Any mariner of a certain age will know the name of Brown, Son and Ferguson as publishers of nautical texts. On my way looking for something else I came across this website, http://www.skipper.co.uk/which is in fact the website for the company. I was a bit surprised that they continue to exist, though after 132 years …
A look to the way ahead…
Fearnleys had an interesting commentary posted on their website concerning the newbuilding order book for bulk carriers. [If you have never gone to their website I can highly recommend it. They post quite a bit of free material and market information.] In part they said, "Despite the fact that almost no bulk carriers have been …
Completely unacceptable but absolutely bloody typical
About 150 years ago I sailed with a guy who had a real name but we called him Sam The Eagle. Sam was the first mate and of advancing years at that stage. (How his age then and my age now would compare I don't want to think about.) He was the first person I …
Continue reading “Completely unacceptable but absolutely bloody typical”
And as I was saying..
A recent article in Tradewinds states that for the first time there is an agreement between Shell and Marad to use US seafarers on Shell ships. In fact the first agreement between an oil major and Marad for this purpose period. It doesn’t mention whether "seafarers" means the whole crew or just the officers but …
On The Town
A recent article in Lloyd’s List referred to legislation now in the US Congress, the Coast Guard Authorisation Act of 2007 which would be applicable to 2008. Originally a section of the act required terminals to give seafarers and chaplains access through the terminals and it prohibited terminals from charging a fee for them to …
Jack was every inch a sailor…
I was watching the BBC World News today when they had a short bit on a small container ship which was conducting a trial where it was being power assisted by a parasail (squished between pieces on the global market meltdown and the Oscar nominations, heady company indeed). The piece can be found on the …
Some are born to change, some have change forced upon them…
Someone sent me an article the other day from Lloyd’s, Crew quality under threat as global fleet expands (no link as it is not a free site). In it Mike Grinter asserts, "As the demand for crew accelerates, in a business environment where at least a thousand new ships will be deployed in 2008, ship …
Continue reading “Some are born to change, some have change forced upon them…”
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Read this headline about the Prestige case being tossed out as the judge did not feel she had jurisdiction, US court throws out Spain’s $1bn Prestige claim. Hearing about the Prestige again (and thinking about the prevaricating, bureaucratic bungling, responsibility dodging etc that went on during that disaster) it contrasted with the story I read …