Bowalley Road: The Auckland Ports Dispute: An Injury To All
"Auckland Regional Holdings was clearer in 2009 stating: “The sector is engaging in destructive interregional competition that is detrimental to New Zealand’s long-term productivity and competitiveness, and could be considered an instance of “market failure”. For the good of the country, it is clear that the port sector needs to change and focus on the real threat – not from each other – but from outside.” 2
The current move to slash employment costs by making staff on-call, round the clock casual workers without compensation for lifestyle or job insecurity is another step toward creating a third world nation"".
Kia-ora
Showing posts with label coastal shipping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coastal shipping. Show all posts
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Friday, October 21, 2011
"We had to wait 5 days to pump the oil out of the Rena"
Kia-ora
The contradictory statements and outright spin coming from Maritime New Zealand and National are excuses for delay, not reasons.
I know,, that given the resources, pumps, tugs, helicopters, barges, hoses and other equipment available in Marsden point, Tauranga and Auckland, oil could have been pumping off the vessel within 24 hours of the grounding.
We know the ship had power and heating to the bunker tanks for the first few days.
It was obvious to mariners that with damage forward and the depths below the ship she would be aground for many weeks, if she could be refloated at all.
Given that, power and fuel oil heating would be lost if the ship was more damaged, bad weather was forecast within a week and the ship was only supported along half her length, making breaking up in bad weather almost certain, getting the oil off should have been top priority.
MNZ's on scene commander has the legal powers to commandeer equipment, vessels and personnel to avoid oil pollution.
Ships piping can be adapted to pump overside to a barge within a lot less than 4 days.
Heating would have been on for at least the tanks in use. Takes less than a day to heat further tanks.
If the pipework was too damaged to use, which was highly unlikely for the after bunkers, portable pumps and generators could have been choppered to the vessel within hours.
While the oil was hot almost any pumps could have been used at rates of hundreds of ton an hour. Instead of a specialised displacement pump, required, after it had cooled.
Any barge or vessel capable of holding oil, which there were several around, could have been used to pump into, initially.
Awanuia does not take 4 days to go to Marsden point, empty, and return to Tauranga. More like 8 hours to Marsden point. About 7 to discharge and no more than 12 hours to Tauranga.
Bunker piping is available on the wharf in all three ports.
We have Mates, Masters and engineers in NZ that have years of experience on pumping fuel between ships and making things work in adverse conditions.
When we have a valve failure in a tanker we do not leave it sitting around for 5 days at 60k plus a day while we wait for an overseas expert or for negotiations with insurance companies. . We open a manhole and pump it out using a salvage pump.
If fuel pipes or anything else fails at sea. We fix it
The whole thing is an in indictment on the lack of preparedness of MNZ, helped by lack of funding and lack of experienced and qualified seafarers in the top ranks.
It has become obvious that MNZ had no idea of the personnel and equipment, already on hand, that could be used.
Strange, considering that some of the skilled personnel work for MNZ.
This episode has also exposed the lack of preparedness and equipment for a serious spill. Due to lack of funding. To keep the costs of oil pollution levies, and hence shipping costs down.
Successive Governments have been told many times the race for the cheapest shipping costs makes more of this sort of accident inevitable. They all failed in their duty to prepare for it.
Appointing chair polishing ignoramus as bosses in MNZ, allowing substandard FOC ships, many of which which would not be allowed on the EC coasts, to starving emergency response planning and equipping of funding, is at the door of all our Neo-Liberal Governments since 1984.
The ineptitude and lack of preparedness does not make me confident of their ability to monitor deep sea drilling.
The Rena. A Neo-Liberal failure.
Kia-ora
Nearly two weeks ago now a container vessel grounded on Astrolobe reef near Tauranga, New Zealand.
Shipping accidents like the Rena are entirely at the door of Neo-Liberal economics.
The foreseeable results of Globalisation, de-regulation, the endless search for the cheapest, the socialisation of risks and the privatisation of benefits..
Tired, overstressed, low paid crews, cheaply built and maintained ships, inadequate or ignored regulation and excessive workloads are the norm at sea.
Flags of convenience exist entirely so that shipping companies, and shippers, can reduce the costs: of corporate and income taxes, safety standards, operating standards, crew conditions and wages and build standards of shipping.
They allow a competitive race to the bottom to see who can become the cheapest.
There is no reason whatsoever to use a flag of convenience if you intend to operate a vessel to a high standard. There would not be any cost savings.
The constant struggle to maintain cheaply built ships, designed and built for a 15 year life. Is bad enough when they are new. 5 or 10 years beyound their design life , keeping them going is a 24 hour a day job.
Low wages, mean that high quality well trained crew find other work ashore or in higher paid work like the oil industry.
Masters and Chief engineers are often the only properly trained and skilled members of the crew, with the numbers made up of cheap labour with dodgy qualifications.
It is common for crew to be on board working shifts with less tha 8 hours off a day for more than 9 months.
Training standards are variable, with a noticeable drop in the standard of training, even from first world countries. At the same time crew numbers have been dropped so there are not the personnel available to babysit and train.
Seafarers are expected to rest in ships with levels of noise and vibration that would have been totally unacceptable thirty years ago. Ashore in NZ it is illegal to get people to work, let alone sleep, in those conditions
In New Zealand, Masters who refuse to sail because of broken equipment or rough weather and crew members who refuse to falsify rest hour, maintenance, safety and leave records are protected by our employment laws.
A sacking for those reasons, in New Zealand, would be a legitimate case for unjustified dismissal..
On FOC ships they are sacked or their contracts are simply not renewed.
The worst of it, since the 1980's and Governments cave in to the farming lobby on Cabotage, in NZ, even local shipping companies, whatever their intentions , are also cutting standards to compete with cheap overseas shipping.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Offshore drilling Safety??
Kia-ora
Maritime NZ have a road show going around the country with a proposal to make things cheaper for the offshore oil drilling industry.
Current requirements for STCW/SOLAS certification for crews and the vessel on oil rig tenders may be relaxed to allow inshore qualifications up to the new within 200 miles of the coast “Near sheltered waters limit”. About the same as allowing someone with 200 hours in a Cessna to drive a jumbo jet.
I.E. Off the East Coast or in the Great South Basin.
Oil rig tenders are supposed to be the stand by vessels for rescue and firefighting for the rigs.
STCW is the minimum requirement for international vessels. It is already compromised by ship owner interests. Attempts to relax requirements below this level are not going to increase the safety of offshore drilling.
Especially in light of the Coastguard findings in the US that lack of knowledge of stability in ship and rig firefighting at the scene may have contributed to the Transocean rig sinking.
I think this shows the Governments real level of commitment to environmental safety.
Maritime NZ have a road show going around the country with a proposal to make things cheaper for the offshore oil drilling industry.
Current requirements for STCW/SOLAS certification for crews and the vessel on oil rig tenders may be relaxed to allow inshore qualifications up to the new within 200 miles of the coast “Near sheltered waters limit”. About the same as allowing someone with 200 hours in a Cessna to drive a jumbo jet.
I.E. Off the East Coast or in the Great South Basin.
Oil rig tenders are supposed to be the stand by vessels for rescue and firefighting for the rigs.
STCW is the minimum requirement for international vessels. It is already compromised by ship owner interests. Attempts to relax requirements below this level are not going to increase the safety of offshore drilling.
Especially in light of the Coastguard findings in the US that lack of knowledge of stability in ship and rig firefighting at the scene may have contributed to the Transocean rig sinking.
I think this shows the Governments real level of commitment to environmental safety.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
On the foreshore and seabed.
Kia-ora
I strongly believe all foreshore and seabed should be commons. None should be in private hands and none should be salable because a future right wing Government decides.
"The Greens are confident that if we lay aside our fear and anger it is possible to reach agreement about a system that recognises Maori Customary title, prevents it from being turned into individual saleable title, provides for all New Zealanders to have access to the beach provided they respect it, and puts in place a range of measures to ensure the values we all cherish on the coast are protected.
It can only happen through rebuilding trust and good will. The heritage of the Commons is one of Europe's gifts to our cultural imagination; the Customary tenure of iwi and hapu is an indigenous taonga. Together, they can give us a shared appreciation of a sustainable relationship with our environment."
I strongly believe all foreshore and seabed should be commons. None should be in private hands and none should be salable because a future right wing Government decides.
"The Greens are confident that if we lay aside our fear and anger it is possible to reach agreement about a system that recognises Maori Customary title, prevents it from being turned into individual saleable title, provides for all New Zealanders to have access to the beach provided they respect it, and puts in place a range of measures to ensure the values we all cherish on the coast are protected.
It can only happen through rebuilding trust and good will. The heritage of the Commons is one of Europe's gifts to our cultural imagination; the Customary tenure of iwi and hapu is an indigenous taonga. Together, they can give us a shared appreciation of a sustainable relationship with our environment."
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Never let the evidence get in the way of ideology.
Kia-ora
Never let the evidence get in the way of ideology.
Politicians of all stripes do not allow evidence of effectiveness to influence policy, but NZ National governments turn ignoring evidence into an art form.
Economy.
Since 1984 the reserve bank act has clobbered the NZ export manufacturing industry with higher interest rates than competitors and an artificially high exchange rate.
Government gets excited about the so called housing bubble while ignoring the probably equally damaging dairy bubble. In fact much of the rise in housing is due to inflation in interest rates. Sellers try to recover interest paid when selling. Excluding interest rates from inflation measures masks the real effect on house prices. With 7 billion people looking for living space, overseas baby boomers trying to retire to safe, cheap areas over the next 10 years, overseas demand for building products and skilled tradespeople and our current immigration policy does anyone really believe house prices will drop long term. Of course people who sell dodgy financial products would like us to think so.
Applying the neo-liberal business model to infrastructure such as power and ports has resulted in duplication of facilities, lack of investment in long term projects and increased prices. The business model when used for infrastructure monopolies has failed wherever it has been applied. We are now told we will have more of the same.
Successive NZ Governments have talked about gaining wage parity with Australia while pursuing immigration and welfare policies designed to keep wages low. GDP has dropped against Australia. Also wage and salary earners share of GDP dropped from 75% to 50% in the same period. Among wage and salary earners a larger proportion is now paid to very high earners. Overseas shareholders predominate in the amount of GDP paid to shareholders. (NZ national accounts. NZ Statistics). Rather than trying to increase wages, Governments, both Labour and National, have been selling us out!
Mining.
Opening the conservation estate to mining will have major effects on the "Brand" and on our quality of life. The government does not even know what the returns may be, if any. I suppose as someone once said "the definition of an honest politician is one who when he is brought stays brought". The Mining industry funded National.
Education.
The evidence shows the best educational outcomes are driven by highly trained and skilled teachers left to manage themselves. Government does not set clinical protocols for Doctors or micro-manage engineers. In NZ the curriculum, including how to teach it, is set and changed on an ad-hoc basis at every change of government.
National standards have been proven to fail in the US and UK so they are now to be introduced here. Where is the funding to help the at risk kids who are identified. Present funding is being quietly reduced.
Evidence also shows that the greater the range of society in a school the better the outcomes for everyone. Government has increased funding to separatist private schools.
Early intervention such as reading recovery, teacher aid assistance and other help allow the kids who have problems integrate and become part of the school system. 20% become disaffected with school and get to high school disillusioned with the whole process. The implied social contract that your work at school leads to a satisfying and fulfilling job does not work for kids who see their peers on the dole or working 12 "full time" hours a week at McDonald's. Funding is reduced to increase subsidies to schools for the "elite".
Agriculture.
Fish farming is a poor second best to properly managed wild fish. Opening up most of our coast to fish farming removes a resource, vital to tourism and our NZ lifestyle, from the commons and vests it as property for a few. Harvesting wild fish stocks to feed to farmed fish depletes wild stocks more than the food gained from farmed fish. Fish farms effect on coastal water quality is well documented. Failed fish farms have left a mess in various areas which no one seems in a hurry to pay to clean up. Changes to the AMA and the foreshore and seabed act may make it impossible for the public to reduce the areas to be used for fish farming.
Dairying on the scale we are heading is dependent on imported feed and socialising the costs of pollution, emissions and land degradation. Like fish farming we will again have to pay to clean up the mess. Government has sacked ECAN because they do not allow farmers to strip mine Canterbury water.
Fishing could be a source of employment for our youth. Government allows joint ventures to circumvent labour laws and employ overseas residents.
Transport.
Coastal shipping could cut a lot of our reliance on imported oil, mitigate greenhouse gases and supply a cheaper and more timely form of transport for local manufacturing. Coastal shipping pays its bills in NZ including taxes. Payment in NZ dollars to local operators makes a difference to our trade deficit. Instead NZ is one of the few countries which allow overseas ships to pick the eyes out of our coastal trade. Trucking, a much less efficient form of transport, is subsidised by ratepayers and central government. Bigger trucks are now to be allowed on the roads increasing roading costs. Foreign ships on our coast are exempt from, shipping standards, taxes and our labour laws. Substandard ships and crews of the quality of those who recently hit the reef in Australia are common.
Green Economy.
Despite the ill informed ideological nonsense the Greens spout sometimes (Like all politicians) the green new deal is some of the best ideas for the way ahead we have seen for a long time. http://www.greens.org.nz/gnd NZ is well positioned to be innovative and a leader in green technologies. National, however is business as usual. Recycling proven neo-liberal failures.
Need I go on.
Never let the evidence get in the way of ideology.
Politicians of all stripes do not allow evidence of effectiveness to influence policy, but NZ National governments turn ignoring evidence into an art form.
Economy.
Since 1984 the reserve bank act has clobbered the NZ export manufacturing industry with higher interest rates than competitors and an artificially high exchange rate.
Government gets excited about the so called housing bubble while ignoring the probably equally damaging dairy bubble. In fact much of the rise in housing is due to inflation in interest rates. Sellers try to recover interest paid when selling. Excluding interest rates from inflation measures masks the real effect on house prices. With 7 billion people looking for living space, overseas baby boomers trying to retire to safe, cheap areas over the next 10 years, overseas demand for building products and skilled tradespeople and our current immigration policy does anyone really believe house prices will drop long term. Of course people who sell dodgy financial products would like us to think so.
Applying the neo-liberal business model to infrastructure such as power and ports has resulted in duplication of facilities, lack of investment in long term projects and increased prices. The business model when used for infrastructure monopolies has failed wherever it has been applied. We are now told we will have more of the same.
Successive NZ Governments have talked about gaining wage parity with Australia while pursuing immigration and welfare policies designed to keep wages low. GDP has dropped against Australia. Also wage and salary earners share of GDP dropped from 75% to 50% in the same period. Among wage and salary earners a larger proportion is now paid to very high earners. Overseas shareholders predominate in the amount of GDP paid to shareholders. (NZ national accounts. NZ Statistics). Rather than trying to increase wages, Governments, both Labour and National, have been selling us out!
Mining.
Opening the conservation estate to mining will have major effects on the "Brand" and on our quality of life. The government does not even know what the returns may be, if any. I suppose as someone once said "the definition of an honest politician is one who when he is brought stays brought". The Mining industry funded National.
Education.
The evidence shows the best educational outcomes are driven by highly trained and skilled teachers left to manage themselves. Government does not set clinical protocols for Doctors or micro-manage engineers. In NZ the curriculum, including how to teach it, is set and changed on an ad-hoc basis at every change of government.
National standards have been proven to fail in the US and UK so they are now to be introduced here. Where is the funding to help the at risk kids who are identified. Present funding is being quietly reduced.
Evidence also shows that the greater the range of society in a school the better the outcomes for everyone. Government has increased funding to separatist private schools.
Early intervention such as reading recovery, teacher aid assistance and other help allow the kids who have problems integrate and become part of the school system. 20% become disaffected with school and get to high school disillusioned with the whole process. The implied social contract that your work at school leads to a satisfying and fulfilling job does not work for kids who see their peers on the dole or working 12 "full time" hours a week at McDonald's. Funding is reduced to increase subsidies to schools for the "elite".
Agriculture.
Fish farming is a poor second best to properly managed wild fish. Opening up most of our coast to fish farming removes a resource, vital to tourism and our NZ lifestyle, from the commons and vests it as property for a few. Harvesting wild fish stocks to feed to farmed fish depletes wild stocks more than the food gained from farmed fish. Fish farms effect on coastal water quality is well documented. Failed fish farms have left a mess in various areas which no one seems in a hurry to pay to clean up. Changes to the AMA and the foreshore and seabed act may make it impossible for the public to reduce the areas to be used for fish farming.
Dairying on the scale we are heading is dependent on imported feed and socialising the costs of pollution, emissions and land degradation. Like fish farming we will again have to pay to clean up the mess. Government has sacked ECAN because they do not allow farmers to strip mine Canterbury water.
Fishing could be a source of employment for our youth. Government allows joint ventures to circumvent labour laws and employ overseas residents.
Transport.
Coastal shipping could cut a lot of our reliance on imported oil, mitigate greenhouse gases and supply a cheaper and more timely form of transport for local manufacturing. Coastal shipping pays its bills in NZ including taxes. Payment in NZ dollars to local operators makes a difference to our trade deficit. Instead NZ is one of the few countries which allow overseas ships to pick the eyes out of our coastal trade. Trucking, a much less efficient form of transport, is subsidised by ratepayers and central government. Bigger trucks are now to be allowed on the roads increasing roading costs. Foreign ships on our coast are exempt from, shipping standards, taxes and our labour laws. Substandard ships and crews of the quality of those who recently hit the reef in Australia are common.
Green Economy.
Despite the ill informed ideological nonsense the Greens spout sometimes (Like all politicians) the green new deal is some of the best ideas for the way ahead we have seen for a long time. http://www.greens.org.nz/gnd NZ is well positioned to be innovative and a leader in green technologies. National, however is business as usual. Recycling proven neo-liberal failures.
Need I go on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)