More than prosperity and, yes, even joy, we wish our readers more freedom in 2012. For seafarers, freedom from piracy and exploitation. For maritime executives, freedom from corporate greed and government corruption. For union leaders, freedom from repression and self-aggrandizement. For Planet Earth, freedom from global warming and climate change. And for all of humankind, to borrow the words of reggae legend Bob Marley in his Redemption Song, freedom from mental slavery. ~Barista Uno

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Yesterday, 20th December, was the 24th anniversary of the 1987 Doña Paz ferry disaster. We have perished the thought of ever seeing a memorial built in honour of the 4,341 victims. As we said in one blog post about the Doña Paz, Filipinos have such short memories and Philippine ship operators have amnesia. But surely, those who lost their lives on that fateful day deserve to be remembered by the nation as much as the thousand or so folks who perished last Saturday when tropical storm Washi (local name: Sendong) ravaged northern Mindanao. In both cases, remembering makes us, the living, more human. ~Barista Uno
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Marine Café Blog will take a short break and will be back before the New Year with some double espresso. To all our readers, a happy and safe Holiday Season.

We don’t own a boat. But we’re fascinated with mechanical and electronic devices, a fascination that stems partly from our interest in computer technology and hardware. So our curiosity was piqued when we first learned about a product from US-based Attwood Corporation called the Fuel Demand Valve (FDV), which is designed to help boat owners prevent engine flooding. The FDV is one example of how stricter regulations to combat climate change can give rise to more efficient technologies that redound to the benefit of both consumers and the environment. Continue reading »

IMO BRIEFING: At the end of a year in which the World Maritime Day theme of “Piracy: orchestrating the response” has been central to the work of IMO, the Organization can look back on 12 months of relatively good progress that have laid the foundations for cautious optimism about the future. Recently compiled statistics show that the number of ships and seafarers held captive by Somali pirates have reduced from a peak of 33 and 733 in February to 13 and 265 respectively, at the beginning of December. Continue reading »

Not long ago, we commented on the “Tanker Contamination Claims Checklist” published by the UK P&I Club. The Club has now come out with a sequel pamphlet with the help of Capt David Payne of Associated Petroleum Consultants Ltd. Like the first, “How to prevent tanker cargo shortage claims” is only 12 pages long but covers in easy-to-understand checklist format all key points to consider when handling tanker cargoes – from the pre-loading phase through to discharge. We exaggerate not when we say this is another must-read from the Club for tanker operators and crews. Continue reading »

Corporate slogans can be hyperbolic and empty-sounding. Not so in the case of Transas, the Russian-owned marine IT solutions provider. Its business battle cry – “Transas Sets the Standard” – is once again justified with Transas Marine GmbH becoming the first German training institute to receive BSH Flag State approval for its STCW-compliant ECDIS training. Getting the thumbs up from BHS is no small accomplishment. The BHS (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie – Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency) is known for its strict audit practices. It’s also very timely as ECDIS training, based on IMO Model Course 1.27, will be compulsory from 1st January 2012. Well done, Gentlemen. ~Barista Uno

It hasn’t been exactly a propitious year – what with piracy still a menace, countries grappling with fiscal deficits and unemployment and the whole planet threatened by climate change. So, in the run-up to Christmas, we’d like to share with our readers one of the best loved Christmas carols as interpreted by Irish singer and four-time Grammy winner Enya in her native Irish tongue. The song has a Christian message, yet it also speaks of that one thing people of all colours and creeds yearn for: peace.

May peace reign in every heart this holiday season. ~Barista Uno

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It’s incredible. Overloaded containers can affect a ship’s stability and lead to serious mishaps. Yet, loaded containers aren’t always weighed at port before they are stowed on board ships. In many instances, the weight declared is wrong. So it gladdens us to learn that ports and carriers are finally closing ranks for the adoption of a global regulation that would close this gap in marine safety. If embarking plane passengers need to have their hand-carried or check-in luggage weighed, why shouldn’t the same strict rule apply to shippers of containerised cargoes? Continue reading »

Photos courtesy of ICSW

Paddy Percival, chaplain of the International Sailors’ Society in Durban, South Africa, and Peter Ellis, retired Mission to Seafarers chaplain in Hong Kong, are amongst the winners of the 2011 ICSW International Seafarers’ Welfare Awards (Welfare Personalities of the Year). The others are Wilhelmsen Ship Management, Norway & Malaysia (Shipping Company of the Year); The Port of Antwerp (Port of the Year); Duckdalben International Seamen’s Club, Hamburg (Seafarer Centre of the Year); and Dr Suresh Idnani of India (Judges’ Special Award for Outstanding Services to Seafarers’ Welfare). In a world where seamen are often treated as commodities, their good deeds are, to paraphrase the Buddha, like garlands of flowers. ~Barista Uno

The United Nations Climate Change Conference has concluded its 17th session (COP 17/CMP 7) in Durban, South Africa, meeting from 28 November to the early hours of 11 December 2011. As anticipated, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), serving also as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, focused more on rallying political will for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (in particular, the issue of the second commitment period for emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol and the establishment and making operational of the Green Climate Fund, as decided under the Cancún Agreements of 2010), rather than on pushing ahead with the preparation and adoption of a legally binding instrument to that effect. Continue reading »

They’ve been playing Christmas carols at the malls since October. Nothing has changed about Christmastime in Manila save for two things. It’s become more highly commercialised, and the days leading up to the big event are a lot less cool than during our youth. Indeed, on most nights we have to keep the electric fan inside our room on because of the heat and humidity. The earth’s climate is changing, and it now saddens us to learn from the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) that the 2011 UN Climate Change Conference in Durban is ending tomorrow, 9th December, without any real progress made toward a new global treaty to arrest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Continue reading »

We’re strongly tempted to make the comparison. First, the STCW Convention 2011 edition is being retailed in Manila for US$115 equivalent (£73) compared with US$119 for a copy of Windows 7, Home Premium Edition, from Microsoft’s online store. That’s just a four dollar difference. Second, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) controls the market for the STCW document as well as all other international treaties published by the Organization. Similarly, Microsoft, which had been accused in the past of monopolistic business practices, dominates the market for desktop operating systems as well as the browser and office suite markets. Continue reading »

A fortnight ago, we reviewed the very fine training video from Walport Maritime Training Films, “Assessing Risk: Hot Work”. The Walport chaps have now come out with the third and last film in their Risk Assessment series. It’s entitled “Assessing Risk: Start to Safe Finish” and is deliberately shorter than the first two so that it can serve as the conclusion to a training meeting – the sweet icing on the cake, so to speak. All three DVDs are available as a bundle at a special price, with fleet discounts to boot. To err is human, but make a stupid mistake and you pay for it. The ultimate value of Walport’s Risk Assessment series is that it can help eliminate such mistakes and the unnecessary loss of life and limb. ~Barista Uno

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We’re dumbfounded. The 2011 edition of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), including the 2010 Manila Amendments Code, is being retailed in Manila for a whopping £73 equivalent (US$115). One can order it from IMO London for £40 (US$63). But that’s still plenty of money for a book of 350-plus pages that comes in cheap spiral binding, not hardbound. Just as disconcerting to us is that the obra maestra is copyrighted to IMO, so one can’t freely download it from the internet in digital format. Continue reading »

The story of Capt Seog Hae-gyun and how he dealt with murderous pirates to save his ship, the hijacked Samho Jewelry, and its crew is not just about bravery, exemplary as it was. It is ultimately about nobility – that state of being exalted in character that manifests itself in courage, self-sacrifice, generosity or honour. It is this that renders the 2011 Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea bestowed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Capt Seog more meaningful, not just for the honouree, but for all of humankind. Take away nobility, and what you have is plain physical courage. Continue reading »

IMO BRIEFING: A wide range of resolutions, reflecting the broad canvas of the Organization’s work, was adopted by the 27th Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), when it met in London at the Organization’s Headquarters from 21 to 30 November 2011. They included a resolution urging Governments to continue their efforts to combat piracy and armed robbery against ships off the coast of Somalia and a resolution firmly establishing 25 June each year as the “Day of the Seafarer”.  Continue reading »

We’ve just watched a 17-minute film produced by UK-based Walport Maritime Training Films entitled “Assessing Risk: Hot Work”. It’s based on a real accident in which a Filipino oiler tragically – and needlessly – lost his life in July 2010. Our verdict: this magnum opus from Walport should be part of the library of every maritime training centre, nautical academy and any organisation that values marine safety and the lives of seafarers. Shipowners, too, will do well to have copies of the film available on board their ships. Continue reading »

In late August of this year, Philippine Labour Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, who also heads the Maritime Training Council, wrote the European Commission (EC) to detail the steps taken by Manila to address the STCW-related deficiencies identified earlier in the EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) Report on the Philippines. The communication was sent through diplomatic channels just before the 31st August 2011 deadline given by the EC. Like the EMSA report, this document was not made public. This has led to a situation which reminds us of the famous parable of the blind men and an elephant – folks giving all sort of answers as to what the elephant is like. Continue reading »

Why is the EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) report on the Philippines being treated like some State secret? The EMSA is right not to disclose its full contents. No physician, after all, goes around telling everyone what ails his patient (the report is really a diagnosis of what’s wrong with the Philippines’ maritime education, training and certification system). But the Philippine authorities are wrong not to make the document public. Doing so has deprived the MET and manning community of the chance to help cure the sickness and is utterly unfair to Filipino seafarers. So, in the interest of Truth if nothing else, we have decided to share the document with our readers. Continue reading »

Following a decision by its fair practices steering group, the ITF has set a new pay benchmark over the next three years for an able seaman (AB) on a vessel covered by an ITF TCC (total crew cost) agreement. Currently at US$1675 per month, the rate will increase 2% from 1st January 2012 to US$1709. This will rise further by 2.5% to US$1752 after a year, then by 3% to US$1805 in 2014. It seems to us a modest adjustment given the cost of living even in developing countries such as the Philippines – not to mention the risks inherent in the seafaring profession, including pirate attacks. But do we hear some grumbling from shipowners and their manning agents? ~Barista Uno