Sixty seven inspections in one week in designated ports in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines led to notices of warnings being issued to errant companies and unpaid wage claims. This latest ITF campaign to protect conditions for seafarers working on vessels in South East Asia resulted in the discovery of several abuses between 21-25 January.
Last month Faststream released a report regarding perceptions of maritime professionals around various position in the maritime industry as well as beliefs on salaries and career development. The report was developed by approximately 2000 responses, including 612 serving mariners.
The following article is an extract from Capt. John’s Dickie presentation during 2012 Safety4Sea Annual Forum and was initially posted on SAFETY4SEA. Shipping changes so much and there is over-regulation. But the people who make the over-regulation do not come from maritime background. The demands on the Master for his time and ability are being stretched to new limits. The advent of the STCW 2010 Manila Amendments came into force on the 1st January 2012. This is in respect of the Hours of Work and Rest. Do you work by hours of work or by hours of rest? If you calculate the hours of rest, things are more flexible. The Master continues to see more and more administrative tasks being awarded to him, but where is the time to complete these and ensure that his ship operates at peak performance? Add to this the increasing numbers of maters who are being prosecuted as criminals and the recipe is set for disaster.
As time passes by and the enforcement date for the MLC 2006 is getting nearer a very interesting article written by Apostolos Belokas Managing Editor of SAFETY4SEA explains the best approach on implementing the new regulation. Shipping industry is facing a regulatory storm, including among other things the implementation of ILO MLC 2006 by August 20th of 2013 globally. There are many peculiarities related with ILO MLC, the most spicy one is with the deadline due. In case your flag state has ratified MLC by August 20th 2012 the deadline is by August the 20th 2013. In case your flag ratifies MLC after that date, say for example on 1st of February of 2013 then the deadline is by the 1st of February 2014, i.e. 12 months later. If your flag does NOT ratify the MLC you are not responsible for implementation. Is this correct ? Well, not exactly … Actually in line with the “NO more favorable treatment” principle of the MLC vessel will be subject to inspection by PSC worldwide and especially to countries that they have ratified MLC already (e.g. Netherlands, Australia etc.).
During late November 2012 the fourth engineer of a shipping company was convicted to life imprisonment on finding him guilty of killing the first engineer over previous enmity in the waters of Lagos, Nigeria, in 2005. The accused, was sentenced to life imprisonment along with an additional seven years of rigorous imprisonment for disposing of the body of the first engineer. Sessions Judge convicted the fourth engineer for murder and destruction of evidence.
The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 could turn out to be a paper tiger, Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry has told delegates at Apostleship of the Sea’s 23rd international congress in the Vatican. Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, director international labour standards department of the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, said that the MLC 2006 was simply a tool that had to be used wisely. “But if not used or improperly used may be of little consequence – the so called ‘paper tiger’ (meaning something that seems as threatening as a tiger, but is really harmless); or they may even cause harm, if only because it is then very difficult to mobilize the political will to replace an international instrument.
Because of the nature of their work seafarers spend long periods of time away from their families and therefore represent a group at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection. Unsafe sex, drug addiction, or procedures such as tattooing play a relevant role in HIV transmission. HIV cannot be acquired through ordinary occupational and social contact. Due to the fact that nowadays ships spend less time in ports, the crew is rarely allowed to leave the ship. The “tourism element” (including sex tourism) is, thus, rapidly shrinking in contemporary seafaring. Nevertheless, the sex industry in many ports has adapted to recent developments by introducing “sex catering” or organised visits of sex workers to anchored ships and therefore the risk of getting infected with sexually transmitted diseases still remains.
Last month POEA issued a Governing Board Resolution regarding Filipino seafarers working on vessels transiting high-risk areas. According to mentioned resolution the computation of double wage and compensation benefits for seafarers traversing established high risk zones/areas covers overtime and leave pay.
A Japanese superintendent who was put onto a Newcastle coal ship after two suspicious deaths, has become the third person to die on the ship in the last six weeks. Kosaku Monji, 37, was on the Sage Sagittarius on October 6 when it was unloading a cargo of Newcastle coal in the Japanese port of Kudamatsu.
Those who think that all’s well with the Philippines’ maritime education and training (MET) system cannot be more wrong. A letter from the European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA) to its members dated 1st October 2012 bolsters the view that the world’s top crew supplier is not yet over the hump.
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Officer of the Watch 