mv RENA conviction-attacking the symptoms, not the disease

http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/union-calls-overhaul-after-rena-sentencing/5/125220

Cheapest FOCs with overworked 3rd world crews are NOT the solution.

Friday, 1 June, 2012 - 15:47

The Maritime Union is calling for a complete overhaul of New Zealand shipping policy to avoid a repeat of the Rena disaster.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the main problem is that New Zealand desperately needs a shipping policy.

Mr Fleetwood says the jailing of the Rena's Master and Mate was a case of attacking the symptom but not the disease of deregulated Flag of Convenience shipping (Editorial note: see more information about Flag of Convenience shipping below).

"The approach for the last generation has been for Government to abdicate its responsibility to ensure standards in the maritime industry."

As long as Flag of Convenience shipping was given a "free ride" in New Zealand waters, Rena style incidents were "almost guaranteed".

"The surprising thing is how long it took for a shipping disaster of this type to happen, not that it did happen."

Mr Fleetwood says the Australian Government this week passed Shipping Reform Package bills to regenerate Australian owned and Australian crewed shipping.

New Zealand, by contrast, was still locked into failed deregulation policies from the 1980s.

"Do we need more Rena style disasters to get the same action on merchant shipping in our waters?"

Mr Fleetwood says the reintroduction of cabotage (giving priority to New Zealand owned and crewed shipping) was now back on the agenda following the Australian developments.

He says that it was extremely disturbing that a maritime trading nation like New Zealand was now completely dependent on global shipping lines and Flag of Convenience vessels.

"We need a New Zealand shipping line to ensure our maritime and economic security."

There were a number of other basic changes that could be easily made to rapidly improve safety in the industry, such as the mandatory use of dedicated shipping lanes, which could have prevented the Rena disaster.

Greater regulation of shipping was required to monitor fatigue, safety standards, and the condition of vessels.

"The crew are under enormous pressure for faster turnarounds from the owners. In this environment, errors and bad judgement will continue."

Increasing the liability on the owners and charterers of vessels was obviously required.

The Maritime Union had also lobbied the Government previously to the Rena Disaster for the provision of a quick response vessel to assist for shipping or offshore oil and gas industry emergencies.

Mr Fleetwood says the deregulated and "toxic" competition in the entire maritime industry was responsible for many problems in shipping and ports.

He says the recent moves to remove foreign flagged charter vessels from the New Zealand fishing industry were an acknowledgement of the crisis in the wider maritime industry.

The changes had vindicated a long running campaign by the Union to get the fishing industry cleaned up.

The problems experienced with Flag of Convenience shipping in New Zealand waters had many similarities, and had to be dealt with in the same way.

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union welcomed the growing political support for New Zealand shipping from opposition parties.

What is Flag of Convenience (FOC) shipping?

A flag of convenience ship is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership.

Cheap registration fees, low or no taxes and freedom to employ cheap labour are the motivating factors behind a shipowner's decision to 'flag out'.

Some of these registers have poor safety and training standards, and place no restriction on the nationality of the crew. Sometimes, because of language differences, seafarers are not able to communicate effectively with each other, putting safety and the efficient operation of the ship at risk.

In many cases these flags are not even run from the country concerned.

Once a ship is registered under an FOC many shipowners then recruit the cheapest labour they can find, pay minimal wages and cut costs by lowering standards of living and working conditions for the crew.

Globalisation has helped to fuel this rush to the bottom. In an increasingly fierce competitive shipping market, each new FOC is forced to promote itself by offering the lowest possible fees and the minimum of regulation. In the same way, ship owners are forced to look for the cheapest and least regulated ways of running their vessels in order to compete, and FOCs provide the solution.

Racism evident in the way New Zealand is tackling the RENA grounding issue?

An interesting and topical article, appended, seeing how the complete "system" in New Zealand seems to be coming together to criminalise the Second Officer and the Master of the RENA, who happen to be Asians (Philipinos), while conveniently ignoring the consequential and direct responsibilities and accountabilities of the people who in the first case set the schedules for this ship and MSC's CAPRICORN SERVICE and then also approved it.

If the New Zealand authotities had even the least bit of interest in finding out why this grounding really happened, then they need to get further with the shipping lines, MSC or competitors, and see what sort of complicity there was in setting thee schedules. Maybe some inconvenient truths will then emerge - who are the people who push such brutal and killing port rotations?

Even a taxi driver in New Zealand is not permitted to work more than 10-hours a day, here within National territorial waters, seafarers often work double that amount per day, basis schedules approved by the authorities.

http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/rena-highlights-flag-convenience-issue/5/105014

Rena highlights flag of convenience issue
:
Voxy News Engine Friday, 21 October, 2011 - 09:41 Manila - The International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC) Philippines Foundation, laments the tragic incident involving the vessel MV Rena of Liberian registry, which ran aground the Astrolabe Reef at the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

The damage to New Zealand's ecosystem is enormous, with the oil spill that has already claimed the lives of 1,290 birds, 4 other animals, and that has injured seals, marine life and birds.

The trauma, fear and physical sufferings of the mostly Filipino crew on board, who were made to stay on board the tilting ship for six days without rescue, highlights the human and environmental damage that this incident has caused.

This is further worsened by some racist and extreme right elements in New Zealand who blame the national origin of the Filipino crew for the incident, in order to launch a racist attack on the some 20,000 Filipino migrants who are now in New Zealand.

This is an accident that is waiting to happen. Without pre-empting the results of the on going maritime investigation, this incident reveals the half a century old problem of substandard shipping and the use of Flags of Convenience by unscrupulous shipowners to reduce cost and to amass more profit.

The MV Rena is flying the Flag of Convenience of Liberia although the real or beneficial owners are Greek.

It is an old and substandard vessel that was built in 1990.

For the past 36 months, 50% of inspection for deficiencies resulted in the detention of the vessel.

Last July, 21, 2011 it was inspected and detained in Fremantle , Australia for 17 deficiencies. It is not surprising then, that this vessel would figure, sooner or later, in an accident of this sort.

Many incidents involving substandard vessels flying Flags of Convenience tragically led not only to massive oil spills but to the loss of human lives.

This is regardless of the color of the skin, or of the racial origins of the officers and men crewing these vessels.

We at ISAC condemn the Flag of Convenience system and the proliferation of substandard ships that is the root of maritime disasters occurring all over the world. We are one with the people of New Zealand who shall be battling the effects of this environmental tragedy for many years to come.

Finally we stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of seafarers of all races and nationality who are driven by extreme economic hardships at home and who have no other recourse but to work on substandard ships and Flags of Convenience, undaunted by the serious risks to their lives and limbs.

Oppose the Flag of Convenience system! Ensure decent work for seafarers! Keep our seas safe! - International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC) Philippines Foundation - www.isac.org.ph - isacinfo.seafarers@gmail.com

mv RENA, MSC Chartered ship for Australia/New Zealand service and her schedules.

In a press release issued a few days ago by MSC, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A in an unsigned note on their webpage said to the effect that they were only the charterers, they did not have anything to do with the navigation of the RENA:-

http://www.mscgva.ch/news/news_detail_eid_403_lid_2.html

However, it is surprising that the media in New Zealand and Australia have not picked up on the schedules set by MSC for their ships, chartered, managed, owned orotherwise. Take a look here at ther "Capricorn" service:-

http://www.mscaustralia.com/schedules/vessel_schedule_import_oz.html

10-11 ports rotation in 13-14 days is inhuman and probably impossible given the rules and regulations supposed to be followed onboard ships. Those who set these gruelling schedules knew this and know this and are again probably from MSC - but hey, they are not responsible, as charterers, right?

Wrong.

Do the maths. With the Master and Chief Officer awake throughout port stays plus approaching and leaving portplus while at sea plus for all sorts of other responsibilities, it would be fair to assume that by the time the RENA was approaching TAURANGA and/or the Astrolabe, things were pretty much knackered on board as far as rest hour regulations were concerned. the other officers, probably junior 2nd Mate and 3rd Mate, would not have had too much rest either.

A look at the time sheets before they go into the ocean would be of interest. If, however, the timesheets as well as the data from the various data recorders onboard can not be salvaged, then some simple maths working things backwards with available records in ports can be done.

And then, after that, find out who were the wonder boys and girls who laid out schedules of the sort that the MSC Capricorn Service boasts of.

For a country, New Zealand, where dirt on shoes can attract penalties for tourists, letting schedules of this sort endanger the complete environmental balance can only make me, a seafarer from far away and simpler India, look on in amazement. Was there nobody in the whole of New Zealand's maritime administration that noted this simple truth - schedules which simply broke every rest hour and logical rule about ship operations?

At the end of the day, it is fatigue in so many cases of incidents at sea - but what are the responsibilities of those setting the schedules, then? The Master and 2nd Mate will no doubt get it in the neck and probably be laid up for life, but what about the more experienced shore staff, who put them on this amazingly intense schedule, with its tragic consequnces?

It is difficult not to get emotional when you see a proud ship breaking her back, helplessly, in a part of the world which one has wonderful memories of.

But the realities are that the schedules set by MSC for the RENA and the other ships on their Capricorn Service were and still are brutal. And they are still on the same brutal schedules, ongoing. And it appears as though governance in New Zealand is doing nothing about it, the real cause.

Readers may wish to take a look at this previous post on the subject of maritime fatigue:-

http://matescabin.blogspot.com/2010/11/fatigue-at-sea-lllloooong-post.html

More updates on the MSC chartered FOC ship RENA off New Zealand

http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/5762082/Rena-riddled-with-problems

 

Rena 'riddled with problems'

The Maritime Union claims the Rena was riddled with problems, including issues with its charts, which could explain how it ended up getting stuck on a Tauranga reef.

The union released a statement today, claiming Maritime New Zealand found multiple deficiencies with the cargo vessel when it carried out an inspection on the ship in Bluff on September 28.

Prime Minister John Key is calling for answers on how the Liberian-flagged 235m vessel became stuck on the reef in the early hours of October 5.

The Maritime Union says it has information that the Rena had many deficiencies, including problems with its charts, "a possible clue as to how the vessel may have ended up running into the Astrolabe Reef at top speed".

It wants MNZ to release all of its reports on the ship and confirm whether it was aware of problems with the ship, including charts.

If MNZ was aware of the problems then it needed to explain why the Rena was allowed to sail on the New Zealand coast, the union's general secretary Joe Fleetwood said.

A spokesperson for MNZ said they would not release the most recent inspection report on Rena because it formed part of the ongoing investigation.

Fleetwood said the ship's grounding was a major shipping hazard, "with threats from oil and chemical spillage, the safe evacuation of crew and the possibility the vessel will break up".

"As a union our first concern is that the crew are safe and well and no one is endangered in the salvage operation. But we also want to quickly get answers that throw some light on why we are in this situation in the first place."

Fleetwood said that the union had a "source" who confirmed the Rena had multiple deficiencies.  They included issues with maintenance and equipment, propulsion main engine, covers and doors, lighting, stowage of lifeboats, emergency fire pump and the auxiliary engine.

Fleetwood said many of these deficiencies were similar to problems reported by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority during inspections of the Rena in Australia.

RENA grounding in NA, or "MSC charter once again" . . .

Very interesting investigatives on the RENA grounding off Astrolabe/New Zealand.

http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/10/who-owns-rena.html

Who Owns Rena?

Written by The Jackal at 11:34 AM

Recently deceased Sammy and Yuli Ofer

I first became interested in who actually owns the MV Rena, a ship that ran aground on Wednesday night causing a large oil spill in the Bay of Plenty, because the mainstream media was failing to report this information.

Something felt very wrong about the lack of disclosure and National's slow response to this disaster... and it appears my hunch was right!

The MV Rena, which was built in Germany in 1990 is currently registered to the Ofer Brothers Group, an Israeli company with ties to the Israeli military. The company's holdings include Zim, Israel Chemicals, Oil Refineries Ltd (BAZAN) in Haifa, Bank Mizrahi, Tower Semiconductor and more.

During the 1960s ZIM started to transport crude oil from Iran to Israel, and oil byproducts from Israel to Europe. The 1970s saw ZIM expanding into the container shipping business and in the 1990s ZIM had 15 more ships built in Germany. At this time, the ownership of ZIM was divided between the Israeli government and Hachevra Le-Israel.

In 1999, the Ofer Brothers Group became the controlling shareholder of ZIM and In 2004, the Ofer Group-controlled Israel Corporation acquired the Israeli Government’s remaining Zim shares, completing the privatization of the company.

The new official name after privatization became Zim Integrated Shipping Services. The purchase deal for about five hundred million New Israeli Shekels was severely criticized as being undervalued.

The MV Rena under its previous name the Andaman Sea

Zim-American Israeli Shipping Company have also been accused of helping in the theft of nuclear cores from Pantex nuclear facility near Amarillo, Texas. The cores were transported by refrigeration trucks to the port of Houston and then transferred to refrigeration containers, which were loaded onto ZIM ships. This report and many others claim ZIM has close links with Israels institute for intelligence and special Mossad operations. The plutonium cores were shipped to Israel and Dimona.

In May this year the Ofer Brothers Group was added to the U.S. State Department sanctions list and accused of being part of a deal to sell Iranians a tanker for $8.65 million. The sanctions barred Ofer Brothers Group from securing financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, from obtaining loans over $10 million from U.S. financial institutions and from receiving U.S. export licenses. However on 13 September the Israeli holding company was removed from the sanctions blacklist. Two other companies also owned by the Ofer conglomerate were substituted, one a corporate manager and the other a ship-owning company. Allvale Maritime Inc. (based in Liberia) and Société Anonyme Monégasque D’Administration Maritime Et Aérienne (SAMAMA) (based in Monaco).

A State Department official today admitted that it sanctioned the wrong entity in its May 24th announcement, stating:

"In issuing this clarification, our intent was to sanction the specific entities in the Sammy Ofer shipping organization that were responsible for providing a tanker to Iran. The use of the name ‘Ofer Brothers Group,’ a commonly used trade name, caused confusion for some banks and companies that were trying to comply with U.S. sanctions. The complex nature of the conglomerate's business structure necessitated that we take the time to look closely at these companies in order to ensure that we were identifying the precise legal names of the entities directly responsible for the sanctionable transaction.

In June it was reported that Ofer Brothers Ships were found to be carrying IDF choppers for secret missions that may have included surveillance in Iran’s nuclear sites. The ships that allegedly docked in Iranian ports may have concealed helicopters in special shipping containers.

In August this year, Australia detained the MV Rena because of cracked and rusted parts. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority after “serious deficiencies” were found detained the vessel for a day in Fremantle, Western Australia. The authority's report found the vessel had "not been maintained between surveys", the "hatchway cover securing arrangements are defective" and cargo was not stowed and secured as stipulated in the cargo-securing manual.

Despite the Rena being beached in New Zealand’s territorial waters, authorities were not allowed to board the vessel to breath test the crew to ensure drunkenness was not a reason for the accident. 

The hazardous substance that authorities have confirmed is being transported by the Rena is Ferrosilicon, which is used by the military to quickly produce hydrogen. The chemical reaction uses sodium hydroxide, ferrosilicon, and water. The materials are stable and not combustible, and they do not generate large amounts of hydrogen until mixed. Ferrosilicon will slowly release hydrogen when in contact with water.

There are numerous other questionable activities of the Ofer Brothers Group and their subsidiaries. The few that I have listed should raise serious concerns about the safety and cargo of Rena.

Rena's Former name(s)

Andaman Sea (Until 2010 Nov 24) Flag: Malta - Call sign: 9HAB8
Zim America (Until 2007 Mar 12)
Andaman Sea (Until 2007 Jan 29) - Operator: ZIM

Name: Rena
IMO Number: 8806802
MMSI: 636014911
Callsign: A8XJ7
Current flag: Liberia
Home port: Monrovia


Class society: American Bureau Of Shipping
Builder: Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft Kiel, Germany
Current owner: Ofer Brothers Group Herzliyya, Israel
Owner under name Andaman Sea: ZIM Integrated Shipping
Manager: Ciel Ship management Athens, Greece 
Chartered to: Costamare Inc.

Voyage Related Info (Last Received)

Draught: 9.6 m
Destination: TAURANGA
ETA: 2011-10-05 13:00
 

Speed recorded (Max / Average): 17.7 / 17 knots
Speed marching: 21 kn
Main engine: 8RTA76
1240 KW, 8 cylidners, Cegielski Poznan - Poland

Build year: 1990
Vessell type: Container Ship
Hull: Double, Dry Cargo

Maximum TEU capacity: 3351
Gross tonnage: 37,209 tons
Summer Dead Weight: 47,230 tons
Handling equipment: (swl 6,1 Tons)
LOA (Length Overall): 235
Beam: 32

 

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And also:-

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5741896/Could-ship-be-a-scavengers-bonanza

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Meanwhile, MSC have issued the following statement which can be seen here:-

http://www.mscgva.ch/news/news_detail_eid_403_lid_2.html

"MSC chartered mv RENA from Costamare Inc. to carry some of its cargo. MSC is neither the owner of the vessel nor responsible for its navigation"

Anybody who has been on a ship chartered from one of the container lines knows about the pressures to maintain schedules and reach ports faster and other such issues. Is it MSC's contention that there were no interactions between the ship and them?

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