#islandnation – This week – massive container ships are on the way to challenge the port capacities .... Costa Concordia Captain speaks... Slavery for Irish seafarers... Time for environmentalists to talk to fishermen.... And much more....
THE NEW AGE OF MASSIVE CONTAINER SHIPS
Next July a container ship 400 metres long, that is 1,312 feet in length, known as a ULCV, an 'Ultra Large Container Vessel,' is due to be launched for the Maersk Shipping Line from the Daewoo Shipbuilding Yard in Seoul in South Korea. It will be 59 metres wide, 193 feet and draw a depth of 73 metres, 239 feet. The ship will be capable of carrying 18,000 containers. Maersk is the world's biggest container shipping company and intends to have 20 of these ships, Engine and hull designs will reduce CO2 emissions, it is claimed, by 50 per cent compared with the present industry average and reduce fuel consumption by utilising slow steaming methods.
These are massive vessels, called the 'Triple E' class for the three main purposes behind their creation:
• Economy of scale
• Energy efficiency
• Environmental Improvement
The 18,000 TEUs (twenty-foot containers) capacity will be 16 per cent greater than the largest vessel Maersk has at present. They set a new industry benchmark for size and fuel efficiency and will be the largest vessel of any type on the seas. The vessels are due to be delivered to Maersk this year between this year and 2015 and will change the face of container shipping dramatically. For container terminal ports they will be a huge challenge. The 'Container Supply Chain Asia Conference' in Hong Kong decided that ports worldwide would have to plan for crane and other infrastructural supports to accommodate such vessels and their container volumes and, with concerns expressed that some ports might never be able to handle them. But this is the way worldwide shipping of containers is going. As of this month there are 153 containerships on order with capacities in excess of 10,000 TEUs, including the 20 for Maersk. At present in worldwide shipping there are 121 vessels of 10,000 TEU capacity and above in service.
COSTA CONCORDIA CAPTAIN SPEAKS OUT
Captain Francesco Schetttino has spoken out for the first time since his cruise ship, the 'Costa Concordia,' sank off the coast of Italy a year ago with the loss of 32 lives. He told the UK shipping officers' union newspaper, the Nautilus Telegraph, that he hoped the tragedy would leave a legacy of improved safety. The 52-year-old Captain who is at the centre of a criminal investigation accusing him of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his vessel, said that he accepted his responsibilities. "But I am not a criminal. You cannot control things that are outside your control."
He has claimed that there are political reasons why a proper analysis of the accident has not been made public and said that he was confident the truth would come out and that he had not panicked after the grounding. He said he understood the reasons why the public wanted to have someone to blame, but he wanted people to have a better understanding of events on the night and of the pressures which modern Shipmasters have to work under.
The full interview is the front-page story in the February edition of the Nautilus Telegraph.
Fishing
EU GETS HUGE TRANSFER OF MONEY FROM IRELAND'S FISHING RESOURCES
I am tired of media reports that Ireland is a net beneficiary of EU funds when, at the same time, the general media makes no mention that EU nations get a huge transfer of money from catches which non-Irish EU fleets make in Irish waters. This is a transfer of funding from Ireland to the EU, without which the big fleets, such as Spanish, would not make their profits for the big Spanish companies. Let's have some media balance. That should be the basis of good journalism. Irish fishermen are subsidising benefits which other areas of Ireland get from the EU. That is the reality.
Marine Environment
GREENPEACE EUPHORIC ABOUT FISHING DECISION
The environmental organisation Greenpeace has described itself as "euphoric" about the decision by the European Parliament in supports of changes in fisheries regulations made last week. The Head of Greenpeace UK's Oceans Campaign, Willie Mackenzie, said he was euphoric about the reform measures passed by a majority of MEPs ... "the sort of reforms that us fish-heads could only have dreamed about a year ago."
However, his euphoria should be tempered by consideration of what the practicality of the European Parliament decision will mean for the fishing industry in Ireland and for fishermen, their families and fishing and coastal communities. There has, for too long, tended to be a one-sided debate on this subject with environmental lobbyists failing to take full account of what decisions actually mean. For a start, it will be the Council of Ministers which decides on fishing regulations and the sight of decaying Irish ports because of the effects of the discredited Common Fisheries Policy, is not one I like to see. Everyone does not live in urban centres and should not.
The main aims of the changes proposed - of rebuilding fish stocks to sustainable levels; setting catch limits in line with the best scientific advice; banning discards; prioritising access to those who fish in environmentally and socially beneficial ways and tightening the rules on how EU vessels fish in distant waters are targets with which there will be little, if any, disagreement from genuine fishermen whose livelihoods will only continue if there are sufficient fish in the sea. But environmental bodies have not given fair recognition or respect to Irish fishermen who have led the way in conservation in areas such as the Celtic Sea.
A ban on discards won't solve a dysfunctional Common Fisheries Policy but may help advance methods of fishing that protect species where this is needed. One of the most practical steps forward would be for environmental organisations to respect fishermen and the fishing industry and the need for fish as a food for humans. There has been enough megaphone, strident comment, now is the time for practical discussion.
Marine History
IRISH GOVERNMENT NEGLECTED SEAFARERS MADE SLAVES BY NAZI GERMANY
Successive governments and politicians of this island nation have failed the maritime community on several occasions. They failed in a shocking way when the Government and a number of politicians of the time did not help Irish seafarers who they allowed to be turned into slaves! This story is shocking and, even this far removed from the time when it happened, should be brought to national attention and those who were responsible identified. Thirty-two Irish seafarers, entitled to the protection of their government, men from a neutral nation in World War Two, were callously abandoned to their fate by the Irish government of the time which raised no complaint with the Nazi German government that subjected them to conditions of great hardship in an SS slave labour camp from 1943 to 1945.
The photograph, Slave Labour in an SS camp, is reproduced courtesy of the publishers
The seamen concerned, only 27 of whom eventually returned to Ireland, are now acknowledged in Germany as a distinct group of victims of the Nazis. However, their suffering is still not recognised in Ireland, even though the principal reason they ended up as slave labour for the Nazis was because of their Irish nationality. When they returned to Ireland they were largely ignored. Their case has now been brought to light by David Blake Knox in his book – "Suddenly, While Abroad Hitler's Irish Slaves," published by New Island. The seamen were serving aboard merchant vessels. It is a book very well worth reading.
HISTORIC CORNISH FISHING BOAT SAVED
A unique piece of Cornish Maritime History is being saved. 'Dos Amigos,' believed to be St. Ive's sole surviving Carvel Gig, has a colourful history. It is thought to be the survivor of a class of St Ives boats known as 'Gigs'. They were open boats which fished under auxiliary motor and a fore and aft lugsail. 'Dos Amigos 'was built at the Paynter yard in 1920 for a local family and initially named 'Our Francis.' After 92 years as, first a well-maintained working fishing boat, then a converted gaff-ketch in Looe, she has fallen into disrepair, according to local sources, has been craned out of Looe Harbour and transported to the Treeve Boatyard in Hayle. The 38ft craft is one of renowned St. Ive's boat builder, Thomas Paynter's creations.
Dangerous Seas
How dangerous seafaring can be was underlined on Sunday when five crew of the 'Thomson Majesty' cruise ship were killed during a routine safety drill exercise after a lifeboat fell into the water from its position aboard ship whiled the vessel was in port in the Canary Islands. Three other crew were injured. About 1,400 passengers were on board at the time, but none of them were involved in the accident. An investigation is seeking to determine what caused the lifeboat to plummet into the water.
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