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New committee... new student
In the same year that INTERTANKO’s Executive Committee and Council took the decision to set up a Human Element in Shipping Committee (HEiSC), the first seafarer to be awarded the Captain Erric Kertsikoff INTERTANKO Award started (in September 2006) his MSc course in Shipping, Trade and Finance at the Cass Business School in London’s City University.
At INTERTANKO’s Singapore Tanker Event in March 2006, it was decided that INTERTANKO should establish a committee to focus on the human element and issues related to human interface in shipping. Since then, the Secretariat and Committee members have been collecting
 Dimitris Agrimis |
The Association’s HEiSC held its first full meeting in January 2007. Its main aims are to promote compliance with rules and regulations and to ensure ready availability (and utilisation) of top quality people, properly trained; to work on measures that emphasise how important the human element is in providing safe, secure and environmentally sound tanker transportation; to help lead the industry effort to bring about continuous improvement of the tanker industry’s performance. In so doing it will monitor and assess where high risk areas associated with the human element and, in particular human error, are found and will develop measures to improve human compliance with current rules, regulations and procedures.
The first Captain Erric Kertsikoff INTERTANKO Award student, Dimitrios Agrimis, works with Euronav Ship Management (Hellas) Ltd. The thirty year-old Greek national has been Chief Officer on board ice classed suezmax tankers since June 2004. He was previously a junior office on board chemical tankers. He studied at the Merchant Marine Academy of Hydra in Greece, serving as an apprentice officer on a chemical tanker and a VLCC for Ceres Hellenic. After six months further study in Athens he gained his Class B Diploma and his first posting as a chief officer.
His City University course has eight chief officers, one master and 100 new graduates from diverse backgrounds including economists, engineers and accountants, demonstrating the breadth of the shipping industry and its service sectors. 80% of the participants are Greek, emphasising Greece’s continuing pre-eminence as a maritime nation. "This course is not indispensable, but it makes a better, broader officer," says Dimitrios. "If you have, for instance, some understanding of accounts and finance, then that helps when you are running a ship."
Dimitrios’ father was a trawler captain working off Nigeria. His brother was also at sea - though he now works ashore. He enjoys life at sea. "The money is good. But family life suffers," he says, with a typical officer working for six months and then getting 2.5-3 months off.
Serving on tankers is somewhat different from serving on other ships. It involves facing more risks and more stress - because of the nature of the cargo, he says. The main risk factors are safety and oil pollution. Part of the stress comes from the growing likelihood of criminal proceedings against a master and/or senior officers in case of oil pollution - even when it is accidental. "What is the right thing to do for the safety of ship, crew and cargo?" asks Dimitrios, "and will doing the right thing put me in prison?"
Other stress factors may depend on where a ship is trading. For instance Malacca is a high-stress zone, says Dimitrios. The likelihood of pirate attacks means keeping 24-hour watch on deck; dense, fast-moving traffic means high risk of collision; shallow water restricts manoeuvrability; poor visibility due to massive forest fires reduces advance warning of hazards; small fishing boats cross the traffic flow.
The workload on tankers keeps increasing as more and more paperwork becomes the responsibility of the ship’s officers. In fact, inspections reduced in number as OCIMF’s SIRE tanker inspection programme increased its spread. But each inspection is much bigger and more detailed, says Dimitrios, pointing out that the preparation for an inspection is as much work for the ship as the actual inspection itself.
"There needs to be more harmonisation of inspections - port state control, port environmental, port health, class, ISM, charterers, internal audit, external audit." The worst thing, he adds, is that all these inspections happen when the ship is in port and everyone on board is tired and stressed. They generate too many distractions from the safe operation of the ship.
He is concerned over bunker quality and the responsibility that the ship has to verify that the fuel supplied to the ship is good quality and will not damage the ship. Quality issues go from the ‘cappuchino’ bunkers supplied with highpressure air and surfactants which bulk up the delivery volume but then settle down again later, to fueloils delivered containing industrial waste and catalytic fines which can score the main engine cylinder liners.
But when it comes to operating a ship according to MARPOL Annex VI, his biggest worry as a deck officer is not so much changing over between grades of fuel as the ship approaches SECAs and ports, but stability issues resulting from the inability to mix different fuel grades which may restrict the ability to pump bunkers from side to side to stabilise the ship. Compulsory multifuel operation also can result in inflexibility to change voyage orders if the ship does not have on board enough fuel of the right quality, he adds.
He also sees corruption in port state control as a major issue, adding that it has been known for psc inspectors to demand food, provisions or tools as well as money. Traditionally such demands are queried and resisted, he says. But if shore staff put the safety of the ship at risk for a bribe, then he reckons that smooth, safe and fast cargo operation is more important.
He believes that the focus on board should be on maintenance. "This is one of the most important and crucial things on board ship," says Dimitrios, "but it can be very hard if there are no riding squads as the burden is then on the crew who will spend most of the sea time on maintenance work." Such work does of course depend on prevailing weather conditions. Working in the North Sea is particularly tough with short trips and bad weather.
And looking at the shipping industry as one of the younger generation? Over the last fifteen years, the shipping industry has definitely changed, and changed for the better, believes Dimitrios. In the past, some operators were little better than crooks. Now they realise that they cannot operate substandard ships. What has changed? "The perception among ship operators that you cannot get away with it any more. People have more knowledge about safety because of specific safety training. Well-trained motivated crews are the most important thing." He believes that seafarers are smarter than they used to be. Alcohol is controlled. The younger generation is fitter and healthier. As a modern day seafarer with the environment on his conscience, he is an active member of the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA).
Moreover he stresses that ISM is not just a theoretical exercise in form filling to get your certificate. It has actually made a huge difference in practice. Most accidents happen due to negligence or over-familiarity. The ISM system addresses the age-old problem that the majority of shipping incidents and accidents are caused by the human element in shipping - and it’s not just the ship, but the operator too.
Addressing the human element speeds up the industry’s journey along the rocky road to achieving its goals. That is what INTERTANKO’s Human Element in Shipping Committee is all about. And the more young people like Dimitrios come into our industry the better. Then we can face the future with increased confidence.
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The Captain Erric Kertsikoff INTERTANKO Award The award (in 2006 €20,000) is made as a contribution, funded equally by Eletson and INTERTANKO, to the cost of one year’s study at a university with established shipping courses. A candidate should:
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