Canada has chipped in with C$2.5m ($1.9m) to add to the urgently needed funds sought by the United Nations to to support the urgent international salvage operation of the FSO Safer off Yemen, a decaying tanker carrying 1.1m barrels of crude, which risks breaking up creating one of the worst environmental disasters recorded in the Red Sea.
The latest donation means the UN is still some $14m shy of its $80m target required to avert a catastrophe experts have warned would be five times worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
The proposed salvage operation consists of two processes occurring at the same time. One is the temporary ship-to-ship transfer of the FSO Safer’s cargo of crude oil into a replacement tanker and the other involves finding a permanent solution for replacing the abandoned FSO Safer.
“Canada is supporting UN-led efforts to prevent a catastrophic spill. The potential consequences would be devastating not only environmentally, but would also destroy livelihoods and force closures of ports Hodeidah and Saleef in Yemen, which support the delivery of critical humanitarian assistance including shelter, food, water and health care,” commented Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s minister of international development.
As a curtain-raiser to the opening today of SMM, the world’s largest shipping exhibition, class society DNV has unveiled the sixth edition of its Maritime Forecast to 2050 report with a new focus on how to overcome the “ultimate hurdle” of fuel availability.
“No industry can decarbonise in isolation so global industries need to make the right choices together, and sustainable energy should be directed to where it has the biggest impact on reducing GHG emissions. The ultimate hurdle is fuel availability and to overcome it, supply chains must be built through cross-industry alliances,” commented DNV Maritime CEO Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen.
“Carbon-neutral fuels must be made available for ships already within this decade, in decarbonisation pathways assessed. By no later than 2030, 5% of the energy for shipping should come from carbon-neutral fuels. This will require substantial investments in both onboard technologies and onshore infrastructure,” he continued.
In terms of fuel choice, the authors of the DNV report wrote that uncertainties around future price and availability means that a clear winner among the many options – ammonia, methanol, diesel or methane, produced from sustainable biomass, renewable electricity or fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage – cannot be identified yet or in the near future.
The fuel transition has already started, with 5.5% of ships in gross tonnage terms in operation and 33% of gross tonnage on order today able to operate on alternative fuel, largely dominated by LNG.
DNV forecasts that onboard technology investments required for the decarbonisation by 2050 pathway scenarios will range from $8bn to $28bn per year depending on which fuel type has the largest uptake between 2022 and 2050. The largest investments come in scenarios with high uptake of ammonia or methanol, which require more expensive fuel systems, according to DNV analysis.
Investments of between $30bn and $90bn per year to 2050 are needed for the onshore fuel supply chains, DNV forecast.
“Two thousand ships are expected to be ordered annually to 2030 but there is still no silver-bullet fuel solution available,” said Ørbeck-Nilssen. “Against this uncertainty, the new Maritime Forecast to 2050 report can serve as a beacon of expert advice and smart solutions to ensure vessels stay commercially competitive and compliant over their lifetimes, underpinned throughout by the enduring need for safety,” he concluded.
DNV’s updated projections for global trade predict an overall 29.55% growth between 2022 and 2050 in seaborne trade in tonne-miles. Most of the growth will come before 2030, after which DNV reckons global seaborne trade will stabilise.
“Growth in certain segments, especially gas and the container trade, will outpace the average rate. However, as the global demand for coal and oil peak, so will their trade, reducing their seaborne trade by more than two-thirds and one-third, respectively,” the report states.
Fire erupted in engine room of container ship ZHONGZHOUCHANGHONG in the evening Sep 4 in northern Taiwan Strait, NE of Xiamen. The ship was en route from Qinzhou to Rizhao Yellow sea. 19 crew were evacuated, all are safe. SAR ships started firefighting, container ship is to be taken on tow, understood situation is under control as of morning Sep 6. Ship’s AIS is on.
TOKYO — An American diplomat in Tokyo on Tuesday criticized China‘s “increasingly hostile maritime actions” as a threat to the safety of waterways in the resource-rich Indo-Pacific, as the United States seeks to strengthen security cooperation with allies Japan and the Philippines.
U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Raymond Greene said disregard for international law and heavy-handed actions by Beijing are aimed at increasing its control over the region. “Specifically, the increasingly hostile maritime actions by the People’s Republic of China threaten the safety of our waterways,” he said at a news conference ahead of a meeting of officials from the three countries.
”No one nation should be able to dominate Indo-Pacific waters through coercion and outright intimidation,” he said. “Might does not make right and we do not shy away from calling out Beijing’s provocative actions.”
He said China’s actions included a militarization of the East and South China Seas, harassment of foreign fishing and other vessels, and depletion of maritime resources and the environment.
China ranks second highest in military spending after the United States and is rapidly modernizing its forces. It says its military is purely for defense and to protect its sovereign rights.
Japan sees China as a regional security threat and worries about growing tensions surrounding Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory. Tokyo also is concerned about increasing cooperation between China and Russia and their joint military activities around Japan, including joint firing drills off northern Japan over the weekend.
Japanese Vice Defense Minister Kimi Onoda, also at the news conference, said Japan and the Philippines as maritime nations share security challenges, including attempts by other nations to singlehandedly change the status quo in the South and East China Seas.
Robespierre L. Bolivar, chargé d’affaires at the Philippine Embassy, said promotion of cooperation among the three countries is important to help protect the Philippines’ maritime interests.
About 20 maritime security officials and experts from the three countries are to discuss maritime security cooperation at the two-day session.
South Korea issued weather advisories and raised its typhoon alert level on Monday as typhoon Hinnamnor neared, with heavy rain and strong wind already lashing southern parts of the country.
The typhoon, travelling northward at a speed of 19 km per hour (12 mph), is expected to land 90 kilometres southwest of the port city Busan early on Tuesday, after reaching waters off Jeju Island around Monday midnight.
“Very strong winds and heavy rains are expected across the country through to Tuesday due to the typhoon, while there will be places where very high waves cross breakwaters and coastal roads along with storm and tsunami,” the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.
Warnings have been issued across the southern cities, including Gwangju, Busan, Daegu and Ulsan, following that in the southern island of Jeju, while the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Sunday upgraded its emergency response posture to the highest level for the first time in five years for typhoons.
The port city and its neighbouring area have received rain throughout the weekend, with more rain is forecast for Monday and Tuesday.
On Sunday, President Yoon Suk-yeol held a meeting with the authorities to review the response system, while promising to put all efforts in minimising damage from the typhoon.
Local media reported on Sunday that the country’s three South Korean shipbuilders – Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries – are expected to halt operation on Tuesday.
Other businesses such as steelmaker Poscoare also expected to suspend operations, while major airlines such as Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines have reportedly cancelled some of its flights departing after 1 p.m. Monday (0400 GMT).
As part of efforts of federal government to boast maritime security, Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, over the weekend commissioned two patrol boats (PB – Gusau and PB – Jalingo) as well as a 32- Seater Passenger Ferry Boat to enhance operational efficiency and encourage water transportation at the National Inland Waterways Authority’s (NIWA) Area Office in Port Harcourt.
A statement by the Eric Ojiekwe, Director of Press and Publicity in the ministry reported that The Minister who was former General Manager at NIWA further disclosed that while he was at the helm of affairs there, he did not only maintain the amount of revenue target set by his predecessors, but surpassed it.
He said, “When I came here, a lot of people were wondering if we are going to succeed. But I did not only sustain the level of revenue that was sustained by my predecessors, but I even surpassed them,” he said.
He commended the Managing Director NIWA, Dr. George Moghalu, for the giant strides attained, saying: “Seriously, MD, l am happy I came here today. If didn’t come, I would not have known the strides you have achieved. Without doubts, I think you have made the greatest impacts of all the Managing Directors that have served the Authority”. “Your tenure has moved the Authority from level 5 to Level 9”.
He described inland water way transportation as the cheapest and safest means of moving goods and persons and key to development of any country, especially that endowed with water.
Furthermore, the Minister observed that Nigeria is blessed in that regard as 28 States of the Federation can be accessed by water, hence the need to develop the sector.
While promising to provide support in any capacity, he called on the MD to quickly operationalize the Marina Area Office in Lagos which has been identified as a hub for trans- shipping cargoes from Lagos through the Intercoastal routes like Warri and Onitsha.
Earlier, the Managing Director, NIWA, Dr. Moghalu, informed that in less than a year, the Agency commissioned more than twenty patrol boats, as well as a house boat, tugboat and water ambulance for distribution to various Area offices of the Authority.
According to him, the act is part of the Agency’s vision to ensure that the nation’s Inland waterways provides a truly safe, efficient, cost effective and alternative mode of transportation of goods and persons as well as become competitive and attractive.
Speaking further, Moghalu said: “the huge opportunities that abounds in the nation’s Inland waterways can only be maximized if concerted efforts are geared towards the development of infrastructure and proper funding to make the waterways attractive and competitive to players”.
Also, he disclosed that the Authority has licensed several companies for the transportation of cargoes across the waterways in Nigeria, especially from Lagos so as to decongest it and open up other Inland ports.
A federal judge in Los Angeles on Friday dismissed the criminal indictment against a dive boat captain charged with manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people when the vessel caught fire and sank off the California coast three years ago.
The 75-foot (23-meter) Conception caught fire while most of those onboard were sleeping, killing 33 passengers and a crew member. It is considered one of California’s worst maritime disasters.
U.S. District Judge George Wu said in a ruling that the indictment, handed down on December 2020 against captain Jerry Nehl Boylan by a federal grand jury, must be thrown out because prosecutors had failed to accuse him of gross negligence.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, said prosecutors would seek authorization from the Department of Justice to appeal Wu’s ruling. An attorney for Boylan, 68, could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
The indictment accused Boylan of causing the deaths through “misconduct, negligence, and inattention to his duties.”
The U.S. District Court grand jury cited three federal safety violations – failure to assign a night watch or roving patrol aboard the boat, to conduct sufficient crew training or to conduct adequate fire drills.
The victims had been sleeping below deck when the boat went up in flames while anchored near Santa Cruz Island, off the Santa Barbara coast, during a sport diving expedition. They included a family of five, a teacher and his daughter, a diving instructor and marine biologist.
The five surviving crew members, including Boylan, had been above deck in berths behind the wheelhouse and escaped by leaping overboard as the burning boat sank into the Pacific.
They told investigators that flames coming from the passenger quarters were too intense to save anyone trapped below. Coroners investigators determined the victims died of smoke inhalation.
The ship recycling market could be set for a revival in the coming days and weeks, as more dry bulk vintage tonnage could be sold for demolition. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas said that “with China implementing new lockdown regulations, the dry freight market was sent into further negative spins and therefore, we may now see more vintage dry units circulated into the market. A capesize bulker achieved a very impressive number this week, as per the sale listed below, with a good quantity of bunkers RoB. However, there are rumours the buyer may attempt to fix on a short trade, despite the poor sentiment in the dry sector, which could then justify the premium paid. If the sale is aimed towards a resale into Bangladesh and the hope of the Government once again allowing larger L/C’s to be opened (from the current limit of USD 3.0 mill), then unfortunately information obtained from Bangladesh towards the latter part of the week will not aide the Buyers resale structure.
Source: Clarkson Platou (Hellas) ltd
The shipbroker added that “information became apparent that new taxations may come be implemented as the Government aim to set reasonable prices of nine products, including flour, edible oil, lentils, sugar, rice, flour, coarse flour, cement and rods, within the next 15 days in an effort to bring stability to the country’s economy. There are even discussions of lawsuits being filed against anyone disregarding the designated prices. Pakistan is currently undergoing horrific flooding from the monsoon rains and the industry is really at a standstill for the time being. Our thoughts and prayers go to those currently suffering from these tragic floods. With the country still suffering from their currency woes, and the current flooding, little activity is expected for the foreseeable future”, Clarkson Platou Hellas concluded.
Meanwhile, GMS (www.gmsinc.net), the world’s leading cash buyer of ships, said in its latest weekly report, that “activity and availability of sales candidates seem to be finally starting to increase as we enter the month of September and the fourth (and final) quarter of the year. Dry bulk (and particularly Capesize bulker) rates have declined noticeably of late, and this is seeing an increasing number of enquiries on dry units starting to come forth for a potential sale for recycling. This increase couldn’t have come at a better time as local demand for tonnage has been gradually ramping up again, after an extremely quiet summer / flooded monsoon. Of course, after the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy earlier this year, difficulties persist in the sub-continent markets as both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been teetering perilously close to the brink as well”.
Source: GMS,Inc
According to GMS, “Pakistan has been beset by catastrophic flooding over the past week, with thousands of people losing their lives and millions displaced. In fact, some international media have been reporting that nearly one-third of the country is currently underwater. As such, calls for urgent humanitarian aid have reached the international community this week, with the situation becoming increasingly dire. Bangladesh is still struggling with L/Cs with any transaction valued at over USD 2 – USD 3 million needing Central bank approval, which is ensuring that most large LDT / higher value candidates are being diverted to competing markets and even the lower placed India, as Cash Buyers and Ship Owners both do not want to run the risk of getting stuck there, especially when levels have already fallen so much. India remains the most resilient market and is now becoming the go to destination (albeit at lower prices) for shipowners wishing to get their vessels delivered comparatively hassle and headache free, be it at a lower price. Finally, the Turkish market remains marginally changed from last week, as import steel and the Turkish Lira both report decreases during the week, all while local sentiments remain in the doldrums”, GMS concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
Nautilus International played a prominent part in UK Maritime Safety Week 2022. Taking place from 4-8 July with support from the UK Department for Transport, the focus this year was on safety best practice. Jon Parkin and Rob Coston report
A 2021 study of seafarers published in the British Medical Journal found that, over a four-year period, 6.31 out of every 1,000 seafarers were affected by occupational injuries and diseases. The study’s conclusion – that ‘workers at sea have high mortality, injuries and illnesses and work in a hazardous environment compared to ashore workers’ – will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever found themselves in a maritime workplace.
This year’s Maritime Safety Week aimed to do something about the grim statistics by bringing together a range of organisations to share knowledge and learn from each other, from government bodies to maritime employers, charities and membership bodies – including Nautilus of course.
Nautilus speaks at safety week
Port Skills and Safety (PSS), the UK’s professional ports health and safety membership organisation, scheduled its annual conference to be part of Maritime Safety Week on 5 July – with panels and speeches from members of the maritime community. Representatives from the Department for Transport and the British Ports Association were present, and UK maritime minister Robert Courts MP said that safety should be at the core of the country’s maritime strategy alongside education/upskilling and the government’s objectives as laid out in the Maritime 2050 strategy.
Nautilus was represented by general secretary Mark Dickinson, who took the opportunity to stress the importance of proper training and investment into the maritime workforce in order to ensure safe practices.
Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson
In his speech he also talked about the need for communication between unions and employers, so that maritime workers have a secure channel of communication to share safety issues they have identified. This point was echoed during the week by UK Chamber of Shipping CEO Sarah Treseder, who agreed that good safety practice can only be achieved if shipowners, the MCA and unions work together and share information openly,
‘Our industry, while strategically vital, remains hazardous,’ Mr Dickinson told attendees. ‘Workplace injuries are all too common and sometimes tragically lives are lost. We must commend Port Skills & Safety for its work in bringing together unions, employers and safety experts to tackle these issues. Only through constructive dialogue between stakeholders can we ensure our ports are safer workplaces for our people.
‘Our maritime professionals must be given the opportunity to train and learn new skills, so they can be active participants in the future of the maritime industry, an industry they already know, and many will have worked in for their entire lives. Investing in our workforce so more seafarers can transition from sea to shore and vice versa, that allows for all workers to upskill and reskill, is in all our interests.’
The dangers of fatigue
During his speech, Mr Dickinson also flagged up an issue of note: who should be allowed to carry out lashing on containerships?
‘Lashing by seafarers creates another safety issue. Nautilus believes that this should be carried out by trained stevedores, not overworked and fatigued seafarers. Cargo work, lashing and unlashing, is dockers’ work.’
Lashings by seafarers creates another safety issue. Image: Danny Cornelissen
Shortly after the speech, a Dutch court ruled in favour of unions including Nautilus International over a collective bargaining agreement clause around the lashing of vessels. The clause, which applies in all ports worldwide and came into force on 1 January 2020, stipulates that lashing must be done by qualified dock workers. If dock workers are not available, then seafarers may only lash on a voluntary basis and in return for additional pay. Nautilus’s Netherlands branch and other trade unions had brought the case after employers, shipowners and charterers refused to comply, but the court has now ordered them to comply in the port of Rotterdam and elsewhere or face hefty fines.
This is an important victory in the greater struggle against seafarer fatigue – which is dangerous as it increases the risk of accidents, as well as being detrimental to mental health.
However, this is a multi-front war. There are, of course, the traditional causes of fatigue – for example, the ever-increasing crew workload which was identified as a serious risk in the latest Seafarers Happiness Index report from the Mission to Seafarers. There are also new issues such as the proliferation of ‘safety’ paperwork, which some commentators believe can get in the way of actually improving the situation by creating extra work and a tick-box .
Nautilus has long identified overwork and low-cost crewing models as unsustainable and a threat to safety, and can present credible research to back up its case.
The Telegraph has previously covered the Culture of Adjustment report from World Maritime University (WMU), released in 2020, which found widespread malpractices in the recording of work and rest hours with a culture of adjustment – both on and off ship – normalising fatigue among seafarers that could lead to serious casualties, loss of life and environmental damage
Following on from this, WMU is expanding the scope by launching a new survey of seafarers covering crewing levels plus work and rest hours, developed in cooperation with IFSMA, the Nautical Institute, IMarEST and ISWAN and tying in with conversations at the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Any Nautilus International members that have worked on a commercial ship after 1 February 1997 are encouraged to take part by visiting the WMU survey. The survey should take around 20 minutes to complete and all responses are confidential. The quantitative data that will be collected about seafarers’ practices regarding work and rest will be used to strengthen ongoing research, with the ultimate aim of enhance provisions on seafarers’ work and rest hours.
Mental health still a key concern
Maritime Safety Week was focused on the practical aspects of safety onboard, but outside of the event itself, charities, employers, unions and governments are continuing to work on the issue of seafarer mental health.
Earlier this year, the UK government collaborated with the Merchant Navy Welfare Board (MNWB) in launching a £2.4 million investment in seafarer training, wellbeing and support – something that maritime minister Robert Courts tied to the government’s post-Covid-19 Maritime Recovery Route Map, since the pandemic put a significant strain on seafarers and drew public attention to the fact that even in ‘normal’ times crew are often expected to endure mental strain.
Mental health in focus. Image: Getty Images
Maritime charities are now able to apply for a share of this funding to create projects that benefit seafarer wellbeing. MNWB chief executive officer Stuart Rivers welcomed the move: ‘This significant investment in the maritime charity sector is both timely and extremely welcome. The maritime charities sector has been supporting seafarers through multiple crises over the past two years, despite the difficult fundraising conditions. The Department for Transport’s funding will provide a real boost to seafarers’ welfare and enable improvements in skills and diversity for the wider sector.’
MAIB involvement
As the UK body which is responsible for investigating maritime incidents, the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) was keen to communicate key messages during Maritime Safety Week.
‘Maritime Safety Week 2022 an important moment when the marine industry comes together to focus on how we can collectively continue to improve safety across the sector,’ said MAIB chief inspector Andrew Moll. For that reason, the MAIB took the week as an opportunity to write about current key safety topics: the dangers of work onboard fishing vessels; mooring deck safety; pilot ladders; and CO2 fire extinguishing system blockages that could prevent seafarers from extinguishing an engine room blaze.
During the year, the branch raised 1,530 reports of marine accidents and commenced 22 investigations, 14 of which involved loss of life. This represented a significant increase on previous years – with 1,217 reports in 2020 and 1,090 in 2019, for example – which the MAIB attributes to a rise in leisure craft and small commercial craft notifications and its industry request to report sub-standard pilot ladders.
Pilot ladder safety essential. Getty Images
MAIB inspector of marine accidents Bill Evans said that the 200 reports received by MAIB regarding pilot ladders show that even though serious accidents have been rare, ‘the potential for injury and even loss of life clearly exists.’
Mr Evans added: ‘Marine pilots play a critical role in the safe operation of any harbour, where they guide almost every vessel in and out of the port. However, while the size and technological complexity of ships has increased, marine pilots still embark and disembark moving vessels by using a rope pilot ladder. The pilot transfer is a hazardous operation, so it is absolutely essential that these ladders are correctly rigged and their use properly supervised by the crew.’
During Maritime Safety Week, the MAIB also highlighted incidents where seafarers have been struck by mooring lines, sometimes resulting in serious injury or death. Sadly, such incidents continue to occur. Crew should therefore make sure the right equipment is used and kept in good condition.
Planning – including risk assessments, control measures and ensuring there are neither too few nor too many crew to conduct the operation – is important when trying to conduct mooring deck operations safely. Areas where mooring deck operations take place need to be kept tidy, and mooring lines should be closely monitored on all berths.
As with all dangerous operations, crew communication is of the utmost importance when working on mooring decks, because it has the potential to be extremely hazardous if people are not able to interact clearly.
A more positive outlook?
Seafarers may be relieved to hear, however, that there are some signs that a greater emphasis on safety in recent years has improved matters and undoubtably saved lives.
According to Allianz’s Shipping and Safety Review, the global fleet was losing 200+ vessels a year in the early 1990s but now this has dropped to between 50 and 75 per year, despite a significant growth in the number of vessels. Annual shipping losses have declined by 57% since 2012, while 2021 represents a significant improvement on the rolling 10-year loss average – something that Allianz attributes to ‘the increased focus on safety measures over time, such as regulation, improved ship design and technology and risk management advances’.
This is good news for seafarers as well as shipping companies. When the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) released its Annual Overview of Marine Casualties and Incidents 2021, it found a reduction of 18% in the total number of casualties compared with 2019 plus a reduction in the number of lives lost by 48% and the number of injured persons by 36% – an incredibly positive finding given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the shipping industry. This continued an ongoing positive trend since 2014.
As with the MAIB’s advice, EMSA’s report highlights for seafarers the most common causes of injury and death. Fishing vessels remain the most dangerous. The main causes of death were vessel collisions and slipping/falls (nearly 10% of which involved someone going overboard). It also shows when to be most vigilant: from 2014 to 2020, the departure phase was the safest segment of a voyage and the en route portion the most unsafe, but 41% of casualties occurred in port areas.
However, while many of the threats to life and limb onboard are traditional ones, seafarers will need to remain vigilant. In the 2022 Emsafe report, also from EMSA, researchers identified a number of growing issues that will require different solutions, including fire safety on ferries plus the carriage of battery-powered vehicles on ships, the increased use of potentially hazardous alternative bunker fuels and the novel risks of automation.
With some shipping now on the move again out of Ukraine, the northern Black Sea has been designated a Warlike Operations Area for merchant vessels. Sarah Robinson looks at what this means for seafarer safety and how trade unions are involved in providing protection for their members
When people embark on a career in the Merchant Navy, they’re probably not expecting to see military action, but this in fact a persistent safety problem for civilian seafarers around the world.
We might think of the cargoships in the Second World War supply convoys, or the ferries and cruiseships requisitioned as troop carriers (with their usual crews) for the Falklands conflict.
But many Merchant Navy seafarers who find themselves in danger from conflict aren’t engaged in official ‘war work’, but find themselves in a dangerous situation as they go about their usual activities. For example, in the Telegraph we have told the stories of Nautilus International members whose civilian tankers came under fire in the Persian/Arabian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war, and others whose vessels became marooned in the Great Bitter Lake off the Suez Canal as a result of the Six-Day War.
Ukraine: the latest maritime war zone
This year, Merchant Navy seafarers from all over the world have been asked to go through a war zone on an urgent humanitarian mission to bring crops out of Ukraine and on to the countries who rely on this food, which includes wheat, other cereals, and sunflower seeds for cooking oil.
Famously known as ‘the breadbasket of Europe’, Ukraine under normal circumstances is one of the top three grain exporters in the world, but since the Russian invasion in February 2022 has struggled to get its harvests out of mined and blockaded Black Sea ports.
Hopes were not high that this problem would be overcome, but after many false dawns, the involvement of Turkey eventually brought both Ukraine and Russia to the table in Istanbul to sign a United Nations agreement on 27 July – establishing the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Aiming to keep seafarers safe
The Black Sea Grain Initiative specifically allows for significant volumes of commercial food exports from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea: Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny. Ukrainian vessels guide the cargoships into the international waters of the Black Sea, avoiding mined areas. The vessels then proceed towards the Bosphorus Strait along an agreed corridor. Both the Russian and Ukrainian sides have agreed to withhold attacks on any of the commercial vessels or ports engaged in the initiative to transport vital grain.
For the merchant seafarers on the cargoships, their safety is in the hands of a new UN Joint Coordination Centre, which monitors implementation of the 27 July agreement. It is hosted in Istanbul and includes representatives from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.
Ships heading to and from the Ukrainian ports are being inspected by teams organised by the Joint Coordination Centre to ensure they are only carrying the agreed food cargoes and not soldiers, weapons or ammunition.
Who are the Merchant Navy seafarers on the grain ships?
Initial reports suggested that maritime employers were struggling to find crew members willing to take part in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and until recently Ukrainian nationals were not usually allowed to leave the country because of military conscription. However, permission has now been given for Ukrainian seafarers to travel for work, and recruitment from other nations seems to have improved, judging by the daily shipping movements being reported by the UN Joint Coordination Centre.
Inevitably for the shipping industry, some of these vessels will be crewed by seafarers from developing countries who are not in a financial position to turn down work and are not supported by a trade union.
However, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) – of which Nautilus is an affiliate – has ensured that some 9,500 vessels and 170,000 seafarers worldwide are covered by Warlike Operations Area agreements instigated by unions. These are either national agreements (of which more below) or international agreements negotiated between the ITF and shipowners at the International Bargaining Forum (IBF).
‘While specific terms of each agreement differ depending on the nature of the risk involved, in general they allow for seafarers to disembark before a vessel enters the affected area,’ says Nautilus head of professional and technical David Appleton. ‘They may also place obligations on companies to underwrite any insurance policies that may be rendered invalid by entering into the area and, in certain instances, agree additional payments for seafarers whilst they are in the area.’
Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson has been regularly involved with negotiations at the IBF, where Warlike Operations Area agreements for the Northern Black Sea Region, the Sea of Azov and All Ports in Ukraine were added in March 2022.
He stresses how important it is that seafarers around the world join a union, particularly one affiliated with the ITF: ‘This is a powerful example of how unions work together internationally to secure protection for their members and help seafarers globally, and we will continue to be part of the movement to uplift everyone in the industry to decent and safe work onboard.’
Enhanced war zone protection for Nautilus members
Nautilus members in the UK and Netherlands are covered by national warlike operations agreements that go beyond the IBF terms.
In the UK, the process of drafting and renewing agreements is done through the Warlike Operations Area Committee (WOAC), at which terms are agreed directly between the maritime unions Nautilus and RMT and the UK Chamber of Shipping. There is a similar process in the Netherlands where Nautilus negotiates agreements with the Dutch shipowner bodies VWH, NEMEA, Neptune and Spliethoff.
The UK WOAC agreement for Ukraine applies to all vessels operated by companies in membership of the UK Chamber of Shipping. It expands on the IBF minimum in a number of ways – for example, by declaring a broader Warlike Operations Area that covers ‘all Ukrainian, Russian and International Waters north of 44°North in the Black Sea.’
The Netherlands war zone agreement for Ukraine applies to Dutch-flagged vessels and is broadly equivalent to the UK WOAC agreement.
‘Both the British and Dutch agreements reflect the importance of regular dialogue between unions and employers,’ says Mr Appleton. ‘We are not currently aware of any Nautilus members on vessels involved in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, but members with any concerns about operating in a warlike or high risk area should contact us and we will be able to advise them of their rights, whether those fall under the national agreements in the UK and Netherlands or they relate to the IBF agreement.’
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