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ENERGY ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries are meeting today to negotiate production quotas for the rest of this year.

The oil cartel is producing around 30m barrels per day, around 40% of the world’s total output, so the meeting will be the focus for oil market trading over the rest of this week.

All Opec members, except Iraq, have production quotas that could be changed at today’s meeting in Vienna, but any changes are unlikely to affect actual output from the cartel. All of the members, except Saudi Arabia, are pumping at maximum capacity, while Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said his country will maintain production at 9.5m bpd through this month and October.

The Opec-10 produced around 28m bpd in August, well above a quota of 26m bpd, with Saudi Arabia exceeding this figure by the largest margin.

Algeria, Libya, Kuwait, Nigeria and Qatar are producing above their quotas, but are unable to raise output further in the short term. Venezuela and Indonesia are producing below their quotas, constrained by oil field performance.

Mr al-Naimi wants to see quotas raised to reflect actual output levels and cool the oil market to bring prices down below $40 a barrel.

“$40 is not low enough. The fundamentals do not support this price and Opec does not support this price,” he said before today’s meeting.

He is backed by Kuwait’s oil minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Fahd al-Sabah, who said: “We support increasing production even if by 500,000 bpd so that we can make the market calmer than it is now.” Analysts do not expect Opec to make any changes to quota levels, even though they do not reflect the current production rates. But they are expecting a change in the cartel’s oil price targets.

Opec has stated that it would like to keep its own basket oil price between $22-$28 a barrel.

The Opec basket price is around $38.

“I believe Opec will keep the ceiling the same but will raise the price band above $30,” said Manouchehr Takin, a senior analyst with London’s Centre of Global Energy Studies.

“To keep the ceiling the same is a compromise and the most simple way forward,” he told Lloyd’s List.

“There is much talk about changing the price band. In order to not look so ridiculous Opec will probably raise its band closer to actual prices.”

Saudi Arabia is the cartel’s, and the world’s, largest producer so it commands a key role in the organisation.

It also has an investment programme to increase output.

“Our capacity is 10.5m bpd until proven otherwise. The only way you really know capacity is when you are pumping flat out,” said Mr al-Naimi.

State oil company Saudi Aramco has started production from two new fields and hopes to ramp up output to 800,000 bpd by the end of this month, allowing further rises in the country’s production levels towards the end of this year.

The country’s production increases have had little effect on oil markets.

Saudi Aramco’s new barrels placed on the market are heavy oil, which is less attractive to refiners.

Other factors affecting oil markets this week include the continued sabotage of Iraq’s production and export facilities and the imminent approach of Hurricane Ivan towards the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas basin.

GONE are the days when the mere mention of the Cyprus flag had reputable owners running for cover.

The nation’s flag has come on in leaps and bounds and is well-placed to be removed from the Paris Memordandum of Understanding’s blacklist next year.

Hopes that the Cyprus flag would be removed from the blacklist this year were dashed in August when port state control statistics issued by the Paris memorandum were released.

Any score over 1.00 merits a place on the Paris MoU blacklist, and Cyprus scored 1.07.

But the improvement in the flag has been one of Cyprus’ success stories. Even the hard-line International Transport Workers’ Federation conceded that the flag should be considered a ‘special case’.

In May 2003, the labour organisation showered praise on the register, but stopped short of withdrawing its flag of convenience label, instead calling it a “hybrid” flag.

ITF general secretary David Cockroft acknowledged that Cyprus was “increasingly distinct from other FOCs”, citing both the significant proportion of tonnage genuinely owned in Cyprus and “an administration that takes its responsibilities as a vessel’s state of nationality seriously”.

“Our reputation has improved and cannot be called a flag of convenience as part of Europe, as they would not accept it,” says Serghios Serghiou, director, Department of Merchant Shipping.

“We believe that with the lifting of the Turkish embargo, a new dynamic process will begin and we will attract more ships from more countries. We also have a continuous dialogue with the International Transport Workers’ Federation about the flag,” says Mr Serghiou.

“Our aim for the flag is not just to flag any ships. Now, our aim is to attract younger, good quality ships. We have become much stricter, with safety standards, security standards, pollution prevention standards and labour standards. We want to attract good companies with good ships.”

The reception of the new, improved Cyprus flag has been positive.

Nigel Cleave, group managing director of Dobson Fleet Management, says: “Certainly the flag has improved and they have made tremendous inroads over the last couple of years now. While we are not as big as we used to be, the quality is better.”

Andreas Droussiotis, managing director, Hanseatic Shipping Co, adds: “The biggest success will be if we managed to convince ITF to consider the flag with the place of management rather than with the beneficial owner of the ship; that we help the expansion of the flag and of the management companies over here.

“I’m a very strong believer on the Cyprus flag myself. I believe with the right attitude from our sides, the good co-operation we have with the government, and also if the government listens a bit more to us, the Cyprus flag will eventually be a European Union flag.”

The Cyprus Shipping Council has worked tirelessly in co-operation with the DMS to raise the standard and profile of the Cyprus flag.

While it is disappointed that the Cyprus flag did not drop off the Paris MoU blacklist this year, a change in approach from the Paris MoU could remedy the situation.

Alexandros Josephides, deputy secretary general, marine manager, says: “They (Paris MoU) are now looking into more aspects than just the flag; they are going to start a targeting system, similar to the coastguard, and look at more aspects, such as who is the charterer, who is the class society and the owner’s and manager’s record.

“This will work to the benefit of the Cyprus flag, because a lot of the quality owners and managers using the Cyprus flag in the past were being victimised.

“Certainly it is disappointing that we did not drop off the blacklist, but we still feel that the procedures and the new measures are there and they are working and we feel that sooner or later Cyprus will have done what is necessary to drop off the blacklist.

“We should not become complacent. We have to keep the pressure on the administration to keep up the good work.”

ACCESSION to the European Union has already delivered many benefits to Cyprus’ maritime industry.

But behind the scenes the Cyprus Shipping Council is still feverishly working to ensure that the country gets the very best from its EU membership.

One aspect in which the council is particularly interested is the inclusion of crew management in the tonnage tax, which for the time being is only included until 2007.

Alexandros Josephides, deputy secretary-general for marine manager of the council, says: “We need to provide the European Commission with the necessary justification that they require so that they will accept that what we do on the island here is not just crew agency or just pushing crews through.

“We are crew managers, responsible for training and upgrading the quality of the crews.”

To this end the council is compiling indicative figures referring to the ships that are managed, partly managed or where the crew is supplied by its members to illustrate that the safety record of these ships is “admirable”, as Mr Josephides puts it.

He says: “I believe that they will have to base their decision on what is of paramount importance, safety in shipping.

“I think through our members’ operations and through our statistics we will be able to prove to the EU that crew management should be considered part of the overall shipping industry.

“We definitely recognise the importance of the human factor and that is where we are placing a lot of our efforts and a lot of our resources.”

He believes that the EU has proved itself to be always aware of particular needs of an industry in a country and with Cyprus one of the dominant industries is shipping.

The council is also prioritising the lifting of the Turkish ban on Cyprus-flagged ships calling at Turkish ports, something that has moved from fantasy to a distinct possibility in the past few months.

“We have always felt that this ban is unjustified, but we have had to live with it and we were always hoping for the day that the ban will be lifted,” he says.

“We feel that is it is not doing any good to the Turkish industry and it certainly isn’t doing any good to Cyprus.

“For our members seeing the ban go will help our operations tremendously, because it is not just targeted at Cyprus-flagged ships, it is targeted at anything connected to Cyprus.

“Our members provide global services and they are limited when their ships have to trade to Turkey and that is creating a disadvantage for our members.”

One contentious issue to which the council has dedicated a lot of time over the past two years has been the smooth implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code.

It set up a working group in January last year after legislation was passed by the International Maritime Organisation.

“We realised the impact and the importance this code was going to have on our operations and of course the short time that was allowed for implementing the code,” says Mr Josephides. “So we felt that we had to put all our resources together to guide our members.

“We were very proactive and I am pleased to say that our members did very well in implementing the code. Where we faced major problems, I think, was with the flag states.”

He believes that certain flag states, and some important ones, were not prepared to meet their own requirements. The frustration for Cyprus owners and operators was that they were ready, but the flag states were not.

In terms of preparation, he feels that the ISM Code prepared the industry in terms of the documentation that was required, and allowed owners to adapt readily to the demands of the ISPS Code.

While the organisation acknowledges that it is still too early to reach a conclusion on the success of the code, Mr Josephides concludes from members that it seems to be working relatively well, albeit with a few hiccups.

A council meeting just after the July 1 deadline identified that there had been some problems convincing people in certain parts of the world that they had to identify themselves when they come on board, while other feedback indicated that in certain parts of the world, for example Africa, there seemed to be a lack of implementation of the code in the ports.

Hanseatic still aiming to open office in Greece

IT has been over two years since Hanseatic Shipping Co first mooted the possibility of opening an office in the Greek market.

Although the going has been tougher than the company anticipated, Greece has not dropped off the company’s radar.

Greece has only recently opened up to the concept of third party shipmanagement. With the recent expansion into gas, tanker and chemical ships, Greek operators have recognised that they might be in better hands with third party shipmanagers on account of the heightened rules and regulations.

Hanseatic’s managing director Andreas Droussiotis discusses the company’s plans for Greece.

“We have expanded our business gradually in Greece. It is not so easy because at the beginning we were thinking of opening an office and employing people from within Greece.

“To train the people in senior positions to really know what you are doing, how you do things and to understand the whole concept is really difficult. So we decided to relocate somebody from our office. Then you need to build up their (Greece) success over here.”

Despite the setbacks, Mr Droussiotis is confident that Hanseatic will have a physical presence in Greece by the end of this year or the start of next year.

“The intention is still to open our own office in Greece, which will definitely be manned with Greek-speaking people. Being Greek myself, I say I’m sure that we will succeed.”

Cost has certainly been a factor in the delayed start-up.

“You need to have a certain income to help towards expenses. Definitely in the beginning you don’t expect to break even with the business that you have. It’s the chicken and the egg — which comes first, the office or the business?”

The Schulte-Group, Hanseatic’s parent group, is also said to be planning a venture in Greece, so there is a hope that Hanseatic can share the costs of its own outfit.

Back home, Hanseatic claims to be the first shipmanagement company established in Cyprus, a claim that puts the company under continued pressure to deliver.

“We are extremely proud to say that we have had customers from day one — we have never lost a customer on account of management or the service we provide. You definitely lose customers on account of consolidation, sales of ships and so on.

“The real success of the company is flexibility. We are a service company, so we provide what the owners require, not what we want to offer as a package.

“We are like an athlete with records: you try very hard under stress to keep it, to keep up with what is expected of you,” he says. “We have been pioneering in the industry, we have been on the island nearly 33 years and since the beginning the company gave attention to quality and training.”

Hanseatic has its own training facility in Cyprus, which it has operated since 1984 in co-operation with the government. It is the only maritime training school on the island.

Hanseatic also owns a merchant training gas carrier, the Annabella,which trades between Spain, Portugal and South Africa. The firm claims that this is the only ship of its kind internationally. It has been used by IMO surveyors, inspectors, class surveyors, oil majors and is used extensively by Hanseatic for the training of its officers.

Mr Droussiotis reacts firmly to the point that Hanseatic could be viewed as a jack of all trades but master of none, with the plethora of services that it offers.

“We are more masters of all trades. We have a lot of highly qualified and experienced personnel within these four walls.

“In order to provide a high quality service and in order to be in a position to supervise and control, you must have the people who have the experience and qualifications and the personalities to cope. So we have 204 within this office and we are highly qualified within all lines of business whether it’s marine, technical, chartering, commercial operations or communications.”

The dawn of a new maritime era

IN A short space of time, Cyprus has firmly established itself as the linchpin in the global shipping services industry.

And as it embarks on a new era in its maritime history, celebrating its recent entry to the European Union, that favoured status is likely to be further enhanced.

With some 25% of Europe’s fleet — second only to that represented by Greece — Cyprus can expect to have some clout with Europe.

The country’s entry to the EU has coincided with continued improvements in its register.

However hopes that the Cyprus flag would be removed from the Paris Memorandum of Understanding blacklist this year were dashed by figures released in August. These put the flag marginally over the one point threshold separating the black and white- list.

Undaunted, the Cyprus Shipping Council, the unified voice for the nation’s maritime industry, remains confident that next year will see the flag’s removal from the blacklist.

With a large number of ex- patriots living and working in Cyprus, concerns that the revised taxation regime, a by-product of EU membership, might push companies out have proved unfounded and Cyprus business is very much booming.

The news that Turkey is considering lifting its 17-year embargo on Cyprus-flagged ships entering its waters, as well as other flagged ships bound to or from Cyprus, has further boosted sentiment in the industry.

Certainly, the main port of the Cyprus Port Authority, Limassol, is already preparing for the anticipated surge in business when the ban is lifted and is in the throes of a massive investment programme.

The authority has undertaken a number of plans to step up the throughput of Limassol, already the country’s leading port both for cargo and passenger traffic.

Elsewhere in the Cyprus market, cruise continues to be hit by events in Israel/Palestine. Louis Cruises — the island’s biggest cruise operator — has had to fill the hole in its itinerary, while awaiting the expected upturn in traffic to the Holy Land. It has sought out new cruise concepts, putting its faith in the mini-cruise concept, as well as the fly-cruise deals that have gained popularity of late.

Marlow looks to the east but remains committed to Cypriot base

THE topic of third party shipmanagement can keep people up into the small hours debating the finer points of whether to outsource or build up inside resources.

Certainly, some shipmanagers who started out as third party service providers have succumbed to the lure of owning, while other owners have widened their net to offer third party shipmanagement as well.

But Hermann Eden, managing director of Marlow Navigation, firmly sits in the third party camp.

“We have always advocated this neutrality of not being shipowners,” he explains to Lloyd’s List. “We maintain the view that being a shipowner would create a certain conflict of interest with our clients.

“Furthermore, we maintain the view that a shipowner will not go to another shipowner to give his money away.”

In its 22-year experience of the shipmanagement sector, Marlow has seen this attitude pay dividends, especially in the crew management sector, where it now employs more than 6,000 seamen onboard at any one time.

This impressive figure is backed up by fresh company developments in Asia, where the firm has firmly planted itself in India and Hong Kong.

“We have established a close co-operation with a company in Bombay and also in Hong Kong,” says Mr Eden. This “co-operation” has been cemented with Accord Management in Bombay and Sunscot in Hong Kong, aiming to provide an eastern base, where previously Marlow’s services could not be promoted.

“Previously, we have had limitations in the Far East due to time differences,” says Mr Eden. “Also we did not have anyone there to scrutinise the market. Right now with those two offices, we strongly believe that we can cover that sphere. We are now in the position to offer a continuous service, by just switching the management from Cyprus to Hong Kong or Bombay.”

But this eastern diversion has not changed the focus of its Cyprus operation.

“We are committed long term to Cyprus and if conditions remain as they are, I’m very confident that we are here for good and will not only stick to what we have done but hopefully increase our activities here.

“We believe that Cyprus is the most convenient place to be in Europe,” says Mr Eden.

For the past year or more, the shipmanager has been focussed on the introduction of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code for its ships, the need for which Mr Eden questions.

But while Marlow joins a chorus of voices criticising the introduction of the code, it takes a different view on the future impact of the code on its business.

Andreas Neophytou, general manager of Marlow, points out: “Whether we like them or not, we have to follow these rules and regulations. For us, the management companies, all these rules and regulations are additional to actually promoting our services and not all small operators can cope with these demanding requests. So, in a way, that helps the bigger shipmanager.”

Adds Mr Eden: “You could argue that whatever makes the life of the shipowner more difficult should be in favour of professional organisations that have the means and the manpower to comply, whereas maybe smaller companies might find it more difficult to cope.”

Shipowners find a common voice

THE establishment of the Union of European Shipowners with Cyprus Flag Ships, one of the organisations vying for a seat of ECSA, was well timed to precede Cyprus’ accession to the EU on May 1, 2004.

The stated aim and main objective of UESCY is to “unite all shipowners with Cyprus flag ships” and it claims this objective has largely been met as its membership has increased.

The organisation asserts that for the first time in the maritime history of Cyprus, Greek shipowners with Cyprus flag ships — representing an estimated 52% of the entire Cyprus Shipping Registry of Ships — have been given a “common voice together with Cyprus and other shipowners of Cyprus ships and a unified voice on the maritime affairs on the island”.

Greek and Cypriot shipowners-owned fleet make up for 65% of the Cyprus flag ships.

“UESCY enjoys the full backing and support of its Greek counterpart, the Union of Greek Shipowners and the two unions are in very close contact and fully co-operate as they represent shipowners with common interests both in their respective maritime nations, as well as in Europe and worldwide,” says Michael Ioannides, founder of the organisation.

Following the initiative of UESCY, and in line with its objective to unite all the shipping forces and entities on Cyprus, a meeting has been arranged at the Ministry of Communications and Works in Nicosia, Cyprus which will take place on September 27, 2004.

Charis Thrasou will chair the gathering which is aimed at the establishment of the first Cyprus Shipping Confederation.

Shipmanagers assess both the plus and minus points of ISPS

JULY 1, the deadline for all ports and ships to be compliant with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, passed with little fanfare earlier this year.

With its high concentration of shipmanagers, Cyprus should have felt the sting of ISPS more than most. But, despite all the hype, it is difficult to find a ship without the appropriate certificates.

As Dieter Rohdenburg, operations manager of Intership Navigation Co, puts it: “There was a big noise, but quite frankly I think a lot of ships got away with having to do very little at all.

“And, at the end of the day, hardly anyone was found to not be compliant.”

However, there was a battle in dealing with various flag states.

“The code itself has been around for a long time so you could broadly prepare yourself,” says Mr Rohdenburg. “But until you knew what the flag state wanted you could not go further.”

Captain Bill Lunn, Navigo Management Co’s marine manager, had first-hand experience of these enforced delays: “We had our procedures written, on board the ships and in place, but the approval was something we were waiting and waiting on.

“However, the flag state had not passed the law to authorise them. The flag states seem to have sorted that out now.”

Whether ISPS was necessary remains a moot point among Cyprus’ shipmanaging community.

Dirk Fry, managing director of Columbia Shipmanagement, believes that if the implementation of the code is done properly it will enhance the security of vessels.

“But one should not look at it and think that the ships were not secure before,” he adds.

Andreas Droussiotis, managing director of Hanseatic Shipping Co, gives a differing view: “I think it is necessary, but whether we should have gone to such an extent is another story.

“Whether, for example, this is the US imposing and showing its powers is another. But I believe basically that ISPS was necessary.”

However, Marlow Navigation’s managing director, Hermann Eden, believes ISPS will do little for the greater good of the industry.

He says: “I do not think ISPS will change anything for the good. It is a big burden, needing a lot of money and manpower spent on it, and I believe we will not see any tangible improvement on safety or any other things.

“So this might be one of the rules you could say we could do without.”

Nigel Cleave, group managing director at Dobson Fleet Management, adds: “Whatever people want to think about it, it is here to stay and we have to have it to trade. Of course it is a burden on everone. But this is life.”

One definite plus point, points out Capt Lunn, is that it relies on communication between the ship and the port, something that can only be a good thing. Another benefit concerns stowaways.

“I think people are more vigilant,” says Mr Rohdenburg. “If you lock places that otherwise would have been open, that makes it an impossible hiding place for stowaways and that is a good thing.

“Now, with a gangway watch, at least you know who is coming on board and what is going on.”

While ship operators appear to have got their act together, the same cannot be said about worldwide ports.

This is causing concern among some of Cyprus’ shipmanagers.

Mr Cleave says: “I still believe that the first line of defence will be the port and the port area and therefore the security of the port is paramount because if they (terrorists) breach that port area we are basically down to the defence of the vessel.”

Another point of concern, raised by Mr Fry, is that semi-prepared ports might try to implement ISPS checks and not really know what they were doing. “That is my worry,” he says. “The danger is there may be unnecessary delays.”

A COCKROACH-infested Ukrainian-flag passengership was among the five vessels detained by UK port state control authorities last month, according to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Olvia (2,402 dwt, built 1972) was held for one day in Tilbury after MCA inspectors found 21 deficiencies.

Parasites were all over the food stores, crew galley and passenger galley. The port health officer was also concerned about the quality of the drinking water.

Other problems for the 384 passengers and 233 crew included means of escape not marked, door closures not properly maintained and inoperative radar.

The MCA lists the ship — converted from the ro-pax Kareliya — as operated by V&V Enterprises of Odessa.

Among other offenders, Sheksna (2,769 dwt, built 1994) was also held in Tilbury for one day.

The vessel is given by the MCA as operated by North-Western Shipping of St Petersburg. The Russian flag general cargoship had invalid International Ship and Port Facility Security Code certification. Moreover, its International Safety Management Code certification did not reflect a change of ownership.

Italy’s B Navi saw the detention of Irish-flag multipurpose vessel Vigo Stone in Southampton. Problems with the 6,270 dwt vessel, built in 1973, centred on the starboard lifeboat. The emergency generator failed to supply energy, while there was insufficient pressure in the emergency fire pump.

A LABOUR pact that will start adding 3,000 new casual workers in batches from this week is expected to ease the heavy congestion that bedevils the US west coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

However, port officials warn that it would take at least a few weeks for any relief to become palpable.

Theresa Adams-Lopez, public information director at the Port of Los Angeles, said there were 61 ships in port last Friday, including 31 containerships, with 17 of the total at anchor.

An average of 12-13 ships a day remained idle at berth last week, officials said. Although several anchored ships were scheduled to shift into their berths as existing occupants sailed away at the weekend, at least 55 new ships were scheduled to arrive through to Monday.

“Our normal range for ships in port is 35-40, with maybe four or five at anchor,” Ms Adams-Lopez told Lloyd’s List. “We have not seen those numbers since last June.”

Don Snyder, a marketing executive at the Port of Long Beach, said August was shaping up to be a “record month”, and despite the labour pact it would be at least the end of September before a sense of “equilibrium” descends upon the harried harbour. The labour shortage has, in many cases, been compounded by factors such as railroad capacity problems, Mr Snyder said.

Los Angeles and Long Beach are battling labour shortages and other constraints during a premature onset of the peak shipping season. They are the nerve centres of US global trade. They accounted for 8.25m combined teu in 2003, about 70% of west coast traffic.

In the first six months of 2004, Long Beach posted a 16% gain to 2.5m teu, while Los Angeles grew 5% to 3.6m teu.

On this backdrop, the Pacific Maritime Association, representing employers, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union unveiled a key pact on Friday.

A preliminary accord will add 3,000 casual workers covered by the agreement between the PMA and ILWU. Details remain to be finalised, the parties said. About 1,000 existing casuals will be promoted separately into the union’s registered ranks, at an expected rate of 200 a month.

The first of the new casuals are to reach the waterfront during September, to be trained at the rate of at least 100 per week. By one estimate, 200 to 250 new casuals will join each week during the autumn, with the entire 3,000 being inducted by the year-end.

Jason Greenwald, a PMA spokesman, said there was tremendous demand for the 3,000 positions, with an estimated 500,000 applications received.

The casual positions will pay a starting base wage, excluding any incentives, of $20.66 per hour, Mr Greenwald said. This figure can rise to $28.68 per hour, which is the lowest level earned by registered union workers in 2004-05.

The 3,000 new casuals will gradually replace 1,200 “emergency” casuals drafted in last month to fill the most pressing needs.

Mr Snyder said the recent labour shortages had guided a decision by terminal operators to restrict direct vessel operations to two shifts a day, but the arrival of the casuals could, over time, change this status.

Many terminal operators are understood to have stopped vessel operations during the third “hoot shift” — named for the owl — of 0300 hrs to 0800 hrs.

The 3,000 new casuals will work primarily on the waterfront, Mr Greenwald said, although some of them could be drafted into marine clerical work.

However, the clerical tasks would be different from those governed by Local 63 OCU, which also represents clerical workers and earlier this summer won its 750 members a three-year deal with the ILWU’s support.

Prestige power

THE shores of Galicia may have undergone a dramatic recovery following the Prestige disaster but sensibilities toward pollution remain understandably high in the region, as the owner of a fishing vessel found out recently.

His trawler was involved in a bunkering accident during which anywhere between 100 litres and 1,000 litres of oil (depending on whether you take the owner’s line or the official version) ended up in the Ria de Vigo.

This area of northwest Spain is heavily reliant on the fisheries industry and the spill caused widespread alarm.

The local maritime authorities have now imposed a hefty €1m ($1.2m) bond for the release of the trawler, though once their investigation is concluded, any fine is likely to be vastly inferior.

But the message is clear: Spain may have a new Socialist government, but the attitude toward polluters — accidental or otherwise — is as tough as ever.

Hard wind blowing

AS UK companies seek to exploit the wind energy, both onshore and offshore, it is not surprising to see a wind turbine will be erected on England’s most eastern point.

People in Lowestoft can expect to see a massive wind turbine tower being erected this year over the town at Ness Point after Waveney District Council gave the green light for this project.

The turbine will tower 80 m above the coast, with the height to the tip of the blade at 126 m. It will be one of the largest constructed in the UK and one of the closest to houses.

Ness Point Ltd will operate the turbine, local offshore fabrication yard SLP Engineering is building the tower with Vestas Celtic Wind Technology supplying the turbine.

David Edwards, head of both SLP and Ness Point, hopes the turbine will be “an icon to embrace the region’s commitment to renew-able energy” and will “provide a flagship for SLP’s renewable energy business”.

The turbine should begin generating electricity for 1,500 homes from the end of this year.

Under sail

Further to our correspondent Richard Woodman’s exhortation to character building under sail, we hear from the Association of Maritime Education and Training Institutions in Asia Pacific that they are on the case.

At their September AGM in Vladivostok, the Amietiap membership will be attending a seminar aboard the 109 m Russian sail training ship Nadezhda, while under sail in Golden Horn Bay. The suggestion is that first-class character-building training for sea-going trainees could be provided aboard an internationally manned ship of this type, cruising around the Asia-Pacific region.

A bridge too far

“ My country, like art thy to health, for how to prize thee alone can tell who has lost thee,” wrote Polish bard Adam Mickiewicz of the land whose people are reputed to be fiercely freedom-loving and intransigently independent.

However, the sentiment could also apply to a Gdansk bridge removed by thieves who have contributed to a more negative reputation of Poles.

The 360-tonne steel bridge had been stored and apparently forgotten by a Gdansk construction company in a local warehouse. There it was discovered by morally lax individuals, who obviously know a fortune in scrap when they see it.

Over the course of months, the gang made off with bits and pieces of the 200 m-long bridge, according to police.

The bridge was later discovered at a scrap merchant’s yard and unfortunately cut into extremely small and handy pieces. The thieves needed a dozen lorries to move the swag, Gdansk police spokesman Adam Atlinski said.

He also said that it is unlikely the bridge can be put to its original use. The construction company estimates the damage at almost Zloty2m ($540,000).

Taking Pride in an American identity

A new departure for cruise company Norwegian Cruise Line which is launching a fundraising programme Take Pride in Hawaii on board the first of its America-brand ships, Pride of Aloha .

Money raised will be used to benefit and support local cultural and community groups in Hawaii. As part of the programme, a one-off voluntary $5 donation will be added to passengers’ on-board accounts. The Pride of Aloha has a distinctly Hawaiian flavour and recruits its crew members locally.

Another initiative just announced by the cruise line is a new customer services centre in the Waikiki Beach Marriott resort in Honolulu which offers advanced check-in up to six days before the cruise, advanced spa and restaurant reservations and cabin upgrades.

According to Stephen Park, general manager of NCL UK: “The new charity programme and customer service centre are aimed at improving both customers’ experience in Hawaii and on their cruise, and to support the local community. We are pleased to have such a unique position in Hawaii with our US-flagged ships.”

BIOMETRIC fingerprinting may be the future of seafarer identification but, despite acceptance by shipowners and unions, US authorities have made plain that it will be years before the technology will be considered a workable alternative to visas.

Last week, Nigeria joined France and Jordan in signing up to the International Labour Organisation’s new convention on a biometric identification system for seafarers, the first two signatures having already triggered entry into force by February 2005.

Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, director of the ILO, said the convention envisaged an identification card including a “biometric template”, complete with standardised 2-D barcode based on two fingerprints.

“This convention provides an unprecedented international system for identification freely agreed to on behalf of governments, shipowners and seafarers,” she said.

The convention opens the way for unique identity cards for up to 1.2m seafarers. As well as fingerprint information, cards would include a photograph and a signature. Unless clear grounds existed for doubting authenticity, authorities should permit entry, the ILO agreed.

A BIMCO spokesman said: “This was a positive development to establish an international seafarer document to facilitate shore leave. Some countries will continue to require visas but the hope is that, over time, this will fall away as confidence develops in the ILO standard.”

A spokesman for the International Transport Workers’ Federation said that maritime unions were “pragmatic in recognising that the only way to move on was to agree on the need for a biometric ID card”.

However, next February’s ILO entry into force date only requires those signing up to the treaty to enshrine it in their national law.

Daniel Appave, responsible for maritime technical standards at the ILO, said the US administration had written to the ILO acknowledging that the new convention would make a substantial contribution to maritime security. Its positive position was demonstrated by the fact that “US sources” were financing development of a seafarer identification scheme in the Philippines, he said.

A US State Department official commented: “The State Department recognises that identification documents containing biometric information could be useful, but it is likely to take years for such documents to be developed and adopted widely.”

Only the current system, using visas, could guarantee to the satisfaction of US authorities that those requesting entry had been “properly interviewed and processed”, he said. Accepting documents issued by other states would require a change in the law. There were no such plans in train.

On August 9, in a move suggesting that the US itself is struggling to incorporate biometrics in its wider security arrangements, President George W Bush signed legislation delaying plans to require such information in all passports from October 2004 to October 2005.

The State Department official said that US authorities had conceded they would not have the staff to cope with the plan by the initial deadline.

Mr Appave said the ILO was testing biometric technologies in its preparation of a new standard. It had not decided whether several systems would be acceptable, or only one, but it wanted “interoperability”, Mr Appave said.

Meanwhile the ITF spokesman said: “Some seafarers are being refused visas and they are losing their jobs. The grounds are discriminatory. Owners are being pressured to take off crews that the US believes are a ‘risk’.”

Rather than direct discrimination by the authorities on the basis of country or religion, the ILO’s Mr Appave said owners would tend to favour those already holding visas, instead of going to the trouble of supporting visa applications for those they had yet to employ.

TANKER operators should ensure that cargo control rooms are manned at all times when cargo pumps are running, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch is recommending following a recent incident in north-west England.

The Netherlands-flag Coral Acropora (3,567 dwt, built 1993) released 594 kilos of vinyl chloride monomer into the atmosphere on August 10.

The mishap happened during a cargo sampling operation prior to discharge at the Runcorn Lay-By berth on the Manchester Ship Canal.

Shore personnel had boarded the ship to connect the cargo manifold to the shore line, with a cargo surveyor attempting to take samples.

The chief officer was attempting single-handedly to circulate cargo in the aft cargo tank by running the tank deepwell cargo pump.

However, one valve on the full forward cargo tank had been opened and a second was inadvertently opened.

The pressure in the forward cargo tank rose as it filled, lifting the pressure-vacuum valve, causing gas to erupt from the forward tank mast riser.

All those on the ship, several people in the terminal and members of the public were affected by the incident.

Specifically, it says, cargo control rooms should be manned at all times during cargo operations.

While manifolds are being connected to shore lines, no other cargo operations — especially those that involve operating cargo pumps — should take place.

Double valve segregation, where fitted, should be kept and all valves not required to be open should be shut.

Cargo tank 98% high volume alarms and interlocks should only be overridden in exceptional circumstances.

Finally, crews should make any reservations about operational procedures known to the terminal operator and their shipowners.

COSCO Pacific is eyeing further port acquisitions in the north and the south of China, although executive vice chairman Liu Guoyuam refused to be drawn on the speculation at yesterday's interim results.

The port investor and container leasor saw first half net profit jump 26% to $92.98m, higher than the $91m average estimated by analysts in Hong Kong. Revenues grew 3% to $129.76m. An interim dividend of 17.4 Hong Kong cents up from 13.8 cents the previous year has been proposed.

"The earnings are in line. They are harder to forecast as there are so many moving parts," commented one analyst.

Cosco Pacific's investments in more than 10 ports saw greater growth than the box leasing side.

It is spending at least $200m this year on ramping up its terminal investments signing agreements this year in port cities across China including Tianjin, Dalian, Zhenjiang, and Yingkou.

GOVERNMENTS, employers’ organisations and unions will gather in Geneva next week / 13 September / for what have been described as “make or break” discussions on a new draft maritime labour convention.

The convention will affect around 1.2m seafarers involved in the carriage of nearly 90% of the world’s trade.

The Geneva conference, which is being held under the auspices of the International Labour Organization, will open on Monday , 13 th September and run until September 24.

The task is to prepare a new convention which will eventually replace the variety of existing maritime labour standards, adopted since 1920.

The ILO hopes to have a final draft of the convention ready for approval by the end of next year, or early in 2006.

Rationalising upwards of 60 different instruments into a single coherent document and producing a new convention will be a major achievement.

The existing draft is extremely wide-ranging, covering minimum requirements for seafarers working on ships, employment conditions, accommodation, recreation facilities, food and catering, health protection and medical care and compliance, and enforcement issues that include the responsibilities of flag states and port states and labour supply issues.

Owners’ representatives, governments and unions are in agreement on the issue of promoting good working and living conditions for seafarers.

It remains to be seen whether the way social security provisions are dealt with will continue to prove more contentious.

Another issue on the table next week will be whether the parties are in final agreement on the mix of public and private responsibilities contained in the package.

The balance of mandatory and non-mandatory requirements contained in Part A and Part B of a new code, which will form an integral part of the new convention, has also been under consideration.

But there are suggestions that broad agreement on this and the social security issue may already have been reached. However, this will need to be confirmed during the conference.

Port state control is considered to be vitally important in enforcing agreed minimum standards in cases where varying flag state practices or competitive pressures intervene, notably if ships are detained.

Even if broad consensus on the convention is confirmed at the conference, robust discussion on such issues as manning levels, appropriate health and safety legislation, and shipowners’ liability for crew claims in cases of abandonment is expected.

European Maritime Safety Agency is simply overseeing the practical aspects of safety and security member states have decided to pool together for the common good.

This is, after all, the reason why the European Commission and its various spin-off agencies were created in the first place.

“We should postpone dreaming about a European coastguard,” said Alfons Guinier, secretary general of the European Community Shipowners’ Association. The European Parliament thinks differently, however, calling for its creation earlier this year.

At the same time, the startling pace of Emsa’s expansion has raised eyebrows and understandably created the belief that the agency is evolving into something much bigger than was originally intended.

Just months after it came into existence and before even a fraction of staff was in place, ministers from the member states decided to widen Emsa’s mandate to include oil spill response and on-board security.

Construction of the Emsa headquarters in Lisbon has not yet begun but management already has had to draw up plans to recruit twice as many maritime professionals as initially planned: there will be a staff of 120 by the end of next year. Almost all of these people will be on short term contracts; there will be national experts and temporary auxiliaries. This is not like working in the commission, where essentially you have a job for life.

Without a doubt the most juicy item of the new mandate requires Emsa to draw up an action plan to operate oil spill response ships on behalf of the European Union.

The plan will be presented at the end of October 2004, and while details are still under wraps we know that there are likely to be four stations around Europe, and that the budget for 2005 will be €20m, pending approval.

Emsa will therefore be chartering its own equipment and we are now finalising the action plan which we must submit to the board on October 22nd.

Chartering requirements were originally estimated to reach €20m though the budget was lowered and then re-established following disagreement among the Emsa board and debate with both the commission and the European Parliament.

It is still, in the executive director’s opinion, “a relatively small amount”, given that “tankers are everywhere and traffic is getting more intense in more remote areas of the continent”. Two stations will be located on the Atlantic, one in the eastern Mediterranean and one for the Baltic Sea.

The EU budget for next year, of which Emsa is just a tiny part, will not be given the green light until November, after which the agency will have to look sharp because the oil pollution response stations are supposed to be up and running next year. Emsa will be issuing open tenders for all its requirements.

In an emergency oil spill, unusable equipment is likely to be sent to the scene. There will probably be kilometres of booms sent which are incompatible with what is already there. For this reason, Emsa is putting together an inventory of maritime equipment currently held by EU coastal states.

The expanded mandate has complicated Emsa’s recruitment drive, which was already made difficult by the move of the headquarters to Lisbon.

The agency expects to lose a few employees when the move is finally complete at the beginning of 2006.

By the middle of next year, an ‘antenna’ office should be up and running in the Portuguese capital. Emsa and the EU agency for drugs and drug addiction, which is already located there, will share facilities, including meeting rooms, though the two will have separate entrances. The port of Lisbon is investing in a brownfield site which it will rent to Emsa at just below the market rate.

The choice of city as the capital boasts good air connections and international schools. It would, of course, make more sense for Emsa, and all EU agencies for that matter, to stay in Brussels. A large number of Emsa staff will end up shuttling between Lisbon and Brussels needlessly, and at the taxpayer’s expense, on visits to the commission and parliament. But these issues are not for mere mortals: EU leaders have decided European agencies cannot exist for the benefit of Belgium alone.

There will also be travel outside of Europe for inspectors who are currently being recruited for another item on the Emsa mandate. The agency is now responsible for the inspection of maritime training facilities in third countries.

As many as 60 non-EU nations now provide seafarers for ships on EU registries. The member states have the right to inspect the on-the-spot-quality of third country systems.

At the moment some do it while some consider it too cumbersome. It is a lot of hassle; in the Philippines alone there are ore than 100 naval colleges. Rather than repeat the same inspections, EU member states have decided to give Emsa this new responsibility on their joint behalf. The first inspections are expected to take place this year.

While its role is rapidly involving, Emsa remains essentially a bank of technical expertise for the commission.

The commission retains the right of initiation on all legislation though the commission does not have the technical expertise to conduct inspections. Overseeing the implementation of legislation is the core business of the commission but the commission is a legal body. The commission is not equipped for all that hassle. They need a technical agency – EMSA.