FROM A MASTERS DESK

FROM A MASTER’S DESK – LIFE AT SEA ON A VLCC
Bay Captain Arne Johan Hjert, Master Mariner
The Master of a VLCC insured describes a voyage between Japan and Saudi Arabia
(photo from Captain)
The vessel is at sea, in route from Japan to Ras Tanura.
In Japan the vessel received the latest updates of NTM (Notice to Mariners) Corrections to Charts and Publications, covering the last 10 weeks. I enter the bridge at about 0900 hrs the day sailing and find the third mate bent over the correction material, cutting pages from the NTM up in small strips for gluing them into the List of Lights and List of radio Signals. The Third mate is a very conscientious young man and is eager to have his entire book up to date prior to arrival, thinking of unpleasant remarks from vetting inspectors if he doesn’t manage in time or misses out on one or two corrections.
He knows that he has to stay on the ball watch after watch, day after day until arrival. I look at him and my mind wanders back the time –how things were back in 1959 when I first entered the bridge as third mate an in 1969 when I become a master. I realize that in this respect nothing much as changed (except perhaps for urgency and pressure we have today).
At 1500 hrs the same day I enter the bridge to have a chat with second mate. He is bent over his “self-mate” chart-correction in the old-fashioned manual way. The vessel is trading world-wide and there are a lot of charts to be corrected. He is also a very conscientious young man and eager to have it all order so as so to avoid negative remarks from external inspectors. Again my mind wanders back in time and I realize that there is after all one thing that has changed over the years: in former times, under the old Norwegian flag, we did not work on chart corrections and publications during the navigation watch. Now it is a common thing to do and absolutely necessary on a VLCC if one wants to be up to date and ready for inspections by the various external bodies.
The vessel has to call off Fujairah for bunkering and must wait there for some days in order to arrive at Ras Tanura for commencement of laycan. After six days at anchor the garbage containers on the poop deck start to sunk. I ask the chief mate and the chief engineer to dispose of as much as possible of the garbage through the incinerator, but unfortunately the incinerator does not have enough capacity to take care of this task. Nor is there any easy arrangement for transport of garbage from galley to the incinerator room. I now ask myself about all the nice and well-meaning suggestions and regulations that have come into force over the years in relation to environmental protection both at sea and on land.
When arriving at Ras Tanura Entry Bouy the vessel is ordered to load at Juyamah SBM. The pilot will arrive by helicopter, agents and authorities by boat. In maneuvering the vessel up towards the pilot boarding area, the agent call on VHF to advise that and the authorities will board 15 minutes. At the same time Ras Tanura Port Control advises that I will have to hold the vessel in the boarding area for about 45 to 60 minutes in order to wait for an available helicopter.
There are shallow waters in all directions from the vessel.
The agent and authorities board the vessel and demand that I meet them in my office. I inform them that I can´t leave the bridge and ask them kindly to come up to complete the entry formalities. They refuse. I stand firmly by my decision to remain on the bridge and after a period of silence the agent and authorities enter the bridge. After completing the documents, the Customs office starts an inspection tour-looking for anything than can give him reason to hold up the vessel, he finds nothing and leaves the vessel just as the helicopter is landing. I can feel the tension slipping away from my body. But the relaxation is only temporary, for now the pilot is demanding to have all of his documentation filled in prior to proceeding berthing. I keep one eye on the navigation and one on the documents. I ask myself again where are the oil majors vetting institutions, port state control and other official bodies that claim to work towards safer and better shipping. I also ask myself what their objectives really are: do they one standard for vessels and another, easier one, for their own terminals and operations?
The vessel moors at Juyamah; loads a full cargo of crude oil (three grades: Arabian Heavy, Arabian Light and Arabian Extra Light) and thereafter sails for discharge in Yokohama. The crew is Filipino and of high standard. The vessel is relatively new and in good shape, so the day-to-day work runs smoothly and without problems, except that the crew is complaining for not being allowed to work as much overtime as before.
The food is good and everyone is happy, apart from the overtime issue. The crew’s argument is that the previous senior officers allowed them to work unlimited hours. This is old argument that has been used on ships for many years and may be justified sometimes.
At Yokohama the vessel moors at an SBM and is boarded by owner’s representative, a technical superintendent, a QA superintendent, two vetting inspectors from two different oil majors, the mooring master, cargo surveyor, receivers’ cargo inspector and vessels operators’ cargo supervisor. All are to stay on board throughout discharge operations.
A safety meeting is held with everyone present and the chief officer commences discharge. The operation is calculated to take about 30 hours including COW. The cargo control room is full of people and the chief officer is complaining. I approach the various gentlemen and ask them kindly to allow the chief officer to perform his duties in a safe manner. For a short while everything is quiet and peaceful. Then the two vetting inspectors request (separately) to be accompanied around the ship by one officer and thereafter demand (separately) that the chief officer sit down and let them interview him one after the other, even though they are both well aware of the chief officer’s duties as cargo officer. When the vetting inspectors are done with the chief officer, the superintendent requests his company for a grand tour on deck. I ask myself where is the logic in all this-is any of it improving safety? I have been supporting implementation of the ISM System, including vetting, right from very beginning, but now I feel that something is going wrong.
The “safety inspections” and vetting seem getting out of hand. Vetting for the sake of vetting and safety inspections for the sake or safety inspections, not for the sake of safety. I conclude that performances by safety and vetting bodies as described above are becoming a danger to tank ship operations rather promoting safety, as they are disturbing the peace and harmony that a vessel and particular the chief officer needs in order to operate safely. Many of the difficulties faced by the chief officer also apply to the chief engineer, depending on the circumstances.
From the time of berthing to the time unmooring I have been fully occupied with “entertaining”, providing certificated and other documentation to the various vetting and safety inspectors, in order to obtain in clean “bill of health” for the vessel as well as for the company.
I ask myself again, how will it all end?