Teamwork and Solidarity at 81st Convention In the News: Maunalei ...

NEWS Briefs (CONTINUED)requirement that mandates ports, terminals and shipspurchase and use card readers. That proposal is to be treatedas a separate rulemaking to allow the public more commenttime.MM&P has argued that the use of card readers shouldbe optional until “best practices” can be developed industrywide.“The potential functionality of the card should notbe the determining factor in what burden is placed on theindustry,” the union says. Many maritime industry playersare concerned about potential problems with the readers,including breakdowns and data connectivity issues. At arecent meeting at MM&P headquarters, union memberspresent wondered what would happen should a TWIC cardreader on a ship malfunction during cargo operations. Onemember asked, “Who would pay the costs of having ship,equipment, mariners and longshoremen sitting idle whiletechnicians try to fix the card reader on the ship?”The union also pointed out in its official commentsthat the proposed card reader regulations don’t addressthe issue of international compatibility. Since the UnitedStates has not signed ILO Convention 185 regarding theSeafarers’ Identity Document, or SID, foreign mariners, whorepresent more than 95 percent of the mariners on ships inour deepwater ports, may have cards that are not readableby U.S. port facility card readers. The flip side of the coinis that U.S. ships in international trade may not be able toread the ID documents of foreign port workers. In a separatedevelopment, inside DHS itself, the Office of the InspectorGeneral has released a report that finds TWIC prototypesystems “vulnerable to various internal and external securitythreats.”Short Sea Shipping UpdateHalf of major U.S. companies say the effect of trafficcongestion on their operations is serious enough that theywould use short sea shipping if it were available, according toa study carried out by Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.According to other studies conducted in Europe, on a percontainerbasis and before local road delivery on the finalleg of the journey is taken into account, shipping with small(100-TEU) containerships could potentially cost half whattruck transport costs. The British maritime officers’ union,NUMAST, cites reports that “moving freight by water cutscarbon emissions by around 80 percent and nitrogen oxideemissions by more than one-third.”In the United States, Bob Kunkel, chairman of the ShortSea Cooperative Program (SCOOP), told The Master, Mate& Pilot in a recent interview that the group is organizingworkshops to educate U.S. companies about the advantagesof short sea shipping. Kunkel says an appropriate shortsea shipping system for the United States would modelthe European method, in which several vessels capable ofcarrying highway trailers would be built. Financing is, ofcourse, a key factor: for the vessels to be built, the U.S.government would have to fund Title XI. MM&P is an activeparticipant in SCOOP.— Katy A. BradfordNorman Mineta Steps DownNorman Y. Mineta has resigned after serving for five yearsas Secretary of Transportation. “MM&P will rememberhim for his exceptional grasp of maritime issues,” saidMM&P International President Timothy Brown. “The mostmemorable of his decisions was made Sept. 11, when hedecided to set down all aircraft flying over the United Statesonly moments after the collapse of the Twin Towers.” Thatdecision “was decisive, precautionary, and well thought out,”Brown said, adding that Mineta “will be missed by everyoneat the International Organization of Masters, Mates &Pilots.” In the photo above, Mineta (far right) with (left toright) MM&P International President Brown, John Bowers,president of the International Longshoremen’s Associationand Thomas B. Crowley Jr., chairman of Crowley MaritimeCorp. at the 2002 AOTOS Awards ceremony.— Katy Bradford- 10 - September – October 2006 The Master, Mate & Pilot