What is the Merchant Navy? Or more to the point what is a Merchant Vessel? Short and sweet, a Merchant Vessel is any vessel other than a Fighting Vessel. Well, that was easy so can I go now? Okay, Okay. A Merchant Vessel includes the fishing fleets of the world, Cruise Ships, Ferries, Oil Tankers, Bulk Tankers, Container Ships, Survey Vessels, Standby Boats, and anything else that floats on water be it small or large. Another way to look at it would be 'a Merchant Vessel is any vessel that is commercially operated'.
Britain used to be the heart and soul of most of the worlds shipping and shipbuilding Industries. Companies like Elder Dempsters, Blue Star, The White Star Fleet, Bank Line, Cunard, P&O to name but a few, becoming the mainstays of world shipping - controlling routes from Europe to Africa, to Australia and Canada, the Atlantic run, the Pacific run and any place that had enough water to require ships to cross it. No other Country came anywhere close to the size and scale of shipping related businesses that Britain controlled. Sadly a period came when it was no longer deemed economically viable to continue in this manner and it was about that time that I decided to join-up, the time when Britain had all but lost most of it's heritage. The Shipbuilding Industry had all but vanished with famous shipbuilders on the Clyde, on the Mersey and in Newcastle closing left right and center. Why? Well, that is not really for me to say, something to do with government policies and all that. I will say no more about Governments as politics is not something I want to get into. Another reason for the demise can be found in Asia where cheaper labor costs and cheaper materials allowed certain countries to expand the business rapidly thus putting the higher cost European countries out of business. Well, it happened and that is that.
Flag of Convenience (FOC)states did not help. These are states like Panama and Liberia who allowed ships to register with them and fly their flag for far cheaper costs than that of the home country. So many British companies changed from the Union Jack to that of an FOC state to reduce running costs of their vessels and organisations.
Along with the demise of the Industry came the loss in demand for Western Officers and Crews. Ships changing flags invariably changed crews. Crews from the Philippines, from China, from Africa and other competing nations, Crews who were paid far less than their European counterparts. Around the time that I first set foot on a ship, there was hardly any Shipbuilding Industries left, only a couple of hundred ships still flying the Union Jack and a serious over-supply of Officers and Crews recently laid-off and searching for work.
In recent years this oversupply has turned into a chronic shortage as nobody had bothered to train new people. So as old Officers retired and those laid-off found alternative employment a gap appeared in the market. It has also been admitted by various companies (silently of course) that home country Officers are required even though they command greater salaries. The skills of Western Officers are usually far higher than that of reduced wage nations and so although the wages are higher the benefits in safety and maintenance weigh out in the long term. Insurance companies followed this trend by reducing Insurance rates on vessels that carried a certain number of Western Crew onboard.
So today we have companies tending to revert back to home country flags and to re-employ Western Officers if they can get hold of any. I would not say that Britain is any better than it was ten years ago but the downward slide is no more and if anything there is a slight increase in shipping activity.
There is something like 60,000 British Officers working on various flagged ships around the world today. They may be the only European on that vessel or the whole Officer compliment may be British. And the demand is still there for them and increasing as older seafarers retire with no new talent to fill the gaps. For me this is great as I can control whom and where I work rather than having to take a job for the sake of it.
To sum up the above, I recall one statement that people used to use as an exclamation of impossibility. They would say, "that's like shipping coal to Newcastle"! Meaning something was totally impossible. Well, I was at University when a ship arrived in Newcastle with coal from Newcastle. Newcastle Australia, so yes, the impossible had happened. Sad eh? Down the tubes goes that saying!
Along with the demise of the shipbuilding and merchant nations of the world came a change in what was left of it. Safety on shore installations and on vessels became and still is a high priority in our modern society. Telephone communication via satellite and telex mean that the ships can be in constant communication with a shore body. Reporting and form filling is now an every day occurrence and the reduction in crew numbers mean that crews suffer greater stress and larger workloads. As a result of the stress and with Unions fighting the cause, trip durations became shorter and leaves became longer for ships flagged under home states.
I use the term "home states" to describe such countries as UK, France, Germany, Canada, America, etc. These rules and regulations are often bypassed or weakened when Officers work for foreign companies outside of the control of the Home States and out with the control of Unions. A good example of this is if I worked the UK branch of an Offshore Company in the North Sea my contract would be for three weeks work and three weeks holiday. If I work for the same company but in the Singapore Branch my contract would be totally different. That of three months work and six weeks holiday. So rules can be varied or broken depending on where the vessel operates and where the Office is situated. A British Officer working out of the UK, for a UK Company on a UK registered vessel has recourse to a Union. This Union will protect his rights and make sure that he is does not suffer undue stress, that the company honors his contract and that any problem arising is dealt with on his behalf. An Officer working for a Foreign Company on a foreign flagged vessel has no Union to look after his rights and in a way he is at the mercy of that company, until the day he arrives back home.
When I started in the Merchant Navy I saw the remnants of how it used to be in the Old days before life became stricter and stress became a part of every day life. Once upon a time you could turn up in a port, without charts, without a shore agent, knowing nothing at all about the place and with no prior communication. Yet nowadays this is impossible as laws state that charts must be in-place onboard the vessel before arrival, and communications now occur before the vessel docks. Once upon a time you could see a scrap heap of a Russian vessel leaving a European port on it's way to a Home Russian Port. This vessel may be carrying a cargo of Sugar or wheat or whatever but it would not seem so to others looking from afar. The vessel would invariably be covered with an assortment of scrap cars ranging from Volkswagen beetles to Ford Escorts and these will be positioned on the bridge wings, in the swimming pool, under lifeboats and anywhere that has space enough for two wheels to balance on. These cars are worth heaps of money in mother Russia so the crews bought them at there own expense to smuggle into the country and to sell on. Sadly modern laws would no longer allow this to happen.
The face of shipping has also changed with the introduction of faster loading discharging equipment and modern facilities. A large container vessel can have a port turnaround of ten hours, an oil tanker no longer needs to go alongside a berth. He can just tie up to a mooring buoy offshore, connect up a floating pipeline and pump the lot out in minimal time. Great eh? Does nothing for the poor Officer who would love to put his two feet on solid ground and to getaway from the confines of the ship for a little while. I recall how we once loaded sugar in Durban, 20,000 tons of it into three holds. It took one day, time enough to get ashore for a juicy steak and that was about it. We sailed to Inchon in Korea with the sugar and it took three weeks to discharge it ashore - great, three weeks to unwind, enjoy and have a dozen steaks. I would presume now that modern technology has reached this port and that the three weeks has been reduced to maybe 2days or even less.
Another example of this was when we loaded cars in Japan bound for an East African Port. It took the Japanese only two days to build scaffolding in the holds and to load something like 250 vehicles. On the other side in Africa it took them nearly two weeks to unload the cars and dismantle the scaffolding. In this case the car exporters introduced the car carrier, which removed the need to build scaffolding and allowed the ship to be loaded within twelve hours. Unloading being around the same time as all that is required is for one person to drive each car off the boat. Without a coffee break discharge could be completed within six hours say.
With the introduction of rapid turnarounds, mooring buoy's high rate discharge/loading equipment, ports built where there is no town, life for the crew of a ship has gone downhill. For many nowadays, shore leave is not something that happens often and for some never, and if one does get ashore it is often a very rapid and harried excursion that does not allow for one to sit back in a cafe and drink beer. Crews join a ship do their trip and return home without ever having stepped foot ashore.
All is not as bad as I have written. Well not for me anyway. I seem to have managed a fare whack of shore time in some weird and wonderful places so I will not complain - but then I have stayed purposefully away from Container Vessels and from Oil Tankers. I have also tended to work in areas where development and ability has not yet reached those of Western Nations. Modern equipment is too expensive, unobtainable or has broken down in these places and so port time is often at a premium.
Yes, the fun has gone out of it all. I suppose the romance has gone. Pressure and accountability upon ships' crews has replaced all enjoyment of the actual job in hand. Economic pressure has become an every day part of the job for most - not money that seafarers earn but the company pushing ships crews to the maximum so that the vessel can remain economically viable. No longer do ships leave port for the unknown, leave port with the words "call you when we arrive". Now, big brother is watching those the ships and those on them every step of the way.
