The Three Points

I don't know what else to call them, with regard to the correct approach to ship operations here are -

The Three Points:

1. Things are going ok.
2. They could be going better.
3. Disaster could strike at any time.

To expand a little:

Things are going ok - We have applied a lot of effort, backed by years of experience into the efficient and safe operation of the ship, and it has payed off. This encompasses everything, safety, seamanship, procedures, attitudes, management style, leadership philosophy, in all spheres of shipboard operations, crew management, navigation, cargo operations, emergency preparedness, regulation compliance etc, etc, etc.

2. Things could be going better - Everything is under constant review and evaluation for possible ways to improve using lessons learned , feedback, audits, results of inspections and our own observations. Nothing is sacred, including these three points.

3. Disaster could strike at any time, this includes emergency response but beyond that to include what is called "failure of imagination" Or call it "avoid hubris". This keeps us from getting too smug and comfortable.

K.C.

ECDIS requirments and training

Photo from Mariners Weather Log .
With regards to ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System) my attitude is, any tool that aids the watch officer and leads to an increased situational awareness is good thing. Every new tool has its traps however:

From this post at MTVA Lack of ECDIS training leads to grounding

"time and again, we find that the adoption and implementation of exotic and complex new technologies often leads to the improper use of said equipment."

When radar was first installed aboard merchant ships it lead to what was called "radar assisted collisions." The collision between the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm in 1956 is often cited as an example. As a result of that incident deck officers are required to receive training in radar plotting in spite of the fact that this training has been made largely obsolete by ARPA.

ECDIS will be mandatory for some vessels starting in 2012 - two articles here at The Art of Dredging IMO backs mandatory ECDIS and an earlier ECDIS may prevent groundings.

Will the requirement to renew the radar endorsement every 5 years still be in place after 2012 when the first required ECDIS first start showing up on new builds?

K.C.

Capt Peng of Zhenhua 4 recalls pirate attack

Image taken by unnamed member of the crew of the Zhenhua 4,
showing two of the Somali pirates who tried to hijack the vessel (CCTV)Image taken by unnamed member of the crew of the Zhenhua 4, found at Modern Day Pirate Tales

That the crew of the Zhenhua 4 was able to successfully defend against a pirate attack using homemade weapons was of interest itself. (gcaptain coverage here )

There is a couple of interesting details about the attackers in the article China sailor recalls pirate fight - the pirates were armed with anti-tank weapons but were barefooted and low on fuel:

The captain described how the defeated pirates made some unexpected requests as they prepared to leave the Zhenhua 4.

"The head of the pirates said 'stop, stop, we can't go on fighting any more. Let us go'. And I said: 'We will let you go. Leave our ship'."

Mr Peng said that the pirates then asked for shoes because they were barefoot and the deck was covered in broken glass.

Pairs of leather shoes were thrown to them and the pirates retreated - only to return a few minutes later asking for fuel for their speedboats.

This attack appears to be much less determined then the attack on the Biscaglia (my post) My guess is that piracy in the Gulf of Aden is an entrepreneurial free for all. Had these pirates succeeded in taking the Zhenhua 4 it would have been turned over to another party to handle the ransom. From EagleSpeak:

The successful seizure of a vessel marks a new phase in a piracy operation. The first pirate to physically board the ship may “claim” it in the name of his (usually clan-based) militia group, and is rewarded with a special share of the ransom or in some cases — a Land Cruiser. If they have not done so already, the financier must identify a sponsor (or team of sponsors) who will underwrite the costs of the operation in exchange for a share of the ransom.

K.C.

The sea and the art and practice of leadership

"For as long as man has recorded history, he has known about the strong link that exists between the sea and the art and practice of leadership"

writes Peter A. Mello in his article Leadership and the Sea. at the site Weekly Leader.

Most maritime blogs have a link to Sea-Fever. If you are a regular there you know what a high quality site it is, the same is true of Weekly Leader.

At that site I also recommend the post The Missing Competency by Coast Guard rescue swimmer Mario Vittone who is introduced by Mello as:

"a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Mario is a true student of leadership. The Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen recently published one of Mario’s leadership essays, Inspired Versus Required, on his blog, iCommandant on the Commandant’s Corner (2.0) where he introduced him as a “Chief, Rescue Swimmer, Innovator, Leader and the Ultimate Guardian"

There is more to being an ship's officer then technical competence, Weekly Leader is a site worth adding your reading list.

K.C.

Ship's Crew repels boarders

Crewman from Zhenhua 4 prepares Molotov cocktails (CCTV) found at Modern Day Pirate Tales


From Modern Day Pirate Tales:

"Yesterday saw a dramatic incident in the Gulf of Aden, during which a Chinese vessel was boarded by at least seven pirates pirates. But rather than surrender to the attackers, the crew of the Zhenhua 4 barricaded themselves inside their vessel and used whatever they could find to fend off the pirates during the five-hour ordeal."

Read the rest here "Pirates and Peace Keepers"


Fred Fry had this covered at On Defending Unarmed Merchant Ships Against Pirates

K.C.

Maine Maritime grad stays in touch with School Kids

Maine Maritime Academy training ship "The State of Maine" moored in Castine Maine - Photo by K.C. .
Good article about Castine Maine, home of Maine Maritime Academy, from the Christian Science Monitor: Modern mariner phones home to Maine schoolhouse - The focus of the article is on Gordon “Mac” MacArthur, second mate on an oil rig who emails to grade school students back in Castine:

From an oil rig in the Indian Ocean, a seafaring dad offers practical math and tales of pirates as lessons over a Web connection with his kids’ classroom back home.

But it also has some interesting background on the area.

Maine still has lobster – selling now at 1970s prices. And it still has sea captains and marine engineers who can live in tiny coastal towns and earn a living on drilling rigs sailing from Singapore to Brazil, blogging to the kids at the local school.

The article also mentions Maine's Capt. Andy Chase, professor of Marine Transportation at MMA. Capt Chase was second mate when he talked John McPhee into accompany him on a voyage on the Stella Lykes. McPhee wrote about the trip in his book Looking for A ship.

Speaking of writers, the link to this article was kindly send to me by writer Peter J. Brown. Brown is a fellow Mainer and is a writer with expertise in satellites. - Here is a sample: ENGAGING CHINA IN SPACE from Asia Times Online.

K.C.

Hebei Spirit Officers Jailed

Captain Jasprit Chawla (right) and Chief Officer Syam Chetan (left).
The Captain and the Chief Mate of the Hebei Spirit have been jailed: From Sea Trade Asia Online:

“This is not justice. It’s not even something close,” said ITF Maritime Coordinator Stephen Cotton. “What we have seen today is scapegoating, criminalisation and a refusal to consider the wider body of evidence that calls into question the propriety of the court. This decision is incomprehensibly vindictive and will impact on all professional mariners

The VLCC Hebei Spirit was anchored when it was struck and holed by a crane barge. The resulting oil spill was South Korea's worse ever Wikipediea article here.

Monitor coverage here Black out - On purpose.

Update: Wall Street Journal coverage here

Dutch Harbor Container Pier (1992)Container handling equipment
I recall being on watch on a container ship in Dutch Harbor several years back. It was raining hard and the water under the pier was covered with an oil sheen. The sheen was a result of oil contaminated run-off from the pier. The source of the oil was leaking hydraulic and engine oil from equipment used on the pier, trucks and so forth. It happens in every port and in fact every parking lot when it rains after a dry spell.

I was walking up the deck when a longshoreman stopped me and with great indignation told me that the ship was pumping oil into the water and she planned to report us to the Coast Guard. It took a few minutes but after I pointed out how much oil was on the pier she was finally satisfied that the oil was in fact coming from the pier.

When she realized the source of the oil was shore side her anger evaporated. She could have still reported the oil to the Coast Guard but of course did not.

People ashore have to work for their employers, live with their neighbors. There is little to be gained and much to be lost by causing trouble. By contrast mariners are outsiders, there will be no local protest when they are fined, hauled off to jail or other wise treated unjustly. Mariners make convenient targets for anger and are easy to scapegoat. It is important for the maritime community as a whole to speak out against the unjust treatment of the Captain and Chief Officer of the Hebei Spirit.

Overcoming Fatigue - Will Power or Rest?

Master of Towing Vessel Association Forum has a post "6 & 6 No Thanks" which discusses the U.S. Coast Guard's Crew Endurance Management.

The first time I recall any discussion about fatigue was in 1991. I was second mate on a container ship and the captain asked me if I was tired. I though he was joking. We were running coast wise and I was standing the mid-watch (00-04 and 12-16) plus getting called out for mooring operations and keeping up with the chart work, of course I was tired.

The prevailing attitude at the time was if you were tired you had better buck up and do your job. From a Cardiff research report (pdf)

"Houtman et.al suggest that aside from reporting inconsistencies the act of actually admitting to fatigue may be sufficiently derided so as to make seafarers’ unlikely to report their experience."

And:

In understanding how such cultural notions might impact upon accident reporting a quote from Caldwell (2003), in reference to the aviation industry, perhaps best describes the attitudinal climate:

"The root of the problem is that the hard-charging, success-orientated people who make up the modern industrialized community and the world’s military forces have yet to be convinced that human fatigue is a problem in terms of safety, health, efficiency, and productivity; that fatigue stems from physiological factors that cannot be negated by willpower, financial incentives, or other motivators (p.11/12)

I became convinced that fatigue was a serious risk factor and not something that could be mitigated by will power while taking a medical class to get my MED PIC endorsement.

Since then I have implemented measures to reduce fatigue on three different ships. These measures were met with a great deal of skepticism. The argument was first, that it was not necessary and second, that it was impossible to comply with the requirements given the ships schedule.

I am convinced that risk due to fatigue can be substantial reduced but it requires understanding that it is in fact a problem and the willingness to be creative in search of solutions.

K.C.

STCW rest requirements are:

Section A-VIII/l of the STCW Code states that watchkeeping personnel (i.e., all persons assigned duty as officers in charge of a watch, or as rating forming part of a watch) shall be provided a minimum of 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period. The period of rest may be divided into two periods, one of which must be at least 6 hours. Also, the watch schedule is to be posted where it is easily accessible.

The basic rest-period rule of section A/VIII/l applies except in an emergency or a drill or "in other overriding operational conditions." Furthermore, the 10 hours of rest may be reduced to a single period of 6 hours for up to two days, as long as the seafarer concerned is provided with at least 70 hours of rest each seven day period.

Is Piracy a problem?

If mariners ran the world we wouldn't be having this discussion: How serious is the problem of piracy?

Galrahn at Information Dissemination - at Piracy Exploits Our Strategic and Tactical Flaws writes:

"We are already fighting two wars and piracy is not a threat to our freedom of navigation in those seas, so there is no reason to either panic or rush into what will be a very difficult challenge."

This quote alone doesn't do the post justice - there are some good links and interesting comments as well.

Claude Berube at the CS Monitor, the other view has:Somalia's piracy problem is everyone's problem.

From the article:

The issue is not whether piracy is tied to terrorism, but rather how terrorists or others might employ piratical tactics. If nonstate actors find the tactic is sound and the defense against it untenable, then it will be used to conduct similar or more spectacular operations. How would nonstate actors or other future belligerents interpret any success by the pirates? Absent an effective response to lawlessness, Somali piracy may be a prism to view potential copycat killers

Commenter Sekulich writes:

I would suggest to anyone interested that they seek out a paper written by retired Army colonel Dr. Max Manwaring of the U.s. Army War College on the way that small gangs morph into entities with political clout and global strategic implications.

As a mariner, my sense is that we like things shipshape for a reason. Disorder can lead to unexpected problems.

K.C.

Yachtsman Paul Watson

Sir Francis Chichester 's The Gypsy Moth IV
The Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin is officially a yacht. (I learned this from Hawspiper) - That makes Paul Watson a yachtsman.

Yachtsman - the first thing that popped into my head is Sir Francis Chichester. He was justifiably considered to be an expert seaman. On the other end of the scale is Al Czervik, the fictional character played by Rodney Dangerfield in the movie Caddyshack.

Paul Watson falls somewhere on the scale between Dangerfield's Al Czervik and Sir Francis Chichester. Rodney Dangerfield's character at least hired a professional captain, Paul Watson should do the same.

UPDATE: Fred Fry informs that the Steve Irwin is a fishery support Vessel - the movie clip of Dangerfield is still funny though - and Watson is still no seaman.
K.C.

Time Management - Complying with Regulations

Fellow mariner at Deep Water Writing has put up an interesting post Rules, rules, and more rules. He discussed two beefs: mariners not allowed ashore and new pollution regulations. The first beef has also been discussed at Tim Times - On yer Bike and at Hawspiper

The other topic is the increase in rules and regulations imposed on shipping. Specifically new EPA rules, Deepwater writes:

The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System requires a record to be maintained onboard the vessel tracking all discharges incidental to normal
operations such as; Ballast water (There is allready is a record
keepingand reporting requiremet for ballast), deck washdown, cathodic
protection, reverse osmosis brine, elevator pit effluent and gray
water just to name a few of the 28.

Is there anyone, anywhere considering the cumulative effect of all these regulations on vessel safety? At what point does someone say enough?

In most cases there is sufficient time to comply with all the requirements, enough time can usually be found by cutting into leisure or rest time. But what will be the effect on the ship if the captain more and more frequently locks himself in the room to finish paperwork? What about the conversations with the Chief about fuel that get cut short, or the twenty minutes spend with the mate discussing operations now reduced to 10 minutes. What about those "get acquainted" chats with the third mate to put a new officer at ease.

Lower priority tasks such as reviewing the ship's security plan or improving the ships emergency response based on some problem uncovered at the last drill get pushed aside. If the captain was to reduce the interactions with the crew to the bare minimum that would not be a "show stopper", the ship would continue to operate. But a failure to properly comply with regulations can stop the show. Show stopper usually get first priority.

At some point, all the slack will be taken up and shifting ship's resources from operations to clerical work to insure regulation compliance will begin to impact safety. How will we know when that point is reached?

Steve Irwin Pirate Ship - A rebuttal

The following post was emailed by commenter Will:

Many have suggested here and here that the Steve Irwin’s crew is guilty of piracy. In fact Kennebec Captain even posts the definition piracy: illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation. The Captain later states: Again, I am no lawyer but it does seem that a good argument could be made that the crew of of the Steve Irwin are in fact pirates.

This may seem like a sound argument at first. As one reads the definition further, one finds the phrase “committed for for private ends”. This means that the crew of the Steve Irwin must have some kind of private gain in order to be declared pirates. For those who would disagree, I point to the 1961 seizing of the Santa Maria. The ship was taken over at sea by a man named Galvao and 70 of his followers. The takeover was to represent a revolution against the government of Portugal. According to Brittin:

“No private gain...was envisioned. From the above it follows that no act of piracy…had taken place.”

So, as long as the act is not for private gain it isn’t considered piracy.

The fact that the Steve Irwin considers itself a political cause means that the situation is similar to that of Galvao. That is, while they may seem like pirates, they are outside the definition of piracy.

Sources: International Law for Seagoing Officers By Burdick Brittin

Tugs and Crew Endurance Management System

The Single Screw 3600 HP Tug Chilkat Chief- Photo by K.C.

Capt. Bill Brucato at MTVA (Master of Towing Vessel Association) has an post up about CEMS (Crew Endurance Management System) - CEMS and the tugboat quandary.

The article links to a USCG page Crew Endurance Management

Capt Brucato's points out that there are sharp limits to improvements given the six on six off watch schedule and the environment aboard a tug.

It's good that the Coast Guard is pushing the concept of Crew Endurance. When I was towing, endurance was seen as a matter of will power and toughness.

I sailed mate on the Chilkat Chief on what Capt Brucato calls the "back watch" (the midnight to 6 am and the noon to 6 pm). Capt Brucato points to maintenance issues as one stumbling block to proper rest. On the Chief we did no preventative maintenance on deck so that was not the issue. The bugaboo was cargo operations.

The Chief pulled a tank/log barge, we would load gasoline at Cherry Point Washington and discharge it in various ports in South East Alaska. We would then tow the empty barge to Thorne Bay load logs for two day. The barge held about 700,000 board feet of logs. We then towed the barge to Ward Cove just north of Ketchikan for discharge. Then we would load a second time(at Long Island Ak?) and take the load to Port Angles Washington. After discharging we would spend a day in Seattle cleaning the bark off the barge and then, after a night in town, off to Cherry Point for another go round.

Because cargo operations were done during the day, and as mate I had to work any time cargo operation were conducted, I really caught it. If cargo operation finished, at say 8 pm, it might be 9:30 pm before I could get to my room then up at 11:30 for the mid to 6.
Chart of Snow Pass from Marine Atlas
I don't recall how many hours I worked consecutively but I do recall one morning I was pulling a load of gasoline, approaching Snow Pass at the South West corner of Zarembo Island, when I experienced an episode of microsleep.

I was getting set down on the reef by current and had adjusted my course to port a couple of times when I suddenly found myself too close to the reef. It was like watching a movie with part of a scene missing. One instant I was ok and the next I was too close.

There is a lighted rock in Sumner Strait on the north side of Snow Pass called "The Eye Opener" - maybe someone on the back watch southbound had a similar experience.

K.C.

Biscaglia and the use of LRADs

It seems that the vessel Biscaglia which was seized by pirates on 28 Nov while transiting the Gulf of Aden was using a LRAD.

Wikipedia seems to have some good info on the vessel Biscaglia and on the company hired to protect it APMSS (Anti Piracy Maritime Security Solutions).

K.C.

Whale Wars and the Definition of Piracy

Are the crew of the Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin pirates?

They have been seen on television throwing acid onto the deck of a Japanese vessel and boarded the Japanese whaling vessel at sea. They also made plans to board a trawler with the intent of disabling the communication equipment.

I am a mariner not a lawyer but here is what I've come up with:

The definition of piracy according to international law is (Article 15 of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas):
"Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

1. any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:
a. on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
b. against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any state;
2. any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
3. any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b)."

Again, I am no lawyer but it does seem that a good argument could be made that the crew of of the Steve Irwin are in fact pirates.

K.C.

Source:

Maritime Piracy: Defining the Problem