Deck cadet Burak Kinayer, 19, is waiting to hear when he will set sail home to Turkey after five months of being stranded by the war in the Ukraine now a grain export deal has been signed.

As clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces echoed off the coast of Odesa last weekend, he became concerned, but Kinayer said his nervousness gave way to excitement as the Kaptan Cevdet gets ready to leave, potentially in the coming days.

“The way back does not scare me,” the trainee navigational deck officer told Reuters via videolink from aboard the ship.

“We can say that our excitement and hopes have been through the roof in the recent days,” he said.

Kinayer’s ship is one of dozens preparing to depart from three Black Sea ports blockaded by Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. The opening came after Moscow, Kyiv, Ankara and the United Nations signed a grain-and-fertilizer export deal meant to ease concerns over a growing global food crisis.

Ukraine’s shipments via sea have stalled since February, stoking global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer. Moscow has denied responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its ports.

A coordination centre will be unveiled on Wednesday in Istanbul to oversee ships departing Ukraine and inspect incoming ships for weapons. It will include U.N., Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish delegations.

A Turkish official said on Wednesday all the details had been worked out, including a safe route for ships that will not require the clearing of sea mines, with the first ship likely to depart from Black Sea ports in a few days.

“There is a slight uneasiness but it is good for us that controls will be made and that other ships will be escorting us. This makes us feel safe,” said Kinayer, when asked how he was anticipating a journey with mine sweepers and military escorts.

He and his crew-mates have lived on the ship for the past five months, required to stay on board by the vessel’s operators, given the potential difficulties of returning should they leave.

Kinayer said they were frightened when Russia launched its invasion in February, with people fleeing the nearby city of Odesa and growing concerns about to how to find food.

The nerves returned on Saturday when another Russian strike hit Odesa’s port. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the strike had been aimed at military infrastructure.

“We were a bit scared by the attack a couple of days ago thinking, ‘What will happen to the deal?’,” he said.

“Our emotions are complicated. As the final days arrive, we feel both excitement and joy,” Kinayer said.

Although his first experience as a deck cadet, learning how to be an officer in charge of a navigational watch, was overshadowed by war, Kiyaner said his love for sea trumped everything.

“It is bad that my first experience turned out to be this way and it will have a scar on me. But since I build my future with the sea, I don’t think about quitting (this profession) because this happened,” he said.

Source:

In darkness, a vessel was proceeding to a busy anchorage under the con of a pilot who had just boarded. The pilot and the Master engaged in small talk as they proceeded and there was also an OOW and a lookout on the bridge. Another vessel underway in the vicinity had recently altered course to port and, unknown to the bridge team or pilot, was now in a potential close quarters situation. Almost 10 minutes passed before the potential close quarters situation was observed by local VTS and the bridge team alerted to the danger by VHF radio.

Only now, with the other vessel just 0.3 nm away, was it plotted. There was initially some confusion as to the speed of the other vessel as the value was changing; but this was be expected in the first minute after plotting as the ARPA target acquisition algorithm needs to refine the calculations. Emergency course alterations were made and the bridge team tried to communicate with the other vessel by VHF radio. As the distance decreased between the two vessels, the bridge team, now under some stress, sounded a long blast on the fog horn. Finally, the other vessel passed astern only 35 metres away.

• A common mistake when pilot boards are for the bridge team to relax; the unstated assumption is that the pilot has everything under control. Not so! The bridge team must continue to do their jobs in full support of the pilot and vice versa.
• As part of a bridge team, never assume that someone else will see it. It is possible for any member of the bridge team to make an error or miss a cue. YOU may be the only one that identifies a potentially hazardous situation, and for this reason, every bridge team member should be alert.
• The danger signal is at least five short blasts.

Reference: The Nautical Institute

SEEMP Part III represents the International Maritime Organization’s decarbonisation ambitions. The regulation requires ships of at least 5,000 GT and which trade internationally, except passenger ships, to have a verified Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan onboard before 31 December 2022 to reduce carbon emissions – this must achieve at least a C band. The assessment will take place in the calendar year after the ship-specific SEEMP Part III plan is produced.

SEEMP Part III entails measures to improve energy efficiency to attain the required carbon intensity indicator (CII) and the implementation regime, the personnel designated to oversee the process, and contingency measures to overcome impediments. For example, a ship could propose using biofuels as bunkers to reduce emissions, but to prevent engine damage, trials should be conducted beforehand.

Speaking during a recent webinar, LR’s Lead Regulatory Specialist, Abhijit Aul said: “The sooner you act, the better it is. The next few years are going to be crucial going forward.”

Aul reminded the ship owners and operators that with SEEMP Part III, they must devise a concrete plan for reducing carbon emissions. This would be followed by self-evaluation and a constant review of whether the targets are on track and will be met in the prescribed timeline.

Aul said it is inevitable that some ships will not achieve the minimum CII requirements and end up banded D or E. Such ships will have their SEEMP Part III reviewed to include a corrective plan to achieve the required CII. Remedial actions are needed to achieve at least a C rating for the calendar year following the adoption of the corrective plan.

On the various proposals for correction factors, Aul said, “If they didn’t make it this time, it doesn’t mean they have been disregarded. For many of them, it just means that the evidence they provided at the time wasn’t sufficient or there wasn’t sufficient time to consider these correction factors in detail. For a number of these correction factors or voyage adjustments, there is a very strong appetite to push the case to gather more evidence to submit to MEPC. It could take a year, it could take years, but we expect to see a number of discussions.”

LR’s Regional Advisory Services Manager, Douglas Raitt, said that LR can help shipowners and operators by drawing up the three-year implementation plan to achieve the company’s targeted CII, review and update SEEMP Part I and II and provide vessel-specific analysis for improving operational CII.

Besides strategising for reduced carbon emissions, Raitt said that shipowners and operators should also take the resulting future capital and operating expenditure into consideration, with regards to chosen energy efficiency measures, to remain in compliance.

He elaborated: “You have to think, ‘what speed reduction is required to achieve a 5, 10, 15% improvement in the annual efficiency ratio rating?’ It allows the operator to project improvements over a number of years, understand when certain improvements need to be implemented, potentially even budget the implications of capex and opex decisions that need to be made on a variety of ships over the next few years to maintain compliance.
“Once you understand the percentage reductions that you require to maintain compliance with the CII requirements and target, then you can map out what energy efficiency to achieve and more importantly, phase in over the next few years to remain in compliance.”
These steps can be operational in nature, such as speed reductions, frequent hull cleaning, propeller polishing, all the way to the application of energy-efficient technologies which can allow for a certain percentage of improvement.

Shipowners and operators have to reduce the CII by at least 2% annually to remain in compliance. Raitt encourages “robust” discussions with energy saving device manufacturers to meet the target, more so for shipowners and operators who want to achieve an A or B banding.

Raitt said: “To get SEEMP going now, articulate what that strategy might be, get a handle on realistic percentages in improvements. Not all ship types are the same. Not all trading patterns are the same so there’s a level of detail that needs to be understood by owners and operators.”
Source: Lloyd’s Register