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Maritime Magazine welcomes stakeholders in the maritime industry to take advantage of free editorial space, at our discretion, to express their views on a subject that concerns them. For more information, contact Publisher Pierre Terrien at this address: pterrien@maritimemag.com

On our Forum: The risks of transporting vehicles en masse…

By Michael Grey* You might think that insurers would have been more vocal about the risks they are taking on with bigger car carriers carrying apparently ever more “problematic” (here is my chance to employ a fashionable word) cargoes which cause a lot of grief. It took five days to extinguish the inferno which recently

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On our Forum: Something ghoulish about tours of Titanic wreckage

By Michael Grey* I had just finished re-reading an old biography of Edward Wilson; doctor, scientist, naturalist, artist and Antarctic explorer, who died with Captain Scott and fellow members of the south polar party, in March 1912. Even across all these years, it is impossible to remain unmoved, reading his final letter to his wife,

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Launch of the RESPIRE fundraising campaign by Ocean

Québec City – Ocean Group, a well-established player in the Quebec and Canadian marine industry, officially launches its RESPIRE fundraising campaign. Funds raised will be donated directly to the Fondation du CHU de Québec to renew the stock of neonatal critical care ventilators at the Centre mère-enfant Soleil of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval, which

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On our Forum: The IMO must take the bull by the horns

by Harald Solberg* To supercharge the green shift, we need a clear zero-emissions target by 2050, a market-based levy on CO2 emissions and an improved set of efficiency measures, and as our industry’s global regulator the IMO is the body to do it – and fast. We no longer have the luxury of time. In

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On our Forum: Taking the pulse of the Seafarers’ Happiness Index

Michael Grey* When I was at sea, or afterwards, in shore-side employment, nobody ever asked me whether I was happy. If this unexpected inquiry had been made, I would have been instantly suspicious, anticipating that this was a preliminary to some unwanted bad news. It probably was inculcated very early on – during my first

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On our Forum: Beating up ship operators…

By Michael Grey* We need the shipping industry more than ever – it’s essential to modern life, so why do so many different interests spend their days beating it up? It was a question that occurred to me when reading about the latest draft guidelines about measures to reduce the impact of underwater radiated noise,

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On our Forum: Beware of non-compliant marine fuels…

By Michael Grey* You would almost think that it is a seasonal phenomenon, these regular warnings about ships’ machinery grinding to a standstill on account of something nasty having been introduced into the bunker tanks. The consequences of off-spec or non-compliant fuel are generally dire, ranging from wrecked machinery, to expensive operations to purge the

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Progress for seafarers as 2023 begins

By Michael Grey* There is not a great deal of reason to feel encouraged these days, after a 2022 which has seen so many things go badly wrong in the world. But one might be enthused by the signs of a more sympathetic attitude to the seafaring workforce, which has borne the brunt of so

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On our Forum: Navigating in the new world of many nightmares

By Michael Grey* Decades ago – with the country suffering a government-appointed “wage freeze” and half the workforce out on strike – there was a cartoon which seemed to resonate with the afflicted of that era. It featured a well-fed and suited boss sitting at his desk, glowering at a miserable-looking supplicant, who was clearly

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On our Forum: Solving the dilemma of shore-side post demands

    By Michael Grey* It may offer less in the way of adventure, while an enthusiasm for foreign travel is universal these days, but the sea career still remains attractive to a surprising number of young people. Those organisations offering scholarships for cadet training report there is still plenty of demand out there, even

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On our FORUM: Safety at stake on the world’s oceans

By Michael Grey* It’s those darned “stakeholders” who are the trouble once again. It is one of those words which was unknown in an earlier era of free speech, when you could be quite clear about identifying those you were talking about, without having the lawyers or twitterati on your back. Now it has become

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On our FORUM: The index of happiness afloat

  By Michael Grey*  It was the annual “Day of the Seafarer” last week, not that anyone outside the maritime world actually noticed, although some institutions, managers and maritime employers made kindly pronouncements about the value of these essential workers. It came a few days after the publication of the latest Mission to Seafarers and

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On Our FORUM:  Uncontrollable monsters on the high seas 

By Michael Grey* “She’s not answering her helm, Pilot!” It is not what anyone on the bridge of any ship wants to hear from the helmsman, particularly when the ship is very large, approaching a bend in the channel or some other nail-biting element of the passage from berth to sea. We don’t yet know

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