Month: February 2018

PaSea clarifies Hours of Work and Rest interpretation for seafarers

Phil Page

Maritime risk prevention firm, Prevention at Sea (PaSea), has raised concerns about the different interpretations attributed to MLC 2006 Regulation 2.3 Hours of work and hours of rest, para. 5(b) and para. 6, specifically with regards to the phrase ‘in any 24-hour period’ used when calculating crew work schedules to ensure that sufficient rest periods are taken.

Petros Achtypis, CEO of PaSea, has brought this issue to the attention of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) Labour Standards Department requesting clarification on whether the interpretation provided by his team were correct.

Specifically, the issue raised revolves around checks ‘in any 24-hour period’ and whether such checks should commence during a seafarer’s rest period.

PaSea’s stance is that this should be avoided and the reasons for this opinion is based on the fact that:

  • By not taking into consideration a part of the seafarer’s undisrupted rest period, irregularities may occur which could result in a violation of the regulations.
  •  The seafarer’s rest period should not be split into parts/sections, regardless if the rest period commenced during the previous day.For example, if a seafarer’s rest period was between 2000 of day 1 and 0400 of day 2, then the undisrupted rest time is 8 hours in total.Therefore, the beginning of ‘in any 24 h period’ checking during the rest period 2000 (day 1) – 0400 (day 2) i.e. starting at 2100, 2130, 2200, 2300 etc., should be avoided.PaSea recommends that when scheduling work patterns for crew, the ‘in any 24h period’ should commence at the start of any period of work by moving backwards 24 hours.This type of calculation clearly indicates whether the seafarer has received adequate rest in accordance with the regulations before the commencement of a new work- related task.Although the Constitution of the International Labour Office confers no special competence upon the ILO to interpret Conventions and any comment is without prejudice to what the supervisory bodies of the ILO may have to say about the issue, PaSea understands that the ILO’s Labour Standards Department supports and shares the same interpretation as PaSea.

    Examples of different scenarios are available from PaSea to demonstrate how using this system of checking ensures that the seafarer’s welfare is the priority and that only when proper rest periods have been taken should another work related task begin.

     

    To contact PaSea call +357 24819800 or visit the website www.preventionatsea.com

    ENDS

Britannia Appoints New Exclusive Correspondent in Taiwan

Phil Page

In a move to maintain the highest possible service levels to its Members in Asia, Britannia P&I has recently made two important changes.

In April last year, Britannia’s Managers, Tindall Riley, acquired the club’s Exclusive Correspondent in Japan, Cornes P&I.

Renamed Tindall Riley (Britannia) Japan, the acquisition demonstrated the importance of Japanese shipowners to Britannia. “The renaming of the Tokyo office was the immediate change, with the office continuing to provide Britannia’s Japanese Members with outstanding levels of service” said Andrew Cutler, CEO Britannia.  He added that “2018 will see further initiatives in Japan, which we will announce in due course”.

In another development, and after many years of representing Britannia in Taiwan, Capt. Mike Chiang, the founder of Chiang Marine Services (CMS), has decided to retire.

CMS’s Exclusive Correspondent role is therefore passing to a successor company, B Taiwan P&I Correspondent Co., Ltd. which will be headed by Ms Euly Luo who is well known to Britannia’s Membership in Taiwan, having served with CMS for 30 years. As is to be expected, handover has been conveniently fixed to happen at noon on 20th February 2018.

The new company details are:

B Taiwan P&I Correspondent Company Limited

Room 806, No.205, Dunhua South Road, Section 1,

Taipei 10690, Taiwan, RoC

Telephone: +886 2 2731 8000

Fax: +886 2 2731 8021

Email: newmatter@btaiwan.com.tw

Ms Euly Luo     Mobile: +886 932 143445       Email: euly@btaiwan.com.tw

“The CMS team provided a quality service to Britannia’s Members over the years, helping us enjoy good business in Taiwan. We will maintain those high standards with the new correspondent while wishing Capt. Chiang a healthy and happy retirement,” said Andrew Cutler.

ICS Appoints Guy Platten as New Secretary General

Debra Massey

Following an extensive and rigorous selection procedure, the Board of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is delighted to announce the appointment of Guy Platten to the role of Secretary General.

Esben Poulsson, ICS Chairman said: “This proved a difficult decision for us, as we interviewed several strong candidates. However, the decision to appoint Guy was taken unanimously by the Board. He will bring with him a broad range of skills including time at sea, demonstrable commercial success, and association work illustrated by his current successful tenure at the U.K. Chamber of Shipping.

“In a fast changing world, ICS, like any successful association, needs to be more aware than ever of the needs and demands of its members and to truly add value, be it on the regulatory front or in respect of the numerous other challenges facing the industry. ICS is the industry’s leading voice, with the important remit of highlighting the great improvements the industry has made and will continue to make as a key contributor to world trade.”

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People Power and New Technologies Debated at First InterManager Ship Managers’ Forum

Catherine Varney
Blockchain in the shipping industry, the safety culture among crew members, and the changing world of maritime payments were all debated at InterManager’s First Interactive Ship Managers’ Forum this week.
The conference, held on Monday, February 5,, was opened by Gary Pogson, Lead Specialist, Marine & Offshore Innovation Team, at Lloyd’s Register. Mr Pogson posed the question ‘distributed ledger for engineered systems – hype or hope?’
“A lot of the hype over the past year or so has been driven by ICOs or Initial Coin Offerings, facilitated by smart contract capabilities on blockchain platforms such as Ethereum – this is the new crowdfunding and the numbers are significant,” he said.
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