Fidley Watch: Vado a Bordo

By Chris Philips, Managing Editor

Get on board. These are the words Francesco Schettino heard as he stood on the jetty in the small town of Giglio and watched as his ship sank 500 yards away. 

Last month an Italian Court began considering whether Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, will face trial for the 2012 disaster grounding off Tuscany that killed 32 people. Schettino is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all the 4,200 passengers and crew had been evacuated. At least 30 passengers died – two are missing and presumed dead.

Schettino ordered the ship taken off course to bring it closer to the island of Giglio as a favor to friends, but hit a reef off the island, leaving a 230-foot gash in the hull and causing the liner to capsize.

Captains of passenger vessels have done similarly silly things in the past, although few as flamboyantly as Schettino, who allegedly abandoned ship as the vessel foundered, leaving most of his passengers to fend for themselves. (Schettino radioed from a lifeboat to the Coast Guard to explain the situation. (“What do you mean,” the Italian Coast Guardsman asks over the radio, incredulous. “You’ve abandoned ship?” Captain courageous quickly contradicts himself: “No. No way have I abandoned ship. I’m here.”)

There’s no indication Captain Schettino was using his charts – electronic or paper – when he ran aground. If he had, perhaps the evening would have turned out differently. 

Navigation has come a long way, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) deserve much of the credit for increasing navigational accuracy. In the US, the satellites that make up the GPS system are supplemented by fixed, ground-based reference stations (DGPS) that broadcast the difference between the positions indicated by the satellite systems and the known fixed positions.

The US and Canadian Coast Guard each run a DGPS system, and last month a notice was posted in the Federal Register that the US Coast Guard and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration are analyzing the current and future user needs and requirements of the Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS). This analysis will be used to support future NDGPS investment decisions by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation beyond fiscal year 2016.

The notice seeks comments from federal, state, and local agencies, as well as other interested members of the public regarding current and future usage of the NDGPS, the need to retain the NDGPS, the impact if NDGPS signals were not available, alternatives to the NDGPS, and alternative uses for the existing NDGPS infrastructure. The Agency is specifically requesting comments regarding the following questions:

To what extent do you use the NDGPS in its current form for positioning, navigation, and timing?

What would be the impact on NDGPS users if the NDGPS were to be discontinued?

If NDGPS were to be discontinued, what alternatives can be used to meet users’ positioning, navigation, and timing requirements?

What potential alternative uses exist for the existing NDGPS infrastructure?

Commercial mariners have come to rely on the accuracy of satellite-based GPS for navigation, and harbor pilots at the most recent eNavigation Conference (www.enavigation.org) were vocal about the utility of the more precise Differential GPS in navigating harbors and local waterways.

Those of us who rely on DGPS need to get on board and let the Coast Guard know how valuable it is. Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management Facility on or before July 15, 2013. You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-2013-0054 or RITA-2013-0001 using any one of the following methods:

(1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

(2) Fax: 202-493-2251.

(3) Mail: Docket Management Facility (M-30), US Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

(4) Hand delivery: Same as mail address above, between
9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-366-9329.

Columbia Grain Locks Out Portland Longshore Workers

Columbia Grain has become the latest Pacific Northwest terminal operator to lock out its unionized workforce as a result an ongoing labor dispute.

The company, which is owned by Japanese trader Marubeni Corp, said it took the May 4 action because members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union were purposefully engaging in a work slowdown at its Port of Portland terminal.

The longshore workers were, Columbia Grain alleges in a statement, “engaging in ‘inside game’ tactics, including slowdowns, work-to-rule, and demands for repeated inspections of the same equipment - all designed to negatively impact Columbia Grain’s operations.”

After the lockout, the union released a statement accusing the terminal operator of planning the lockout for months and aiming to use it to break the union local.

“Rather than reach a fair agreement, the company has hired an out-of-state strikebreaking firm, attorneys and a publicist to make allegations against local workers who simply want to do our jobs and support our community,” ILWU Local 8 President Bruce Holte said in a statement. Holte also happens to be a member of the nine-person Port of Portland Commission.

Prior to the lockout, the terminal typically used 15-20 longshoremen per shift, with two shifts per day, according to Pat McCormick, a spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association, the employer group engaged in contentious on-and-off negotiations with the union on a new labor contract.

Columbia Grain says has a plan in place to continue operations without its union dockworkers.

The Grain Handlers Association, which has been in negotiations with the union since early September 2012, represents Columbia Grain and two other terminal operators: United Grain Corp., which operates an export terminal at the Port of Vancouver in Washington State, and LD Commodities, operator of facilities in Portland and Seattle.

United Grain indefinitely locked out its union dockworkers workers Feb. 27, 2013, after accusing a union official who worked there of sabotaging equipment in retaliation for contentious ongoing contract negotiations.

An investigator hired by United Grain is said to have found out through video surveillance and other evidence that a leader with ILWU Local 4 intentionally sabotaged equipment, resulting in $105,000 in damages, according to the terminal operator.

The union has denied the charges.

POLB Invests in Electrification Efforts

The Port of Long Beach, its terminal customers and shipping lines are investing millions of dollars in new equipment to allow vessels to use clean electricity at berth and cut air pollution in advance of upcoming state deadlines, officials said May 6 during a special “Shore Power Summit.”

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners hosted the summit at the port to highlight the industry’s efforts to meet the shore power requirement. The summit brought together environmental regulators, seaport terminal operators, elected officials and utility representatives to discuss the wide array of investments and other preparations.

Long Beach says it’s completing $100 million worth of dockside power hookups, vessel operators are retrofitting older ships for shore power and building new ones, and Southern California Edison is installing a new transmission system to meet the increased power demand. The preparations are being made as California’s shore power deadline approaches: by Jan. 1, 2014, vessel operators must plug in half of all cargo container, cruise and reefer vessels and eliminate half of their emissions.

The shore power regulation came about thanks in part to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles crafting their 2006 joint San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan. Before the state regulation was created, the ports’ CAAP established a goal to use shore power at container terminals. Several Port of Long Beach terminals are already equipped with shore power.

Shoreside power can cut air pollution from ships at berth by 95 percent when ships use such power for their power needs at berth – lights, pumps, communications and refrigeration – instead of running diesel-fueled auxiliary engines.

Long Beach Opens Port Tour Reservations

A rare view of the Port of Long Beach’s operations, construction projects and environmental initiatives can be had this spring and summer during free, narrated harbor and train tours. Reservations opened online at 8 a.m. Mon., May 6.

The port’s seasonal train tours return Sat., June 1 and Sun., June 2 with multiple trips both days. The one-hour narrated rides offer guests a view of cargo-moving operations and the port’s rail network in areas that generally are off limits to the public. Trains play a crucial role in port operations; they move nearly 75 percent of imports shipped through Long Beach.

The 90-minute harbor tours – which will continue through October – give the public an opportunity to see the port by boat. Tours begin at 10 a.m. the first and third Saturdays of each month and at 2 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month.

Sunset tours, which offer a look at the lighted shipping terminals, begin at 7:30 p.m. the fourth Thursday of each month.

Reservations can be made online by going to www.polb.com/porttours.

Space is limited and seating goes fast, especially for the harbor tours. If space is available, click the “Register” button to make a reservation; if a tour is full, click “Join Waiting List” to be added to the waiting list. Those on standby will be notified if space becomes available.

Iron Ore Exports Begin at Long Beach Port

A dockside ceremony was conducted April 30 to commemorate the launch of a venture by scrap metal exporter SA Recycling to distribute iron ore from the Port of Long Beach.

SA Recycling is working with CML Metals Corp. to send iron ore from mines in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah to Asia in order to meet the growing demand for raw materials in the booming overseas steel industry.

The iron ore exports, which began earlier this spring, are the first from Long Beach in 40 years.

“I’m really excited about it,” SA Recycling President and CEO George Adams said. “The price of iron ore is starting to rise to the point where you can afford to mine it and ship it to China, South Korea, Malaysia and other Asian markets.”

At prices nearing $140 per metric ton, iron ore is a rising commodity in the US economy. The raw material is abundant in the western US and the demand in Asia’s rising.

After a year of planning, SA kicked off the venture by loading and sending its first 50,000-ton shipment of the raw material to China in late March. The company and port say that if market demand remains strong, SA Recycling could export more than a million tons of iron ore this year.

“The (Long Beach Harbor) Commission appreciates our industry partners’ efforts to find new business, especially export business, at the port,” Commission Vice President Thomas Fields, who attended the ceremony, said. “We’re delighted that the port was able to assist SA in expanding into the iron ore market.”

SA Recycling has operated a break bulk terminal at Pier T for more than 15 years, and also operates a scrap metal export facility at the Port of Los Angeles. It’s the largest scrap metal processor in the southwestern United States, operating a total of 55 recycling facilities in three states and recycling more than 2.5 million tons of scrap annually, according to the company.

Maersk Line Hires Microsoft Exec

Maersk Line has hired Stephen Schueler as its Chief Commercial Officer, effective May 27. Schueler, a 46-year-old American, comes to Maersk from Microsoft Corp., where he was the head of global retail sales and marketing.

He takes over for former Maersk Line CCO Lucas Vos, who submitted his resignation in February after seven years with the company. Vos’ last day was May 1.

Schueler had only been with Microsoft since August 2012, but prior to that, he spent more than 20 years with Procter & Gamble, where he utilized his sales and management skills in a variety of roles across Europe, South America and Asia before becoming the company’s head of global retail sales.

“Stephen has developed and led the global sales operations of two of the world’s largest and most prestigious companies with great results. We are focused on improving the way we sell our services to customers in order to reach volume and profit targets and Stephen brings valuable insight that we hope to leverage,” Maersk Line CEO Søren Skou said. “Combined with extensive international sales experience, he is exactly what we are looking for to further strengthen the Maersk Line sales force.”

With Maersk Line, Stephen will be responsible for over 9,000 Maersk Line employees in 125 countries, which includes the global country organizations and all global sales, customer service and communication related tasks.

He’s also expected to focus on sales efficiency, value selling and customer needs, according to Maersk.