They allowed me to tag along after the banquet got over. All young fellows and lovely girls. The girls looked too easy. But they weren’t. The boys were laughing hard. Very hard. I was looking at them with wonder.
Images of licentious behaviour flashed through my mind. But they had a limiting line. And nobody crossed it.
They were drinking a lot. Whereas, I have total control on drinking. They shared the roll. I don’t smoke. I can’t hold a ciggie. They have dreamy eyes and lots of money. They can shake a leg. And they were touching each other a lot. Do I fit into this crowd?
The girls looked so pretty with their encouraging smiles. I was tempted. Like Adam. To bite into the apple. But I wasn’t drunk. Not even high. Simply mesmerized by the atmosphere around.
I tagged along with the group. They called for a taxi. I was quite deaf with the loud talk in the background. I couldn’t make out what was happening. Where were they going? I got a little concerned.
“Where are we going” I asked the girl next to me. She laughed aloud and announced my concern gleefully to the group.
I left my strong views on humanity, religion and politics in the hotel lobby and got into the taxi-bus. I let my mind open up. To the crowd’s chatter. To the small talk. To new ideas. It didn’t matter that I didn’t understand what was being discussed. But I understood the body-language. Life can’t be that serious. Mumbai seemed like another planet. Poverty, injustice, terror, ailments didn’t exist. Not in this world. And if they did, I didn’t know and I didn’t care.
The girl sitting next to me asked “Are you straight?”
I let that question pass. I couldn’t explain to her about my inhibitions. Brought upon by generations of our culture of controlled existence. It would take me a little more time to open up. The night was still young.
As the night wore on and passed into the new day I found myself caressing the golden curls of the girl sitting next to me.
“Are you okay?”
I said I was feeling excited.
“That’s okay.”
I was dancing merrily. I had merged finally into the group. The only problem was I wasn’t drunk. Not even high. Just a little light-hearted.
The host came up to me and said in broken English – “I am a fisherman.”
Oh!
“Where are you from?” he asked me.
Mumbai!
At that moment Mumbai seemed very far. For the time being I forgot the rat-race, the unmet goals and the challenges lying ahead.
“Here take this fishermen’s knife. Be careful! Don’t carry it in your pocket. They don’t allow them in the airport.”
Thanks!
I was happy. Euphoric. No bad memories troubled me. I could stretch my hand and take my pick of the goodies around. If some slipped away, let them be. There was enough around. And lots of time to savour them.
I was laughing without a thought. No worries. No responsibilities. Not here. Not now.
And then the dream got over.
“Hey Raj! The taxi is waiting outside. Come! Raj! Get Up.”
I got up. Dusted myself.
Where’s my tie?
The girl with the curly hair was wearing five of them, including mine. She looked like a head-hunter. I collected my tie from her.
Ha Det Bra. Bye Bye everybody!
Resolution for 2010 - Learn Dancing.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Milkman
Every year we have a corporate get-together. The last annual get-together was arranged at Sirdalen up in the mountains in Norway in the winter. It is a popular resort for those who like to ski.
Returning back from the resort I was putting up at Airport Hotel at Stavanger, the cultural capital of Norway.
I had the morning free as my flight back to India was in the evening. In December strong chilly winds blow across the city. It took some resolve to step out of the cozy confines of the grand hotel. I was suitably donned in overcoat, gloves and cap and walked across the road to the bus stop on the busy highway.
There were two stops. I tried to guess which one was for the bus to the harbour front. There wasn’t anybody around whom I could ask.
After ten minutes I gave up trying to make sense of the time table in Norse language. I saw an approaching cyclist pedaling up the special lane earmarked for them. I smiled hopefully at him,
“Hi!”
“Hi”, he replied amiably.
Generally cyclists are good-natured. I guess it has to do with the good health. Cycling up and down the hilly roads keeps them pleasantly fit.
”I am looking for a bus to the harbour-front.”
He parked his cycle and checked the time-table.
“There is one after 15 minutes,” he said helpfully.
It turned out he was a Spanish student and had been to India to see the famed Khajuraho sculptures.
“In Madhyaa”, he said referring to Madhya Pradesh.
Presently he was working in the hotel to fund his higher studies.
The cyclist left. Meanwhile I saw a slim, tall and distinguished looking gentleman coming out of the hotel. He was pulling a trolley-bag behind him.
He came up to the bus-stop and smiled at me pleasantly. I remembered seeing him the evening before in a dance-party at the hotel.
“From which country?”
“India.”
When he heard I was coming back from Sirdalen he looked at me closely. Sirdalen in December is for hard core winter-sport lovers.
“May I inquire from which field you are? Medicine, Engineering or IT?”
“I am a hydrographer. Now working for a digital charting company.” I said.
'Well', I thought to myself. I should return the compliment to him. So I asked,
“What about you?”
“I am a milkman,” he said with a small self-deprecating laugh.
“Every morning I take my van out to deliver milk cans in the neighbourhood.”
Wow!
Images of our north Indian rustic doodhwala flashed through my mind. Every morning the guy hollers Doodh (Milk!) and gives a long press on the door-bell. Try as I might I couldn’t picturize our rustic gwala (milkman), wrapped in a Kambal (coarse blanket), swaying gently to the music and twirling on the dance floor with his beau.
Returning back from the resort I was putting up at Airport Hotel at Stavanger, the cultural capital of Norway.
I had the morning free as my flight back to India was in the evening. In December strong chilly winds blow across the city. It took some resolve to step out of the cozy confines of the grand hotel. I was suitably donned in overcoat, gloves and cap and walked across the road to the bus stop on the busy highway.
There were two stops. I tried to guess which one was for the bus to the harbour front. There wasn’t anybody around whom I could ask.
After ten minutes I gave up trying to make sense of the time table in Norse language. I saw an approaching cyclist pedaling up the special lane earmarked for them. I smiled hopefully at him,
“Hi!”
“Hi”, he replied amiably.
Generally cyclists are good-natured. I guess it has to do with the good health. Cycling up and down the hilly roads keeps them pleasantly fit.
”I am looking for a bus to the harbour-front.”
He parked his cycle and checked the time-table.
“There is one after 15 minutes,” he said helpfully.
It turned out he was a Spanish student and had been to India to see the famed Khajuraho sculptures.
“In Madhyaa”, he said referring to Madhya Pradesh.
Presently he was working in the hotel to fund his higher studies.
The cyclist left. Meanwhile I saw a slim, tall and distinguished looking gentleman coming out of the hotel. He was pulling a trolley-bag behind him.
He came up to the bus-stop and smiled at me pleasantly. I remembered seeing him the evening before in a dance-party at the hotel.
“From which country?”
“India.”
When he heard I was coming back from Sirdalen he looked at me closely. Sirdalen in December is for hard core winter-sport lovers.
“May I inquire from which field you are? Medicine, Engineering or IT?”
“I am a hydrographer. Now working for a digital charting company.” I said.
'Well', I thought to myself. I should return the compliment to him. So I asked,
“What about you?”
“I am a milkman,” he said with a small self-deprecating laugh.
“Every morning I take my van out to deliver milk cans in the neighbourhood.”
Wow!
Images of our north Indian rustic doodhwala flashed through my mind. Every morning the guy hollers Doodh (Milk!) and gives a long press on the door-bell. Try as I might I couldn’t picturize our rustic gwala (milkman), wrapped in a Kambal (coarse blanket), swaying gently to the music and twirling on the dance floor with his beau.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Corporate Social Responsibility in Shipping
The first time I came across the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in shipping was a year back when my son, a media student, had to submit a project as a pre-requisite to qualify for higher studies. He came to me for advice. As usual we were short of time and I had to think of something quickly.
At that time (and even now) shipping industry was hit by piracy. There were dreadful stories detailing the plight of hijacked seafarers. As a community, merchant seamen are not taught to deal with aggressive situations. They have to simply run a ship and not handle weapons. No agency or government is backing them to fight the criminals. They are there to earn their bread. Fighting is the last thing they want to do. After all injuries can only limit their earning capacity.
Today’s mariners have a tough time dealing with piracy, terrorist threats, being put behind bars in alien countries. They are after all soft targets. Therefore, in my opinion any voluntary action taken by shipping industry to help the affected seamen should qualify as CSR in shipping. Especially if the action is taken purely to alleviate the misery of fellow human beings.
That is what I told my son. He took my interpretation in full faith. After all Baba knows best. And so his project took off.
He went around and met the contacts I had given. I nodded my appreciation as he took various interviews and wrote the reports. He was able to submit the project just in time.
He spoke about piracy and the jungle out there at sea. The International Ship and Port Facility Safety (ISPS) Code developed as a response to the 9/11 attack on the twin towers. The role a shipping company had assumed to protect the private port they were developing against the terrorist threat. It was a voluntary act undertaken by the company so that their port is projected as a safe haven for ships to anchor or berth.
“Doing our little bit.” The captain of the port explained.
The project was accepted and my son made the cut to pursue his higher studies.
A few weeks back I strolled into a Finnish stall at the SMM exhibition in Mumbai. Browsing through Maritime Finland’s Navigator Yearbook I came across this article “CSR in Shipping.”
Wow! I thought to myself. I know all about this subject. That is, till I started reading the article. I couldn’t find any mention about piracy/terrorism/ criminalization of seafarers. The article talked about sustainable development in shipping. The measures taken on three different levels – Planet, Profit and People. According to this theory true sustainable development in business is not only about financial profitability but also environmental quality and social equity.
The article talked about using clean fuels to reduce carbon footprint. The different challenges included risk management from oil spills, emission control through fuel oil quality and engine design, waste management and safety at sea. In other words the stress was upon the protection of the environment.
I was looking at CSR in shipping from a totally different angle.
Referring to the textbook definition, it says CSR is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of the society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders as well as the environment. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with the legislation.
It includes organisations which voluntarily take steps to improve the quality of life for their employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.
I guess the definition is broad enough to include supporting a hapless wife of a seafarer held for ransom by the pirates or jailed in an alien country for doing his job as best as he could.
One must remember that shipping is a complicated international business. It is common to have a Greek ship-owner chartered by a Dutch company to carry Saudi cargo to Japan. The vessel agents could be located in India and the crew is a mix of Philipinos and Bangladeshi nationals.
When Somali pirates hijack this ship the families are totally clueless whom to approach for help. In such a situation any action taken by a shipping company to mitigate the problems of the seafarer’s family is laudable.
Lately the internet has added another vocal body called the Yahoo merchant navy group whose members include anybody to do with shipping. They organize rallies, write letters to the government and generally act as an overseer whose views and opinions carry a lot of weight in the maritime industry.
The world was quite different when I was sailing seven years back. The salaries have shot up but so have the dangers. And the means to fight these dangers.
At that time (and even now) shipping industry was hit by piracy. There were dreadful stories detailing the plight of hijacked seafarers. As a community, merchant seamen are not taught to deal with aggressive situations. They have to simply run a ship and not handle weapons. No agency or government is backing them to fight the criminals. They are there to earn their bread. Fighting is the last thing they want to do. After all injuries can only limit their earning capacity.
Today’s mariners have a tough time dealing with piracy, terrorist threats, being put behind bars in alien countries. They are after all soft targets. Therefore, in my opinion any voluntary action taken by shipping industry to help the affected seamen should qualify as CSR in shipping. Especially if the action is taken purely to alleviate the misery of fellow human beings.
That is what I told my son. He took my interpretation in full faith. After all Baba knows best. And so his project took off.
He went around and met the contacts I had given. I nodded my appreciation as he took various interviews and wrote the reports. He was able to submit the project just in time.
He spoke about piracy and the jungle out there at sea. The International Ship and Port Facility Safety (ISPS) Code developed as a response to the 9/11 attack on the twin towers. The role a shipping company had assumed to protect the private port they were developing against the terrorist threat. It was a voluntary act undertaken by the company so that their port is projected as a safe haven for ships to anchor or berth.
“Doing our little bit.” The captain of the port explained.
The project was accepted and my son made the cut to pursue his higher studies.
A few weeks back I strolled into a Finnish stall at the SMM exhibition in Mumbai. Browsing through Maritime Finland’s Navigator Yearbook I came across this article “CSR in Shipping.”
Wow! I thought to myself. I know all about this subject. That is, till I started reading the article. I couldn’t find any mention about piracy/terrorism/ criminalization of seafarers. The article talked about sustainable development in shipping. The measures taken on three different levels – Planet, Profit and People. According to this theory true sustainable development in business is not only about financial profitability but also environmental quality and social equity.
The article talked about using clean fuels to reduce carbon footprint. The different challenges included risk management from oil spills, emission control through fuel oil quality and engine design, waste management and safety at sea. In other words the stress was upon the protection of the environment.
I was looking at CSR in shipping from a totally different angle.
Referring to the textbook definition, it says CSR is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of the society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders as well as the environment. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with the legislation.
It includes organisations which voluntarily take steps to improve the quality of life for their employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.
I guess the definition is broad enough to include supporting a hapless wife of a seafarer held for ransom by the pirates or jailed in an alien country for doing his job as best as he could.
One must remember that shipping is a complicated international business. It is common to have a Greek ship-owner chartered by a Dutch company to carry Saudi cargo to Japan. The vessel agents could be located in India and the crew is a mix of Philipinos and Bangladeshi nationals.
When Somali pirates hijack this ship the families are totally clueless whom to approach for help. In such a situation any action taken by a shipping company to mitigate the problems of the seafarer’s family is laudable.
Lately the internet has added another vocal body called the Yahoo merchant navy group whose members include anybody to do with shipping. They organize rallies, write letters to the government and generally act as an overseer whose views and opinions carry a lot of weight in the maritime industry.
The world was quite different when I was sailing seven years back. The salaries have shot up but so have the dangers. And the means to fight these dangers.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Tackling Piracy
November is a dangerous month in the busy shipping lanes passing through Gulf of Aden (GOA).
Just after the monsoons fish is plentiful in the Indian Ocean. Trawlers and fishing vessels from the far-east and Europe converge off the East Coast of Africa in great numbers. It is the time when Somali pirates attack. The pirates are actually fishermen who are unable to protect the exploitation of their fish-rich waters from poachers.
Last year on 26 November terrorists attacked the Taj hotel at Mumbai. It became a defining date in terrorism - now referred to as 26/11. Just two days later the tanker MT Biscaglia owned by a company in Singapore was hijacked from the GOA. It escaped the media attention due to the Taj attack.
This story is about Biscaglia as narrated by the vessel superintendent.
There were 25 Indians and 2 Bangladeshis on board. The ship also carried three security guards who were ex-RN commandos.
The vessel carried a cargo of palm oil from Indonesia. Due to its load the freeboard (height of the deck from the water surface) was reduced to 3.7 meters. Her speed was a mere 10 knots.
On board the commandos carried non-lethal anti-piracy equipment called Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). LRAD emits a high-pitch sound which bursts the ear-drums of a person on whom it is directed. The manufacturers claimed an effective range of 300 meters. The ship was escorted by a warship in a convoy. On that day she was supposedly the best prepared against piracy. However that day she became the only vessel to be hijacked from scores of other vessels plying in the area. It was the 97th incident of piracy in 2008.
On the 28th morning a skiff suddenly appeared about 4 miles away on the starboard bow. The LRAD was installed and operated. It didn’t have much effect. Probably the pirates had inserted ear-buds. Within no time the skiff with a superior speed of 20 knots came to the opposite bow and fired an RPG. The LRAD which weighs 20 Kg is not easily portable and could not be brought on the opposite bow. The vessel was doing a zig-zag course. It actually slowed down the speed and the vessel became a sitting duck. The pirates were able to put up a ladder easily and climb on board. From the deck they rushed towards the bridge firing from the machine guns.
In a trice they went up to the bridge, broke open the port hole to enter the bridge and into the mess decks. The crew was mustered, head count was taken and the vessel was successfully taken over. The skiff having achieved its objective left the scene leaving the two pirates behind.
The three commandos who were not reflected in the crew list were hiding on top of the bridge deck. They remained undetected. Later when a German navy helicopter appeared on the scene all three of them jumped overboard and were picked up by the chopper. They managed to escape leaving the crew to fend for themselves. The conduct of the security guards was criticized. According to the crew they were roaming around in rubber slippers and Bermuda shorts. They looked as if they were on a pleasure cruise.
The efficacy of the LRAD and the commandos were questioned after the incident. One can simply put ear buds to nullify the effect of LRAD. After this incident the shipping company stopped taking security guards
Once the distress message reached the owners and the ship’s agents the human drama started. It was the first hijacking incident for the agents at Mumbai. They were totally unprepared to handle the deluge of panic calls. Everybody wanted information – friends, relatives, well wishers, apart from the normal parties like the charterers, ship-owner, maritime administrator and various other authorities.
For the next two months till the vessel was released a 24 x 7 helpline was created to deal with the enquiries pouring in different lingos – English, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil. The main problem for the agents was to control the panic of the relatives, such as an old mother or an expecting wife. It didn’t help that the incident had occurred just after the 26/11 Mumbai attack. The affected relatives were on tenter-hooks.
Meanwhile the hijacked vessel proceeded towards a small village in Somalia. After some days of steaming she reached her destination. She anchored very close to the coast. The pirates received a hero’s welcome in there own stronghold. Now there were more of them on board. The negotiations for ransom started soon after.
Throughout the negotiations the crew remained on the ship. Within the constraints they were surprisingly well looked after. They were allowed to move around to go to the toilets and have their meals. When the food on board finished the pirates brought live goats. They earmarked a place to slaughter them. The staple food thereafter was mutton and rice.
The Master and a few others from the crew were Muslims. A factor which helped in the well-being of the crew during the negotiations as the pirates were also Muslims. At regular periods the Master was permitted to speak to the world at large. His replies to all queries were always in English and the same:
“We are safe and fine. Food is running out. Please pay the ransom fast.”
The pirates called themselves businessmen. They looked after the crew as guests. They are fishermen, not terrorists. At least not yet, but they might change in the future if they are continued to be hounded by the rest of the world and their fishing livelihood is not addressed.
The ransom was delivered in hard cash inside water proof bags through their own network. The money was counted in a closed room. Once that was satisfactorily completed, the pirates told the master
“You are free to go to the next port. Nobody will harm you. Remember it is only till the next port whichever one you choose. In case if someone does attack, please call up this number.”
The pirates disappeared immediately thereafter.
The ship sailed north towards Salalah, Oman. After a few days the Master gathered sufficient courage to call the agents and gave them the message. “We are safe.”
Some lessons learnt by the ship-agents from this incident.
The pirates operate from mother vessels which carry the skiff aboard or tow it behind. The key to a successful hijack is the control of the crew.
Barricade all doors and port holes. Put iron bars on the port holes. The pirates will need to cut the bars to enter the bridge or the mess deck. Put wire rolls all around the bridge and access points. The aim is to delay the access to the bridge.
Meanwhile the crew must have a citadel stocked with enough water, dry provisions and walkie-talkies including spare batteries. The engines should be shut down. The pirates cannot run a ship. They cannot start an engine. They are not seafarers merely fishermen now calling themselves businessmen.
If the pirates are unable to capture the crew or move the ship towards their stronghold in Somalia they will simply abandon the vessel. They are scared to remain in open waters for long.
Earlier the pirates used to attack only in the morning. Not any more. Prem Divya, a VLCC carrying oil from Sudan to Singapore was attacked on the night of 09th Feb 2009. This was the first attack in the night, indicating their frustration or boldness depending on how you interpret it. With a loaded cargo its freeboard was just 3 meters. She was the last ship in the convoy. The Master of Divya complained that she did not detect the naval escort neither on the Radar nor on the AIS. Apparently it was a British stealth warship which doesn’t paint on the Radar. Moreover it had kept the transmission of her AIS off.
When Prem Divya was attacked she cried out for help. The warship came alive on the radio. She gave Divya a direction to steer. The frigate just ten miles away swung towards the tanker.
The Master, a good chap according to her superintendent was able to put all the ship’s reserve power and kept the pirate boat at bay. Fortunately the pirates didn’t fire an RPG or else the tanker would have been history.
Prem Divya survived. The Royal Navy caught the boat. They couldn’t find any guns. Probably jettisoned overboard. But the ship had video taped them, which helped in positive identification.
It’s a jungle out there. Who is bad or who is good depends on whose perspective you are looking from.
Advice from the vessel Maersk Alabama who successfully overcame an attempted piracy even after the pirates were on board:
- Have a well fortified location with food and water supply.
- Kill all the lights. The pirates are reluctant to enter inside a dark ship.
- Leave the alarms going, the noise helps to cover movements in the
house
- Flashlights and radios are very handy, as well as the sound-powered phone.
Just after the monsoons fish is plentiful in the Indian Ocean. Trawlers and fishing vessels from the far-east and Europe converge off the East Coast of Africa in great numbers. It is the time when Somali pirates attack. The pirates are actually fishermen who are unable to protect the exploitation of their fish-rich waters from poachers.
Last year on 26 November terrorists attacked the Taj hotel at Mumbai. It became a defining date in terrorism - now referred to as 26/11. Just two days later the tanker MT Biscaglia owned by a company in Singapore was hijacked from the GOA. It escaped the media attention due to the Taj attack.
This story is about Biscaglia as narrated by the vessel superintendent.
There were 25 Indians and 2 Bangladeshis on board. The ship also carried three security guards who were ex-RN commandos.
The vessel carried a cargo of palm oil from Indonesia. Due to its load the freeboard (height of the deck from the water surface) was reduced to 3.7 meters. Her speed was a mere 10 knots.
On board the commandos carried non-lethal anti-piracy equipment called Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). LRAD emits a high-pitch sound which bursts the ear-drums of a person on whom it is directed. The manufacturers claimed an effective range of 300 meters. The ship was escorted by a warship in a convoy. On that day she was supposedly the best prepared against piracy. However that day she became the only vessel to be hijacked from scores of other vessels plying in the area. It was the 97th incident of piracy in 2008.
On the 28th morning a skiff suddenly appeared about 4 miles away on the starboard bow. The LRAD was installed and operated. It didn’t have much effect. Probably the pirates had inserted ear-buds. Within no time the skiff with a superior speed of 20 knots came to the opposite bow and fired an RPG. The LRAD which weighs 20 Kg is not easily portable and could not be brought on the opposite bow. The vessel was doing a zig-zag course. It actually slowed down the speed and the vessel became a sitting duck. The pirates were able to put up a ladder easily and climb on board. From the deck they rushed towards the bridge firing from the machine guns.
In a trice they went up to the bridge, broke open the port hole to enter the bridge and into the mess decks. The crew was mustered, head count was taken and the vessel was successfully taken over. The skiff having achieved its objective left the scene leaving the two pirates behind.
The three commandos who were not reflected in the crew list were hiding on top of the bridge deck. They remained undetected. Later when a German navy helicopter appeared on the scene all three of them jumped overboard and were picked up by the chopper. They managed to escape leaving the crew to fend for themselves. The conduct of the security guards was criticized. According to the crew they were roaming around in rubber slippers and Bermuda shorts. They looked as if they were on a pleasure cruise.
The efficacy of the LRAD and the commandos were questioned after the incident. One can simply put ear buds to nullify the effect of LRAD. After this incident the shipping company stopped taking security guards
Once the distress message reached the owners and the ship’s agents the human drama started. It was the first hijacking incident for the agents at Mumbai. They were totally unprepared to handle the deluge of panic calls. Everybody wanted information – friends, relatives, well wishers, apart from the normal parties like the charterers, ship-owner, maritime administrator and various other authorities.
For the next two months till the vessel was released a 24 x 7 helpline was created to deal with the enquiries pouring in different lingos – English, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil. The main problem for the agents was to control the panic of the relatives, such as an old mother or an expecting wife. It didn’t help that the incident had occurred just after the 26/11 Mumbai attack. The affected relatives were on tenter-hooks.
Meanwhile the hijacked vessel proceeded towards a small village in Somalia. After some days of steaming she reached her destination. She anchored very close to the coast. The pirates received a hero’s welcome in there own stronghold. Now there were more of them on board. The negotiations for ransom started soon after.
Throughout the negotiations the crew remained on the ship. Within the constraints they were surprisingly well looked after. They were allowed to move around to go to the toilets and have their meals. When the food on board finished the pirates brought live goats. They earmarked a place to slaughter them. The staple food thereafter was mutton and rice.
The Master and a few others from the crew were Muslims. A factor which helped in the well-being of the crew during the negotiations as the pirates were also Muslims. At regular periods the Master was permitted to speak to the world at large. His replies to all queries were always in English and the same:
“We are safe and fine. Food is running out. Please pay the ransom fast.”
The pirates called themselves businessmen. They looked after the crew as guests. They are fishermen, not terrorists. At least not yet, but they might change in the future if they are continued to be hounded by the rest of the world and their fishing livelihood is not addressed.
The ransom was delivered in hard cash inside water proof bags through their own network. The money was counted in a closed room. Once that was satisfactorily completed, the pirates told the master
“You are free to go to the next port. Nobody will harm you. Remember it is only till the next port whichever one you choose. In case if someone does attack, please call up this number.”
The pirates disappeared immediately thereafter.
The ship sailed north towards Salalah, Oman. After a few days the Master gathered sufficient courage to call the agents and gave them the message. “We are safe.”
Some lessons learnt by the ship-agents from this incident.
The pirates operate from mother vessels which carry the skiff aboard or tow it behind. The key to a successful hijack is the control of the crew.
Barricade all doors and port holes. Put iron bars on the port holes. The pirates will need to cut the bars to enter the bridge or the mess deck. Put wire rolls all around the bridge and access points. The aim is to delay the access to the bridge.
Meanwhile the crew must have a citadel stocked with enough water, dry provisions and walkie-talkies including spare batteries. The engines should be shut down. The pirates cannot run a ship. They cannot start an engine. They are not seafarers merely fishermen now calling themselves businessmen.
If the pirates are unable to capture the crew or move the ship towards their stronghold in Somalia they will simply abandon the vessel. They are scared to remain in open waters for long.
Earlier the pirates used to attack only in the morning. Not any more. Prem Divya, a VLCC carrying oil from Sudan to Singapore was attacked on the night of 09th Feb 2009. This was the first attack in the night, indicating their frustration or boldness depending on how you interpret it. With a loaded cargo its freeboard was just 3 meters. She was the last ship in the convoy. The Master of Divya complained that she did not detect the naval escort neither on the Radar nor on the AIS. Apparently it was a British stealth warship which doesn’t paint on the Radar. Moreover it had kept the transmission of her AIS off.
When Prem Divya was attacked she cried out for help. The warship came alive on the radio. She gave Divya a direction to steer. The frigate just ten miles away swung towards the tanker.
The Master, a good chap according to her superintendent was able to put all the ship’s reserve power and kept the pirate boat at bay. Fortunately the pirates didn’t fire an RPG or else the tanker would have been history.
Prem Divya survived. The Royal Navy caught the boat. They couldn’t find any guns. Probably jettisoned overboard. But the ship had video taped them, which helped in positive identification.
It’s a jungle out there. Who is bad or who is good depends on whose perspective you are looking from.
Advice from the vessel Maersk Alabama who successfully overcame an attempted piracy even after the pirates were on board:
- Have a well fortified location with food and water supply.
- Kill all the lights. The pirates are reluctant to enter inside a dark ship.
- Leave the alarms going, the noise helps to cover movements in the
house
- Flashlights and radios are very handy, as well as the sound-powered phone.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Empowering the Fishermen
Even in the calm weather the 35 meter trawler was tossing uncomfortably in the long ocean swell. It was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, a thousand miles from nowhere. I had just scrambled aboard a fishing vessel from a small rubber boat which I had used to cover the short distance from our stopped oil tanker.
In 2002 I was on a product tanker chartered to provide bunkers to fishing vessels operating in the rich fishing grounds off East Africa.
The skipper remained inside the bridge watching me hauled up by his miserable fishing hands. They had already been at sea in the small trawler for six months. Another three will pass before they touched land.
“Nee Hao Ma”, I shouted at them. ‘How are you?’
It took some time for the Chinese crew to comprehend my accent. Then they broke into smiles.
“Hen Hao! Bu Hen Hao!” ‘Fine! Very Fine!’
My knowledge of Chinese language didn’t exytend beyond that. I stepped onto the deck strewed with nets and fishing remains, I wondered, a little disdainfully, how lucky I was to be on a luxurious tanker.
I entered the small bridge and handed over the papers to the skipper. Along with it I gave him a small plastic bottle containing a sample of the oil that we had transferred.
The Japanese skipper was furious at me for entering his precious bridge without taking my shoes off. He took the sample from me and threw it out into the sea with a mighty heave. Then he proceeded to put his scrawl on the papers.
Meanwhile I took in the surprisingly neat and clean bridge. Prominently placed on the sill was a compact electronic charting system. It had digital charts for the entire region equivalent to 350 paper charts. The cumbersome chart table with paper charts that clutters a small bridge was missing.
Fishing vessels are not covered under the IMO regulations. In India for example they come under the local state maritime board. Any equipment it has is due to the support received by the company/state to which the fishing vessel belongs. Not because it is mandatory.
In the Indian Ocean there are a lot of fishing vessels coming from the far-east and Mediterranean. Local fishermen operate generally near the coast. As a community the Indian Ocean littoral states are poor and do not possess sophisticated vessels. In India fishermen are perceived as the under-privileged class. They do not receive the same support from the state as fishermen from developed countries do.
Their boats are nowadays fitted with GPS track plotters. They need digital charts on them to venture out to sea far from their home-ports. It’s not possible to maintain paper charts on a small tossing vessel.
A common enemy of the Somali and the Indian fishermen are the poachers who come from distant lands. Many Somali fishermen over the years have graduated into pirates. Earlier they were trying to protect their waters all by themselves as they did not have functioning governments. Today they have become the targets of the world navy including the Indian navy.
I wonder if we have unwittingly helped the common enemy of the local fishermen of the littoral states in this complicated state of affairs.
In 2002 I was on a product tanker chartered to provide bunkers to fishing vessels operating in the rich fishing grounds off East Africa.
The skipper remained inside the bridge watching me hauled up by his miserable fishing hands. They had already been at sea in the small trawler for six months. Another three will pass before they touched land.
“Nee Hao Ma”, I shouted at them. ‘How are you?’
It took some time for the Chinese crew to comprehend my accent. Then they broke into smiles.
“Hen Hao! Bu Hen Hao!” ‘Fine! Very Fine!’
My knowledge of Chinese language didn’t exytend beyond that. I stepped onto the deck strewed with nets and fishing remains, I wondered, a little disdainfully, how lucky I was to be on a luxurious tanker.
I entered the small bridge and handed over the papers to the skipper. Along with it I gave him a small plastic bottle containing a sample of the oil that we had transferred.
The Japanese skipper was furious at me for entering his precious bridge without taking my shoes off. He took the sample from me and threw it out into the sea with a mighty heave. Then he proceeded to put his scrawl on the papers.
Meanwhile I took in the surprisingly neat and clean bridge. Prominently placed on the sill was a compact electronic charting system. It had digital charts for the entire region equivalent to 350 paper charts. The cumbersome chart table with paper charts that clutters a small bridge was missing.
Fishing vessels are not covered under the IMO regulations. In India for example they come under the local state maritime board. Any equipment it has is due to the support received by the company/state to which the fishing vessel belongs. Not because it is mandatory.
In the Indian Ocean there are a lot of fishing vessels coming from the far-east and Mediterranean. Local fishermen operate generally near the coast. As a community the Indian Ocean littoral states are poor and do not possess sophisticated vessels. In India fishermen are perceived as the under-privileged class. They do not receive the same support from the state as fishermen from developed countries do.
Their boats are nowadays fitted with GPS track plotters. They need digital charts on them to venture out to sea far from their home-ports. It’s not possible to maintain paper charts on a small tossing vessel.
A common enemy of the Somali and the Indian fishermen are the poachers who come from distant lands. Many Somali fishermen over the years have graduated into pirates. Earlier they were trying to protect their waters all by themselves as they did not have functioning governments. Today they have become the targets of the world navy including the Indian navy.
I wonder if we have unwittingly helped the common enemy of the local fishermen of the littoral states in this complicated state of affairs.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Development
As a hydrographer I used to render voluminous reports at the end of a survey. I remember we had a paragraph for reporting such things as the sighting of whales or turtles. Sometimes I would insert a small paragraph which would go something like:
“This remote beach is frequented by turtles. On a particular dark moonless night thousands of them small ones crack open their eggs and scramble over the sands into the warm sea. It happens before their predators realize.”
Consider a world where there are golden beaches with beautiful patterns created by the waves. You can bend down, take a fistful of sand and feel the clean grains streaming out of your fingers.
If you lift your gaze you can see the azure sky afar, where it meets the sea at the horizon. The world looks like an impossible painting done by a child using bold colours.
You cannot detect any movement or sign of life. But you know there’s a vibrant world hidden within.
On the other side tall brown tree torsos rise vertically straight up. On top of this red and brown mesh is thick green foliage. If you look carefully you might notice a sudden rustle of the branches betraying the presence of an exotic tropical bird. The rain forest doesn’t allow prying eyes to peep into its world.
In this vivid gold, green, blue and red universe there is no sign of man. Not yet. The weather is gentle. As you walk on the sands your footprints are etched forever. Till the next wave come and wipes away the stain.
You know you are privileged to share the beach with the olive ridley and leatherback turtles. They don’t come too often. Sometimes after a stormy night you will find them frolicking on the sea with the dolphins, having re-claimed the waves.
Once I gazed at them from a helicopter hovering vertically above them. From up there they looked like a big swarm of bedbugs. Thousands of them all headed towards a particular direction. They have been playing this game for centuries. Maybe millennia. The next few years are going to be tough. Their idyllic world is threatened by development.
Close by a modern port is coming up. The constructions for which will destroy their habitat forever. It will bring a lot of wealth to a handful few and prosperity in this region. So what if some turtles die.
“Can’t they go somewhere else? I’m sure they will find themselves another place to breed and frolic. Anyway it’s not that important. A few dead turtles won’t shake up this earth. After all you can’t stop development. We’ve to make our fortunes and spend it before we grow old and die.”
“This remote beach is frequented by turtles. On a particular dark moonless night thousands of them small ones crack open their eggs and scramble over the sands into the warm sea. It happens before their predators realize.”
Consider a world where there are golden beaches with beautiful patterns created by the waves. You can bend down, take a fistful of sand and feel the clean grains streaming out of your fingers.
If you lift your gaze you can see the azure sky afar, where it meets the sea at the horizon. The world looks like an impossible painting done by a child using bold colours.
You cannot detect any movement or sign of life. But you know there’s a vibrant world hidden within.
On the other side tall brown tree torsos rise vertically straight up. On top of this red and brown mesh is thick green foliage. If you look carefully you might notice a sudden rustle of the branches betraying the presence of an exotic tropical bird. The rain forest doesn’t allow prying eyes to peep into its world.
In this vivid gold, green, blue and red universe there is no sign of man. Not yet. The weather is gentle. As you walk on the sands your footprints are etched forever. Till the next wave come and wipes away the stain.
You know you are privileged to share the beach with the olive ridley and leatherback turtles. They don’t come too often. Sometimes after a stormy night you will find them frolicking on the sea with the dolphins, having re-claimed the waves.
Once I gazed at them from a helicopter hovering vertically above them. From up there they looked like a big swarm of bedbugs. Thousands of them all headed towards a particular direction. They have been playing this game for centuries. Maybe millennia. The next few years are going to be tough. Their idyllic world is threatened by development.
Close by a modern port is coming up. The constructions for which will destroy their habitat forever. It will bring a lot of wealth to a handful few and prosperity in this region. So what if some turtles die.
“Can’t they go somewhere else? I’m sure they will find themselves another place to breed and frolic. Anyway it’s not that important. A few dead turtles won’t shake up this earth. After all you can’t stop development. We’ve to make our fortunes and spend it before we grow old and die.”
Friday, August 7, 2009
Dynamic Charts
A general refrain of old timers is why do the ENC look so different from the paper chart. The former is based on IHO’s S-52 colours and symbols, the other on INT1 Symbols & Abbreviations.
The S-52 has been developed keeping in mind that an ENC is displayed on a CRT or an LCD screen which is fundamentally different from a paper chart. Whereas a paper spread on a table reflects light the computer display emits light. Further the resolution of a typical monitor is insufficient for INT1 symbols to be seen optimally.
Yet if you notice S-52 closely resembles the INT1. So that the mariners get a comfortable feeling of dealing with familiar symbols.
Suppose if there was no compulsion to stick to existing symbols and the digital chart symbols were developed from the point of view of optimum exploitation of the new dynamic medium then, I dare say, the charts would appear radically different. Perhaps with drastic results till such time the mariners got used to it.
Let us take the example of the danger highlight symbol. It resembles a magenta-coloured screw-head and most mariners are stumped when they see it on the screen. Because of this isolated danger symbol we have already had the incident of an ECDIS fitted RO-RO vessel losing a propeller and suffering extensive underwater damages by running over a charted wreck which had being wire-swept to a depth of 1.8 meters. This was in January 2008.
The isolated danger symbol or the screw-head appears only if the user-defined setting of the safety contour is more than the depth over wreck. In this particular case of Pride of Canterbury running over the charted wreck of Mahratta the symbol of the wreck had changed its appearance due to the setting of the safety contour.
The ship was navigating off Dover which was familiar grounds for the Master. However, none from the bridge team consisting of the Master, Chief and 2/O realized the significance of the isolated danger symbol. Had they referred to the paper chart spread on the chart table they would had immediately recognized the wreck symbol.
So much for this dynamic symbol – that was actually designed to draw the attention of the OOW. Not only did it fail to attract the attention, it was simply ignored. For sure, the ECDIS has the facility of interrogation of a symbol when you move the cursor over it. Unfortunately in this particular case it was not used.
In my interaction with students preparing for competency exams, many of whom have undergone ECDIS course, I did not find any who understood the significance of the isolated danger symbol. As ECDIS/ECS usage becomes more widespread let’s hope the users become familiar with dynamic symbols and incidents like Canterbury rarely occurs.
On the other hand widespread usage of ECDIS will surely lead to development of more such uses, so that the digital chart becomes dynamic and changes its appearance due to external factors. Here are some examples which demonstrate how a digital chart is used differently from a paper chart.
- Guard Zone
A concept borrowed from the ARPA. Depending on the speed of a vessel the user defines the length and width of the guard zone which will extend as a probing beam from the ship’s head. Any shallow depths/contours or navigational dangers which happens to fall in this zone will trigger an alarm.
- Echo Referencing
This is an elegant way to accurately position own vessel. It requires positive identification of a stationary target such as a rock/beacon/islet on the radar. Then use the ARPA to acquire the target. The ARPA target should ideally coincide with the charted position of the rock. Many times it doesn’t because your positioning system is in error. The ECDIS allows you to lock this target on the charted object. The small difference in position becomes the correction which is applied on own position. The ECDIS uses the notation ‘R’ to indicate the referenced target.
- Weather Alarms
Set by the user depending on such parameters like heights, wind speed and barometric pressure. These are not chart symbols but an additional layer on the chart. It helps to indicate alarming situations in a particular region. Going a step further, you may have a voyage optimization software which will advise you on the course and speed of the vessel to avoid bad weather and choose the best passage to reach your destination.
- Ice Alarms
Depending on the ice information that has been received you may get alerts to indicate the presence of ice-bergs.
- Man Overboard Mark
The usual MOB mark tells you where the man fell. The ECDIS then generates another moving MOB symbol based on the calculated drift. Some software will also draw the Williamson turn for you to take the vessel around. It has received positive feedbacks from the end-user.
There was a time when a chart meant a wide sheet of paper spread on a flat table on which the outline plan of the coast, underwater details and navigational information was contained. In 2002 SOLAS changed the definition of a chart. The term nautical chart now includes a specially compiled database, for example an ENC, from which such a map can be displayed.
Today even this changed definition is outdated. The current definition implies static data. Whereas now in addition to the static hydrographic data the digital chart on the screen contains external data such as ice information, weather parameters and wave-heights. These data can be accurately collected only in real-time.
It's time we had a new definition of a chart which would reflect the dynamic character of a chart.
The S-52 has been developed keeping in mind that an ENC is displayed on a CRT or an LCD screen which is fundamentally different from a paper chart. Whereas a paper spread on a table reflects light the computer display emits light. Further the resolution of a typical monitor is insufficient for INT1 symbols to be seen optimally.
Yet if you notice S-52 closely resembles the INT1. So that the mariners get a comfortable feeling of dealing with familiar symbols.
Suppose if there was no compulsion to stick to existing symbols and the digital chart symbols were developed from the point of view of optimum exploitation of the new dynamic medium then, I dare say, the charts would appear radically different. Perhaps with drastic results till such time the mariners got used to it.
Let us take the example of the danger highlight symbol. It resembles a magenta-coloured screw-head and most mariners are stumped when they see it on the screen. Because of this isolated danger symbol we have already had the incident of an ECDIS fitted RO-RO vessel losing a propeller and suffering extensive underwater damages by running over a charted wreck which had being wire-swept to a depth of 1.8 meters. This was in January 2008.
The isolated danger symbol or the screw-head appears only if the user-defined setting of the safety contour is more than the depth over wreck. In this particular case of Pride of Canterbury running over the charted wreck of Mahratta the symbol of the wreck had changed its appearance due to the setting of the safety contour.
The ship was navigating off Dover which was familiar grounds for the Master. However, none from the bridge team consisting of the Master, Chief and 2/O realized the significance of the isolated danger symbol. Had they referred to the paper chart spread on the chart table they would had immediately recognized the wreck symbol.
So much for this dynamic symbol – that was actually designed to draw the attention of the OOW. Not only did it fail to attract the attention, it was simply ignored. For sure, the ECDIS has the facility of interrogation of a symbol when you move the cursor over it. Unfortunately in this particular case it was not used.
In my interaction with students preparing for competency exams, many of whom have undergone ECDIS course, I did not find any who understood the significance of the isolated danger symbol. As ECDIS/ECS usage becomes more widespread let’s hope the users become familiar with dynamic symbols and incidents like Canterbury rarely occurs.
On the other hand widespread usage of ECDIS will surely lead to development of more such uses, so that the digital chart becomes dynamic and changes its appearance due to external factors. Here are some examples which demonstrate how a digital chart is used differently from a paper chart.
- Guard Zone
A concept borrowed from the ARPA. Depending on the speed of a vessel the user defines the length and width of the guard zone which will extend as a probing beam from the ship’s head. Any shallow depths/contours or navigational dangers which happens to fall in this zone will trigger an alarm.
- Echo Referencing
This is an elegant way to accurately position own vessel. It requires positive identification of a stationary target such as a rock/beacon/islet on the radar. Then use the ARPA to acquire the target. The ARPA target should ideally coincide with the charted position of the rock. Many times it doesn’t because your positioning system is in error. The ECDIS allows you to lock this target on the charted object. The small difference in position becomes the correction which is applied on own position. The ECDIS uses the notation ‘R’ to indicate the referenced target.
- Weather Alarms
Set by the user depending on such parameters like heights, wind speed and barometric pressure. These are not chart symbols but an additional layer on the chart. It helps to indicate alarming situations in a particular region. Going a step further, you may have a voyage optimization software which will advise you on the course and speed of the vessel to avoid bad weather and choose the best passage to reach your destination.
- Ice Alarms
Depending on the ice information that has been received you may get alerts to indicate the presence of ice-bergs.
- Man Overboard Mark
The usual MOB mark tells you where the man fell. The ECDIS then generates another moving MOB symbol based on the calculated drift. Some software will also draw the Williamson turn for you to take the vessel around. It has received positive feedbacks from the end-user.
There was a time when a chart meant a wide sheet of paper spread on a flat table on which the outline plan of the coast, underwater details and navigational information was contained. In 2002 SOLAS changed the definition of a chart. The term nautical chart now includes a specially compiled database, for example an ENC, from which such a map can be displayed.
Today even this changed definition is outdated. The current definition implies static data. Whereas now in addition to the static hydrographic data the digital chart on the screen contains external data such as ice information, weather parameters and wave-heights. These data can be accurately collected only in real-time.
It's time we had a new definition of a chart which would reflect the dynamic character of a chart.
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