Clay Maitland

On a quest for quality in shipping

A healthy life

By admin

Posted on | September 1, 2010 | No Comments

mikethumbOne is increasingly wary about accepting all the health related advice that pours unendingly out of the various media. A glass of red wine will keep your arteries from clogging up, but give you a greater chance of contracting prostate cancer.

White wine promotes brain function, but will give you liver disease.

A protein-rich diet will give you gallstones, but blueberries will prevent heart disease. Butter is bad for you. I just give up and eat what is put in front of me, thinking of vegetarian teetotallers who have met an untimely end.
Just occasionally, you read of a health revelation which could be significant.  For a long time, as long as the issue of fatigue has been debated in a marine context, people have wondered about whether fatigue, and extended periods of sleep deprivation, could have long-term health consequences.

We have read about the symptoms of fatigue, and the fact that it takes a lot more than one night’s sleep to restore one’s mental functions after a tour of duty on a ship where the master and mate work watch and watch in an intensive ship operation.

“Having to be gradually reintroduced to society” was a description by a shipmaster’s wife after her zombie-like spouse came home after his tour, and how she nursed him back to normality.

The officers’ union Nautilus, which clearly reads widely, draws attention to a study in the academic journal Sleep, which publishes details of an extensive study by the Department of Community Medicine in which the sleeping habits and the health of more than 30,000 adults were surveyed.

Cardiovascular disease of all kinds was twice as likely to occur among people who slept for fewer than seven hours per night, compared to those who slept for more than this number of hours. And if you slept for fewer than five hours per night the risk of heart disease was doubled.

These are still early days, but just suppose the link is made between sleep deprivation and a shorter life. The implications for an industry, significant bits of which still try and defend the indefensible regime of watchkeeping in lean-manned, intensively run ships surely cannot be avoided?

Isn’t it time we got beyond the arguments about costs, and even the dangers of ships with exhausted watchkeepers running aground or bumping into each other? It is worth looking back to those early fears that were expressed about the risks of exposure to asbestos, and remember how this ultimately developed. There may be more to hours of rest than a mere time-sheet.

Wi-fi in ports is a must for seafarers

By Clay

Posted on | September 1, 2010 | 3 Comments

I am delighted to see that my fellow World Maritime University board member and crewing agency head, Doris Ho is making good progress with her campaign to get seafarers access to wifi while they are stuck aboard their vessels in ports. Continue reading

Tragic death of Wolfgang Schroeder

By Michael Grey

Posted on | August 26, 2010 | 1 Comment

It was sad to hear of the recent deaths of three leisure fishermen who were lost when their 25ft craft caught fire and sank off Bantry Bay in Ireland. A fourth occupant of the boat survived although injured , and was rescued by helicopter. Continue reading

Ringing the changes

By Michael Grey

Posted on | August 24, 2010 | No Comments

mikethumbThe excellent Dennis Bryant, whose blog is all-encompassing on marine affairs, passes on an important recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board after investigating embarrassing events where US Coast Guard patrol craft were involved in collisions. Continue reading

Play it again, Sam

By Michael Grey

Posted on | August 22, 2010 | 2 Comments

Many years ago, we were securely alongside in Melbourne, having our lunch, as it happened, when another vessel got slightly out of control when berthing and put a nasty dent in our side. Continue reading

Flexibility is vital for future ship design

By Clay

Posted on | August 17, 2010 | No Comments

A memorable description of how a ship is planned, designed and built is in "The Building of the Ship", written by a poet named Longfellow in the late 1840s: Continue reading

Not quite multi-purpose

By Michael Grey

Posted on | August 13, 2010 | No Comments

What can you employ a containership for, if charterers are reluctant to take your ocean greyhound to transport boxes around the world. Continue reading

Bigger, better and cheaper?

By Michael Grey

Posted on | August 5, 2010 | No Comments

It is called crying for the moon, or more bluntly, asking for something that just isn’t going to happen. What shipowner would not like clever, more advanced ships, but also lighter, so that their engines are not pushing around enormous quantities of steel that isn’t earning them any money? Continue reading

The trial lawyers’ payday comes to the Bayou

By Clay

Posted on | August 4, 2010 | No Comments

As an American lawyer, my heart rate naturally goes up when I think about large-scale litigation. My professional pride also swells to see that our legendary legal ingenuity is not a thing of the past. Continue reading

Decisions, decisions…..

By Clay

Posted on | August 2, 2010 | No Comments

I know a shipowner who is fond of observing: "I have never had difficulty making decisions. Or mistakes." As all shipowners know, regulatory requirements change. So does the market. Continue reading
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