A case study related to the improvement of working and rest hours of oil tanker deck officers

Navigation safety on coastal waters is an extremely important issue. Fatigue is an important factor threatening navigation safety. Considering that the vessel type is an oil tanker, such a threat is not posed only to the crew but also to the environment. Most of the tankers navigating coastal waters are in the small tanker category. Therefore, this study examined the working and resting hours of the deck officers in the oil tankers navigating coastal waters. The study utilized the ISF Watchkeeper 3 program for assessing and interpreting the working periods. The study reached the conclusion that the first and second officers in particular are working under unsuitable conditions. To improve the working conditions of the deck officers, effects of additional cargo officer on board was investigated. This study is in quality of recommendation. The study elucidated that the cargo officer practice determines the working and resting hours of deck officers, in the work on the oil tankers, and compliance with the related conventions.     

Compensation issues under the Bunkers Convention

Oil tankers are not the only vessels that cause oil pollution damage at sea. Numerous spills at sea have been of heavy fuel oil from non-tankers. The international system of civil liability and compensation established after the Torrey Canyon incident covers only oil pollution damage caused by oil tankers. There was thus a need to bring the law on marine oil pollution up-to-date by extending liability and compensation to all sea-going vessels. In March 2001, the Bunkers Convention was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference at the IMO; it has not yet come into force. This paper focuses on the discussion of compensation issues under the Bunkers Convention. It analyses the relevant provisions, the impacts of components such as compulsory insurance on the availability of compensation under the Bunkers Convention. Suggestions on other compensation sources are also given in this paper.     

Job satisfaction and personality of Merchant Navy officers

Until recently little research had been carried out into job satisfaction of seafarers. Wastage in the shipping industry is higher than most other industries and although some improvements have been made to working conditions and facilities the wastage is still very high.

During the last two decades shipping technology has changed drastically, necessitated by changing economic factors, resulting in the need for highly trained personnel. Training costs are high, particularly for officers, and could be reduced if efficient selection processes were employed.

The project is designed to study perceived and implied (calculated) job satisfaction of officers who have served in the Merchant Navy for five years or more. Gone are the days of high port-time/sea-time ratios due to increased port and labour costs. Consequently seafarers may be confined together for longer periods at sea such that a different type of personality may be required to survive the stresses and strains of such a way of life. The project also attempted to discover whether the personalitics of the seafaring officers differ from those of the shoreside population and whether personality is related to job satisfaction at sea.

The project took the form of a survey by applying a questionnaire to Merchant Navy deck, engineer and radio officers at nautical educational establishments between September and October 1978.

The results showed that the majority of officers have a moderately high level of perceived job satisfaction whereas implied satisfaction was comparatively low. The personality of officers was found to be significantly different from that of the shoreside population in almost 50% of the 31 personality scales measured. There were also found to be differences between the personalities of deck and engineer officers.

A correlational study indicated that the personality of the Merchant Navy officer is related to overall job satisfaction.     

The choices of employing seafarers for the national shipowners in Taiwan: an empirical study

This paper focuses on the binary choice behavior of employing seafarers for the Taiwanese' national shipowners and embraces the empirical investigation based on the Binary Logit Model. First, three groups of important factors have been identified having a bearing on the national shipowners' hiring preferences: crew cost, competence and efficiency (including knowledge, skills, communication, physical and psychological attitude and conditions), as well as quality standard system complying with STCW95. Then, an empirical analysis, based on a Binary Logit Model about the national shipowners' choosing seafarers, is conducted to demonstrate the conceptual framework developed in this paper. The results show that the hiring decision is significantly affected by the crew cost. The national shipowners also consider several other factors when hiring officers and ratings. In addition, there are significant differences in hiring preference between the sailing international services and operating the liner ships. In the future, when the Measure shall be amended, the national shipowners will change their behavior to re-choose the foreign seafarers.     

基于SVM模型的船舶油污损失估算

将SVM引入了船舶油污损失赔偿额的估算中,通过从历史船舶溢油事故案例中选取了十组样本数,以污染损失赔偿额与影响因子集作为训练样本,建立了船舶溢油事故污染损失额估算的SVM模型。并对SVM模型进行仿真训练学习,并将训练好的神经网络应用于对相关案例的估算。研究结果表明应用SVM方法进行溢油损失估算结果客观、可靠,为船舶油污索赔和环境保护提供了有力的理论依据。     

船舶油污损害赔偿评估的模糊类比分析法

根据油污事故损害赔偿案例之间所具有的类比性,以及事故产生损害程度与溢油种类、数量、油膜扩散面积、受污海岸类型和长度等指标密切相关的特点,提出油污损害赔偿评估的多指标模糊类比分析方法,通过等评估的油污事故与历史赔偿案例之间的多指标综合类比进行关于损害程度的模糊排序,从而分析得到的此次油污事故的损害程度大小及应赔偿索赔的范围和具体数值,与直接统计评估法相比,分析方法所需要的数据和资料较少而且易得,评估     

谈小型油船利用双层底舱装运货油违章行为处置

文中分析了部分小型油船利用双层底舱装运货油为多赚运费的违章行为,指出了违章原因,并提出了相应的建议。     

Environmental risk evaluation criteria

This paper describes an approach to incorporating environmental risk evaluation criteria within IMO’s guidelines for Formal Safety Assessment (FSA). Such criteria are currently absent from FSA, and the discussion to include them has just started. Said criteria are relevant for evaluating on a cost-benefit basis Risk Control Options (RCOs) for reducing oil spill pollution risk. Oil pollution may comefrom any ship, including bunker spills from non-tank vessels. RCOs are not necessarily ship-based, and may include vessel traffic management information systems (VTMIS) and other options. The proposed approach may be useful in extending FSA to cover environmental risk evaluation criteria and combines such criteria with criteria already in use in FSA. It can also readily be extended to environmental consequences other than oil pollution. Recent IMO developments on this matter are also reported.     

基于局域网的避碰模拟训练系统开发

避碰训练是船舶驾驶员都应接受的基础训练科目,依据国际海事组织的规定和用户需求,在计算机平台上,开发了基于局域网的船舶避碰模拟训练系统.介绍了系统的结构、教员机和学员机的功能及各终端的作用,详细论述了系统的网络通信流程、数据结构等关键技术的实现方法.该系统既可作为船舶驾驶员的避碰模拟训练平台,又可用作教练员对避碰案例进行分析、讲解的演示平台.系统具有成本低、可靠性高、功能齐全等特点,在实际应用中取得了良好的效果.     

航海风险识别、评估和控制

因航运业高速发展和海员职业流动性加快,导致全球高级船员紧缺,已引发高级船员提升周期缩短、航海经验不足等现象。航海事故造成人员伤亡、财产损失和污染海洋环境等已严重威胁公共安全,航海事故预防和风险控制越来越受到人们关注。船舶海上事故频发,与船员对海上风险,尤其是船员对人为因素与事故的关系的认识不足有关。通过重点介绍航海风险,提高船员对本船和自身存在的风险意识,采取相应的防范措施。     

Mariner anticipation and performance

Collisions and groundings continue to take their toll on seafarers and the environment. Much has been said about the associated role of human factors. STCW95 endeavored to create a closer relationship between what is taught and what is needed to handle the demands of the operational environment. Technological developments such as ARPA, and in the future AIS, imply access to more data. With a view to determining how data should be presented and used, this study examines the capabilities of mariners to identify and initiate an appropriate course of action in an encounter where the need for two targets to maneuver to avoid collision with each other changes our own vessel’s passing distance from a safe to an unsafe state. Such a capability can generally add to the probability of a successful encounter through anticipating the resulting conflict with our own vessel and through taking appropriate early action. The outcome of this study, reported in this paper, was that very few senior officers and masters displayed the advanced level of anticipation skills that would provide the situation awareness needed for the encounter presented. Such outcomes may point to the need for inclusion of specific training in anticipation skills within the maritime educational system and/or for the provision of decision support systems which assist the development of situation awareness and identification of an appropriate course of action.     

Marine accident analysis for collision and grounding in oil tanker using FTA method

In this study, collision and grounding data registered in GISIS (Global Integrated Shipping Information System) were investigated for oil tankers. The database includes the information of the collision and grounding accidents during the period between 1998 and 2010 in oil tankers. The risk assessments were carried out using fault tree analysis (FTA) programme for the incidents as collision and grounding occurred in oil tankers. In this study, we were able to investigate first the potential problems which cause the collision and grounding accidents have been determined, second, the occurrence of accidents has been shown with causal factors by the FTA method, and, finally, the significance degree of the initial events causing occurrence of accidents have been put forth. Collision in oil tanker resulted in economical loss (81%), pollution (6%) and death or injury (13%). Grounding in oil tanker resulted in economical loss (91%) and pollution (9%). According to the FTA results, the main reason for the accidents originating from human error is as follows: for collision accidents, Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG) violation and the lack of communication between vessels; and for grounding accidents, the interpretation failure of the officer on watch and lack of communication in the bridge resource management.     

Total oil spill costs and compensations

Although counteracting environmental programmes and policies have been strengthened, large oil spills still occur at irregular intervals. The total oil spill costs and their compensations have attracted much interest from various parties, such as local stakeholders, and state and federal governments. This paper addresses five major cost categories whose aggregations are expected to cover the overall direct and indirect costs after the release of an oil spill. Among them, research costs should not be neglected, since they tend to be high if public attention has been drawn to the case. Through an examination of the relationship between the total oil spill costs and their admissible claims, we found that:

1. admissible claims do not cover the overall costs of the oil spill, and
2. admissible claims cannot be compensated in full in the case of large spills.

Clearly, a sound oil spill contingency management aims to minimize both the environmental impacts of areas most at risk and the total oil spill costs. In this paper an economic model for measuring environmental damages following an oil spill is addressed and applied to the Prestige case which happened to be the worst oil pollution in the history of Spain. The model indicates how an ideally a priori economic evaluation may intuitively help managers to make informed as well as fast decisions in contingency cases.     

对行政处罚案件的综合分析及管理建议

行政处罚是海事监管的重要的手段之一,它在有效震慑海事违法行为,维护水上安全秩序和防止船舶污染方面起着不可替代的重要作用。行政处罚案件的数量变化和违法行为种类的变化能够从一个侧面反映出某辖区、某时期的水上安全形势的基本态势,了解这个基本态势,可以有的放矢,科学地使用监管力量,对我们提高海事监管水平有着很大的促进作用。文中通过用数学方法、逻辑方法,对东港海事处辖区2008年上半年的行政处罚案例进行全面、系统、综合的定量、定性分析,以找出规律性和存在的问题,并采取科学合理的措施解决问题,找出管理重点和难点,提出管理建议,来达到提高海事管理水平和保障水上安全秩序的目的。     

Code of behaviour at sea: women seafarers’ shipboard identity management

The employment of women on cargo ships, particularly at officer’s level, is paid more attention in order to supplement the shortage of qualified officers. However, seafaring jobs are still overwhelmingly dominated by men, and there seems to be gender-related challenges for women in such work environment. Women seafarers in this research are those who work in the ship operational sections on cargo ships as deck officers, engineers or radio officers. A total of 36 female and 8 male seafarers from eight different countries participated in the project and shared their experiences of working on board ships. The research revealed that the occupational culture of seafaring often reflects masculine norms and values which could affect women seafarers’ behaviour and attitudes. This paper further explores how women manage such situations on board by utilising various strategies in order to avoid gender-related problems. This study identifies a typical pattern of women seafarers’ identity management and creates a model of women’s strategic shifting patterns over time.     

海船驾驶员职业适宜性及其心理测评系统研究

体现以人为本的基本思想,从安全人机工程学的原理出发,根据海船驾驶员职业的特点,论述了海船驾驶职业适宜性及其心理测评系统研究的重要意义。结合海船驾驶员职业的实际,提出了海船驾驶员职业适宜性测评的基本项目及手段,并对建立海船驾驶员职业适宜性的条件和测试方式进行了研究,旨在最终建立起一套适合海船驾驶员职业适宜性的心理测试标准和具体指标,达到指导实际生产中海船驾驶员的选拔、培养、训练和提高的目的。     

Total oil spill costs and compensations

Although counteracting environmental programmes and policies have been strengthened, large oil spills still occur at irregular intervals. The total oil spill costs and their compensations have attracted much interest from various parties, such as local stakeholders, and state and federal governments. This paper addresses five major cost categories whose aggregations are expected to cover the overall direct and indirect costs after the release of an oil spill. Among them, research costs should not be neglected, since they tend to be high if public attention has been drawn to the case. Through an examination of the relationship between the total oil spill costs and their admissible claims, we found that:

1. admissible claims do not cover the overall costs of the oil spill, and

2. admissible claims cannot be compensated in full in the case of large spills.

Clearly, a sound oil spill contingency management aims to minimize both the environmental impacts of areas most at risk and the total oil spill costs. In this paper an economic model for measuring environmental damages following an oil spill is addressed and applied to the Prestige case which happened to be the worst oil pollution in the history of Spain. The model indicates how an ideally a priori economic evaluation may intuitively help managers to make informed as well as fast decisions in contingency cases.     

Book review

According to the latest BIMCO and Drewry reports, there is a global shortage of officers for the worlds’ merchant fleet. This article focuses on the South African labour market for officers and examines some of the maritime education and training challenges facing these officers in accessing global labour markets. The paper argues that despite processes of globalisation, the nation state can still be an important actor in shaping global labour markets. Using a qualitative approach, interviews were conducted with 10 key informants in the maritime human resources management sectors in South Africa. Interview data was analysed and coded for themes using NVivo qualitative data analysis software (QSR International Pty Ltd., Version 10, London, UK). This was theoretically informed by Braun &; Clarke’s six-step method of thematic analysis. This was combined with a review of labour market statistics to demonstrate that the key challenges facing South African officers are the lack of training berth availability and the lack of South African ship ownership. The solutions adopted by the state includes a limited adoption of best practices adopted by global MET institutions in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and Nigeria. The article contributes to filling the gap in empirical-based maritime studies that are located on Africa.     

影响操船能力因素的指标化

航行环境、船舶和操船者三个要素构成了船舶运航系统。航行环境由交通环境和自然环境组成。本文在阐述了影响操船能力致因后,分析了各因素对操船能力的影响,并将该影响指标化。这些定量化的指标表达了操船者的主观操船感觉,以便进一步综合评价航行环境     

Searching for the root causes of maritime casualties

This paper opens by placing our current understanding of human error within a model of accident causation. The philosophical problems of bias and hindsight in accident investigation are discussed and a classification of human error types is presented. Two recent surveys of accident data and three case studies are used to highlight the main concerns in the sources of failure. These concerns are onboard violations, lack of onboard situational awareness, and failures in management practice. The paper provides an overview of how these issues have led to developments in maritime training and research. The first development has been the design of more effective training courses through a better understanding of the nature of the skill requirements of situational awareness. The current training is outlined and other areas of research, which are now being undertaken, are described. The paper concludes with a summary of further research and development needs.