SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

What as seen by many as even worse is
that the government refuses to say where
the problem lies. The question has been
raised numerous times, not least in the
Parliament, and the only answers given by
the minister of finance Anders Borg is that
”the question is currently being processed
in the government office” and that ”the
government is expecting to present a bill to
the Parliament within this length of office”,
which is running to the next election in the
autumn 2010.
risk for flagging-out
No one from the Swedish government
showed up when the Swedish Shipowners’
Association held its Annual General
Meeting in Göteborg in April. This caused
a widespread annoyance among the participants
as many had hoped for someone
to shed the light on the Swedish government’s
thoughts on the tonnage tax.
Even if a tonnage tax is introduced in the
coming years, more could have been asked
for when it comes to the Swedish government’s
sense of timing. The lengthy political
process and the lack of an even playing
field for the national shipping industry has
meant that one of the biggest booms ever
experienced by the shipping industry has
passed by Sweden, without Swedish shipping
being able to fully take advantage of
the business opportunities.
The frustration continues to grow within
the Swedish shipping industry. Broström
has declared that the company will invest
abroad and that no new vessels will enter
the Swedish registry for the time being.
Other shipowners have the same view.
The absence of a tonnage tax scheme
is a factor that could lead to flagging-out
of Swedish vessels. Another is the lack of
qualified seafarers, primarily officers. This
was reflected in the recently closed negotiations
on a new collective bargaining agreement.
The negotiations resulted in a new threeyear
deal where officers got a general pay
increase that was around 50 per cent above
the general level on the Swedish labour
market. The lack of qualified officers is of
course not a problem isolated to the Swedish
maritime labour market, but a unique
Swedish manning agreement is complicating
matters.
The Swedish TAP agreement allows
Swedish shipowners to temporarily employ
foreign, non-EU seafarers on special terms
on Swedish-flagged vessels. The agreement
SwediSh ShipS On Order
COnFirMed FeB 1, 2008
Ship type number
Tankers 37
Ro-ro/Lctc 11
Ro-pax 4
AhTS 4
Semi-sub 4
Drillship 2
Passenger 2
Country of build number
South Korea 13
Turkey 13
China 9
Croatia 7
Russia 6
Spain 4
Germany 3
Japan 2
Finland 2
Netherlands 2
Singapore 2
Norway 1
Source: Scandinavian Shipping Gazette
however limits this to 50 per cent of the
crew on a specific vessel or to 50 per cent
of the seafarers employed in the company’s
Swedish-flagged fleet.
healthy numbers of applicants
A consequence of this is that manning
of a Swedish-flagged vessel requires more
Swedes than under a foreign flag which
could be manned with Swedes in key
positions and with the rest
of the crew recruited from
elsewhere. It also means
that increased salary costs
hits Swedish-flagged vessels
harder than foreign-flagged
vessels. The education and
training to become an experienced
officer is a long process,
but for the future, the
recruitment situation in Sweden
seems bright.
The Swedish Maritime
Academies in Göteborg
and Kalmar reports healthy
numbers of applicants to the
Master Mariner and Chief Engineer study
programmes and all available study places
at this autumn’s study start are filled.
The Kalmar school also reports a new
record: of 60 first-year students this year,
16 are girls.
According to statistics compiled by
Lighthouse, the new maritime competence
centre established by Chalmers University
of Technology, the School of Business,
Economics and Law at Göteborg University
and the Swedish Shipowners Association,
Swedish shipping controlled a fleet of
615 vessels of 9.5 million tons deadweight
on 1 January 2008. Of these, 271 vessels of
2.5 million tons deadweight sailed under
Swedish flag. The five largest
flags in the Swedish controlled
fleet are Sweden, Bermuda,
NIS, Liberia and Singapore,
all on the Paris MOU
white list.
In May this year the Swedish
order book consisted of
some 60 vessels, ranging
from passenger vessels for
domestic trade to the latest
USD one billion order for
a drillship placed at Samsung
Heavy Industries by the
Stena AB subsidiary Stena
Drilling. More than half are
planned for deliveries this year and next.
The order book is dominated by product
tankers but also includes mega large car
carriers, ro-paxes, semi-submersible service
rigs and anchor handling tugs.
rolf p nilsson
SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 16, 2008 75
pawel flato
SHIPPING AND SHIP MANAGEMENT
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Bulker
Container
The Swedish Prime
Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
(the conservative party).
The Swedish fleet Jan 1, 2008
Number of vessels, above 300 gt
� Swedish flag
� Foreign flag
Dry cargo
Offshore
Passenger/ferry
Reefer
Tanker
Ro-ro
Misc
Source: Lighthouse
F
S