LATEST NEWS

• The European Union has induced the Philippines to shut two maritime academies in Manila and Quezon City after allegations of substandard quality, poor passing rates and low student retention. The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) had issued a negative report on these two schools. Philippines’ maritime academies are also under scrutiny for the flag state white list status for compliance with the IMO’s STCW Convention including the recent Manila Amendments.
• After similar court cases in the Netherland and Germany, six alleged Somali pirates are now on trial in Paris, after they attempted to take a French couple hostage on their sailing boat off the coats of Somalia in 2008. French special forces freed the two and seized the men. The trial, which is expected to last for several weeks, is the first  against alleged pirates in France.
• Interferry has opened a full time office in Brussels to strengthen the position of ferry companies in the EU. There are various issues which need special attention such as environmental and climate change measures which will affect shipping and the ferry industry in particular. Interferry aims to strengthen its voice on maritime policy and regulations. Its new role is being funded by five leading European ferry operators: Brittany Ferries, DFDS, Grimaldi, P&O ferries and Stena Line. Interferry will have a permanent presence in Brussels in the office of ECSA, the European Community Shipowners’ Association.
• Recently NATO launched a new website to fight waterborne Somali pirates via the internet. Several new features have been added to make life easier for law-abiding seafarers, including a map showing updates of pirate activity around the Horn of Africa. New online forms should make it easier for members of the shipping community to share information on attempted piracy. The website can be reached at www. shipping.nato.int 
• The European satellite navigation system Galileo is beginning to take shape. On 2^nd October the first two Galileo satellites have been launched in French Guyana by a  Russian Sojoez ST-B rocket. The reason for launching the satellites in Guyana is its location close to the equator thereby profiting from the greater turning speed of the earth. Therefore more weight can be taken into the orbit. Next year a second pair of satellites will be launched, followed by another 26.
• P&O Ferries was named Ferry Operator of the Year at the British Travel Awards 2011, which is widely regarded as the ”Oscar” of the travel industry. The company was also voted Best Cross Chanel Operator and Best Ferry Operator (other routes) for its services from Hull to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge.
• British Prime Minister David Cameron will host an international conference on 23 February 2012 in London to find solutions to tackle the instability of the Somalian government and piracy in Somalian waters. The British government firmly believes that it is time to upgrate international involvement in Somalia in order to find an agreement on an effort to protect merchant shipping, combat piracy and offer humanitarian aid to neighbouring countries.
• On 10 December 2011 Captain Jan de Jager has died at the age of 81. Captain de Jager was more than 10 years President of the Netherlands Master Mariner Association NVKK and was involved in the initiation of CESMA in 1995.
• In our previous edition we included an inquiry on the location of windfarms in seabeds along the coasts in EU nations. We received some reactions but we would like to ask your further attention for this questionnaire because navigational safety could be in danger if windfarms were to be installed on the wrong positions.

              WORKSHOP ON PIRACY IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

  CESMA attended a workshop on piracy in Brussels on 12th October 2011. It was organised by two members of EU Parliament Mr. Georgios Koumoutsakis of Greece and Mr. Peter van Dalen of the Netherlands, vice chairman of the Transport Commission.      The initiative originates from members of parliament who urge to create a new series of counter piracy measures including the establishment of a multinational military unit and a financial investigation team to track ransom payments. This could materialise into rules banning European banks from handling ransom payments. Participants welcomed the increased political interest and urged the EU Parliament to give the go-ahead to co-ordinate the various EU organisations to find the political, military, legal and humanitarian solutions to the problem.

   The organisers are confident that they will be able to secure a parliamentary debate on piracy, pushing the issue higher up the political agenda in the European Union. They have argued for the creation of a common European task force that would able to place military personnel on board vessels passing the Horn of Africa.

   Another discussion concerned formal certificates for private armed security teams on board. This becomes important especially amid fears that the naval presence could diminish in the coming months at a time when the pirates’ range of attacks is increasing. This increase of attacks elsewhere in the world is also cause for concern, leading to calls for a global response to the problem of piracy. However the use of private security armed security teams should first be screened on the basis of liability for especially the shipmaster. The big question, still to be answered, is who is in charge when an attack takes place, especially when victims are to be regretted. CESMA intervened by stating that in the event of victims and serious damage to the vessel the shipmaster has a fair chance to be criminalised and this should be prevented at all times.

   It became clear that a considerable number of European parliament members is in favour of using private armed security teams on board vessels that have to pass through piracy infested areas. It was found to be unacceptable that one European nation forbids the use of certified private armed security teams while other nations have given the green light. Fact is that legislation on the use of  lethal force is in some countries limited to police and armed forces. Permitting armed private security teams would need an amendment in legislation which could last up to two years. Shipowners and seafarers’ unions, present at the workshop clearly showed preference for certified armed private security teams on board with the argument that vessels having these teams on board have not been attacked sofar. There was also a general approval for intensifying the activities of the Atalanta mission in which navy units escort merchant navy ships through piracy infested waters and come to rescue vessels which are attacked in their neighbourhood. 

   In his closing remarks Mr. van Dalen, a graduated historian, mentioned some details how piracy has developed over the ages and how the problem has been tackled in the past. He remembered the victims of piracy and their families from whom little is known, unity in EU nations on the decision to use private armed escorts, the possibility to control money transfers of ransom money via private banks and the necessity of the European Parliament to act as piracy is threatening international shipping and trade. (FVW)                                                                                 

CRIMINALIZATION OF SEAFARERS – WINNERS AND LOOSERS

   The last few years have been marked with an increasing number of seafarers being imprisoned either with criminal charges for actions they had done when performing their normal duties and obligations at sea or without such a charge but only because there is any suspicion of breach of local rules in the ports of call or the coastal state.

Bulgarian seamen have been involved in two completely different cases at first glance but the common thing between both cases is the unfair treatment of the seafarers. Captain Sobadzjiev, Master of m/v “Maas Trader“, registered owner Maas Trader , care of Reider Shipping BV, the Netherlands, manning agent Marlow Navigation Netherlands has been arrested and imprisoned in Panama at the end of March 2011. The ship arrived on 28th of March in Cristobal, Panama, from Barranquilla, Colombia. The ship was inspected upon arrival and because of finding 169 kgs of drugs in the bowthruster compartment, the master and the crew were arrested. The crew was released a few days later after giving witness evidence that the master was the only person controlling the (drug) traffic. The ship was released as well. Captain Sobadzjiev is still in prison without any charge and legal protection as he has been abandoned by the owners and manning agent as they had clear indications that he had been involved in drug trafficking. Any relevant proof was in the hands of the local authorities, they claim. How do they know as the court did noit give any information till that very moment? Finding the way how to proceed at the other end of the world is quite difficult for the family of a seafarer, bearing in mind that the seafarer himself is unable to do anything from the prison. The family of Captain Sobadzjiev is living in Bulgaria and are unfimiliar with Panamanian law and local procedures. They have no information about local lawyer offices, which one is reliable and which one is not. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not so pro-active in assisting Bulgarian citizen Sobadzjiev in his attempts to prove his innocence. It is something like a magic circle: the seaman is in jail, there is nobody who attempts to take him out of prison, which is a cost intensive  operation, and local authorities are quite uninterested in processing the case as there are many western people in the La Joya prison for the same offence. In order to get a normal meal, Captain Sobadzjiev unofficially has to pay a certain amount of money which is a kind of business in Panamanian jails. How long he will stay in prison depends on many factors such as support from his family, colleagues from Bulgaria and overseas, Panamanian authorities’ eagerness to solve the problem and most probably also good luck. 

   Six Bulgarian seamen and the Ukrainian shipmaster of m/v “Ina“, 1.005 DWT, built 1981 and ex self propelled barge, sailing under Comores flag, have been arrested in Greece in June 2011 after the Greek Coastguard found 3.000 master boxes of cigarettes, upon inspection in Greek territorial waters. The seamen confirmed that they loaded the cigarettes as cargo from Cyprus to Albania with accurate cargo documents. The shipowner disappeared when the Greek court asked payment of bail for five of the seamen. The bail has been paid by a Bulgarian TV station and five of the seamen returned home on the fifth month after the arrest but the chief officer and the master are still in prison. During the five months the seamen have not been supported by the shipowner and most of the time they lived in sheds with almost nothing to eat. Some of them confessed that the chief officer in prison was “lucky“ because he had a normal bed and enough to eat.

They are being held responsible for smuggling of cigarettes although they have been found in the cargo hold of the small vessel as a full cargo of cigarettes.The returned seamen are without their seafarer’s documents and they have to sign up each month at the Greek embassy in Sofia while the process is going on and this could take years. That means that they will not be able to work on board ships except some coasters and their families will remain without any income. The main question is why the seafares are being held responsible and not the shipowner or charterer.

  In the first case there is no proof that the master is involved. Moreover, he could not load and hide on board 169 kgs of drugs by himself.  In the second case   things are even worse because the “smuggled” cigarettes that have been found in the cargo holds is cargo.

Who will win from these arrests – the local people, they are not more safe, the coastal state legislative system – justice for local people and safeguard them from drugs or illegal stuff on the local market – no. Then who will benefit? Most probably nobody. It is just a hole in the system of maritime transport and this hole, called criminalisation, should be choked up in order to have people to serve on board ships in the future.

   For the moment the Bulgarian Shipmasters’ Association is co-operating with the Council of American Master Mariners to find the proper lawyer in Panama to organize the legal defense of Captain Sobadzhiev and an account had been established to support the family of the captain to pay the lawyers. We’ll closely follow the developments of both cases and we will advise the maritime community about the outcome and the lessons learnt. Any financial aid or support is welcome and the Bulgarian Shipmasters’ Association will co-ordinate the donations of money or simply support to the seafarers in jail. Just a letter of support from any individual or organization is important in persuading the landlubbers in Panama and Greece to understand life at sea and to release the arrested seafarers.

Dear Members and Guests,

Our colleague Capt. Sobadjiev is still imprisoned in Panama. No charge have been raised against him yet. He was abandoned by his employer and mislead by a local lawyer. Now his relatives intend to engage an US attorney to take his legal protection. BSMA has contacted the Council of American Master Mariners which has recommended a reliable lawyer office. BSMA has opened a donor account in assistance to the relatives in collecting the funds needed.   Here are the bank details:

Societe Generale Expressbank, Transportna branch, Varna, Bulgaria

BIC: TTBB BG 22

IBAN: BG51 TTBB 9400 5525 7756 73 USD

Holder: Bulgarian Ship Masters Association

Withdrawal condition is a BSMA administrative board formal decision and informing Capt.Sobadjiev family. As discussed with the lawyer office, the funds must be given to the family as they alone can take a decision on hiring a lawyer and undertaking lawful actions.

You will be regularly informed about the funds collected and spent.

You are kindly requested to contribute to this fair cause. Your help will be appreciated.

Follow the link for details about the case:

http://tv7.bg/news/bulgaria/2336032.html

Captain Dimitar Dimitrov

Chairman Bulgarian Shipmasters’ Association

CESMA Council Member

CESMA | THE ONLY INDEPENDENT EU PROFESSIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION