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: 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

On our Forum: The ‘disgraceful’ HR and PR behaviour of P&O Ferries
By Michael Grey* “In the shipping industry,” an old Greek shipowner once said to me, “we operate not with the help of the government, but in spite of it”. And it is absolutely true, no matter where a shipping operation might be based, although some governments are more landlubberly than others. This statement, uttered more

On our Forum: A new course for the Arctic after Russian invasion of Ukraine
By Evan T. Bloom* Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had tremendous impact on international relations globally. While the Arctic has generally been immune from external political pressures, the shocking developments in Ukraine led the seven states other than Russia that are members of the Arctic Council on March 3, 2022 to take the unprecedented step of formally pausing

On our Forum: Memories of Odessa… as Russian attack nears
By Michael Grey “They are lovely people who are going through hell”. It was a surveyor from DNV, who we happened to meet at Odessa airport, as we clutched our cardboard exit documents in the queue for what served as a departure lounge, whose words came back to me this week. It was a freezing

On our Forum: It’s time for an Arctic Council 2.0
By Alice Rogoff* For eight years since anonymous “little green men” from Russia invaded Crimea, the Arctic Council has continued to operate under the illusion of the Arctic nations’ “peaceful collaboration.” Russia, with its one-half share of Arctic landmass, has remained a member in good standing of the council and even become its chair,

On our Forum: Beware of risks for ships carrying EV vehicles…
By Michael Grey Here is a useful motoring tip that you probably will not discover in your service manual, should your new, all-electric vehicle inadvertently burst into flames. While your natural inclination might be to run for your life, it is suggested that the terrifying fire might be smothered in a blanket, or better still,

On our Forum: Questions aplenty about ship fuel problems and ‘green’ solutions
By Michael Grey* You would be, to say the least, extremely angry, if your car came to a grinding halt and the nice person from the emergency services looked up from the engine compartment and told you the engine had been wrecked because of the fuel you had been supplied by the filling station.

On our Forum: New Year thoughts on supporting seafarers and… handling fanatics
By Michael Grey* It’s New Year’s Eve, when people of kindly disposition wish each other the hope that the coming twelve months might be happy, or even prosperous. So let me begin with such a wish for our readers, despite most of the evidence suggesting that much of what made 2021 such a miserable experience

On our Forum: Crew needs come last in revolutionary new ship shapes
By Michael Grey* In the compromise that dictates the design of a ship, you don’t have to be cynical to observe that the needs of the crew come last, after the cargo, machinery and anything else that might remunerate the owner. The crew, it might be said “just fit in where they can”. It has