Our Forum
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 mounting ‘co-habitation’ challenges of cruise ship visits
By Michael Grey* It represents one of the “least sustainable ways of going on holiday”, whimpered some “expert” of an unidentified discipline (probably either a climate scientist or a freelance consultant specialising in the promotion of mandatory misery). In case you haven’t guessed, it is, of course, cruising and the peak of the season in

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

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,

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

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

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

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,

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

On our Forum: A literary look at plastic pollution and the issues it raises
Last September, UQAR researchers in creative writing ended their journey aboard the ship ÉcoMaris to document plastic pollution on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A two-week stay allowed them to observe a high concentration of waste resulting from the lifestyles of the last decades. Over a quarter of a tonne of waste was collected from

On our Forum: Respecting the natural resources in ocean waters…
By Michael Grey It’s a new year and the world’s wildlife is clearly striking back, from the mayhem being caused by the excursions of a walrus (allegedly named Thor, but it could equally have answered to the name of Jim) on the UK coast, to the depredations of wolves in Germany. And across in Chesapeake

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

On our Forum: The awesome challenge of improving life at sea
By Michael Grey* The old ideas are always the best, it is said, and if you are in the mood for cliches, you probably agree that they invariably come around again and again. It is interesting to see the efforts that are being made to “sell” careers at sea and to try and persuade

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

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

On our Forum: Measuring the local impact of giant cruise ships disgorging many people
By Michael Grey* As England battled Saharan temperatures, the depredations of climate activists and queues of multitudes trying to escape by air and sea, I returned for a week to my Northumbrian roots. The train ran on time, and while it may not have offered the silver service of yore, its extraordinary speed and friendly

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

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

On our FORUM: The complex and fascinating world of modern weather routing: A deep dive into StormGeo’s advanced weather routing services
Do you know the name of the first navigator who used “weather routing” on his voyage from Europe to faraway lands and back? It wasn’t Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Juan Sebastian Elcano, Walter Raleigh or any other famous name from the XV or XVI centuries. It was a much lesser-known figure. Antón de Alaminos,

On our FORUM: A mounting dilemma: burning boxes on the world’s containerships
*By Michael Grey There has been no end of sincere concern expressed about the frequency of fires inside containers, which are still running at a rate of one serious event every six weeks on average. This statistic never seems to change from one year to the next, and that doesn’t begin to do justice

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