The latest on cabotage in India

And how it will affect you.

http://www.moneylife.in/article/switching-off-the-lighthouses-cabotage-kills-a-maritime-nation/28743.html

And why this impacts the future of not just your jobs, or the maritime industry in India, but the larger issues therein.

Why shippies don't drink "On The Rocks"

And here's a bit of a light-hearted piece by me for the Times of India on the subject of shippies, climate change, alcohol, mosquitoes and more. Including CoC . . .

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Diary-of-a-Divorced-Delhi-Male/entry/never-on-the-rocks-please

A Master's views on the DGS Revalidation course . . .

Dear Veeresh,

I did my revalidation for master’s COC at ___________ last 4 times .

The first time I told the Directors- that Capt ____________must be put out to pasture. This ignoramus was so full of ego that he tried to treat us like kindergarten kids.

One of the ship’s business lecturers was Capt ________— old ex-_______ – maybe ??? years old. A good guy BUT totally out of touch with modern day REALITY.

Last 2 times I met the Director ____________ personally and told him not to make this course a FARCE — that __________ must go. I am sure he is still there.

Training is being done on sentiments-- Wish I could run my unforgiving and merciless _______________ carrier tanker on sentiments.

This ego thing-- when you have an international conference of brain surgeons – there is maturity and mutual respect. When we have maritime seminars , just see the way the shore guys act as if they are gold medallists, who scored 100% marks— while the seafarers are the moronic bunch who scored zero percent—and hence banished to sea as divine punishment!!

brgds

_______________

A tribute to Cross Island Bombay - from the TS RAJENDRA

Previously published at MoneyLife

http://www.moneylife.in/article/wwii-shell-found-off-mumbai-heres-what-your-media-cant-tell-you-so-we-dredge-out-the-details/21087.html

WWII shell found off Mumbai: Here’s what your media can’t tell you, so we dredge out the details

November 02, 2011 01:15 PM

Veeresh Malik

Many of the stories on the WWII shell found off Mumbai have simply bombed. No, this shell will not cause any harm to the city, not any more than the Diwali firecrackers which tried their best to shatter the peace. But why was the shell undiscovered for so long? An insider take

Cross Island in Mumbai has been an integral part of the life of any seafarer who has been trained on the TS Rajendra. It is also very important from the point of view of those heading out by boat from the New Ferry Wharf (aka Bhaucha Dhakka), not too far from Mazagaon, or for those heading in or out of the now soon to be filled-up and yet un-renamed Princes and Victoria Docks complex of the Mumbai Port Trust. Most of all, much of the support fleet for the oilrigs operate in this channel, and around this island.

Uninhabited largely due to a total lack of fresh water, and with added stories on how it was haunted by the ghosts of Portuguese soldiers who were done in when the British took over Bombay, even the local fishermen chose to avoid it. We were anchored not too far, and would sometimes take a sailing boat close to it, but had strict instructions never to make landfall as the foreshore was also rumoured to have quicksand pits. There were also some Indian Navy instructions on the subject. That also kept the tourists off.

The real reason why Cross Island never made it as an offshore destination or to the "A" list of tourist destinations in a land-starved Mumbai, however, is simple. The waters around it are extremely polluted, and for some reason also very corrosive—just running your hand in the sea as you went past in a sailboat or motorboat was enough to give you an acidic itch for days afterwards. Also, it stinks, the seawater in this area. This was in the mid ‘70s. It is said to have only become worse in recent years, as the bay gets silted up, and the tides are not strong enough to replenish the water there. Typically, the water is so dirty, that it is like in the Sunderbans (Bengal)—you cannot see your fingers if you put your hand in. But in the Sunderbans, there is always freshwater coming from upriver, and the lack of visibility is due to mud.

There are also a few cannons lying scattered around, as well as what looked like the remnants of one large gun of the howitzer variety on that island. Again, nobody dared remove them, despite the existence of one of the largest scrap-yards in the area, because of the stories surrounding the haunting of Cross Island. And the main story was that if anybody tried to go to the Island after dark, the old cannons and guns would come alive, with the wrath of the soldiers who had apparently been left there to die.

Another reason: Cross Island had also reportedly been used for target practice by the British in the years leading up to, during, and after WWII. And there were some terrible stories around that, too.

A cartographer’s report for the waters around Mumbai mentions how siltation for a variety of reasons has caused the Thane creek, upstream from and north of Cross Island, to become more like a swamp. This again is very true—till as recently as a decade ago, huge barges along with tugs could come as far inland as the old Thane Creek road bridge. Now you are lucky if you spot a small fishing boat and that too during high tide in the same spots.

One such cartographer’s report can be found here, and makes for interesting reading:

http://mycoordinates.org/cartography-as-a-tool-in-study-of-dredging/

So when it was first reported that a Jaisu Shipping-operated dredger had recovered a WWII relic, a shell with about 100 pounds of explosives in it, my thoughts went immediately to the stories we had heard. And discounted them right away, because little further enquiries confirmed that this was, in all likelihood, a shell for the BL 5.5" artillery howitzer, and probably a relic of some firing practice exercise, where one of these shells had simply failed to detonate.

And sat there in the seabed, right under the port channel, while hundreds of ships, boats and other vessels just went about their business—day in and day out—in one of the busiest ports of the world.

But then, that information also fell flat—it was not likely that this sort of an artillery shell would have been used for target practice on an island so close to the city. Besides, there were no available records of the Port of Bombay having been equipped with such an artillery battery facing inwards. The howitzers used for this shell, if not properly aimed, had the capacity to go right across to the other side of Bombay, where now lies Chembur and even in the war days existed an oil jetty called "Pir Pau".

Or was this from the famous Fort Stikine, since her manifest does indicate that she was carrying these shells, too? This could be probable, considering that the port dredging operations are still pulling gold out of the same waters, traced back to the same explosion in April 1944.

Every which way, a single shell that has been lying undisturbed for decades, is not likely to cause more damage than a big hole in the ground. Certainly not enough to endanger a city.

But what it does reflect, from a commercial point of view, is the way our authorities have neglected the dredging and subsequent growth of India's premier port. Waking up now to this need, after depths available in the area went down from 8-10 metres during WWII, to as low as 3-5 metres, is ample evidence of the neglect that Mumbai Port has faced.

It is quite likely that more such debris and material, whether from the Fort Stikine or otherwise, will continue to be found in and around the approaches to the various berths in Mumbai Port, and that some of these may well be explosive in nature and will require great care. Many of my colleagues have gone over those waters hundreds of times—and people continue to do so.

It is important to dredge the approach channel. It is even more important to clear the channel of all such dangerous debris and explosives. But it is not likely to cause immense harm to the rest of Mumbai. Unless some idiot brings it ashore and deliberately tries to set it off.

Why such an explosive was not carried away by boat itself to the Naval Station will remain an unanswered question. Presumably there is a brass or metal value which was being ascertained, till it was realised that this shell was still very much alive. Because, and in this case as the son of an Army officer, a 5.5" shell is a very interesting "decoration piece", often found amongst the pride of possessions of elderly retired Armed Forces officers. Others would love to have them too, but they simply aren't available any more.

But they don't have the explosive inside it. And this one did.

No 'decoration piece' is really worth the effort—if it is still packed!

Life onboard a merchant ship - a true exchange

Mails exchanged with a batchmate and friend . . . after my 6 days on a ship after 29 years:-

Me:- ""The big difference is that we used to have "after work time" for socialising, now it seems we don't have it. You work, then you work some more, and then you collapse with fatigue. When do you read books, socialise, listen to music, eat food as a means of exchanging conversation?Where is the space for intellectual evolution??""

Batchmate:- ""Believe me there is no time. For instance today I am at Mumbai inner anchorage and have been awake for almost 36 Hrs, because of port arrivals and other formalities, followed by  so many inspections and surveys going on. To top it up I have 11 persons from my Technical office which incidentally is in Mumbai. Even though I have shore pass but there is no time to go ashore, I can see the tall buildings of Mumbai and enjoy. Life on board with this e mail system has become really sad as people want instant replies and solutions. Guess it is the same story for people working ashore. All the best take care and keep writing.""

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And we want to try to attract the best of the best to the Merchant Navy??

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(This has been one of the most popular posts on this blog . . . I guess maritime fatigue and inhuman conditions on board ships tell??)

Prateek Rishi's story - a tribute to Capt. Prem Kumar of the RAK AFRIKANA

We all have a story. It is not only about where we came from, who or what our parents were, and what we or our families have become today.

But it often gets stuck there. That's OK, that's not our fault, but it is the fault of the day and age we live in.

Never mind. So, over the last few days, I've been digging deeper and deeper into the stories of people who were on the RAK AFRIKANA as well as the ASPHALT VENTURE. And I've received a fair number of telephone calls from people who I did not know before.

One, ofcourse, was a series of calls and eMails from the Big People at the Big House in Ballard Estate where it began for many of us, Directorate General of Shipping, DGS, Jahaz Bhavan. A few days after the demise of Captain Prem Kumar, and a few weeks after the big media circus on his return from the RAK AFRIKANA for which everybody from the Foreign Secretary to assorted politicians and union leaders and others took credit - they wanted to know where Prem's family lived so that they could condole.

Make what you want of this - but it just goes to show, there is no time or room for post episode debrief.  A seafarer dead and gone is a statistic. A seafarer who returns is an embarrassment. And one who returns and then dies is extra work.

I got quite a few other calls around the same time, in connection with the ASPHALT VENTURE, and what do I say - as one put it, if we had announced a cocktail party, hundreds of seafarers in and around Delhi would have made it, but to visit and offer simple moral support to the families of the ASPHALT VENTURE detainees - see DGS above, an embarrassment and extra work.

Private and quiet salutes to the few who did reach across, especially the wives, thank you SC, TC, RK, PM, RR, and RR . . . and others.

But the call that really brought me back to my story was one from Prateek Rishi, from far away New York, and I shall reproduce one of his eMails below. It says it all, and it gives me the strength to place my next post in a few hours from now, even at the risk of curdling my own future story.

See, I have reached a point where my memories of being at sea have become bigger than the dreams I have of my future. That's kind of dangerous, the next step would be senility. So,  spent over a year getting my old ticket re-validated, and getting ready to go backl to sea - and now, by taking DGS head-on, am risking all that again.

Fair and square, if Indian seafarers have gone on ships through RPS companies, then the responsibility is with the DG Shipping to ensure their safety. If, on the other hand, the DG Shipping made conditions so lax and unethical that RPS companies could send Indian seafarers onboard ships which were registered behind the usual "care-of" kind of tax-haven FOC addresses, then that was and is certainly DG Shipping's fault.

And that's where this is heading for next - even if I risk my return to sea, as people tell me I am doing. But then, I would not be doing justice to my story, on why I chucked up sailing decades ago, right?

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If I were to sign on a contract of a foreign ship, I'd ask to see the anti-piracy measures the Company is taking, and how they are equipping their vessels that are going anyway near the South of Suez and the African East-Coast. The Shipowner/Charterer/Managers HAVE TO convince me with documentation, as to what measures would be taken when the vessel is hijacked and I am taken hostage and become a bait to torture. I'd simply like to see BAGS AND BAGS of money being handed over to my family for each form of torture I undergo, right from when that damn skiff comes within boarding distance of my ship and psychological torture begins. With each slapping, spitting, choking, pressure-point pushing, crushing, skin scalding, skin burning, burning of the balls, strangling, flogging, shoving, pushing, beatings, the money bags have to be flowing. The amount of money flowing to my family needs to be MUCH MORE than what the pirates are asking for. (By the way, all of the above torture methods were REPEATEDLY used on Capt. Prem Kumar.)

 

If this can not be done, then, weld some Automatic Weapons on the Port and Starboard Poop Deck and front of the accommodation bulkheads, under life-boats, and on the Focsle.

 

My 'Serang' will sew canvas covers for them and Cadets can stencil them. Put a freaking grease-nipple on it and my Mate will put it in his maintenance schedule. The guns should be on a separate electric circuit and firing should be controlled by the Ship's Authorized Users only. The guns should be Top four or 6 folks should be given the codes to open interlocks, load and fire the guns. The guns should be able to be panned and tilted and fired from the Bridge or Radio Room. CCTV should be able to show personnel around the guns and deck PA system to warn them of "Gunning Stations"!! Gun-sights should be interlocked with additional CCTV, remotely available to the Bridge, for targeting, aiming and firing.

I am asking for fixtures on the vessel that can not be carried around to settle a drunken brawl.

There should also be a couple of handguns in the Master's Safe.

These are active measures.

 

Passive measures would be having something like removable barbed, bladed, wire, installed along the ship's rail while at sea, or any other measures like high-voltage pulsating current, or whatever the design allows to afford active prevention of persons boarding the vessel.

Only then, would I sign on, onto a vessel!

It is EASY to fire a gun. Especially easy once you paint a picture of how you can be tortured when caught. Training for all this is easily available. Send a polite email to Somalia with a photo of the vessel. And then, "Bring 'em on!!"

 

I DON'T CARE, at this point, FOR THE CARGO, THE SHIP, THE CHARTERERS, THE SHIPOWNER, THE BANK, THE FLAG STATE, CLASS, LLOYDS, UNDERWRITERS, whatever. Any skiff coming within 50 yards of me and not declaring their intention, will be warned, my Owners/Charterers/Underwriters/Class etc. will be "informed", and threat will be awaited. I will be the first to fire - after reasons have been obtained and logged, and it has been determined (I determine, not the authorities sitting behind in front of a computer-screen!!) that firing was in the best interest of the Ship's crew and the vessel/cargo.

 

I'll die fighting, if need be. Not getting tortured. 

And remember those BIG payments to my wife ...

(It may all, then, be worth it!!)

Authorities don't have a consensus on the issue of piracy. The Bank, Shipowner and Charterers have their individual interests. Then there is somebody waiting for that crap that was made in China and is in that container, and somebody is waiting for his car to be offloaded so that he can drive it from the dealer and park it in his driveway. 

"Honey, I don't care for which car we drive or how much Chinese crap we have in our home! All I care for is seeing that you will be paid well enough in case I am not to come back, and that you'll be able to bring up our kids the way we had imagined. I know you'll need more than emails and phone-calls of condolences when I am gone. Flowers are not going to be enough to feed the family!!"

Aaah! Felt nice to write all the above!

 

For those who may worry about how I put bread on my table, rest assured, it has not been coming from Sea, since a long while now! Yeah! With an attitude like above, who'd offer me a contract, right?!!! However, I do have strong sentiments to the fraternity and really wish to see a sea-change in the Industry.

The community, as a whole, needs to do something together.

Really thinking, does it cost much to put 7 automatic guns on the vessel, and linking them to remotely aim and fire from the Bridge? At the going rate of approx. 3 Million dollars of ransom, plus the off-hire times, this retrofit, I can do for the Shipowner - for under 3 Million. Shipowners, are only playing the lotto by going in that area and hoping that their vessel will not get caught. Freight rates for that area have already been up by almost a couple of dollars per tonne. That covers CARGO - dumb, useless Coal, Iron Ore, Crude, etc. Nobody is talking of the Master - the one who'd get tortured, or his Crew!

Have a nice day, folks. Thanks for reading it through!

Prateek

 

 

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Thank you, Prateek, you put it better than I have been able to do in decades. And now, bring them on DGS . . . as we head towards something that will make the IOA, CWG and DGCA scams look like so much spray on deck. . .

Indian seafarers, Somali piracy - and what do we want the Government to do?

Distress call: Use multiple channels to free seafarers hostage to pirates

What can be done to help the seafarers, especially Indian seafarers?

The Indian Navy is doing a great job to provide protection for Indian vessels sailing in hostile waters. But there is much that other agencies, like intelligence agencies and shipping authorities must do deal with the scourge of piracy that is brutalising Indian seamen

Read on:-

http://moneylife.in/article/distress-call-use-multiple-channels-to-free-seafarers-hostage-to-pirates/15987.html

National maritime Day / Delhi / 2011

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vm2827/5594445884/

National Maritime Day was celebrated in Delhi, variously, and as per PTI, here is the official report:-

"National Maritime Day celebrated. New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) The week-long celebrations to mark National Maritime day aimed creating awareness about the activities of Indian Shipping industry, also called ''silent service'', culminated today. Every year April 5 is celebrated as the National Maritime day. It was on April 5 in 1919 that the first Indian steamship ''S.S. LOYALTY'' of Scindia Steam Navigation, Mumbai, ventured into international waters on her voyage from Mumbai to London."

Whether that statement repeated every year with minor variations is correct or not is for all of you to judge. All I know is that it is about time something more was done than the usual repeated flag hoisting, badge pinning, one-way seminars and cultural programmes. We have to move with the times, and while it is wonderful that the National Maritime Day Celebrations Committee works hard every year on this, there need to be some fresh inputs. At least, by 2019, and which would mark a hundred years.

Put it this way - sea transport is probably still moving largely at the same speed over water as it was in 1919, most ships even now function best at the 12-18 knot range, barring faster container and similar ships. But the rest of the world, whether in the air, on ground or over the internet - has moved on. By multiples.

So here's what SAILOR TODAY, after talking with some seafarers ashore, would like to see in future National Maritime Day celebrations:-

1) The venue needs to be advertised some more, using social media like facebook and twitter, as well as through the shipping websites. DG Shipping and MMD websites need to carry details in advance on bearing and distance as well as timelines for all events under the NMD celebrations. This is extremely easy, and will cost nothing.

2) The venue itself, atleast in Delhi, needs to be closer to places where public transport is available. IGNOU campus is very pretty, the surroundings are no doubt sylvan, but it takes forever to get there. And once there, the pathetic sight of seeing cadets boarding local "grameen seva" transport to get back is indeed miserable.

3) NMD should also be accompanied by some sort of future job counselling for the young cadets who take the effort to put up the grand show they did. Recruitment seems to be the biggest worry and concern for many of the youngsters heading out to sea, and this event should be used for voluntary work by people who are still at sea to give some frank and cogent as well as practical advice.

4) Efforts by those who volunteered this year should not be trivialised either - but the number of people coming forward should be somehow increased. One way would be to hold regular "open house" functions at
 MMD/NOIDA, where new people can be encouraged to take part in NMD celebrations.

5) Some amount of co-operation and co-ordination can always be sought from the Armed Forces, especially Indian Navy and Coast Guard, to make the bond between our Services stronger. Especially in these days of extremely high piracy in and around Indian waters, we need to be able to offer our thanks to them as well as seek better relationships.

6) There is a lot that needs to be improved at MMD and DGS, if we do not want to see it getting wrong exposure of the DGCA sort. Towards that, occasions like the NMD should also be used to improve matters, with introspection and free and frank debate.

7) And finally, it is time that the whole thing on SS LOYALTY moved ahead. Many great steps have been taken by and in the Indian Merchant Navy - and they need to be brought out, documented and most of all - celebrated.

We hope that the people in power will take these suggestions from our readers in the correct spirit, and we hope to have greater and better NMD celebrations in the near future.

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The biggest worry that young cadets at the NMD celebrations nationwide have is about their future. With the big mess that is education in the ongoing IMU and DGS systems tussle confusing matters in the minds of the young and impressionable, some amount of clarity and direction, sustainable, needs to be declared, and no occasion better than the NMD celebrations to do so.

To ignore this reality would be doing a great dis-service to the youngsters who put in so much effort for a stellar performance.

More collisions off Mumbai Harbour!!!

As already published at MONEYLIFE . . .

http://www.moneylife.in/article/78/13600.html

The Nordlake, Sea Eagle and Vindhyagiri fiasco: An accident waiting to happen, but we will continue shipping in troubled waters

February 02, 2011 10:12 AM | 
Veeresh Malik

Certainly, the concept of duly mandated "rest hours" does exist-and it is the responsibility also of the Port State Control to ensure and see that this is adhered to—but then, at a port like JNPT, where berths are always congested, that would mean losing business while the ship's crew rested prior departure.

Are we tired of these repeated accidents outside Mumbai Harbour? Well, somebody had better start seeing, very soon, how tired the ship's crew are when they sail in and out of Mumbai.

The typical work schedule for crew and officers on a container ship calling Mumbai Port would be something like this:

An ocean-going ship would start port approach procedures, which typically requires all hands to be on specific multiple duties, at least four hours prior raising land. Add another 2-3 hours in the final approach, and then maybe a few hours at anchor, waiting for a pilot.

If weather is bad, or there is no room to anchor, then slow-speed steaming at full alert-since there is other traffic as well. Then, head towards the pilot pick-up point, another 2-3 hours of slow steaming, which is like trying to do a ballet in treacle. Pick up the pilot, another 2-4 hours before you tie up alongside your berth.

The shore unloading gangs don't even wait for the gangway to touch land before they start working the ship—which has to be turned around, typically, in less than 24 hours. During that time, the Master and crew have to handle a host of shore authorities, each more "demanding" than the others, and also look after stuff like running repairs, picking up stores, go through mandated security and life-saving/fire-fighting drills, and multiple other tasks.

In addition, bunkers have to be taken, surveyors and company staff have to be attended to, there is always some number of people signing off and signing on, handing over and taking charge-and all the while, cargo is being simultaneously unloaded and loaded-especially on container ships. Papers are being signed blindly, phone calls to family and friends, since the ship is now "in range", when else will you download your personal mail and answer it.

Safe to say, most people will not have had a wink for about 36-48 hours, when the ship is ready to sail out—and that's going to take another 4-8 hours of close quarters navigation. Interim, one has not had time to go ashore even for an idli or a batata-vada-leave alone catch up on shopping or the rest of the world.

And once you are out of Mumbai harbour, within a few minutes actually, you are smack in the middle of oil-field territory. More work, more proceed with caution, and more fatigue. Clear Bombay High, and now you are in pirate territory-more doubling up of watches and extra work, as well as lookout duties.

It would be interesting to see if one could get hold of the time-sheets for the Nordlake and the Sea Eagle. The truth behind this accident, amongst other truths, probably also lies within those fudged numbers, as it lies in other records being rapidly fudged all over.

And meanwhile, since trying to explain why shipping accidents happen outside Mumbai so frequently seems to be not so easy, this report ends with another quote from Lewis Carroll:

"When you are describing A shape, or sound, or tint; Don't state the matter plainly, But put it in a hint; And learn to look at all things With a sort of mental squint."

(Veeresh Malik started and sold a couple of companies, is now back to his first love-writing-and is also involved actively in helping small and midsize family-run businesses re-invent themselves).
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Why are shipping accidents happening with alarming frequency around Mumbai? Here’s a lowdown from the deck, at close quarters

""But I don't want to go among mad people," said Alice. "Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here."" (Lewis Carroll)

This would have been funny in the context of ships colliding like so many bumpy cars at a fun fair, if it had not been for the fact that one of them was an Indian Navy warship with families onboard, and of all things on a day when the headman of the Royal British Navy was also in town visiting. But, as an ex-seafarer, this is about as close as it gets to the truth vis-à-vis the macabre state of affairs with matters maritime, in and around Mumbai lately.

The actual and real truth on what really happened off Sunk Rock, outside Mumbai Harbour, will probably never come out. The ships and those connected will not be the only casualties, since truth already has taken the leading role there, and obfuscation shall certainly follow suit. Certainly, there shall be enquiries, and in all likelihood licences and certificates of competency will be suspended as far as the merchant ships Nordlake and the Sea Eagle are concerned.

In addition, the Indian Navy is bound to take some sort of steps towards trying to find out why one of their warships, the Mazagaon Docks built Vindhyagiri is now taking sounding, when it should have by rights been floating peacefully—waiting to be decommissioned next year, incidentally.

But first, some interesting sidelights on the Vindhyagiri itself-a Leander Class frigate built under licence for the Indian Navy, based on a design that evolved from as early as 1931. The Pakistani Navy had a few too-though they decommissioned the last of theirs, the Zulfikar in 2007. The Brits themselves decommissioned theirs in the '90s, mainly due to the ship's dated design and high running costs. To say the least, these were Indian Navy ships which could be called obsolete, even before they were launched in the '80s. But then, that's never prevented those who decide these things from buying obsolete ships, or building them.

So what happened off Mumbai harbour, then, on Sunday evening? One ship sank, one stands arrested and one more may find itself in trouble soon. That's one part.

Here it makes some sense to take a little diversion, and refer to the Capt PVK Mohan report on the aftermath of the MSC Chitra and Khalija III collision, August 2010 off Mumbai. Constituted by the ministry of shipping, it made some very relevant and pithy recommendations, including the core issue of communications and vessel traffic control in and around Mumbai. It also made some more recommendations about the lack of communication between the various authorities involved in ensuring the safety of navigation and allied services along the Indian Coast.

Sadly, recommendations of such reports are not binding on anybody, and so—truth be told—everybody does pretty much what they feel like in the channel off Mumbai harbour. This is old tradition from well before the days when the Patricia simply "ran away" from Bombay port in 1974—to start a new chapter in international shipping. That is the first truth, while the blame game has just about begun, with the Indian Navy declaring its innocence even before any sort of formal enquiry has begun. Everybody talks, very few listen, and nobody takes any cogent action. And the guilty who are smarter just run away, every time, to rule the waves another day.

The second truth is that there seems to be no control over lifeboat capacity and number of people onboard Indian Navy ships on family day events like this. Certainly, there may have been exemptions, and there are traditions for such days out—but in this day and age, one would have expected that some precautions of the Life Saving Appliances sort would have been taken—like making the wearing of life-jackets compulsory for all those families on deck. Or controlling alcohol on board, too.

As seafarers, we know ours is the second most dangerous profession in the world, but we have no right to expose our families to the same—regardless. If nothing else, an enquiry on this aspect—of how there were almost 700 people on a ship rated for about 300—needs to be held and corrective action taken. The writer needs to make it very clear that loss of life was a real danger in both incidents, in August 2010 and now in January 2011, and it is only good luck as well as better seamanship on the part of the rescuers that ensured lives were not lost.

The third truth is that ships behave very strangely in narrow channels, especially when in close proximity to other ships—and in this case there were at least three ships involved in navigating in a complicated manner at very close quarters to each other. Two were cargo ships, container ships in this instance, with not the best of responsiveness—and difficult to handle inside restricted waters.

Also, since they can move relatively fast, and are on tight schedules—prone to and apt to over-speed when approaching and leaving ports, is Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

There is no single rule that governs matters in such cases. The "Rules of the Road", as applicable to vessels, are suitably complicated enough to provide for multiple interpretations. What makes it even more complicated is that Naval ships by sovereign rights are often a law unto themselves when operating in national waters—and it is a wise merchant seafarer, as well as one who will have a longer career, who gives any and every Naval ship a very wide berth. Always. Respect as well as safety. In my days at sea, we would slow down when passing naval ships, and dip our ensigns in salute.

And stay very far from them.

Now we start treading in dangerous waters—and that is that basic skill-sets in navigation and ship-handling are not exactly at the top of the pyramid when assessing the capabilities and possible future career graph of Indian Navy Executive Branch officers. As a matter of simple fact, officers ex-Indian Navy have to, rightly or wrongly, go through the full procedure to acquire their Certificates of Competencies to sail onboard Merchant Ships—which says it all.

There is a reason for this fourth truth—deck side nautical branch seafarers on Merchant Ships spend a large part of their time simply doing what has to be done-which is, navigating ships. On fighting naval ships, however, there are a whole host of other things to do—and navigation is often left to people to handle on a turn-by-turn basis. It is like driving a bus every day, or driving it once a month—by the end of it, you know who is the better driver, who knows the routes better, the whole nine yards.

Now we come to what could possibly be the real cause of such accidents—not just a fifth of the drop that cheers, which could also be a cause especially when approaching or leaving a port, or maybe even on "family days", but the fifth and most important truth—ego.

Yes, ego plays a big part in marine accidents of the "who will give way to whom" sort. If you have seen truck drivers arguing on crowded narrow roads on who will give way, you get an idea. Except that ours, at sea, are worse.

And further except for the fact that here we are talking of thousands of tonnes worth of inertia, all of them without brakes or immediate steering responses, playing chicken and sometimes even ship-rage in congested waters. It gets worse in clear visibility-in fog, or at night, with reduced visibility, at least, there is caution all around.

The airwaves around ports, or wherever ships tend to congregate, are full of "you give way", "no, I will not give way, I am deep draught, restricted in my ability to manoeuvre". Or maybe plain simple arrogant and cussed. Like, "I am from an ancient European seafaring heritage, so you native, you give way." True. This happens, too.

The seventh cause, unsubstantiated though darkly hinted on, is that there was an attempt on the part of the one ship to "get close" so that people could have a  better look and, this invites disbelief-wave at the people on the other ship. Certainly, waving at people on ships passing by has been a tradition—but you did it while watching them using binoculars. You did not pelt on converging or head-on or close quarters courses. Never.

However, when essential, if ships have to pass close to each other—as they do in narrow channels in their thousands everyday—then you don't wave. You call them up on radio, or you take guidance from shore-traffic management services, and you decide well in advance what actions you are going to take. Or you simply take action to stay well clear till you are well and truly past them. And then, afterwards, maybe you wave. In relief.

Behind every truth, however, lies a deeper cause. And the root cause for this sort of episode is that our older seaports have almost no accountability left in their functioning anymore. This has a trickle-down effect, and amongst those aspects that get impacted are the pilotage services, nowhere worse than with the centuries old Bombay Pilots. On one side you have a distinct drop in the levels of professionalism. On the other side is also the fact that navigation in and around Mumbai is all the more difficult because of the large number of wrecks dotting the area—and the vast increase in the amount of all sorts of traffic.

On a deadlier note is the simple fact that there is hardly any real re-evaluation of skill-sets once a person becomes a harbour pilot-revalidation of certificates of competencies are a simple paper formality without any real review or re-appraisal. Once a pilot, always a pilot—and in case of an accident, the old law is that the pilot was there ostensibly only in an advisory capacity.

In reality what happens is like this—a pilot boards an outbound or inbound ship, and has hardly any time to figure out the vessel's characteristics—or on how she will behave in varying conditions of depth, wind, current, sea, swell, speed, traffic, visibility and the rest of it-before moving to handle it in the most delicate and complicated part of its voyage. The crew onboard the ships has had a long day, and cannot wait to see the pilot off, before getting on with the rest of the ocean voyage or getting into port—and the pilot is in a hurry to disembark and get along with his life too.

Look deeper behind most maritime casualty or incident reports lately, and invariably the word "fatigue" creeps in, with the only profession in the world where a 100-hour week is mandated as legitimate. And worse—if the seniors are fatigued, which they certainly are while making or leaving port, then the rest are worse off. One true and simple side-effect of fatigue is that you cannot recognise the signs of fatigue in others.

And that's what the grapevine really tells us—that the officers and crew on both the merchant ships, the Nordlake and Sea Eagle, were extremely tired, and as a result made serious errors of judgement.

Moneylife » Life » Public Interest » The Nordlake, Sea Eagle and Vindhyagiri fiasco: An accident waiting to happen, but we will continue shipping in troubled waters   The Nordlake, Sea Eagle and Vindhyagiri fiasco: An accident waiting to happen, but we will continue shipping in troubled waters February 02, 2011 10:12 AM | Veeresh Malik

 

the New Year's message I sent out to my batchmates: REFLECTIONS

Sabko wish kar liyaa, what next, just a few random thoughts as we go into a New Year, decade, and on another cold day in Delhi - most of all, I am glad and thankful to be alive and mostly healthy.

If we look back at how life has evolved for us since 7th of June 1975 . . . what are the common threads, how do we ever rationalise them, can we?

# the alma mater we had has long been scrapped, but for many of us, those were the best days of our lives.

# many of the ships we've sailed on have changed name, gone on to Alang or similar, or gone through changes we don't even know about.

# the abiding memories I have of my short stint at sea are wondering about how small we are in infinity and how big we are in the same infinity too.

# looking at those sparklets of water rushing past us especially if we went for a walk pre-dawn to the focsle and saw them rush past, hypnotic.

# the lottery of life, some gone to that whaler in the sky, some adrift, some mainstream and some doing their own thing, up and down.

# spouse and more, children, parents, siblings, relationships, all those evolutionary elements which can not be quantified.

# money in the bank or not, savings or not, bust or boom, many of us have seen fiscal ups and downs which people ashore can not even begin to comtemplate.

# new countries, flags, loyalties, food preferences, coasts, mountains, cities, cillages - some have even found their own new Gods.

# hair on the head or lack thereof, aching bones or paunches, less teeth than before and more kilos, 4 stripes on the shoulders or none.

# the joy of children, validation being the day they did better than their parents, I remember the day I got my first appointment letter as a 2nd Mate with a basic salary that exceeded my wildest dreams then, and how happy that made my parents. I also learnt money is not everything the same day.

# And then, the finer things in life - single malts, cognacs, a good smoke, snazzy cars, holidays, books, music, theatre, families, (other women??), we all had our choices.

And a lot more.

Point I am trying to make is this - what was or is the constant?

I tell you my take on this - the constant as far as I can make out is that the TS Rajendra helped many of us learn how to roll with the punches, and take life as it came. As probably the guy with the longest tenure ashore on extended shore leave (since January 1983 . . .) that has been the most important element, constant, in my life.

In 2011, as we grow older better wiser and the whole nine yards - this is what I wish for all of us - that we roll with the punches better than everybody else and that we come out, lotteries aside, smiling.

With best wishes to all of you and especially to some of you who have been by our side over the last few decades while we've had out ups and downs . . .

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One of the many responses:- Malik very well said. Please keep up the musings. The time we were in Rajendra we could not wait to get out. ( DTGH) But it made boys into men. I credit our days from Rajendra for all I have achieved in life. Now we have Kitoo for keeping us smiling and Malik to keep us thinking. Thanks to all who wished and also the silent majority. Wish everyone Happy New Year and best wishes.

(APS Dhillon)

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Wow !!! KB Singh would have been proud of you.... Did you ever write for the "Indian Cadet". With your permission can I send this to them.??

A) Haircut or without, your style is inimitable.
(That, by the way is a compliment... I am feeling charitable this morning!!)

B) Indian Cadet was/is the annual TS Rajendra magazine.

(Rajesh Tandon)

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Halloa!!! Below there.

(Rajesh Saigal)

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Hi Veeresh, thanks for reminding the date june 7th. That is  the day we left TSR to go home.

(Bikash Chaudhary)

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Bhai-saab, problem is there's no time. I have thought at least a thousand times how much happier I was at sea, mainly because I had the one commodity we can never retrieve, time.

(Kaustub Kirpekar)

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Good day

Things have changed at sea! No more of that lovely commodity - TIME.  Maybe its just the company I work for. So I am going to look for a coastal Indian company now. Yeah! Or maybe BSM again.

(Anon)

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I thought Subra taught us English especially "forums of pawar", while Sharan was doing "we men of literature", and between the two of them a whole generation of us were influenced more by the Inglisi by Mungoo and BoBo while we got our "ek do teen char" VHF skillsets from HashPash, not to forget "if you are obedience I am politeness" Sharma ji and "dit-dit-dah-dit bloddee" from Randhawa while Mitra was good for I still dont know anything more than "V for Victor" balancing the "you tattee" vaala Kotwal. Never to ofcourse also reduce the importance of Soda Loda and Hathoda as well as quarter diamond Savanoon in Hindi for which I don't remember who got the best Hindi advance prize though I do recall MO and Chinta messing with my psyche more than anybody else in junior form.

Oh well, it is a wonder we can all think straight, leave alone speak inglisi.

(me)

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