Bulk Carrier Practice the Second Edition by Captain Jack Isbester ExC FNI in response to significant changes in the bulk carrier industry over recent years.
The Nautical Institute today (Thursday May 13) launched Bulk Carrier Practice the Second Edition by Captain Jack Isbester ExC FNI in response to significant changes in the bulk carrier industry over recent years.
A seminar to mark the launch heard about the regulatory changes from IMO Secretary General Rear Admiral Efthimios E Mitropoulos, FNI.
Captain Isbester commented: Structural failures of bulk carriers are nowadays rare and this can be attributed to improvements in design, construction, maintenance, inspection and regulations since the distressing days in the early 1990s when bulk carriers were sinking in their dozens. It is, however, still possible to predict the circumstances in which accidents are likely to occur.
When personnel are inexperienced and inadequately trained, when ships are poorly designed, when there is a mismatch between ship and berth or when the weight of expectation placed on the ship and her crew is unrealistic, accidents can be expected.
Aron Frank Sørensen, Chief Marine Technical Officer for BIMCO said the organisation predicted the dry bulk fleet will grow by 14% in 2010 with about 76 million DWT added with some 13 million DWT scrapped. Deliveries in 2011 are forecast to be even higher before supply growth comes down in 2012.
All these new bulk carriers will need well-educated crews that are able to handle modern ships with up to date technology. Providing a sufficient number of crews is a safety issue, he pointed out.
I see Captain Jack Isbesters book as a good example for the industry where expert individuals provide the knowledge needed to train new seafarers for the bulk trades. Good education calls for good educational materials and skilful trainers to pass the knowledge on. The timing of publication is perfect: the boom in new bulk carriers is starting now and with the help of this very informative new publication we get a helping hand in getting the task of training seafarers done, he added.
The release of the book was opportune, agreed Karl Lumbers FNI, Director Ship Inspection & Loss Prevention, The UK P&I Club. He said some 1,300 new bulk carriers were expected to join the world fleet in 2010, which may require as many as 39,000 new seafarers if the present rate of scrapping doesnt change.
Against this background, bulk carrier claims posed a significant risk to the Club both in number and value, he said. Between 1987 and 2008, the Club handled 2,083 Bulk Carrier claims of over $100,000 valued at $760 million.
Industry-wide, Mr Lumbers estimated annual claims of more than $100,000 to be over $1 billion, including $320 million worth of claims involving personnel, $240 million cargo claims; $150 million pollution claims; $140 million collision claims and $130m property claims.
Applying best practice, as outlined in the book was a good starting point. Anything to help reduce these claims must be welcomed by the industry, he said.
Launching the book, the Institutes immediate past president Nick Cooper FNI, pointed out that the latest BIMCO/International Shipping Federation Manpower study from 2005 predicted that the fleet would need an extra 21,000 qualified seafarers by 2010.
We know there is a huge gap in expertise and that many seafarers are moving to bulk carriers without having experience of these vessels. They need access to help and advice. Bulk Carrier Practice is designed to help those people and those who support them ashore.
The fully updated book takes into account the growth of the fleet and the growth in size of individual vessels. When the popular first edition was published by The Nautical Institute in 1993 there were 5,000 ships in the bulk carrier fleet expanding by mid 2009 to about 7,000, with some 3,000 newbuildings on order. The intervening years have also seen the addition of very large bulk carriers to the world fleet.
The enlarged second edition covers these changes and takes account of innovations in good practice and of the substantial number of new regulations and codes introduced since the first edition including:
SOLAS and MARPOL amendments
The IMSBC Code
The ISM Code
The ISPS Code
The BLU Code
Increasing use of computers on board vessels, improvements in communications and changes in shipboard procedures and practices are all fully recognised in this new book, which provides detailed advice on planning and implementation of work aboard bulk carriers and important technical updates on the carriage of grain, coal and steel coils; and information on the carriage of cement.
The CD contains four operating manuals and structural drawings. Extensive new appendices provide advice on subjects as diverse as eliminating taint from fishmeal cargoes before loading flour to the maintenance of coatings in ballast tanks and holds.
Information is given on developments such as double skinned bulk carriers.
The book describes practical matters in plain language and is essential reading for: bulk carrier Masters and deck officers; shipping lawyers; superintendents; maritime arbitrators; marine consultants; nautical college lecturers; surveyors and P&I Club claims handlers.
Input from active mariners, surveyors and operators ensures that the advice is current and appropriate.
Robert Lorenz-Meyer, President and Chairman BIMCO said in the foreword to the new edition: Anyone in the bulk carrier industry will benefit from reading Bulk Carrier Practice. It deserves to be on the bookshelf on the bridge of all bulk carriers, and in the offices of all bulk carrier operators.
Source:shiptalk