Seaways – May 2019

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

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Î I am working on a series of
articles for academic publications
about the dangers of specifi c
cargoes, based on the feedback
I am receiving from ships’
offi cers and Captains when I
visit ships. Most of them relate
to the practicalities of loading
and discharging cargoes, which
indicate that there seems to
be a huge diff erence between
guidelines and reality. Perhaps
someone from The Nautical
Institute would like to collaborate
on these?
My plan is to write three
separate journal articles looking at
the following subjects:

Î Why have I read in Seaways
that ‘What is important to today’s
mariner is diff erent from what
mattered most to the mariners
of 40 years ago?’ What does this
mean? It is not explained what the
writer meant by ‘mattered most’. I
started my seagoing career longer
ago than that. I am writing this,
70 years after the signing of my
indentures.
I would say the most important
matter then and now was and is
safety. That has not changed. What
is ‘the most important matter’ that
young mariners are being taught
today? Some of the ‘old methods’
are being seriously considered
necessary today, at least as back-
up. There have been so many
problems with malfunction,
interference or misuse of GPS and
related navigation systems that
it has been suggested that ships’
offi cers should be taught celestial
navigation and the use of paper
charts, and to keep an eyeball
lookout through the window.
What is a sextant? What are
parallel rulers? How about collision
avoidance? When we had to learn

Regulations and reality

To change or not to change?

O The BLU Code

This focuses on bulk cargo in

general and iron ore in particular.

I have learnt from ship staff

interviews that it is the norm in

many terminals to change cargo

sequences as many as six times

in a 48-hour period! This after

agreeing on a sequence (as per

the BLU Code). Naturally, stresses,

ballasting sequences and rest

hours go out of the window.

O STCW rest hour requirements

My frequent meetings with

seafarers indicate that it can be the

norm for seafarers to experience

rest hour violations nearly every

week. Sometimes the causes lie

the Rule of the Road verbatim we

really learned it and remembered

it. (Some of us still remember that

Article # 9 was a real toughie.)

‘Perish the thought’ say some!

‘Who is this old guy?’ Well, I am

so old-fashioned that I even think

schoolchildren should learn to

recite multiplication tables.

A recent edition of The Navigator

contains a report about a collision.

A deckhand on the bridge spotted

an approaching ship on the AIS.

Why was he on the AIS and not

looking out of the window? The

weather was good and so was the

visibility. The deckhand did not

understand the AIS and did not

report anything to the offi cer of

the watch. The article does not say

what the OOW was doing, but he

was apparently unaware of any

danger until the collision occurred.

The Navigator reports that ‘the

deckhand was not qualifi ed to

perform his duties as lookout and

did not receive adequate support

from the bridge team’.

What qualifi cation is required to

keep a lookout? When I was OOW,

if there was something special

like a fl ashing light expected to

show up I would tell the lookout

to let me know, but in daylight in

good visibility it was not usually

necessary for me to tell the lookout

that if he saw a ship he must tell

me; I knew he would do that. He

did not need any qualifi cation

to report to me that there was

another ship in sight.

Who was this deckhand with no

qualifi cation? Not an Able Seaman

evidently, or perhaps there is no

such thing nowadays. Was he a

fi rst trip deck boy? Had anybody

told him anything about his job?

It does not require a ‘bridge team’

to tell a deckhand how to keep a

lookout. Is this an example of what

is important now compared with

40 years ago?

Much is written about young

mariners, especially cadets. Some

writers have said that today’s

young people are of a higher

calibre than we were ‘in my day’.

I disagree and I felt somewhat

insulted when I read that. I am

fi rmly of the opinion that my years

as apprentice, following a year

of pre-sea training, were a good

basis for preparing me to be a

competent deck offi cer.

If the current system does not

work perhaps the industry should

revert to a system more like the

one I experienced, including more

sea time (time on board ship!) and

less time in school. Cadets must be

trained to make good deck offi cers,

but training to be Master must

come later and gradually. Certainly

the cadets of today are the offi cers

of the future, and that is so in

any profession or industry, but if

improvements are required in our

profession they should be made

now, not left to the future.

I see a politician-like mindset.

Politicians always say they are

doing things for our children and

our grandchildren. My father was

told that many years ago and I am

still waiting for it to happen. What

we really need from them is to do

something for our benefi t, now.

Tomorrow never comes.

Perhaps IMO could approve

the necessary changes before

our grandchildren become

grandparents, but I doubt it will.

Capt Malcolm C Armstrong FNI

beyond their control.

Keeping in mind that these

violations happen in prominent

ports and locations – Rotterdam;

Antwerp; Suez and Panama

Canal; Delaware and Chesapeake

Channel, USA; Singapore; Hong

Kong and the Far East – there

appears to be high potential for

collisions and groundings due to

inadequately rested watch offi cers.

O Seafarer employment

agreements and the Maritime

Labour Convention: methods

of compliance, using the

Philippines (or China or India) as

a case study.

This might interest people

from manning departments. My

interactions with seafarers and

manning personnel indicate that

a completely diff erent method

appears to have evolved in each

country for complying with MLC

requirements related to seafarer

agreements.

I plan to write these in an

individual capacity as an academic

and professional pursuit so there is

no funding involved in this.

Sriram Rajagopal

Mr Rajagopal can be contacted at

[email protected]