If the Pirates don't get you, the cops will . . .

The real truth on what you can expect at sea in and around India, as a Master Mariner.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Diary-of-a-Divorced-Delhi-Male/entry/if-the-pirates-don-t-get-you-the-cops-will

Sad, but true, and facts are hard.

Is racism the real reason for differing treatment of seafarers?

Why are our seafarers still getting killed on our coast?
March 10, 2012 08:17 AM |
Veeresh Malik

What is happening on the west coast of India lately with the MV Enrica Lexie, in and around Kerala, defies all logical explanation. Except one big one—the crew in this case happens to be European, not third world

http://www.moneylife.in/article/why-are-our-seafarers-still-getting-killed-on-our-coast/24156.html

Enrica Lexie - smoking gun?

My article on the Enrica Lexie case for Current . . dubious, smelly . . . oh well.

http://currentnews.in/2012/02/27/suspicious-ship-something-smelly/

"It is difficult to understand why the complete diplomatic, military, religious and PR machinery of Italy would come into play for an incident involving something as commonplace as the arrest of a ship – scores, if not hundreds, of ships lie under arrest globally at any given time."

Italian soldiers surrender to Indian jawans . . .

There is nothing new in Italian armed mercenaries surrendering to Indian jawans.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/Galleries/Wars/British/WW2/0375.jpg.html

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2nd part of my report on the enrica lexie/St Antony case off Kerla

Murder most foul. And worse, the authorities are trying to wiggle out of things, too. First they let the ship escape. When that was foiled, they changed tactics to compensation.

Does nobody think of national security, national interest, and country's pride and honour??

http://www.moneylife.in/article/killing-of-indian-seafarers-in-cold-blood-off-keralamdashthe-case-of-the-st-anthony-and-enrica-lexie-part-2/23721.html

On cabotage in India, and the games that some entities play . . .

Where does national interest, security and the economy come in, or is the country up for sale again, to a bunch of people who will sell out for 30 pieces of silver? Or even less?

http://moneylife.in/article/on-the-push-to-change-cabotage-rules-largely-due-to-a-one-sided-contract-thats-harmful-to-cochin-port-trust/19438.html

On the push to change cabotage rules, largely due to a one-sided contract that’s harmful to Cochin Port Trust

""A one-sided contract between Cochin Port Trust, the landlord, and DP World Ports Vallarpadam Terminal, its tenant, has led to intense lobbying over cabotage rules. A local problem, which has more to do with a local solution, is being used as a catalyst to push a deeper agenda with a national bearing. The country's interests are at the stake, once again, for reasons that increasingly appear to be very shady  . . .""

Read on:-

http://moneylife.in/article/on-the-push-to-change-cabotage-rules-largely-due-to-a-one-sided-contract-thats-harmful-to-cochin-port-trust/19438.html

The future of seafaring . . .

There is no cogent number on how many seafarers there are in the world, simply because there is a vast range - mainstream ocean going ships, armed forces, research vessels, coastal fleets, inshore transport, pleasure craft, support services, port auxiliaries, and the rest of it. Then, add to this, the vast number of "ir-regulars", from pirates in the Indian Ocean to people forced to work on fishing boats, and on to pure and simple "unknown ventures". The last known figure for seafarers on mainstream ships alone was about 1.2 million, by BIMCO - but way back in 2005. The ballpark figure for seafarers of all sorts, worldwide,  qualified in some form or the other, is around 4-6 million - and may well be more if one takes into account the number of people who are at sea variously and absolutely unqualified.

 

Add to this the number of people from other trades who, for one reason or the other, also work on ships - as inspectors, security personnel, repair workers, hospitality workers on cruise ships and similar - and can be said to have acquired reasonable seafaring skillsets - and you have an even bigger pool of people who can, in some way or the other, work on ships. And who will, obviously, impact the supply-demand economics. Ideally, much of this group of people should have been organised, in one way or the other. Truth is, the number of seafarers who are part of any ITF affiliated agreements, is said to be around 600,000 (ITF, 2010). So, at a modest estimate, almost 90% of the people who are "at sea" are really that - disorganised groups of people without direction or collective strengths.

 

Organised or otherwise - and it is important to remember that the global bastion of worker rights, People's Republic of China, does not permit its seafarers to be part of unions - all seafarers share one thing in common, though - being party to the tendency and economic requirement on the part of the owner and operator to always keep cutting costs. Sure, suitable noises are made about "quality", but if you compare quality of life ashore in other professions with the way quality of life onboard has evolved for the seafarer over the last few decades, then one thing is clear - the shipowners of the world are absolutely aware of how the largely "open register" system of ship-owning works towards making the seafarer a commodity which can be exploited almost at will.

 

There is yet another deeper issue at play - if salaries at sea are increased, and quality of life improved, then more people from the costlier developed countries will want to come to sea. These people will then certainly be well organised, as well as lobby with good success rates with governance in their own countries, to ensure reservations and jobs for themselves. However, at the same time, higher salaries will also lead to more qualified people from these countries coming to sea - and then leaving seafaring early. Because (i) they would have saved up enough in a short time and (b) their qualifications would find a ready market ashore.

 

This, if you are a shipowner looking at a bottomline before anything else, is disaster. First you spend a lot of money training up a lot of expensive people which will also make your ships uncompetitive. Next, these very people will move on rapidly, leading the shipowner into a fresh spiral of high training costs. So, basic truth Number One if you want to be a succesful shipowner is to ensure that the system works to keep seafaring as an inferior career choice, depending more on people coming in from poorer countries, where some minimum levels of competency can be obtained. After that, they have to ensure that their ships are able to employ such people, which is where the conflict between "better than just technically seaworthy" and "open reigster" comes in.

 

Are we, then, likely to see an improvement in quality of life at sea and for seafarers in the near future? Or will it always be a situation where salary is driven by supply/demand as well as cyclical surplus/deficit scenarios, tweaked around a tipping point, where 2% makes all the difference between good times and bad?

 

The answer, as always, is not as simple as pure numbers would lead many of us to believe. Here are some possibilities that may impact things:-

 

# The "Black Swan" effect - where a logical but unseen effect may suddenly cause a huge change in seafarer dynamics. Increasing prices of oil, shut-down of a major trade route, unpredictable weather, and more. The lessons of Suez Canal being shut down in the '70s are not all that far behind us, nor the effects of the various defaults and failures in the financial markets, or simply the possible effects of more regulations impacting shipping.

 

# Higher unemployment ashore in many countries, including the traditional seafaring countries in Europe which saw seafaring going on the back-burner, which could see more people come "back to sea". This, incidentally, is already being observed in England and Scandinavia. Shipowners will always prefer people from their own countries, choosing to save on the foreigners they end up hiring - sanctified by ITF, by the way.

 

# The faint chance that life at sea may well become better soon - with better communications, lesser working hours, bigger complements on board and most of all - introduction of suitable relevant HR practices pertaining to seafarers more than "crewing department" kind of treatment most seafarers are subjected to. Another simple truth and influencing factor - the freshest air is still what you get at sea.

 

In all this and more, morality and ethics have hardly any role to play, especially as far as shipowners and operators are concerned. The drivers are always, but always, purely economic. Due sounds are made, of course, towards flags and nations - but if true beneficial ownerships are analysed, then these seldom, if ever, stand any test of truth.

 

The seafarer, on the other hand, is expected to perform at sea as per a variety of unwritten traditions, the most important one being "ship before self". Never mind double book-keeping on wages, substandard food, tremendous over-work. The psychological demand on seafarers is simply unrelated to the reality of numbers whether onboard or ashore.

 

What, then, is the solution for seafarers? Or are they destined to keep on sailing, generation after generation, with working conditions aimed at keeping them in what is known as "inferior goods" conditions? Truth be told, again, seafaring jobs do tend to fall into the category of "inferior goods", witness the drastic decline in basic courtesies and respect (not) being extended to seafarers by "authorities" worldwide. Be it restrictions on shore leave, criminalisation, or simply the way the juniormost of Customs or Immigration or Health or other categories of people who visit ships officially treat them, it is very clear that the seafarer commands less respect in some case now than, say, a State Transport bus driver. Sad, hard words - but true.

Part II on the mv WISDOM aground at Juhu Beach report for Moneylife

And here's the second part of my report

http://moneylife.in/article/the-mv-wisdom-fiasco-the-story-gets-murkier-and-murkier/17274.html

The MV Wisdom fiasco: The story gets murkier and murkier

The mystery behind what the 36-year-old Anchor Handling Tug (AHTS) Seabulk Plover, with the 26-year-old container ship MV Wisdom, due for scrapping, was actually doing along the Indian coast for almost two weeks before the container ship landed up on the beach off Juhu, now begins to deepen


""The next surprise is that on departing Colombo, the tug & tow combo gave their destination as "Cochin", but records available online do not show them as having visited Cochin Port. Certainly, it is possible that they did not enter the port, and simply steamed past slowly or they may have even stopped for stores and supplies-but then, did they report themselves to the Maritime authorities? This information is not available on the Cochin Port Trust website anymore.

Likewise, there is no report of any such report being made while passing Mangalore or Mormugao, the other two big ports en route. The Mumbai Port Trust website, likewise, does not show anything. It is likely, however, that they may have made their reports to these ports as they steamed past, and this information is simply not updated in the public domain, unlike in the rest of the world.""

http://moneylife.in/article/the-mv-wisdom-fiasco-the-story-gets-murkier-and-murkier/17274.html

Indian coastal shipping may permit foreign flag ships . . .

DG Shipping has issued a note, seeking stakeholders and others to comment on a proposal to open up certain segments of coastal shipping in India to foreign flag merchant navy ships, initially only for loaded containers to be trans-shipped to and from Indian ports. The note can be viewed on DG Shipping's website, and seeks responses by 34th of November 2010.

In brief:-

# Loaded containers only to be moved between Indian ports on foreign flag vessels.
# These foreign flag container ships may be permitted relaxation in manning norms, usually not available to Indian flag ships.
# Cabotage protection will continue for other types of ships on the Indian coast.
# Preferential freight will still continue for Indian flag ships, up from 10% to 25%.
# A separate note has been issued for coastal river-sea vessels under the Indian flag too.

All in all, exciting days ahead for coastal shipping, and who knows - we may yet have a vibrant coastal shipping industry?