Seaways – May 2019

Read Seaways online at http://www.nautinst.org/seaways May 2019 |  Seaways  |   33

Î The relaunch of the Iberian Branch was
held in Lisbon. It featured a series of events,
including an open debate asking the somewhat
controversial question ‘Has navigation been
allowed to become unimportant?’
A more appropriate venue for this meeting
could scarcely have been chosen. It was 500
years ago that Ferdinand Magellan set off from
Lisbon on his voyage of discovery. Navigation
then was of utmost importance – a source of
power, influence, wealth and riches.

EMSA visit
Members and students from the Portuguese
Nautical School were invited to the
headquarters of the European Maritime Safety
Agency (EMSA) by our branch member Jaime
Veiga MNI. He gave a presentation covering
the organisation of EMSA and its three main
departments and went into detail on his section

• Standards for Seafarers and Inspections.
  A visit to the operations room followed,
  with demonstrations of vessel tracking and
  surveillance. Measures include use of satellites,
  LRIT and the recently introduced drones. These
  allow pollution discharges to be detected and
  traced back to the originating vessel for follow-
  up by the respective coastal state. Illegal fishing
  activities can also be identified. The detail that
  can be seen from the satellite imagery is truly
  remarkable.

IBERIAN BRANCH

Relaunch and Inaugural Events

Branch activities

Branch visit to EMSA

Has navigation been allowed to
become unimportant?
The main meeting took place in the evening
at the premises of COMM (Clube de Oficiais da
Marinha Mercante). Set in the old quarter of
Lisbon, this is a unique venue that incorporates
its own museum. A total of 77 people attended
including four committee members, branch
members, members of COMM and students
from the Masters and Bachelor’s degree
courses in Deck and Bridge Operations at the
Portuguese Nautical School.
The meeting consisted of three sections:
O An introduction to The Nautical Institute and
benefits of membership

O A debate on whether we have allowed

navigation to become unimportant

O Support for cadets including a presentation

from Mystic Cruises.

Captain João Frade AFNI, from the

Portuguese Nautical School, opened

proceedings with an introduction to The

Nautical Institute and the Iberian Branch. He

pointed out the aims and objectives of the NI,

the benefits of membership and the various

categories of membership. Capt Frade went

on to describe the main objectives of the

Iberian Branch relaunch, which is to increase

membership and hold more meetings in the

branch area. The use of video conferencing will

allow members to participate in meetings even

if they are unable to attend in person.

Mark Bull FNI opened the main part of the

meeting, which took the form of an open

debate on the subject. Mark’s presentation

looked at four aspects of the fundamental

question: safety, legislation, technology and

business.

Mark gave examples of major navigational

disasters and their consequences. He

highlighted the lack of any subsequent

legislation aimed at preventing a repetition of

these accidents. When new instrumentation and

equipment are introduced these are treated as

individual elements rather than a harmonised

part of bridge resource management. Old

working methods are being imposed on young

officers required to use the new equipment

• setting them objectives that are in effect
  impossible to achieve. Finally, he examined the
  age-old misconception that insurance will pay
  in the event of an incident. Everyone should be
  aware that premiums simply increase; again no
  measures have been introduced to reduce huge
  claims from navigational incidents.

A packed room for the relaunch of the Iberian Branch

The audience was invited to submit their

views and numerous participants, including

the students, contributed to the debate. The

conclusion was that navigation had indeed

been allowed to become unimportant.

The final session was opened by Captain

Hugo Bastos, Director of Navigation at Mystic

Cruises, a Portuguese company that is building

expedition cruise ships to visit the Arctic,

Antarctic and other parts of the world far from

the beaten tourist track. The first Master of the

company’s new ship, World Explorer, Captain

Filipe Sousa, was also present at the meeting.

World Explorer is being constructed at a

Portuguese yard and will be completed shortly.

Mystic Cruises plans to build more ships in the

coming years.

The meeting was followed by a dinner for the

Council members of the branch and members

of COMM.

Mark Bull FNI