Vessel Security Officer and STCW

The U.S. Coast Guard will require all mariners sailing as vessel Security Officers (VSO) on foreign voyages to have an VSO endorsement on the STCW certificate by July 2009.

VSO, STCW, MMD, TWIC, REC, Z-CARD, find out what it all means and why you should make sure your Z-Card, License and STCW should all expire at the same time at The Fine Print posted at Deep Water Writing.

K.C.

Risk in Ship Assist work

Two tugs and a ship on the river Schelde made up "Europe Style"
From the post Death on the River Clyde: a tug is tripped and three men are lost in Scotland, from the site Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum:

"I would seriously question the wisdom of ever being out in front of a ship at all in conditions like that unless it was an actual dead-ship tow."

- read it if you do ship assist work.

I have limited experience with ship assist work but I have though that the way tugs make up in Europe, made upfore and aft on the center line, is in some cases more risky then the method used in the U.S and Japan, made up on the side.

Sometimes it can not be avoided as in the case of passing though a narrow bridge as in Rotterdam (my post below).

I would like know what other pilots and tug masters have to say on this subject.

K.C.

Rotterdam - narrow bridge

View from the bridge wing - The tug SD Seahorse looking for a heaving line from the aft mooring crew



View from the bridge wing - The forward tugs work in close to pass a line up to the ship's bow
Departing our berth in Rotterdam requires passage through a bridge which is 46 meters wide - our beam (width) is 32.2 meters.

Approaching a narrow bridge in Rotterdam - The tip of the mast of the tug assisting forward can be seen

View aft from the bridge - The stern clears

The forward tugs, cast off by the ship's crew pull away ahead

European pilots and tugs crews do this work on a routine basis, but I like the view of the bridge astern better then seeing it ahead.

K.C,

The View from Home

The view from the kitchen table
While Kennebec Captain (the blog) still hasn't left Jebel Ali, Kennebec Captain (the blogger) is home.

I'll be bringing the K.C blog home and be posting some photos from the trip.

K.C.

Arming merchant crew

In the comments over at gcaptain and Eagle Speak there is some suggestions to arm ship's crews to defend against pirates. Capt Kelly Sweeny makes a good argument at Professional Mariner.

Any proposals to arm crews would have to include plans to train crews in the use of firearms. The problem of declining standards of seamanship skills and overworked crews seems to have been overlooked.

Does it make sense to spend time and money training merchant crews in the use of lethal force? The reluctance to arm crews is not because of any squeamishness or some kind of misguided political correctness but practicality. I get ABs from time to time that can not be taught to steer. At safety meetings we still are trying to get the concept of wearing eye protection when using power tools across to the crew, with limited success. Where is the time to train and supervise crew armed with automatic weapons going to come from?

In practice arming ship's crew across the spectrum of shipping would be very difficult. Ship's crews will always be responsibly in large part for on board security but in areas where the threat is high, the Gulf of Aden for example, ships will require shore-side assistance. The required extra security will have to come from either to riding crews, naval forces or both.

At Marinelink is an article that discusses real world problems with arming merchant crews.

K.C.