Oh boy, this should be interesting

What a “nice” fairytale. But it appears this is what most Americans would like to believe is the reality in the world of shipping. (Alternative facts maybe??)
The fact is that most ships sailing the world’s oceans every day are flagged by FOC nations, owned by companies originating in mostly developed countries (USA citizens among the biggest owners).
Many are operated by Ship Management companies with their HQ in the major shipping hubs of the world (Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Oslo, Miami, NYC and Houston)
They are manned by mixed crews, many from developing countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, China, India etc. or East Europeans. The Officers may be from any of the same countries, or they may be from other European countries. You may occasionally even find Americans, but very rarely these days.

Are all these ships low standard, run by greedy owners and managers with no regards for safety? No they are not. They all have to comply with the same IMO rules, the same class requirements. They are held to the same standard of operation by the ISM Code and by the Underwriters and P&I Clubs.

To check on all this is the PSC under the MOUs, who keep a record available for all to see. Maybe surprising (or disappointing??) to some is that the major FOCs are all on the white lists with the MOUs and Qualship21 by the USCG.

Is language a major problem on ships with mixed crews?? Usually not. English is common language on most ships, regardless of flag and nationality of the crews. In fact, I find it is more problem on ships with a homogeneous crew from countries where English is not commonly spoken. (China, Japan, Russia etc.)
Standard Maritime English is compulsory in Maritime Schools, but not everybody have the same ability to learn languages.

In 1978-80 I was Captain on an American owned and operated Drillship working in S.E.Asia where the regular crew consisted of 19 different nationalities. (Only one welder was American) The common language was English and nationality was NOT and issue on board.
In addition we took crews from the countries we operated in. In countries like Thailand, (where English was not widely spoken at the time) we had translators for each shift to ensure a minimum of misunderstandings.

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This is not a tugboat. Under the rules, tugboats are Vessels more than 26 feet long which require licensed personnel, Subchapter M, TSMS, etc. These little shallow draft 25”-11” pushboats are just for Inland construction support and are unregulated. Anyone can operate them. They are often carried to job sites on the deck of construction barges.

All that being said: I am in favour of cabotage rules, including Jones Act. The Jones Act ship that I worked on was good craic: those guys are really the best and I’d happily work with them again. It just doesn’t do anyone any favours to dream up that FoCs are the bogeyman and that’s why we should have cabotage. Lots of legit reasons to have strong cabotage without manufacturing strawmen.

Given by the recent announcement in the Federal Register regarding comments requested for the Deregulation of the US Maritime Sector;

We prepare to fight and prevail against this latest onslaught against the 1920 Merchant Marine Act (The Jones Act) and our Cargo Preference Laws and the Passenger Services Vessel Act- We’re reminded of those who have served before us.

We are compelled by the sacrifices of those 9,521 U.S. Merchant Mariners who gave their lives during the Second World War.

We are reminded of the dutiful service of all those U.S. Merchant Mariners who served with honor during the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars.

We MUST prevail and we SHALL prevail against this recurrent onslaught against our seafaring way of life.

A call to action goes out to EVERY U.S. Merchant Mariner, EVERY Representative of Maritime Labor, EVERY Person employed by U.S. Flag Shipping Companies.

Each and every one of us should respond to the request for Public Comments in the link contained below. EVERY holder of a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Credential should write and voice their strong support keeping and maintaining the current Jones Act and Cargo Preference Laws and Passenger Vessel Services Act.

I greatly and respectfully urge each and every one of us to submit comments… Let’s begin this fight to preserve our Maritime Right under the U.S. Flag…

The Vincentian ship that I worked on had been in the Dutch fleet. It had been used for youth offenders. Orange painted dots outside every cabin for the kids to stand on to get counted before bed, so they said. I think its probably a good way to do things, as far as penal codes go. It sounds good, but I didn’t have to work with them, maybe it sucks. Seems more productive than throwing away the key, though.

I don’t think any US Mariner would consider having less than 10% flagged US ships around now when compared to the 1980’s a fairytale. Once again, I will excuse myself with any back and forth here with you. The point remains, US flagged shipping IS affected greatly by the rest of the world, including your so called

Countries. BTW if I used the term bottom of the barrel describing a country and it’s subpar Maritime practices I’m pretty sure you would troll and say I’m just some American who thinks I’m better than the rest of the world like you always do. I find it comical how you will take any point of view just to argue. I suggest finding a hobby, don’t you guys do curling, maybe hockey with all the ice over there? Maybe yodeling?

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The only ships that I can think of that generally have a complete crew of the same flag as they are flying apart from American flagged vessels are LNG vessels and I can not recall LNG vessels being involved in any major accident. They normally fly the flag of a reputable shipping nation.
The offshore oil industry is different from other shipping because those without the skills required are soon moved on regardless of their nationality.
Bulk carriers are definitely the bottom of the barrel. Australia ships out millions of tonnes of bulk cargoes so they do more PSA inspections of bulk carriers.

No I would not object to you using that term if you were referring to the flag stats that is “at the bottom of the barrel”. (I.e. on the MOUs Black List,) But I do object to you lumping all FOC vessels together because it fits your agenda, not the facts.

The standard of vessels under many FOC flags are on par with many vessels under other flags, incl. the US flag. If you doubt that go check facts, then come back and prove me wrong.

It does not help getting more US flag vessels on the water to claim that the demise of the US blue water fleet must be somebody else’s fault.

I would suggest you never work on drill ships then either if that DPRK tub spooks you with the few different (but at least regional and similar language) nationalities on it.

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So an inch LOA makes this a non-tug??
If it grew an inch it would get under different rules and require licensed personnel?
It seams all rules have a limit like that everywhere.
In Norway there are fishing boats that is 14.99 m. LOA to fit within some licensing limit and/or quota regulations (I’m not sure which)

They look kind of silly, being nearly as wide as they are long and as deep as a “normal” fishing boat twice the length. Just have a look at this one. At the yard:

In activity:

Yes. Same concept.

Obviously, it would make much more sense to regulate length, beam, depth, carrying capacity, horsepower, etc. to prevent all these bizarre “rule-beaters” from evading the rules.

That… is actually kinda neat there ombugge. :wow: Good concept for the fjords I guess, but that draft would be a killer in most of the US.

I am afraid that this Ugly Duckling will not grow into a beautiful swan…

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ben Hur is designed with a “cut line”, with pipe flanges and cable connectors already in place in order to lengthen the hull by 50% or more.
Rules are subject to change and these boats are able to change with them.

This is what she may look like:


A nice swan, me think.

I have to agree with Ombugge, here. It has been my experience that most FOC vessels were maintained reasonably well, with a multitude of nationalities working well. Were there some companies/owners taking advantage of the system? You bet there were. But they were certainly NOT in the majority. I recall attending onboard the VLCCs operated by Stena where often it was like the UN when it came to nationalities onboard. They were some of the best maintained and operated vessels that I have ever boarded. Now, is this a problem for the US flag shipping? You bet. I am not sure that I know the fix for this. I imagine that allowing US merchant seamen to work tax free, regardless of flag would help. . . but it won’t happen.

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I found the Ben Hur on Shipspotting:

I like the comment posted by the Owner:
“The worlds biggest 15 m. fishing boat”.
She certainly have everything you can find on much bigger boats, packed onto a minimal space.
There are 3 cabins for 5 crews and all the electronics you can dream of.

No she is not only used in the fjords. Her home port is Tromsø, far north of the Arctic Circle and her fishing grounds could be even further north than that, (Finnmark coast maybe?)

Here she is getting her sein net delivered and stowed:


I don’t see anybody on the aft deck during this operation. All automated??

The seine net must be stacked with the corks on the port side and purse rings must be placed on a rod or in a tray in the correct order on the starboard side for setting out. The twine usually gets some stacking. While it might be possible to automate that, I doubt that it would be practical.

Stacking is usually a three man job, cork man, twine man, and leadline / ring man. Usually, a 4th man will do the rings. In normal operation there are a certain number of roll ups and tangles in the twine that must be cleared. It’s also common to watch for tears and to the extent possible stack the tears out of the pile where the can be mended while the net is still in the net bin. I don’t see much practical advantage to an automated stacking system.

I’ve never used the Norwegian triplex power block, but I did fish around a couple of Canadian boats that had it. Very impressive set up.

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I have no experience with seiners, but it does appear to be a lot of automation involved in the operation today.
Here is a brochure from Triplex that may tell Tugsailor more than me:
http://www.triplex.no/site/view/fishery

I do like the Triplex stoppers (Shark jaws) used on many large and small anchor handlers:
http://www.triplex.no/site/view/offshore

I had a big problem convincing a Shell Marine Repr. that it was possible and safe to use the stopper without having guide pins, which it is.

PS> The knock-off stoppers that looks the same are downright dangerous. (Made in China by an American company)

Triplex does make specific cork line and leadline stackers, but those are not installed on the little BEN HUR.

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Speaking of rule beaters,there were a few small coasters built in Romania for a Norwegian company that must have been the ultimate of “rule beater”. Here is one of them:

They were pure deck cargo carriers, with a single derrick capable of lifts up to 56 m.t. with the block and the topping wire fixed at the shortes boom length. (of 4 possible positions)

Originally they had a short section near the stern with an opening that went side to side and from the tween deck to the weather deck, making the “tween deck” the “main deck”. (Plated over on this picture)
The gross tonnage was 49.96 (ITC) and the minimum safe manning in short sea trade was 2 pers.

Here is what one of them, the MOOR (ex FOB 10) looks like today:

Two of them was used in Point Noire, Congo to transfer containers to/from ships at anchor in the bay for a while in the early to mid-1980’s. (Somebody here may remember seeing them there)

During the Falkland War in 1982 one of them was used to transfer cargo to the Air force station at Ascension Island. The old Whaler that was the managing the boats in Point Noire was familiar with the reefs around the island and acted as Captain there.

Later they went into more shady trading with weapons from South Africa to the rebel held area of Angola, until one of them run aground and was wrecked on the “Skeleton coast” in Namibia. It was found that there were an unlicensed South African as Master on this Norwegian (NOR) flagged vessel. (NMD was not amused)

I don’t know if there are any other of this type still afloat, but in that case they would have been modified to a more normal arrangement. Here is specs of the Moor: