It is a common thread amongst the maritime community that seafaring standards have dropped over the last decade or more. In fact one might suggest that this downhill trend started in 1978 just about the same time that the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping for Seafarers was made law by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

As a brief overview STCW 78 was introduced to provide the first basic standards on training, certification and watch keeping on an international scale. This was previously undertaken on a national level with individual governments setting their own standards. In essence STCW 1978 gave basic standards that countries would have to meet or exceed. In 1992 the standards were put under revision to take greater account of the human factor and so, in 1995 a new set of amendments came into being and termed STCW 95.

It is admirable that IMO and the signatory countries felt the need to improve standards. Who can knock them for that? There is though a basic flaw in what they were trying to achieve, a fault that stands out like a sore thumb and is even included in the universal description of STCW, namely “basic standards”. By setting out basic standards for certification, training and watch keeping they ensured that those countries with extremely poor standards increased them but equally so, those countries with superb standards no longer felt the need to upkeep them. It also ensured that seafarers who were trained to the basic requirement could be gainfully employed internationally whilst those with increased standards found themselves priced out of the market.

IMO and STCW are not the only cause for an international drop in standards. One factor that should be considered is the reliability of machinery which has improved considerably over the last two decades. Where an engineer used to overhaul a unit of the main engine every port, he now might possibly never overhaul one as he changes jobs and vessels throughout his career. I have met mature Chief Engineers who quite happily admit that they have never overhauled an engine. They also state that they would not do so anyway, as they are only onboard to operate. Automation has also had an impact as “things” happen, machinery starts or is controlled by electronic means thus relieving the operators of any thought process behind what is occurring.

As globalization takes its toll on the seafarers of developed nations, Russia and Eastern European countries have flooded the market with crew and officers. A typical Russian vessel sailed with 40 or more crew onboard, a Chief Engineer could sit in his cabin all day reading his newspaper, STCW qualified or not. As the home market collapsed so the doors opened internationally and from personal experience I have encountered numerous engineers and electricians who have never encountered the equipment they are now responsible for, and perhaps in the last twenty years have not lifted a spanner apart from moving it off a chair to sit down. In their new jobs they are expected to operate and maintain a myriad of integrated equipment, something that they fail miserably to do.

It is notable that the world changes ever faster. As soon as the latest gadget is on the market another is being designed. I recall visiting the largest crane vessel ever built in South Shields in the UK somewhere around 1988. The Naval Architect showing us around quite happily stated that by the time they had finished building it most of the equipment and systems were already obsolete. Admittedly the project from scratch lasted ten years but it puts into perspective the rapidly changing environment that seafarers must adapt to. And we have the colleges, large institutions that are completely hung-up on boiler water treatment and that gives short shrift to variable frequency drives, aqua masters, electronic cranes, scrubbing systems, etc. Engineers exit college and start a career at sea well versed in how to treat a boiler but find out that A. there isn’t one onboard and B. they know nothing about the equipment they will have to attend to. Electronics should now be a substantial part of any training course, not merely an aside that is taught in conjunction with Ward Leonard systems that whilst showing how electrical generation first started gives little assistance when faced with PCB boards and 6000 volt switchboards.

Shipping companies should never have dismissed the rank of electrician. They should have continued the trend as today ships need well-qualified electricians with a smattering of knowledge on boiler water treatment, not boiler experts with a smattering of knowledge on electricity that hardly stretches beyond changing a light bulb.

As a couple of examples of poor standards:

1. A chief engineer recently felt the need to empty his oily water tank. Instead of calling his company or informing the master he decided to dump it all into the deep blue sea. For some inane reason he decided to do this, not by simply pumping it over the side or bucketing it by some back breaking scheme, but by fixing a plastic hose to some discharge line on the pump and directing the oily matter into a sink in the workshop. This in turn filtered down into the sewage tank which in-turn discharged to sea once full and then completely stopped working as the whole system became gunged up.

2. A ship bound from Singapore broke down half way across the Indian Ocean due to an electrical fault – the weather was notably picking up. The Superintendent was called and between trying to prevent the office staff from calling every five minutes, he managed to find a solution to the problem. He called back the vessel and gave step-by-step instructions to the Chief Engineer on which wires needed to be disconnected to get the main engine back into service. The chief engineer upon receiving the instructions simply shouted down the phone “I am not an electrician” which was then followed by that familiar beeping sound that indicates that the other person has hung up. Luckily the second engineer was more amenable but this only goes to show that the thought process along with a complete inability to act sensibly was remiss.

3. In succession three different masters in three totally different locations called up to ask if they should leave port as the weather was rough. This is not an office decision. The only person that can predict or gauge weather conditions accurately was the very same person that was asking for help.

I recently had a conversation with some work colleagues were I was forced to reconsider an already catalogued opinion. I felt that navigators were experiencing different and extremely unpredictable weather conditions due to global warming and its effects therein. During our conversation the picture built-up of navigation in the modern sense, Arpa, radars, computers, navtechs, echo sounders, gyro compasses, Global Positioning Equipment (GPS)and satellite weather maps to the extent that a deck officer could quite happily spend his whole watch indoors without ever having to look out of the window. This might suggest that they no longer have any feel for current or prevailing weather conditions and have therefore lost that all-essential feel for what might be around the corner.

Another factor that is perhaps missed is the basic quality of those kick starting a career at sea, e.g. Cadets in the UK. Once upon a time national standards produced well-qualified school leavers and the prospects of an excellent career at sea that was boosted by an intense sandwiched four-year cadetships that delved into all areas of a life at sea. And so Officers of caliber came into being. Cadets these days are nearly being dragged off the streets as the attraction has dimmed to the extent that a ten watt bulb would hurt the eyes! Cadets at sea are no longer afforded the luxury of being trained properly, minimum manning ensures that they are used for gangway watches and so spend half their time at sea manning a gangway through the hours of darkness. I once boarded a UK flagged ship with a British cadet onboard to find the him with his boiler suit tied around his waist and he flat out on a piece of wood sunbathing, whilst ostensibly doing the gangway watch! He was an Engineering Cadet undergoing his deck training!

Deck cadets used to spend considerable part of their career chipping, splicing and working the deck under the guidance of the all-experienced Bosun. Nowadays Bosuns are a thing of the past and Cadets cover as a lookout or gangway watchmen or filing papers for the master who really requires a secretary to cope with the ever increasing paper-based workload load and not a cadet who is all but useless to the functioning of the vessel.

Times have changed and the romance of a sea-career has fallen flat. Recently the Chinese have flooded the market with officers and crew, the skills are notably missing and the English language ability has fallen through the floor.

It is suggestive that today’s standards at sea are worse than they were in 1978 when extremely competent and well-educated Officers from developed nations trained and kept under control the crews from other nations like the Philippines. The crewing situation was harmonious with well run ships plying trades in a safe manner and happy crews who treated the life as long term and not simply because there was nothing else to do after leaving school!

Accidents borne from stupidity, human error, lack of knowledge or incorrect judgment have not reduced since 1978 in-fact the opposite could be said. The numbers though are alleviated due to ever-reliable machinery and the fact that automation has taken over many human functions that would otherwise allow for poor judgment or error to occur.