NAUTILUS P01 OCTOBER 2010.qxd - Nautilus International

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18 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | October 2010 YOUR LETTERS Private wrongs I recently received my copy of the August Telegraph, delayed in the post due to problems in Bangkok, and would like to make some observations. On page one we have the story under the headline, ‘Crew cabins aren’t private, court rules’. I would agree and also add that they never have been — rummagers of customs services worldwide have long entered crew cabins without permission and thoroughly searched them. The solution to Mr Alfaro-Moncada’s problem is to put his DVDs and notebook computer in the ship’s bond before arrival, which is then sealed by customs… On page nine we have the item, ‘Anchor appeal’ and a picture of the port bow of the RFA Sir Percivale showing its anchor, a Meon Mk3, originally known as a Danforth and usually used on warships, dredgers and oil rigs. Thus I think it a pity that such an anchor be used as a centrepiece at the Merchant Navy John Prescott, top, and seafarers from an Arklow vessel, above, send the charity riders on their way Convoy Memorial Arboreum commemorating those who lost their lives in convoys and who would never have sailed in a ship using such an anchor. Surely a Hall’s Stockless (popular since the 1880s) or similar could have been found somewhere. (The anchor shown on page 15, a Stokes Bower Stockless type, was only patented in 1966). On page 10, under the heading ‘Master shore management at Warsash’, we have Dr Wendy Leeks saying: ‘It seems there is often a presumption that because someone has been a senior officer on a ship they can come ashore and go straight into management...’ How right she is. When I came ashore after being master a number of years I was put under the assistant operations manager and after I had taken a chair in his office he said: ‘You masters think you know all, but in fact you know damn all except how to load and navigate a ship.’ Charity ride kicked off by Prescott Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has kicked off an ambitious round-Britain bike ride to raise money for the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) and its work for seafarers. The charity ride — which aims to take in 60 towns in 60 days — was launched at the Hull Seafarers’ Centre, with Lord Prescott joining the Lord Mayor of Hull and visiting ships’ crews to send the team of cyclists on their way. Lord Prescott told the team: ‘I used to be known as “two Jags”. I had a government car which was a Jag and I had my own old Jag, but what most people don’t know is that Raleigh gave me a bicycle and it too was a “Jaguar” — so then I Giving you a voice on your future had three Jags!’ The riders are being led by AoS trustee Captain David Savage, who took up cycling in 2005 when working in London for the Oil Companies International Marine Forum. ‘I’m raising money for Apostleship of the Sea for several reasons, but most importantly the feeling of injustice towards seafarers,’ he said. ‘They often end up below the horizon, working in harsh conditions with low pay.’ The AoS riders are seeking to raise £100,000 through their efforts. fFind out more and donate online at www.justgiving.com/ seawheeling or visit the blog: http://seawheeling. blogspot.com Worried about your retirement Join us! The Nautilus Pensions Association is a pressure group and support organisation that: z provides a new focal point for seafarer pensioners — increasing their influence within, and knowledge of, the Merchant Navy Officers’ Pension Fund and other schemes within the industry z serves as a channel for professional advice on all kinds of pensions, as well as offering specific information on legal and government developments on pensions, and supporting the Union in lobbying the government as required z provides a ‘one-stop shop’ for advice on other organisations providing support and assistance to pensioners z offers a range of specialised services and benefits tailored to meet the needs of retired members z operates as a democratic organisation, being a Nautilus Council body — with the secretary and secretariat provided by the Union Oceanair House, 750-760 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3BB t +44 (0)20 8989 6677 f +44 (0)20 8530 1015 npa@nautilusint.org www.nautilusint.org Finally, on crew manning, several years ago as a surveyor I frequently carried out condition surveys for P&I clubs and never once did I sight a manning certificate indicating that a cook be carried onboard, whereas when I first went to sea in 1949 a cook, duly certificated, was essential except only on the smallest of ships. Also on the question of manning — or under-manning really — that obliges officers to work very long hours, there used to a be a system of watchkeeping known as ‘Norwegian-style watches’ which divided the ‘day’ into five periods rather than the standard four hour watches dividing the ‘day’ into six periods. These were 0800h-1300h, 1300h-1900h, 1900h-2400h, 0000h-0400h, 0400h-0800h. If officers have to work longer hours, possibly this system could be used. Capt W.R. WOMERSLEY mem no 310660 Debate! Have something to talk about with others at sea Members can take part in our seafarers’ discussion forum. Visit www.nautilusint. org/Time-Out and click on Debate ‘Committed people working for safe, secure and clean seas’ as the theme of World Maritime Day is appropriate, but it should be remembered that commitment always starts from top. It is imperative that all concerned parties first realise their own commitment level towards seafarers. At present seafarers are being treated as casual labourers and lack of commitment on the part of employers is simply filtering down to the employees. Contracts stating words like ‘No payment shall be made for leave period’ are common. There are still many employers who do not insure their crew sufficiently for injury, death or disability, in order to cut down on operating costs. Standards at sea will continue to decline unless there is an enforceable minimum standard of crew wages and welfare. Presently a young person with three good A-levels can earn ashore as much on a 40-hour working week as does a third officer working at sea on a 80-hour working week. Hence he will be out of his mind to choose a seafaring profession. Most of the jobs at sea are now offered on a contract basis and there is no reason why international authorities such as ILO/IMO cannot come up with a minimum standard contract of employment specifying clauses such as work tenure/leave ratio, working hours, injury/death compensation and other benefits guaranteed for shore workers, which all seafarers certainly deserve. Further, inspection of these contracts should become a routine part of port state/IMO/ILO and oil major inspections so that rogue employers can be forced out of shipping by enforceable regulations Nautilus/ITF inspector Chris Jones was among the guests at the formal reopening of the refurbished facilities at the Queen Victoria Seamen’s Rest Facelift for Queen Vic Pictured above right is Queen Victoria Seamen’s Rest resident former seafarer David Stannard and QVSR chief executive Alexander Campbell at the official opening of refurbished facilities at the residential and welfare centre in east London. The improvements have enhanced the facilities offered at the Queen Vic, which is based in East India Dock Road, and will allow the organisation to further develop its welfare work among seafarers and their families, which it has been carrying out for more than 165 years. ‘We would like to extend an invitation to anyone who is in the area to come and visit the new Queen Vic and see at first hand the improvements we have made to our facilities,’ said Mr Campbell. MLC has failed us as other measures have failed thus far. Unfortunately MLC 2006, the so called Bill of Rights, has failed to address seafarers’ concerns. New regulations were expected to bring seafarers’ working conditions in line with shore employees. However MLC 2006 requires flag states to regulate either work hours (maximum 72 hours per week) or rest hours (minimum 77 hours per week). Most of the flags of convenience will obviously choose the minimum 77-hour rest option, which in effect means up to a 91-hour working week. Similarly, minimum leave for seafarers is being stipulated as 2.5 days per month, the same as shore employees. However, seafarers rarely get any Saturdays or Sundays off. MLC should have included compensation for such worked weekends as additional paid leave. Even though MLC mentions 48 hours per week as normal hours of work and one day rest per week rest, this has no relation to realities at sea as consolidated pay means all compensation for extra work is included in the wages, irrespective of hours worked. Sharing a room without privacy for six months with a person whose work/rest pattern may even be different should not be permitted in the 21st century. mem no 174875 Crew clothing for a perfect performance For more information on how we can dress your crew T +44 (0)23 8033 3771 E sales@miller-rayner.co.uk W www.miller-rayner.co.uk
October 2010 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 19 SAFETY AT SEA Some 2,300 passengers on the Jewel of the Seas took part in the latest Project Safeguard trials Order, order! Spotlight on evacuation EU-funded research into passenger responses in an emergency could help to rewrite the international evacuation rules for cruiseships and ferries… A The phenomenal growth of the passenger shipping industry over the past 20 years has been matched by massive increases in the capacity of cruiseships and ferries — in turn generating growing concerns about safety. Nautilus has been among a number of organisations highlighting the potential problems of evacuating vessels carrying as many people as a small town and providing suitable search and rescue resources — often in remote areas. A three-year European Unionfunded research project — Safeguard — is now under way in an attempt to address some of these concerns. And, as part of this work, a research team led by the University of Greenwich recently carried out what must surely rank as one of the biggest-ever experiments in ship evacuation and safety procedures. The University’s fire safety engineering group staged what was described as a unique and historic trial onboard the 90,090gt Royal Caribbean vessel Jewel of the Seas, in which more than 2,300 passengers took part in a ‘live’ assembly drill while at sea. Passengers’ response times once the evacuation alarm sounded were measured by 100 video cameras — which included CCTV, fish-eye, digital and analogue cameras — carefully positioned by the research team. Passengers also wore specially developed infra-red tracking tags throughout the half-hour exercise, which allowed researchers to locate each person’s exact movements and reconstruct the paths passengers took as they made their way around the ship to the various muster points onboard. Professor Ed Galea, head of the research team, said the findings could help to set the benchmark for future regulation. ‘This assembly trial was unique in several aspects, as we collected data from a large cruiseship, during a virtually unannounced assembly drill and while we were actually at sea,’ he explained. ‘The research measured realistic response times to the alarm, at a time when 2,300 passengers were spread over 12 decks. Although passengers had been told the day before that we would be doing a drill, they were largely unprepared — in their staterooms, in the bars, in the gym, in the shops, restaurants and elsewhere — as the alarm sounded. ‘All of this represents a significant difference from a typical assembly trial, which is heavily announced beforehand, which takes place before the ship sails, and where many of the passengers are already at the assembly points simply waiting for the drill to begin.’ The trial onboard Jewel of the Seas was the third carried out by the University of Greenwich team. Two took place last year onboard a Color Line ferry with 900 passengers onboard, while two more will take place early next year onboard a Minoan Lines ferry that carries passengers in cabins. All of the data collected in these trials will be used to assess how long it takes passengers to react to the alarm being sounded and to start to move to a muster station. Researchers will also analyse the way in which they get to muster points, and the factors that influence their actions — such as whether they are in their cabin, Top: passengers move to the muster stations onboard Jewel of the Seas. Above: members of the Project Safeguard research team Pictures: University of Greenwich eating a meal, or in a group. ‘When you measure all the response times for different activities you get a distribution and we have found quite significant difference in response times,’ Prof Galea said. The €3.5m Safeguard project is also using computer simulations to evaluate the effectiveness of Tagged: specially-developed infra-red tracking devices used in the trials Picture: University of Greenwich “ Nothing on this scale is likely to be attempted again ” existing ship evacuation models and the results should help to determine whether International Maritime Organisation policies need to be changed. The project involves partners from countries including the UK, France, Norway, Finland, Greece and Canada. As well as the University of Greenwich, its members include the BMT Group, Principia, Safety at Sea, Bureau Veritas, the Marine Institute of Canada, Royal Caribbean International, Color Line and Minoan Lines. Safeguard builds on earlier research work — the Fire Exit project — which demonstrated that the response time data used as the basis for the IMO evacuation analysis protocol was not rich enough to accurately represent reality and failed to provide a suitable basis either for the use of evacuation simulation programs or for their validation. By developing this research further and obtaining detailed data on passenger response times and assembly times, Project Safeguard aims to result in an improved new version of the existing IMO circular, 1238. Prof Galea said that the scale of the operation onboard the Jewel of the Seas was vast. The exercise required nine months of planning, while at least six months will also be needed for frameby-frame analysis of the video footage, to measure the reaction times of passengers as they made their way to assembly points. Questionnaires filled in by passengers onboard at the time of the drill will also provide extra data for the researchers to analyse. The intense preparation paid off, however, as nearly all passengers cooperated with the assembly drill and wore their tags throughout the exercise. ‘We had been worried that ship operators might think we would annoy the passengers, but what we found was quite the opposite,’ Prof Galea told the Telegraph. ‘They were extremely supportive and quite a lot came up to us and thanked us for doing it and looking after their safety,’ he added. ‘The senior members of the crew that we dealt with were also really helpful and behind what we are doing, and without their cooperation we could not have done what we did.’ Tracy Murrell, Royal Caribbean’s director of maritime safety and compliance, commented: ‘We are extremely pleased with the success of the exercise onboard Jewel of the Seas. The shipboard team embraced the spirit of the exercise and assisted in all aspects to ensure flawless execution. Royal Caribbean is proud to be part of the ongoing efforts to improve safety onboard passenger ships and looks forward to learning from the results of the project.’ Prof Galea described the work onboard Jewel of the Seas as ‘exhausting and exciting’ and said the results will be far-reaching. ‘The response time data and the validation data we collected from the project is truly unique, and will help set an international standard for ship-based evacuation models in the future. ‘Nothing on this scale is likely to be attempted again,’ he added. ‘The research conducted by the Safeguard team will help shape future maritime law and, ultimately, by informing the design of better and safer ships, will help save lives.’
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