Professor Dr. Sc. Esc. Capt. Leszek PlewińskiHead of Economic Sciences DepartmentChief Navigator for Euroafrica Shipping LinesTel. 0601-741714 leszekpl@euroafrica.com.pl

INTERNATIONAL CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE

ON THE EUROPEAN UNION’S FUTURE MARITIME POLICY

Sopot 21st – 23rd February 2007

“THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HUMAN FACTOR IN MARINE TRANSPORT”

Theses

1.     Without raising society’s maritime awareness and ensuring the European Union’s self-sufficiency in the scope of marine staff there is no chance of full implementation of the maritime policy contained in the “Green Book”.

 

2.    The human factor is the key index of the EU’s maritime economy development, safety improvement, marine transport protection and safeguarding the protection of natural environment.

Plan of the Address

 

 

 

1.     Introduction

 

2.     Contemporary challenges for marine transport

 

3.     Factors affecting marine safety

 

4.     Ship-to shore cooperation with regard to navigational safety

 

5. Final conclusions

 

1.     Introduction

 

The dynamic development of technology, progressing globalisation and increased mobility of the European Union’s citizens makes us deal with the mounting problem of students’ recruitment for maritime schools and a proper supply of highly-qualified labour for the needs of widely conceived marine economy.

In marine transport this is conditioned by various factors, the following being most important:

1) Decreased interest in marine jobs in developed countries with high living standard.

2) Wider opening of labour markets for young educated graduates of higher education institutions, with good command of at least two foreign languages.

3) The taking over of the best young staff by dynamically developing modern branches of industry and services (including the electronic industry, computer science and logistics).

4) The social sense of uncertainty, caused by changing economic conditions, regarding development perspectives of some marine economy sectors in European Union countries; this concerns mainly marine transport, shipbuilding industry and sea fisheries.

 

2.     Contemporary challenges facing marine transport

 

 

This transport branch is estimated to service over 75% of the global goods exchange (90% of international trade and about 43% of the EU’s domestic trade). The effect of globalisation on the development of marine transport is of essential significance, as it enables further economic development, generating increased demand for transport services, especially those rendered by marine transport.

 

At the same time, due to the transport labour performed by vessels, we have to do with a peculiar “abolishment of distance”, with decreased distances between:

 

-  manufacturers,

-  sources of demand and places of supply of goods and services,

- areas of procuring raw materials and places of their processing.

At present we are witnessing an increased effect of the world’s economy globalisation on the direction and the pace of changes in the sector of ports and international shipping – four basic trends prevailing here:

 

1)    Drastic changes in the production structure towards manufacturing of:

- small-size or simply miniaturised products,

- investment goods transported by special tonnage.

 

2) General cargo is subject to concentration, assuming the shape of various types of cargo transport units, mainly pallets, packages and containers. The carriage of raw materials in natural form is giving way to transport of concentrates and other products obtained after the initial processing of raw materials at the place of their extraction.

 

3) Circumterrestrial services between mega-ports are emerging, with a parallel exploitation of feeder service, the way being led here by container shipping.

 

4) More and more private firms are attracted by capital-intensive specialised cargo-handling and storage terminals; their investments are enhancing competition between ports.

 Some needs of potential marine transport customers are taken account of as early as at the stage of designing and building ships, reflected in the current general trends in the world’s ship-building, among which there can be counted:

 

1. The building of ever larger universal and specialised vessels – due to the scale effect, it makes possible such a reduction of unit transport costs that even the long-distance transport of relatively cheap bulk cargo has become economically viable.

 

2. The pursuit of complete or at least partial independence for some types of sea-going vessels from being serviced at cargo-handling and storage bases; this is bound with limitations resulting from the ports’ natural conditions, difficulties in the transport service of their economic background area and the reduction of tonnage service cost.

 

3. Implementing new technologies of designing and building ships, as also the application of materials with heightened strength, out of concern for improving safety at sea and the protection of natural environment.

 

The growing competition and dynamic development of most of the world’s regions, Europe included, and the new standards of quality, marine safety and environment protection challenge marine transport in ever never ways. Meeting these challenges requires human resources, with regard to both quality and quantity.

 

3.     Factors affecting marine safety

 Marine transport safety is considered at present by the international community to be of absolute priority. This is first of all due to the fact that shipping has always been considered as a dangerous sphere of human activity, mainly because of the ever menacing sea element and the difficulty of predicting weather conditions. These hazards are on the increase – beside traditional dangers new ones appear.

 

The vessel’s seaworthiness is of key significance for marine transport safety, made up of the following:

 

1)     the vessel’s good technical condition, certified by valid ship’s documents,

 

2)     a suitable well-prepared crew,

 

3)     the possession of ample stores of basic operational materials,

 

4) „loading safety” understood as proper loading, securing and lashing of the cargo and the keeping of stability standards in accordance with the regulations throughout the voyage.

Currently the opinion prevails that the human factor, especially the crew manning of the vessel, affects shipping safety level in a decisive way; it is estimated to account for about 80% of sea accidents.

 

 

 

At the same time, the dynamic development of marine transport has brought about an increased adverse effect on navigational safety of traditional factors like increased size of vessels, their draft and speed. Traffic intensity also increases on an ever larger number of water areas, and the scope of menaces attendant on marine mining is widening, too.

 

4.                Ship-to-shore cooperation with regard to navigational safety

 

The above-mentioned conditions make a widely conceived cooperation of the vessel’s crew with the headquarters ashore more and more significant, in particular with:

 

-  the shipowner’s shore services,

-  professional systems of vessel traffic control,

-  sea ports,

-  specialist services.

 

 

The results of this cooperation are of essential significance not only with regard to the vessels’ work results, but also their safety and environment protection. A wider look at this problem is provided by the following diagram, which presents the parties involved in the risk and “advantages” at sea, in accordance with the philosophy of Formal Safety Assessment.

PARTICIPANTS

OF RISK IN

NAVIGATION

Flag state Flag state

Other vessels

Cargo owner Cargo owner

Others Others

Port of calling Port of calling

Classificationsociety

Classificationsociety

Crew Crew

Passengers Passengers

Port state Port state

Coastal state Coastal state

ConstructorBuilder

ConstructorBuilder

Shipowner

Charterer

Operator

Crew agentTrainer

Crew agentTrainer

 

5.     Final conclusions

 

The considerations performed so far justify the statement that under the present circumstances it is first of all necessary to:

 

1) Maintain a high level of navigational safety and environment protection, which requires constant raising of the qualifications of the crew and the shore personnel cooperating with them, as well as improving international and regional legal regulations.

 

2)  Lend proper importance in the Green Book, which concerns an integrated maritime policy of the EU importance, to the problems of education and development of human resources for the needs of marine economy in member countries.

 

3)  Urgently create an integrated system of managing the EU’s maritime personnel in order to reach the optimum state of employment and raising the level of marine safety and natural environment protection.

4) In the training of maritime personnel, take actual account of new knowledge segments useful in employing them “ashore and at sea” in a widely conceived marine economy of the European Union.

Professor Dr. Sc. Esc. Capt. Leszek Plewiński

Head of Economic Sciences Department

Chief Navigator for Euroafrica Shipping Lines

Tel. 0601-741714

leszekpl@euroafrica.com.pl