NEWS - Nautilus International

10 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | July 2010
NEWS
Severn ferry
service start
is delayed
Plans to launch a new ferry
Dservice between Swansea and
Ilfracombe have been postponed.
The Severn Link company
announced last month that problems
in establishing landing facilities and
an overnight lay-over berth in Wales
meant the two-vessel service could
not start this spring, as planned.
MD Geoff Metcalf described the
decision as ‘bitterly disappointing’
as both ferries had successfully
undertaken sea trials.
Severn Link says it still hopes to
run some limited trial services, but
the full launch will have to be
delayed until next year when
permanent facilities are set up.
USCG calls
for more
care on AIS
The US Coast Guard has issued
Aa safety bulletin urging
seafarers to take more care in the
use of the Automatic Identification
System (AIS).
In response to a number of
incidents, the Coast Guard ‘strongly
reminds’ operators that the AIS text
messaging facility should not be
used instead of other requirements,
such as bridge-to-bridge
communications, sounding whistle
signals, or displaying lights and
shapes.
It also stresses that shore-based
services or other vessels may not
respond to AIS safety-related text
messages in an emergency in the
same way as GMDSS messages.
‘AIS must not be relied upon as
the primary means for broadcasting
distress or urgent communications,
nor used in lieu of GMDSS such as
Digital Selective Calling radios which
are designed to process distress
messaging,’ the bulletin stresses.
The USCG said it has also noticed
a high percentage of inaccurate and
improper AIS messaging data. ‘AIS
requires operators to routinely
update their data as it relates to
navigation status, draft, origination
and destination ports, and eta,’ it
added. ‘Dynamic data, such as that
from positioning sources like GPS via
external sensors must always be
operational, accurate and
continuously updated. AIS is only as
good as the information provided
and exchanged, therefore users
must ensure their unit is always in
effective operating condition and
broadcasting accurate information.’
E-learning for
MARPOL rules
A
The American P&I Club has
launched its latest loss
prevention tool — the first in a
series of web-based e-learning
modules designed to familiarise
seafarers with the practical
application of the MARPOL
Convention onboard ship.
Claimed to be user-friendly, the
modules offer a secure online testing
facility so club members can track
their seafarers’ knowledge and keep
up-to-date records of familiarisation
training in compliance with the STCW
Convention and the ISM Code.
PA court is set to make a key ruling in
a long-running claim by a Filipino
seafarer that he had airfares and
travelling expenses illegally deducted from
his wages whilst serving on a Dutch cruiseship.
The direction taken in the case is expected
to clarify how the corporate veil affects
employee contracts on Dutch-flagged vessels,
as well as the effectiveness of clauses that
oblige the owner to pay for crew travel to and
from their native countries.
The case has been brought by Romeo Balen,
who served as a barman on the vessel Westerdam
and claims he was sacked in March 2006
because he refused to refund US$2,119 to Holland
America Line for what the company said
it spent on transport from his country.
A London-based DP training
Fcentre will celebrate 10 years of
operation next month, having risen to
become the leader in its field.
The Dynamic Positioning Centre,
part of the C-MAR group, claims to
train more students to Nautical
Institute standards than any other
international DP training provider.
‘We founded the first centre in
London in August 2000, and there
has been steady growth throughout
the decade,’ says chief operating
officer Peter Aylott.
‘Traditionally, the offshore sector
was seen as less prestigious than
deepsea shipping because the
tonnage of the ships was smaller, but
support vessels can be more complex
than warships these days, and
shipowners are realising that they
need high-calibre people.’
In addition to the original London
premises, the DP Centre now has
branches in Singapore, Rio de Janeiro
(Brazil), Split (Croatia) and Mumbai
(India). The five centres offer
Mr Balen originally sued HAL in 2007
under a US law designed to protect seafarers.
His lawsuit sought class status, claiming to
represent all Filipinos similarly affected, and
demanded damages in excess of $20m to
cover more than 7,500 employees said to
belong to the class.
He lost this lawsuit, on grounds that his
contract required him to file suit in the Philippines.
But he was told that if his attempt to
enforce US statutory rights failed there, he
could return to the US on behalf of himself
and the alleged class. The Philippines case is
due to soon come up before an arbitrator, as
mandated by his Philippines Overseas
Employment Agency contract.
Meanwhile, Mr Balen sued HAL in the US
again in January this year. This time, he named
consultancy and audit services as well
as DP training.
‘We find that, in London, around
60% of the students on our DP
operator courses are self-funded
freelancers who do voyage contract
work, while the other 40% are sent by
the oil companies,’ notes Mr Aylott.
‘Elsewhere in the world, a higher
percentage come from the big
employers.’
There is an across-the-board
shortage of DP operators in the global
offshore industry, he adds, with a
Northern Lights prize for
Shetland School cadets
Two future Merchant Navy
Cofficers training at the Shetland
School of Nautical Studies (SSNS)
have been presented with prizes to
recognise their hard work and
consistent professional performance.
Captain George Sutherland,
former chairman of the
Commissioners of Northern
Lighthouses, is pictured with prize
winners Derek Spence and Liam
Cumming, together with SSNS head
Jan Rigden.
It is the second time the Northern
Lighthouse Board prize has been
awarded and Capt Sutherland
described Liam and Derek as ‘worthy
winners’.
Travel costs claim is
set to test Dutch law
Filipino crewman says company was wrong to charge repatriation fees
as defendants the 14 HAL ships and their
Dutch owning entities, alongside Holland
America Line NV. HAL Inc, which purported to
be his contractual employer, was not the true
employer but merely an agent for HAL NV, he
alleged.
The new lawsuit invoked Dutch law to
establish crews’ rights to ‘free transport to the
place either where service started or to a port
of the state where he or she is a citizen’.
HAL has contended that the reimbursement
payments were proper and in accordance
with US law.
Several other lawsuits were brought this
year in various US states on similar grounds —
including some by seafarer groups from the
Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, seeking
class status for their respective nationalities.
Centre marks a decade of DP
training as shortage grows
Tutor Surendra Upadhyay training students at the DP Centre in London
particularly high number of vacancies
in Brazil and the Far East, so job
prospects are good for those who
complete the training.
To obtain the Nautical Institute DP
Operator Certificate, students first
take the centre’s Basic (Induction)
Course, which is classroom-based with
some use of simulators. Then they
need to get onboard familiarisation
training (typically during one voyage),
after which they can join the
Advanced (Simulator) Course to bring
them up to NI standards.
And although simulators are
obviously an important part of the
training, the centre places more
emphasis on what the industry would
call the ‘human element’. Instructors
must have at least five years’
experience in the operation of DP
vessels, covering dive support,
anchor-handling, platform supply and
drilling operations vessels.
‘Our success is down to the fact
that we have good people as trainers,’
stresses Mr Aylott.
Liam, from Hamnavoe in Burra,
and Derek, from Haroldswick in Unst,
each received a £1,000 cheque to
reward their academic achievement
and excellence in assessment and
project work.
Liam commenced training as a
deck cadet after obtaining a BA in risk
management at university in
Glasgow.
However, when Derek started his
training as an engineer cadet, he was
too young to stay in the onsite
accommodation on campus and had
to live with relatives for the first four
months of his training until he was 16
years old.
Picture: NAFC Marine Centre
Master is
facing 12
years in
prison
Prosecutors are calling for the
Dmaster of the tanker Prestige
— which broke up off the coast of
Spain nearly eight years ago — to be
jailed for up to 12 years.
What is billed as a ‘mega trial’ of
the master, two other officers and
the ship’s owner and insurer is
expected to start later this year
following a lengthy investigation
into what was Spain’s worst ever
environmental disaster.
Some 1,900km of coastline was
polluted in November 2008 when
the 26-year-old Bahamas-flagged
tanker broke up and sank off the
coast of Galicia with 77,000 tonnes
of fuel oil onboard.
A 266, 650-page report on the
investigation into the disaster was
published last month, and as a result
Spanish public prosecutors are
seeking a seven-year jail sentence
for the Prestige master, Captain
Apostolos Mangouras, for a ‘crime
against the environment’ and five
years for damaging a protected
natural space.
The ship’s owner and insurer are
being charged with ‘civil
responsibility’ and will face fines
rather than prison sentences.
Damages totalling more than €2.2m
are also being sought.
The prosecution claims that the
master had been warned by the
chief engineer two days before the
accident of problems with the vessel.
It is also alleged that the 81,564dwt
tanker had been suffering from
‘remarkable structural deficiencies’.
Public prosecutor Álvaro García
Ortiz said Capt Mangouras had been
aware of the poor condition of his
ship and had also ignored weather
warnings. He had failed to cooperate
with the authorities ashore as the
situation worsened, and refused to
allow the ship to be towed to safety.
However, the prosecution’s
announcement has been called into
question by a former Spanish search
and rescue expert. Antón Salgado
said Capt Mangouras had followed
all the international procedures for
responding to an emergency at sea
and had promptly issued a distress
call. Mr Salgado also pointed out
that the ship carried all the
necessary safety certification.