Bajansailor
Well-Known Member
I think that the economics of shipping probably have quite a significant effect here, where ship owners are always looking for ways to cut costs, especially manning costs.
I visited a container ship in the harbour here today - 17,000 tonnes deadweight, and only 16 crew, including the 4 engine room staff (2 engineers and 2 oilers).
The Emma Maersk is one of the largest container ships in the world (she can carry 12,000 20' TEU containers), and has (I think) only a few more crew than the one I saw today.
Emma would have size and speed on her side as a deterrent to pirates - have you seen the freeboard on these huge ships?
The 'little' (relatively) ship I visited has 'low' freeboard (compared to Emma) - it would be relatively easy for a gang of pirates to sling their grappling hooks over the rails on a dark night - especially as they know that the odds of anybody seeing them are very low, as the ship manning levels are often barely above the minimum required by the Safe Manning Document.
And as for a little (relatively) loaded tanker, proceeding at a relatively sedate speed - they could almost step on board from a 'fishing boat'. Easy pickings. Especially as they know that the cargo is worth millions of US$.
By way of contrast, a typical general cargo ship of 10,000 tonnes deadweight in the 50's might have had well over 60 crew on board - my Dad was on one of these vessels going through the South China Seas (or maybe Malacca Straits) and he told me about how they had fire teams on constant watch on deck with fire hoses ready when passing through pirate infested waters. Modern day ships just do not have the man power to do this, and it would be unreasonable to expect the operating crew to do this in addition to their normal jobs on the ship.
Maybe the vessels' P & I Clubs will now start insisting on additional armed guards (working shifts around the clock?) being carried on board ships running the gauntlet of the Somali pirates - but this then leads to further possible complications re lifeboat and liferaft capacity being exceeded..... 3 men per shift would not be unreasonable (port, starboard and stern?), and if they do 4 hours on, 8 off then that is another 9 crew members on the list. They would still need 6 extra crew if they just did 'only' 6 hours on and 6 off at night.
I visited a container ship in the harbour here today - 17,000 tonnes deadweight, and only 16 crew, including the 4 engine room staff (2 engineers and 2 oilers).
The Emma Maersk is one of the largest container ships in the world (she can carry 12,000 20' TEU containers), and has (I think) only a few more crew than the one I saw today.
Emma would have size and speed on her side as a deterrent to pirates - have you seen the freeboard on these huge ships?
The 'little' (relatively) ship I visited has 'low' freeboard (compared to Emma) - it would be relatively easy for a gang of pirates to sling their grappling hooks over the rails on a dark night - especially as they know that the odds of anybody seeing them are very low, as the ship manning levels are often barely above the minimum required by the Safe Manning Document.
And as for a little (relatively) loaded tanker, proceeding at a relatively sedate speed - they could almost step on board from a 'fishing boat'. Easy pickings. Especially as they know that the cargo is worth millions of US$.
By way of contrast, a typical general cargo ship of 10,000 tonnes deadweight in the 50's might have had well over 60 crew on board - my Dad was on one of these vessels going through the South China Seas (or maybe Malacca Straits) and he told me about how they had fire teams on constant watch on deck with fire hoses ready when passing through pirate infested waters. Modern day ships just do not have the man power to do this, and it would be unreasonable to expect the operating crew to do this in addition to their normal jobs on the ship.
Maybe the vessels' P & I Clubs will now start insisting on additional armed guards (working shifts around the clock?) being carried on board ships running the gauntlet of the Somali pirates - but this then leads to further possible complications re lifeboat and liferaft capacity being exceeded..... 3 men per shift would not be unreasonable (port, starboard and stern?), and if they do 4 hours on, 8 off then that is another 9 crew members on the list. They would still need 6 extra crew if they just did 'only' 6 hours on and 6 off at night.
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Lets see. Arrange a 'pirate siezure' and subsequent payoff by government or insurers to pirates. Claim insurance on boat ( which was stripped of anything useful beforehand of course ), get into after dinner speaking or piracy consulting.