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By Yoan Marier*   A threat without clear answers The numbers speak for themselves. In the past decade, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has received nearly 400 reports of vessel fires, and 10% of those fires resulted in the total loss of the vessel. While fatalities remain rare, the consequences of shipboard fires can […]

By Michael Grey* When something goes badly wrong, it is human nature to attempt to deflect the blame and to cite extenuating circumstances to explain away everything from why you took up a life of crime, to the reasons for driving at 50mph in a 20mph zone. It has become quite scientific these days, with

By Michael Grey* It must be summer, when there is the annual alarm in the UK about the potential catastrophe from the detonation of 1400 tonnes of high explosives sitting in the mouldering holds of the Liberty ship Richard Montgomery. They have rested there inoffensively since the ship dragged her anchor and grounded in the

By Michael Grey* As a story in May in the general press, it all seemed a bit of a laugh. The deep-sleeping Norwegian in his pretty cabin on the Trondheim Fjord, oblivious to a “huge” ship running ashore a few feet from his bedroom. He required an urgent call from his neighbour to alert him

By Michael Grey* “She’s not answering the helm!” It was a call to chill the heart of any watchkeeping officer, at least in the days when there was a man on the wheel to react with such alarm. It happened to me just once, but in the middle of the Straits of Gibraltar, with lots

By Louis Martel* The United States has a long history of implementing protectionist trade policies, often realizing in hindsight that such measures ultimately hurt Americans. The latest example is the Trump administration’s proposal to impose exorbitant port fees on Chinese-built vessels that dock at U.S. ports – a shortsighted policy that is poised to have

By Michael Grey* “Unfriendly natives” – it said, recalling a previous visit, but the Old Man, worrying about the reaction of the pilot, demanded that the Third Mate erase this scurrilous observation, even though he subsequently agreed with its accuracy. It is not the first time they have featured as a source of seafarers’ exasperation,

By Michael Grey* Do seafarers have any human rights, in an era where worthy folk are always shouting about this supposed entitlement for those who live safely on land? You have to wonder, when you learn about some of the disgraceful treatment meted out by the authorities around the world to those who have aroused

By Michael Grey* With everyone slowing down to save both the planet and fuel we should not be surprised that the expeditors among us are more anxious than ever to cut corners to make up for all those lost hours on passage. Some are undoubtedly sensible, such as becoming more expert at timing an arrival

By Michael Grey* You have to hand it to the Houthis, for their ability, with limited resources, to cause an extraordinary amount of trouble in the world. From financial crises in Egypt, with the Suez Canal now working part-time, to weather-induced casualties on shipping diverted around the Cape, it is all down to their malevolent