and a chart he had drawn upfrom memory on a scrap of paper.

There are many remarkable tales of

survival in the most extreme ofcircumstances, and Bernard Edwardsnotes in his introduction the often‘despicable treatment’ of the survivorsafter their return home.

His well written book also puts thefirst two convoys into the biggerpicture — noting how the huge lossesof 1941 and 1942 were typical of‘defeat on a catastrophic scale’ and ofthe Royal Navy’s inability to properlydefend merchant ships at this stage.

The account of Convoy HG76,however, strikes a more positive note— noting how the capture of theEnigma machines in the first half of1941had helped to provide moreeffective protection to merchantshipping. Together with the ‘unerring’judgement of Commander Johnny

Walker — whose proactive tactics putthe U-boats onto the back foot — thebattle began to turn in favour of theAllies.

Given the book’s title, it wouldperhaps have been interesting to havehad rather more information aboutMonsarrat, his background and warservice, and his novel. But, thatcriticism aside, Bernard Edwards hasdelivered a strong and moving coda tothe original book and it is a story thatdeserves the re-telling.✪The Cruel Sea Retold: The Truthbehind Monsarrat’s Epic ConvoyDrama (ISBN 978 1844 1586 38)costs £19.99 and is published by Pen& Sword Books, 47 Church Street,Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS —www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Cruel Sea revisited

SHIPPING line histories naturallyfocus heavily on the corporate topbrass and the evolution of thecompany fleet, but all too oftenthe seafarers who actually workedon the vessels figure as ashadowy presence.

Dr Ray Solly’s meticulouslyresearched Athel Line: A FleetHistory, his study of the shipsthat served the United MolassesCompany, makes a welcomecontrast. Dr Solly was anavigating officer on supertankersand cargo ships, and his bookmakes excellent use of sourcesthat include first-hand anecdotalinsights provided by crewmembers’ diaries andcorrespondence.

Although he never sailed withAthel, Dr Solly ‘liked the style ofthese tankers’ when heencountered them, and notedhow the onboard ‘relaxed ethoswithin disciplined structures’contrasted with the moretraditional approach of his ownemployer.

He writes: ‘To hundreds ofmerchant seafarers they will beremembered as comfortabletankers owned and operated bygenerally considerate

superintendents who heldconcern for the seafarers theyemployed.’

The ethos was set by the line’sDanish-born founder, MichaelKielberg, who when he died in1958 was affectionatelyremembered by one master as ‘abenevolent dictator’. Kielberg wasknighted after the second worldwar, during which 205 Athelseafarers were killed directly as aresult of enemy action, whileothers died later as a result of theirinjuries.

The company lost 17 shipsand 11 were damaged during thatconflict, but the post-war marketsituation was propitious for themolasses trade and Kielbergordered 14 new tankers fromBritish shipyards. Towards the endof the 50s, however, marketconditions fluctuated considerablyand several of the company’stankers ‘joined those of manyoperators as laid up vessels’.

Dr Solly’s book laments thegradual demise of the company.‘Undoubtedly, first signs of thedecline began in 1958 whentraditional trading patterns ofmolasses failed to meetcontemporary marketrequirements,’ he writes. ‘Fiftyyears or so on, the fleet name ismaintained only through asolitary existing tanker, so, onceAthel is scrapped, which willundoubtedly be unannouncedand without trumpet blasts, thenso this famous shipping name willfinally become buried.’

Thus concludes Part One ofhis book. Part Two includesdetails of Athel Lines ships and ofother vessels with which thecompany was associated. Thebook also features pictorial

books

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CONTACT

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email: [email protected]

WATERDICHT is Dutch for‘watertight’. We know that fromdipping into the new third editionof Yachtsman’s Ten LanguageDictionary — the latestincarnation of a work that wasfirst published more than 40years ago.

To the eight originallanguages — English, French,German, Dutch, Danish, Italian,Spanish, Portuguese — Greekand Turkish were added in the1995 first edition ofYachtsman’s Ten LanguageDictionary in recognition of thevolume of sail yachts venturinginto the eastern Mediterranean.

Both the eight and the earlier10 language versions wentthrough various reprints,attesting to the dictionary’spopularity with yachtingenthusiasts. New words addedin the latest edition bring thedictionary up to date.

The nearly 3,000 words areorganised in sections defined bysubject or situation, with theearlier sections covering phrasesneeded in a hurry, starting withboat emergencies, then medicalemergencies, followed by theformalities of entering harbour.

Subsequent sections coversuch areas as: the boat; theengine; electrics and electronics;the boatyard; at sea; navigation;classic boats — which includesline drawings; and a usefulgeneral reference includingnumbers, clock times, countries,materials (sub-divided intometals, timber, plastics), andweights and measures —covering temperature, capacity,Beaufort scale, and rope.

Whilst aimed at the leisuremarine market, the dictionarywill be relevant for manyprofessional seafarers —particularly in this era of mixednationality crewing.

A phonetic guide topronunciation would have beenvery useful, but that would havemade it much larger and harderto fit into a cruising library. Sousers will need to familiarisethemselves with pronunciationfrom other sources.✪Yachtsman’s Ten LanguageDictionary by Barbara Webb andCruising Association, (ISBN9780 7136 8440 7), costs£17.99. Published by AdlardColes Nautical —www.adlardcoles.com

Fine study of the ships andthe seafarers of Athel Line

images throughout, includingmany fascinating photographs,often complemented by detailedcaptions that add information notfound in the main narrative.

All in all, this study pays fittingtribute to what was a world-classBritish shipping company.✪Athel Line: A Fleet History byDr Ray Solly (ISBN 978 0 75244827 5), costs £20 pbk.Published by The History Press —www.the historypress.co.uk

Find a wordfor it — in10 differentlanguages


Quiz answers1. A total of 13.4m gt was sold for scrapping

during 2008.

2. About 26% of the world merchant fleet was under

the red ensign at the start of the second world war.

3. A total of 11,289 ships were on order in March.

4. Red, white and blue horizontally — similar to the

Netherlands, but the flag is longer and the blue

is lighter.

5. Royal Caribbean Cruise Line is the world’s second

largest cruise company, with some 20% of

the market.

6. He made the first chronometer reliable enough to

enable the calculation of longitude at sea.

Crossword answersQUICK ANSWERS

Across: 1. Father time; 6. Spud; 9. Formatting;

10. Comb; 12. Stirling Moss; 15. Balaclava;

17. Ileum; 18. Tesla; 19. Intrusion;

20. Melodramatic; 24. Orgy; 25. Minute hand;

26. Sate; 27. Insensibly.

Down: 1. Fife; 2. Tart; 3. Elastic bands; 4. Tutor;

5. Mendicant; 7. Photogenic; 8. Debasement;

11. Agribusiness; 13. Abstemious; 14. Flashlight;

16. Agitation; 21. Acute; 22. Lamb; 23. Edgy.

This month’s cryptic crossword is a prize

competition. The answers will appear in next

month’s Telegraph. Congratulations to the April

crossword winner — Nautilus UK member Peter

Coull.

CRYPTIC ANSWERS FROM APRIL

Across: 1. Millau; 4. Bridge; 9. Isle; 10. Upholstery;

11. Closed; 12. Minority; 13. Temptress; 15. Seam;

16. Gear; 17. Slapstick; 21. Tsunamis; 22. Napkin;

24. Habiliment; 25. Rake; 26. Eiffel; 27. Stripe.

Down: 1. Moselle; 2. Leeds; 3. Asunder; 5. Relent;

6. Deterrent; 7. Erratum; 8. Champs Elysees;

14. Plaintiff; 16. Gustave; 18. Punster; 19. Cricket;

20. Umpire; 23. Puree.

The face of Nautilus UK: Blossom Bell, recruitment assistantBLOSSOM Bell is a very new face at Nautilus — havingrecently joined the Union as recruitment assistant.

Working with national secretary Gary Elliott, she ishelping with the vital recruitment and organising work —seeking to attract new members and retain those alreadyin membership.

A member of the Union since she first went to sea in2003, Blossom has a solid background of variedexperience in different sectors of the maritime industry.

It all began while she was working at a pub near the

nautical college in Warsash. Almost daily, she wouldspeak to cadets, hearing about how they travelled aroundthe world — and this inspired her to pursue a career atsea.

Blossom undertook a cadetship for the Royal FleetAuxiliary (RFA) and went to sea as a qualified thirdofficer. She then studied at Liverpool John MooresUniversity and was awarded a BSc Honours in NauticalScience.

After some time at sea and a short spell of lecturing at

South Tyneside College, Blossom joined Nautilus lastmonth. Her role will include visiting members, andpotential members, at nautical colleges and universitiesaround the UK and helping to build membership insectors such as the large yacht industry.

‘I’m excited about the challenges which lie ahead ofme,’ she said. ‘The Union does so much for its members.I am amazed at how Nautilus serves not only those whoare actively at sea, but also its retired members atMariners’ Park. It’s great.’

NAUTILUS UK has always had afirm commitment to dialogue with itsmembers and that commitmentcontinues to this day, with the Unionplacing a high priority on contactbetween members and officials.

Officials make regular visits toships, and a variety of differentmeetings are held by the Union toencourage a healthy exchange ofviews.

The Union also offers the chancefor members to meet Nautilus UKofficials when they make regular visitsto ships in ports and nautical colleges,or stage specialist forums around theUK. These visits aim to give membersthe chance to get advice onemployment and other problems thatcannot easily be dealt with by letter oremail. Times and venues formeetings in the next few months are:

COLLEGE VISITSNautilus UK’s recruitment team isnow holding regular meetings withtrainees and members at all the UK’smaritime colleges. Contact SteveDoran or Garry Elliott at the Wallaseyoffice for visiting schedules andfurther details.

SHIP VISITSIf you have an urgent problem on yourship, you should contact Nautilus UK([email protected]) to ask for anofficial to visit the ship. Wherever pos-sible, such requests will be acted uponby the Union and last year more than200 ships were visited by Nautilus UKofficials as a result of contact frommembers. If you need to request avisit, please give your vessel’s ETA andas much information as possible aboutthe problem needing to be discussed.

SCOTLANDMembers employed by companiesbased in the west of Scotland shouldcontact Nautilus UK at NautilusHouse, Mariners’ Park, WallaseyCH45 7PH (tel: +44 (0)151 6398454). Members employed in theoffshore oil sector, or by companiesbased in the east of Scotland, shouldcontact +44 (0)1224 638882. Thisis not an office address, so memberscannot visit in person.

Future dates and venues for NautilusUK meetings of the NationalProfessional & Technical andNational Pensions Forums include:

✪ National Professional & TechnicalForum — this body deals with technical, safety, welfare and other professional topics relevant to shipmas-

ter and chief engineer officer members.The next meeting is due to be held inRotterdam, at a venue to be announcedlater, on Tuesday 22 September, startingat 1300hrs.

✪ National Pensions Forum — this body was established to provide atwo-way flow of information andviews on all pension matters and pen-sion schemes (not just the MNOPF).This forum is open to all classes of Nautilus UK member, including associ-ate and affiliate. The next meeting willbe held at the Quality Hotel, Ferensway,Hull, on Friday 8 May, starting at1100hrs.

All full members of the relevant rankor sector can attend and financialsupport may be available to somemembers by prior agreement. Forfurther details contact head office.

Nautilus UK meetings with members: diary datesIncorporating the merchant navy journal and ships telegraph

ISSN 0040 2575

Telegraphstaffeditor: Andrew Liningtonproduction editor: June Cattinireporters: Sarah Robinson/Mike Gerberweb editor: Matthew Louw

advertising managersCentury One Publishing Ltd, Arquen House,4-6 Spicer Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 4PQSales: Oliver Kirkmantel: +44 (0)1727 739 184fax: +44 (0)1727 893 895email: [email protected]: www.centuryonepublishing.ltd.uk

Although the Telegraph exercises care and caution before accepting advertisements, readers are advised to take appropriate professional advicebefore entering into any commitments such as investments (including pensionplans). Publication of an advertisement does not imply any form of recommendation and Nautilus UK cannot accept any liability for the quality ofgoods and services offered in advertisements. Organisations offering financialservices or insurance are governed by regulatory authorities and problemswith such services should be taken up with the appropriate body.

Published by Nautilus UK, Printed by College Hill Press Limited,37 Webber Street, London SE1 8QW.

general secretaryBrian Orrell

head officeOceanair House, 750–760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BBtel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015telex: 892181 DIAL G(marked for the attention of Nautilus UK)website: www.nautilusuk.org

northern officeNautilus House, Mariners’ Park, Wallasey CH45 7PHtel: +44 (0)151 639 8454fax: +44 (0)151 346 8801

department e-mail addressesgeneral:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected] south:[email protected] north:[email protected] services:[email protected]:[email protected] and technical:[email protected]

In order tobetter serve themembershipefficiently andcost-effectively,Nautilus UKhasstarted to compilea list of members’ email addresses.Itwouldbehelpful ifmembers withemail addressescouldnotify themtothe IT Department, indicating theirmembership number.

Nautilus UK also administers the NUMAST Welfare Funds and the J.W. Slater Fund, which are registered charities.

M–NoticesM-Notices, Marine InformationNotes and Marine GuidanceNotes issued by the Maritime& Coastguard Agency recentlyinclude:

MGN 388 (M+F) Lifeboats: Fitting of ‘Fall PreventerDevices’ to reduce the danger of accidental on-loadhook releaseBecause of concerns over the large number of lifeboataccidents, the International Maritime Organisation isconsidering the design criteria for on-load hooks, and theuse of fall preventer devices for existing equipment.

But negotiations at the IMO have only recentlystarted, and it will be some time before new measuresare agreed, so the Maritime & Coastguard Agency hasissued this interim guidance on the designconsiderations, shipboard operation, testing andpotential problems associated with fall preventer devices(FPDs). The notice is only applicable to davit-launchedlifeboats fitted with on-load release hooks.

FPDs can be used to minimise the risk of injury ordeath in the event that the on-load hook or its releasemechanism fails, or in the event of accidental release ofthe on-load hook. The guidance suggests that their useshould be considered as an interim measure to allowtime for new hook design criteria to be agreed at the IMO.

Guidance is given in the MCA notice on: installationof FPDs; modification of existing type-approved on-loadhooks already fitted on a ship to incorporate an FPD; andreplacement of an existing on-load release system withan alternative approved system that incorporates anFPD. The guidance notice also covers the design andoperation of FPDs, and on lifeboat and hook design toincorporate FPD.

The guidance recommends that the master orofficer in charge of any lifeboat lowering or liftingoperation ensures that the lifeboat FPD is fitted beforecommencing any drill, testing, inspection or maintenancewhere people are in the lifeboat. That is unless thelifeboat either has an off-load hook system or has beenapproved to be used without an FPD.

Crew must be fully trained in operating the FPDfitted to their ship’s lifeboat. But the guidance warns thatit should be taken into account that with certain types ofship such as oil, gas or chemical tankers, it mayimpossible to use an FPD in an abandon ship situationwhere the release mechanism of the device is not insidethe lifeboat.

The guidance includes detailed information onconducting drills, testing, inspections or maintenance oflifeboats and launching appliances.

Although use of an FPD is not currently mandatory

under SOLAS, the guidance insists, ‘this document mustbe taken into account before a lifeboat is used fortraining, maintenance or servicing’.

Advice is also included for on-load release gear towhich it is impractical to fit FPDs. And where an FPD isnot fitted, consideration should be given the use ofshoreside facilities such as a hired boat to board thelifeboat safely once it is afloat. Consideration should alsobe given to an approved modification, including the fittingof attachment points, such that the boat can be used withan FPD.

If any on-load release hook is subject to a prematureor unintentional release, the MCA says it must beinformed as soon as possible, and the master shouldprovide a full report.

The notice also covers shore-based training,recommending that training establishments providetraining in the principles of FPDs as detailed.

MGN 385 (M+F): Guidance on the MerchantShipping (Prevention of Pollution by Sewage andGarbage from Ships) Regulations 2008This note provides new guidance for ships on regulatorysewage and garbage management, treatment anddischarge, and highlights port and flag state controlissues and illegal offences.

The guidance relates to the 2008 Merchant Shipping(Prevention of Pollution by Sewage and Garbage fromShips) Regulations. The requirements apply to shipsengaged on international voyages of 400gt or above, andof less than 400gt that are certified to carry more than 15persons, and also to fixed and floating platforms andoffshore installations. Ships which fall outside the scopeof the 2008 regulations may voluntarily opt into theprovisions of the requirements by requesting survey andcertification. Although the regulations do not as yet applyto any non-commercial ship owned or operated by astate, including naval auxiliary, the note suggests that ‘asa matter of good practice’, these ships are recommendedto apply.

All ships to which the sewage requirements applymust have at least one of the following by the date theregulations enter into force, and to the standards laiddown: a sewage treatment plant; a sewage comminutingand disinfecting system, or a holding tank for sewageretention which has sufficient capacity and a visualindicator of the amount of its contents. All ships shouldbe equipped to allow their sewage discharge pipeline toconnect with the pipe of a sewage reception facility onland.

The 2008 regulations also apply sewage dischargecontrols and these, together with survey and certificationrequirements, are also detailed in this note along withother requirements for the owner and master of a ship.

Ships of 400gt or more, and every ship certified tocarry 15 or more persons must complete a garbagemanagement plan. Ships must display placards that

notify the crew and passengers of the requirements forgarbage disposal. Guidance is also included on garbagedischarge controls outside and inside designated specialareas.

There is also guidance on garbage management,including incineration, the disposal of incinerator ashesfrom plastic products which may container toxic or heavymetal residues, and the disposal of cargo tank or hatchwashings.

The notice also explains the associated proceduresfor port and flag state control, including the process forappealing against detention.

MSN 1807 (M+F): The Merchant Shipping(Prevention of Pollution by Sewage and Garbage fromShips) Regulations 2008 — SI 2008 No 3257This details the key technical requirements laid downunder the 2008 Merchant Shipping (Prevention ofPollution by Sewage and Garbage from Ships)Regulations. These include the carriage of a garbagerecord book and a garbage management plan on certainships, and the standard dimensions of flanges fordischarge connections for sewage. The note givesguidance on the development of garbage managementplans, as well as the form for the garbage record book.

MGN 391 (M+F): Local Supplier of Fuel OilRegistrationRegistration requirements for a local oil supplier underthe 2008 Merchant Shipping Prevention of Air Pollutionfrom Ships regulations are outlined in this guidance note.

The regulations require that a local supplier of fueloil for combustion purposes delivered to and used on arelevant ship must register with the secretary off state viathe Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

Relevant ship means a platform, or a ship otherthan a platform of 400gt or above. All local suppliersmust provide an annual declaration; if not, the supplierwill be removed from the government’s list of local fuelsupplies and will no longer be able to supply fuel legally.

✪M-Notices are available in three ways: a set of bound volumes, a yearly subscription, and individualdocuments.

✪A consolidated set of all M-Notices current on 30 July 2007 (ISBN 9780115528538) is published by The Stationery Office for £195 —www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp

✪Annual subscriptions and copies of individual noticesare available from the official distributors: Mail Marketing (Scotland), MCA, PO Box 87, GlasgowG14 0JF. Tel: +44 (0)141 300 4906; fax: +44 (0)141950 2726; email: [email protected]

✪ Individual copies can be collected from MCA offices,electronically subscribed to or downloaded from the MCAwebsite — www.mcga.gov.uk — click on ‘Ships andCargoes’, then ‘Legislation and Guidance’.


Join Nautilus UK todayTo: General Secretary, Nautilus UK, Oceanair House, 750-760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BBPlease complete this form in BLOCK LETTERS

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EQUAL OPPORTUNITIESNautilus UK wants to provide the best possible service to all our members, and target information to meet your needs. All information will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be revealed to any third party.

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Discounted monthly subscription rates from 1 January 2009 for members paying by direct debitPlease tick membership category required:

Full member (Marine sea-going) £18.50*Full member (Shore, salary over £23,600, Trawler officer or ITES) £14.50*Full member (Shore, salary under £23,600) £5.70Full member (Marine Ratings) £13.75*Full member (Cadet) £5.70**

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*The full rate if you are paying by cheque or postal order is £19.85, £15.60 and £14.50 respectively.**Cadets joining in their first year and paying by direct debit £8.50 for that year.

The full membership classes listed here are only for those in regular employment in the industry.If you are in regular employment in the large yacht sector contact Membership Services for current rates.

NB. If you are uncertain as to your appropriate membership class please ring the Membership Services Team at Head Office or email: [email protected]

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1. Pay and conditionsNautilus UK negotiates on your behalf with an increasingnumber of British and foreign flag employers on issuesincluding pay, conditions, leave, hours and pensions. TheUnion also takes part in top-level international meetings onthe pay and conditions of seafarers in the world fleets.2. Legal servicesWith the maritime profession under increasing risk ofcriminalisation, Nautilus UK provides specialist support,including a worldwide network of lawyers who can providefree and immediate advice to full members on employment-related matters. Members and their families also haveaccess to free initial advice on non-employment issues.3. Certificate protectionAs a full member, you have free financial protection, worthup to £102,000, against loss of income if your certificate of

competency is cancelled, suspended or downgradedfollowing a formal inquiry. Full members are also entitled torepresentation during accident investigations or inquiries.4. CompensationNautilus UK’s legal services department recovers more than£1m every year in compensation for members who havesuffered work-related illness or injuries.5. Workplace supportNautilus UK officials provide expert advice on work-relatedproblems such as contracts, redundancy, bullying ordiscrimination, non-payment of wages, and pensions. 6. Safety and welfareNautilus UK plays a vital role in national and internationaldiscussions on such key issues as hours of work, crewinglevels, shipboard conditions, vessel design, and technical andtraining standards. The NUMAST Welfare Funds charity runs

a 15-acre welfare complex in Wallasey providing homes andcare for retired seafarers, and administers welfare pensionsand grants to seafarers in need. Nautilus UK has a major say inthe running of the Merchant Navy Officers’ Pension Fund andthe Pension Plan. It also launched The Maritime StakeholderPlan to meet the needs of seafarers and others working in theshipping industry, at sea and ashore, who are unable toparticipate in the MNOPF or MNOPP.7. SavingsBeing a Nautilus UK member costs less than buying anewspaper every day and gives you peace of mind at work,with access to an unrivalled range of services and support.It’s simple to save the cost of membership — by takingadvantage of specially-negotiated rates on a variety ofcommercial services ranging from tax advice to credit cards,and household, motoring, travel and specialist insurance.

8. In touchAs a Nautilus UK member, help is never far away — whereverin the world you are. Officials regularly visit membersonboard their ships and further support and advice isavailable at regular ‘surgeries’ and college visits throughoutthe UK.9. Your union, your voiceNautilus UK is the voice of more than 16,000 maritimeprofessionals working in all sectors of the shipping industry,at sea and ashore. As one of the largest and most influentialinternational bodies representing maritime professionals,the Union campaigns tirelessly to promote your views.10. Get involved!Nautilus UK is a dynamic and democratic union, offeringmembers many opportunities to be fully involved and haveyour say in our work — both at local and national level.

10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BE A NAUTILUS UK MEMBER…

Indicators UK ANNUAL inflation measured by the Retail PricesIndex (RPI) went negative in March for the first timein almost 50 years.

According to figures released by the Office ofNational Statistics, RPI was down to minus 0.4% inMarch, down from zero in February. RPIX inflation —the ‘all items’ RPI excluding mortgage interestpayments — was 2.2% in March, down from 2.5%in the previous month.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell to 2.9% in

Stick up for Nautilus UK’s Sea Sense campaign!NAUTILUS UK offers a range of free stickers to help youshow your support for British shipping.The ever-popularSea Sense car stickers have been spotted all over the world— why not put one in your back window? We also havesome smaller paper Sea Sense stickers to put onenvelopes.

There is also the ‘delivered by ship’ selection, showingthe variety of products that reach our shops thanks tomerchant ships and seafarers. These are ideal for handingout at schools and festivals.

All the stickers promote Nautilus UK’s specialcampaign website www.seasense.co.uk, designed to raisepublic awareness of the need for maritime skills — andwhere you can sign an electronic petition urging thegovernment to take more effective measures to supportBritish shipping and seafarers.

If you’d like some free stickers, simply contact NautilusUK’s Central Services department and let them know howmany you need. Call Central Services on +44 (0)20 89896677 or email [email protected]

March after February’s unexpected rise to 3.2% —still well above the government’s target of 2%.

RPI is often used in pay negotiations, and TUCgeneral secretary Brendan Barber warned that thenegative figure should not be taken as an excuse tofreeze wages. ‘Widespread wage freezes would promptfamilies to cut back on their spending, which would bethe last thing the UK’s struggling economy needs rightnow,’ he added. The latest figures on pay deals from theLabour Research Department’s (LRD) Payline show amedian increase of 3.3% in the three months to theend of February, down from 3.5% in January. AndIncomes Data Services said one in every 10 deals overthis period involved pay freezes.

To The Manager Bank/Building Society

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Instruction to yourBank or Building Society to pay by Direct DebitPlease fill in the whole form including For Nautilus UK Official Use

Only Box using a ball point pen and send it to:Originator’s Identification Number

Instruction to your Bank or Building SocietyPlease pay Nautilus UK Direct Debits from the account detailed in thisInstruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct DebitGuarantee. I understand that this Instruction may remain with NautilusUK and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my Bank/BuildingSociety.

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Direct Debit paymentsPayment by direct debit means your subscription to Nautilus UK will be paid on time, every time.

You will be spared the nuisance of getting reminders and the inconvenience of having to alter your standing order whenever the subscriptionchanges. This is because direct debit allows for variations in the amount paid by your bank on your behalf.

You can also pay your subscription in instalments and decide which week in the month they are to be taken on, if you prefer. Tick the appropriatebox on the form.

If no preferences are shown we will assume monthly payments on the 1st week of each month.

The Direct Debit Guarantee✪This guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that take part in the direct debit scheme.

The efficiency and security of the scheme is monitored and protected by your own bank or building society.✪If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change Nautilus UK will notify you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as

otherwise agreed.✪If an error is made by Nautilus UK or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the

amount paid.✪You can cancel a direct debit at any time by writing to your bank or building society.✪Please also send a copy of your letter to us.

Please retain this portion for your own records

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9 5 3 3 6 4

44 ✪ ●Nautilus UKTelegraph ●✪ MAY 2009

news

SHOCK ATSOARINGPIRACYUnion meets IMO on security

‘Going to sea was the bestdecision I ever made,’says trainee of the year

NAUTILUS has voiced alarm atnew figures showing that armedattacks on merchant ships in thefirst quarter of 2009 have almostdoubled from a year ago.

A report released by theInternational Maritime Bureaulast month showed a total of 102attacks in the first three months ofthe year — compared with 53 inthe same period in 2008.

It warns of increasing levels ofviolence being used against sea-farers, with two crew memberskilled, nine injured, 178 takenhostage and five kidnapped in thefirst quarter.

The IMB said the increase inattacks is due almost entirely toincreased pirate activity off theGulf of Aden and the east coast ofSomalia. The two areas accountedfor 61 of the 102 attacks during thefirst quarter, compared with sixincidents for the same period in2008.

It said Nigeria also continues tobe a high-risk area, with evidenceto suggest at least 20 attacks in thefirst three months of 2009.

Disturbed by the escalatingthreat to ships and their crews,Nautilus is to meet InternationalMaritime Organisation officials todiscuss calls for a root and branchreview of the security rules forshipping.

General secretary Brian Orrelltold Council members last monththe Union had proposed a reviewof the International Ship & PortFacilities Security Code inresponse to the continuing attackson merchant vessels.

While the secretary-general ofthe IMO had responded positivelyto the call, Mr Orrell said therehad been only a ‘lukewarm’response from shipowners whoappeared more concerned aboutthe possibility of increased costs.

Mr Orrell said it is also impor-tant for the industry and theauthorities not to overlook thethreat of attacks in areas otherthan the Gulf of Aden.

‘There are a disturbing numberof atrocities off Nigeria, and wehave had one of our members heldhostage there for seven months,’he pointed out.

IMB director Capt PottengalMukundan said the naval pres-ence off Somalia had helped tocurb the number of successfulattacks. ‘It is vital that these oper-ations continue,’ he added.✪The Royal Fleet Auxiliary vesselWave Knight was praised lastmonth for helping to thwart twopirate attacks on merchant vesselsin the Gulf of Aden.

Working with Dutch and aCanadian warships, the RFAreplenishment vessel went to theaid of two ships under attack andhelped to secure the release of 13hostages and disrupted the activi-ties of 14 Somali pirates.

‘This is a clear demonstrationof how cooperation between morethan a dozen international navalforces can result in the successfuldisruption of piracy activity,’ saidRoyal Navy Commodore TimLowe, deputy commander of theCombined Maritime Forces in theregion.

PHILIPPINES BANON PIRATE AREASTHE PHILIPPINES governmentlast month announced moves toban the country’s seafarers fromserving on ships in the high-riskpiracy areas off Somalia.

More than 100 of the 320crew members held hostage inthe region last month wereFilipino nationals, and a

spokesman for president GloriaArroyo said a series of directiveshad been issued to ban thedeployment of the country’sseafarers in ‘pirate-threatenedsealanes’ in the Gulf of Aden andup to 200nm off Somalia.

The Manila-based UnitedFilipino Seafarers (UFS)organisation criticised the moveas ‘ridiculous’ — warning that itthreatened to cause ‘lostopportunities for many Filipinoseafarers’.

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Phone: 00 44 1502 525025Fax: 00 44 1502 525106www.lowestoft.ac.uk/maritime.asp

E-mail: [email protected]

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FOR THE MARITIME INDUSTRYSTCW95Basic Safety Certificate (5 Day)

MEDICALElementary First AidMedical First Aid Onboard ShipMedical Care Onboard Ship & RefresherOffshore First Aid & Refresher

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NAVIGATIONNaRAST (O) & (M)

OTHEREfficient Deck HandCPSC&RBPersonal Survival TechniquesPersonal Safety & Social ResponsibilitiesFire Prevention & Fire Fighting & Advanced

BRIDGE SIMULATORBridge Team ManagementCommand & ControlBespoke courses enquiries welcomeShips Safety Officer/Security OfficerTanker FamiliarisationSpecialist Tanker Training (Oil)

DYNAMIC POSITIONINGDP InductionDP SimulatorDP Maintenance (Kongsberg & Alston Systems)

MERCHANT OPERATIONS (DECK)Certificate of CompetencyOfficer of the Watch (OOW) Unlimited January/May & September

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NAUTILUS member ThomasBarkley has been presentedwith this year’s Maritime &Coastguard Agency officertrainee of the year award.

Thomas — now serving as asecond officer with WhitakerTankers — was warmly praisedby his employers and college lec-turers when the prize wasawarded at the annual UK ShipRegister reception in London.

And shipping minister JimFitzpatrick — who presentedthe award — said Thomas was a‘very worthy winner’ of theprize, which was the fourth tohave been made by the MCA.

Thomas qualified as an offi-cer last July after studying for anHND in nautical science atFleetwood.

A career at sea was not hisfirst choice — but he describes itas the best decision he has evermade. Having completed adegree in Spanish and manage-ment, he worked in Spain for awhile before deciding that adeskbound job was boring.

‘I got a bit tired of doing thesame thing every day, andwanted something that wouldoffer more of a challenge.Shipping seemed to fit the billand I applied to the Safe ShipTraining Group and went for aninterview in Rochester.

‘Dad was a fisherman for 25years, and I am an active crewmember on the Filey lifeboat,’he told the Telegraph. ‘Friendsin the Merchant Navy encour-aged me to have a go — and Ihave never looked back.’

Thomas said he particularlyenjoys the variety of workinvolved in his job, as well asthe time-on/time-off workingarrangements. ‘There’s a senseof freedom, and it’s differentevery day — I love it,’ he added.

‘I like the banter of working

at sea,’ Thomas said. ‘I have metpeople from all over the world,and I have made some greatfriends that I will keep for therest of my life.’

Working onboard a 3,000gtcoastal tanker is great fun, hesays. ‘I like getting my handsdirty, and it was a good experi-ence being a cadet as you got todo a bit of everything.’

Tony Dumbell, head of mar-itime operations at Fleetwood,said Thomas had been nomi-nated for the award because ofhis leadership skills, his supportfor other students and his com-mitment to the training.

‘He set out three and a halfyears ago to achieve this, andhas done it with style,’ he added.‘Thomas is personable, a natu-

ral leader and very much a trueofficer.’

Whitaker Tankers operatingofficer Harry Williams said hewas delighted that Thomas hadwon the award. The companyhad made a commitmenttowards cadet training back in1990, he added, and has sinceseen its trainees rise to masterand chief engineer positions.

‘We have had one shipmanned from master to secondofficer with our former cadets,and our ambition is to get themright throughout the fleet,’ hesaid.

Whitaker Tankers now hasaround 150 sea staff and an oper-ational fleet of 11 ships. ‘We try totake three deck and three enginecadets at each intake,’ said Mr

Williams, and we have 14 cadetsin the system at present.

Mr Fitzpatrick said hewas impressed by WhitakerTankers’ commitment to train-ing efforts.

‘Part of the government’scommitment to a progressiveand vibrant shipping industry isthe training and development offuture officers,’ he told guests atthe ceremony, ‘and this remainsvitally important.’

The minister said the govern-ment is seeking to continue thegrowth of the UK merchantfleet, and in the past year theregister had grown by 54 ships— including seven COSCO con-tainerships and vessels fromCMA Ships, CPO Tankers andSafmarine Container Lines.

Shipping minister Jim Fitzpatrick presents the MCA’s Officer Trainee of the Year award to Thomas Barkley

WARSASH MOVESMODEL TRAININGWARSASH Maritime Academy’sship model training facility is totransfer to one of the UK’s oldestreservoirs as part of a £1.5minvestment programme.

The entire Marchwood-basedmanned model operation —which is one of only a few in theworld where seafarers can learn

shiphandling skills on scaled-down ships — will be moved toTimsbury Lake, near Romsey, inthe winter of 2010.

‘The purchase and planneddevelopment of Timsbury Lakefor the manned model operationreflects Southampton SolentUniversity’s commitment toremaining at the very forefront ofmaritime training — not only inthe UK, but worldwide,’ saidWarsash Maritime Academydean and director John Millican.

BGM 2009uniting maritime professionals

NNautilus/Endsleigh contest autilus/Endsleigh contest shows a wealth of shows a wealth of photographic talent within photographic talent within the seafaring community...the seafaring community...

life at sea competition

AN AMAZING array of images from all

corners of the world and all sectors of

the shipping industry will be on show at

the Nautilus Biennial General Meeting in

Gateshead this month.

These pages give a taste of the

thousands of entries that flooded in to

the ever-popular ‘life at sea’ photographic

competition run by Nautilus and

Endsleigh Insurance Services since its

launch late last year.

The competition is staged to

showcase the world of seafaring, and we

asked for the best shots showing what

it’s like working in the shipping industry

today, leaving you to interpret that in

whatever way you wish — from the good

to the bad.

The response was fantastic — with a

remarkable range of images, from the

abstract to the very real, from sunsets

to storms, and from tough and gritty

images of work to relaxed moments

off-duty.

Judges had a hard task to decide the

winners, and just a few points divided

the prize-winning entries.

The first prize, of £750, went to

Andrej Bogacenko, who serves with

North Star Shipping, of Aberdeen.

His portfolio included an impressive

compilation of pictures (some

reproduced on this page) showing all

aspects of work and play onboard a

North Sea emergency response and

rescue vessel — and offering a great

sense of the camaraderie that can exist

among crew members.

‘These pictures really made you

feel as if you were there,’ said Pauline

Wardleworth, from Endsleigh. ‘They

were beautifully composed, and were

full of humour and drama, perfectly

capturing the theme of life at sea.’

Second prize, of £500, went to Simon

Peter Macaulay, a navigating officer

serving on Maersk Supply vessels, who

also submitted a stunning selection of

shots — mainly taken whilst working off

Angola. Judges praised the colour and

framing of his photographs, and the

quality of the images despite being taken

in some testing conditions.

Third prize went to Paul Weychan,

who serves with the Scottish Fisheries

Protection Agency, for what judges

described as a marvellous mix of

pictures showing his experiences

onboard the FPVs Vigilant and Jura.

Once again, colour and composition

was praised, as well as the range of

images (including chief engineer Jim

Nelson on the bagpipes at sundown!)

and his lyrical and descriptive captions.

Warm words of praise went to the

runners-up — including Andrew Corrie

for his powerful picture of an LNG

tanker and dry dock work, Andrew

Walder for a great series of shots from

Antarctica, and Michal Kwiatkowski for

his varied and sometimes humorous

images (notably the ‘full monty’ crew!).

Judges also singled out Maersk

Offshore chief officer Simon Capes

for his professional portfolio, Andy

McDowell for some idyllic images of

Marchwood (!) and Ascension Island,

and Northern Marine navigating officer

Aayush Giri for his evocative pictures of

the Panama Canal. Special mentions

also for engineering cadet Sean Bryant

for his superbly composed shots, Shell

officer Laura Lloyd Hughes for her lovely

pictures portraying her three years

at sea so far, and chief officer David

Britton.

Last word once again goes to

Endsleigh’s Pauline Wardleworth: ‘You

cannot help to be bowled over by the

incredible talent on display in these

photographs, and the way that they

capture the power and range of the sea.

I cannot give enough praise to all those

who took the time and trouble to enter.’

Prizes will be presented at this

month’s Nautilus UK BGM, where

exhibitions of the photographs will also

be staged.

MAY 2009 ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ i

MAY 2009 ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ iiiii ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ MAY 2009


CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

‘Chain’ by DAVID BRITTON

‘Drydocking’ by ANDREW CORRIE

‘Snow scene’ by MICHAL KWIATKOWSKI

‘Bridge to heaven’ by AAYUSH GIRI

‘Mud tank’ by PATRICK McCARDLE

Stormy seas by ANDY McDOWELL

Relief of the Emderma 2008 by ANDREW WALDER

‘Welding’ by SIMON CAPES

Up the mast by LAURA LLOYD HUGHES

HIGHLY COMMENDEDHIGHLY COMMENDED

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: a selection of some of the highly praised entries —

‘A sparkling sea’ by ERIC SUPERINA

‘Anchors away’ by Hapag-Lloyd deck cadet SAM HUGHES

‘Sunrise at the Immingham Oil Terminal while the

mv Pearl discharges’ by HOWARD BEISLY, skipper of the British-owned backhoe dredger Pat M

‘Tall ships, Liverpool, 2007’ by DAVID STYLES

‘Shouldn’t you have a hard hat on?’ by KARL RADANKE

‘Wildlife at rest’ by PYOTR KISELYOV

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP

LEFT: a selection of some of the best of the thousands of photographs submitted to the latest Nautilus/Endsleigh ‘life at sea’ photographic competition:

Barrow wind farm, Morecambe Bay by A. ATKINSON, skipper of the Coastal Guardian

‘Amigos’ by JULIAN BILCHIK, a second mate serving in the North Sea

A view taken from the bow of the port pontoon onboard the West Aquarius at anchor in Okpo Harbour, South Korea by CHRIS BALL

A beautiful bow shot taken onboard the Dole

Chile, in the southern Caribbean by engineer cadet CHRISTOPHER KEAYS

A stunning sunset shot submitted by CHRISTOPHER COWELL

Engineroom work — one of a series entered by Anglo-Eastern engineer cadet SEAN BRYANT

‘Watch that ship!’ – part of the portfolio entered by engineer officer DEREK MOFFAT

‘Sunset: smoke covers the Earth’ by chief engineer officer JACEK WEBER who works on Vroon Offshore vessels in the North Sea

‘Morning calm’ — an entry from PETER BARKER

‘It’s not the ship that’s happy, it’s the people in it!’ — pictures from the ‘people’ section in PAUL WEYCHAN’s entry

TOP: ‘Captain Temple and grand-daughter Evie’

CENTRE: chief engineer Jim Nelson pipes the sun down

BOTTOM: Richard Butler measures a net

ON THIS PAGE: a selection from the Nautilus/Endsleigh Insurance Services life at sea photo competition second and third prize winners SIMON PAUL MACAULAY and PAUL WEYCHAN.

Mr Macaulay took his series of photographs whilst serving as a second officer onboard the Isle of Man-flagged anchor handling support vessel Maersk Searcher off Angola.

Mr Weychan produced his collection — modestly described as ‘snaps caught on the spur of the moment’ — whilst working on the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency vessels Vigilant and Jura

TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: ‘Kizomba A, TLP A & PSP’‘Maersk Searcher in dry dock, Dakar’‘Maersk Searcher approaches PSP’

BOTTOM ROW, LEFT: ‘Luanda panorama’

E N D S L E I G H

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Special extended unoccupancy cover to protect your contents whilst you are away**

First £500 of all cover is FREE† and extended to worldwide giving you piece of mind when you take your personal items away with you

iv ✪ ●Nautilus UK Telegraph ●✪ MAY 2009


BGM 2009uniting maritime professionals

May 2009

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Transcript of May 2009