Walport Maritime Training Films: The affordable way to promote fleet safety!
- One-off purchase allows you to manage your budget – no contracts, no recurring rental costs
- Contributes towards loss prevention
- The ideal supplement to existing training methods - fleet discounts available
- Increase crew awareness of key safety & environmental issues
Seafarer and merchant crew training – effectively and affordably.
If you’d like a quick overview of how Walport Maritime Training Films can help you deliver effective and affordable training to your crews, worldwide, then watch this short video introduction.
… or you can watch it directly on YouTube
Lifeboat Fall Preventer Devices (FPD’s)
A video from the UK MCA showing the benefits of fitting and using Fall Preventer Devices (FPD’s) to lifeboat on-load release hooks …
FPD’s are discusssed in our ‘Lifeboat Drills – Preparing for Safety‘ DVD.
The film discusses the importance of carrying out, attending and learning from regular and safe lifeboat drills and includes advice on using FPD’s.
The film addresses the unacceptably high number of incidents in which crew have been injured, sometimes fatally, while participating in lifeboat drills. You can find out more about this film by clicking here.
Maritime industry statistics
For those with an interest (and I certainly have one) there is an interesting page on the ‘Seafarers Rights’ website, giving some potantially valuable statistics about the world maritime industry.
The size of the world shipping fleet
- Top 20 Flag States
- World Fleet – Pie ChartWorld Fleet
- Worldwide Supply of Seafarers
- Top 20 Ship Owning Countries
The page concerned is HERE.
Costa Concordia – Human Element Part III
I’ve received an interesting submission on the continuing debate over the Costa Concordia incident, and specifically the behaviour of Captain Schettino. The author, Nick Young, is an ex-Radio Officer who served on a number of merchant and cruise vessels.
Nick’s suggestion of a ‘super-numerary Captain’, distanced from events but ready to take command should the worst happen, is a possible solution to consider for the future. Read on and discuss ..
“Should we be so eager to criticise and condemn those who have exhibited poor judgement or even dereliction of duty under the most testing of circumstances ? Who among us can, with any certainty, assert that they would not suffer the same collapse of character that appears to have beset Captain Schettino ? The history books unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, are full of Schettinos.
Listening to the media reports from Italy this past week I’m sure can’t be the only one who has had an unnerving sense of déjà-vu. Ship in trouble, Captain vilified for his performance. I have a recollection of a Greek cruise accident in the past 10 years where the Captain left the ship to ‘direct operations from ashore’ whilst all his passengers remained onboard in considerable peril. Even in that most famous of wrecks, the Titanic, it is notable that in all the subsequent inquiries and in all the eyewitness accounts Captain Edward Smith plays little more than a walk on part during the unfolding tragedy and is not seen by anyone for hours – and this in a time when honour and duty were far more keenly observed than they are today.
EHMC video – ‘The Missing Link, improving the mooring process’
Apologies for the poor quality image, a better one is on its way!
We’re pleased to tell you that we’ve reached an arrangement with the European Harbour Masters’ Committee to freely distribute a copy of their excellent DVD ‘The Missing Link, improving the mooring process’ with every copy purchased of our own Mooring Operations training DVD.
“The aim of this film is to make the mooring process safer and more efficient and to prevent damage to terminal equipment and vessels. This is important to ship crews, linesmen, pilots, ship owners, ship masters, ports, Harbour Masters and terminal operators.”
The EHMC film shows the entire mooring process, from the production of a mooring line up to the vessel coming alongside, from the basic rules for a mooring plan to safe working loads and maximum holding capacities.
“The mooring process appears to be the forgotten link in the nautical chain. This became evident during the making of the EHMC Video the Chain, a film about strengthening the whole nautical chain through a greater awareness of all its’ links.
Mooring activities are a concern because of the number of accidents, the diminishing nautical skills on board ships and at terminals and the apparent lack of knowledge of all the components that affect safe mooring.”
The two films compliment each other perfectly, so we were very pleased when EHMC agreed to allow us to distribute their message to a wider audience.
To order your copy of ‘Mooring Operations – One Small Slip’ and receive a free copy of ‘The Missing Link, improving the mooring process’, you can either buy direct from our website or contact Nick Brown on +44 (0)1375 489 790 or sales@walport.com to discuss a fleet discount for multiple-copy purchasers.
Mooring operations continue to injure and kill. You owe it to yourself and your crews to give them the best possible training. Today.
The video’s the Chain and the Missing Link are both initiatives of Ben van Scherpenzeel for the European Harbour Masters’ Committee (EHMC), Regional Committee of the International Harbour Masters’ Association (IHMA), www.harbourmaster.org.
Please contact Ben van Scherpenzeel with any comments or questions; scherpenzeel.ehmc@harbourmaster.org
To obtain extra copies or information about the European Harbour Masters’ Committee please contact Ingrid Römers; romers.ehmc@harbourmaster.org.
Costa Concordia – Human Element Part II
In the interests of editorial balance following my post yesterday on this subject, there is an interesting article on the gCaptain website that puts forward an alternative viewpoint on the behaviour of Captain Schettino.
“The only fact that is certain in the Costa Concordia disaster is the universal truth of all maritime disasters… human mistakes were made by multiple individuals.”
This is worth reading, not just from the point of view of considering both sides of the story, but for the discussion of the Human Element issues involved in the incident as a whole.
Recommended reading for anyone genuinely interested in the issues surrounding the accident.
“Critical thinking is important in the process of learning from our mistakes. There were a great deal of bad decisions made last Friday night, however a number of other decisions made by Captain Schettino, Micky Arison and most certainly the ship’s crew, saved many lives that day.”
The article is HERE.
Costa Concordia – the Human Element.
The following article is taken directly from ‘The Ship Repair Newsletter’ (No: 1389), published weekly by A&A Thorpe (shipaat@aol.com) .
The opinion expressed is close to my own feelings on the subject, hence my decision to publish the text:
“The Costa Concordia has been on her side against the Italian island of Giglio for about one week now. This incident is the last in a long line of such tragedies, which date back to the Titanic and include such names as Andrea Doria, Herald of Free Enterprise, Estonia, Arkadia etc. however, there has not been such an incident which is, most definitely, the result of human error.
The captain of the Costa Concordia – Francesco Schettino, has already admitted that he was sailing away from the recommended course, for various reasons. The owning company Costa Crociere has also quickly distanced themselves from the causes of the disaster, also blaming human error. Meanwhile, the Captain has been arrested and placed under house arrest pending court proceedings. He also appears to have abandoned the ship before all passengers were safe, with a rather bizarre comment that he “tripped up and fell into a lifeboat” – sounds a bit ‘Ismayesk’ to me.
Another lifeboat incident …
The New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) have released a report into the incident onboard the Volendam in January 2011, in which a crew member sadly lost their life.
“On the afternoon of 8 January 2011, the passenger vessel Volendam was alongside in Lyttelton. Some of the crew were carrying out routine maintenance on one of the starboard lifeboats when at about 1400 the forward lifeboat fall wire parted and 2 crew members fell into the water; the lifeboat remained suspended by the aft lifeboat fall wire.”
I won’t go into the details of the incident here, you can read the report summary HERE and download a PDF copy of the report from HERE, but the following points (taken from the report) are of importance to all vessel operators and crews:
Key lessons:
- A wire rope is only as good as its weakest part. Unless an inspection covers the entire length of the wire, a thorough inspection has not been made.
- Wire ropes in a marine environment require frequent and thorough lubrication to prevent corrosion; otherwise other measures will need to be taken to prevent premature failure of the wire ropes.
- When selecting a securing point for a safety harness, consideration should be given to its vulnerability in the event of other catastrophic failures.
- A personal buoyancy device should always be worn when working outside a ship‟s rail.
- Robust job hazard analysis (JHA) can prevent injuries and save lives, but only if the procedures that result are then followed by the crew.
Having myself been in a davit-stowed lifeboat during filming of our Lifeboat Drills training film, I can vouch for the advice about wearing a buoyancy aid. Although we were as certain as we could be that the equipment was safe, neither I nor the film crew were prepared to take the additional risk.
I would recomend that anyone involved in vessel management or maintenance reads the report and passes on the lessons to their crews.
12th Asia-Pacific Manning & Training Conference
We’re attending the Asia-Pacific Manning and Training Conference in Manila today and tommorrow … if you’re here come along and say hello.
A new report available from SIRC
New Shipboard Technology and Training Provision for Seafarers
There is a new report available on the Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) website.
Titled “New Shipboard Technology and Training Provision for Seafarers” the report looks at how seafarers deal with modern shipboard technology and their needs as regards suitable and effective training.
You can download a copy of the report from this page.
Authored by Prof. Helen Sampson and Dr Lijun Tang and funded by The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust* Research Unit (The LRETRU) the paper covers topics such as:
- The identification of training needs
- Training Adequacy
- Computer Usage and Training
“In tackling the underlying causes of such ‘human error’, training has a key role to play. This is generally the case with regard to the provision of cadet training but is also of relevance to the on-going training of seafarers at sea (including pilots). One of the challenges for maritime education and training (MET) colleges ashore, and for ship management companies, ship owners, and crew supply companies, is the introduction of new technology aboard many vessels.”
Some of the technology discussed includes:
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
- ARPA/RADAR
- Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)
- Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS)
- Main Engine Manoeuvring and Control System (MEMCS)
The report is a worthy read, and well worth the time for anyone interested in the subject of effective maritime crew training. Once again, you can download a copy of the report from this page.
As well as this new report, there is a wealth of research available free on the SIRC website. I recommend you pay them a visit …