Would you believe it? As soon as we draw another set of lines on a chart to recreate a shipping exclusion area around the Poor Knights Islands in an effort to reduce the likelihood of marine pollution coming from major shipping while transiting our coast, the environmentalists want more. It's a bit ironic that the industry and the Maritime Safety Authority have recognised the environmental need to reduce the potential risk of pollution from large ships accidentally pumping their bilges. Now Environment Northland wants to turn the area from Cape Brett to Bream Head, including the Poor Knights, into a national maritime park in order to further preserve fish stocks and protect the area's biodiversity.

One wonders why the maritime industry and both commercial and recreational fishers are becoming nervous and treating all marine reserve proposals with a degree of resistance. This is because the government has failed to take a responsible and concerted approach to developing a national strategy in consultation with all stakeholders. Rather, it is allowing a plethora of marine protection proposals to develop ad hoc.

This month the Department of Conservation has released its Great Barrier Island marine reserve application, which clearly does not recognise over 1800 submissions against the discussion proposal. And apart from doing a deal where the families of Rakitu Island and local iwi can take shellfish and seafood from within 200m of the shore, all other New Zealanders are excluded. Submissions close on October 2.

The scallop season has opened for both national and recreational harvesters with divers expressing concern over the new interpretation of the law that insists that they must measure their scallops on the seabed before they rise to the surface. Yes, in ideal conditions with calm and clear water this poses little threat. However, we all know that scallops also live in murky waters with strong currents. Herein lies the threat to divers' safety. One only hopes that the Ministry of Fisheries will rectify this absurd interpretation of the regulations by compliance before we find a diver attached to his catch bag dead on the seafloor.

The foreshore and seabed debate continues, with over 4000 submissions and applicants wishing to appear before the Select Committee. Even Maori have recognised that the bill erodes their rights. Which is interesting, because the bill is all about the government's intent to trade with the Maori caucus and secure Maori's future rights over the foreshore and seabed, to the potential detriment of the rest of New Zealand. The key area where it impacts on the maritime industry is the association of customary title and the right of veto over the Resource Management Act process, which recognises all New Zealanders equally.

Subscribers to Professional Skipper will note the first issue of New Zealand Aquaculture magazine. While aquaculture is starting from modest beginnings, its development has been in response to the many requests from this important sector of our industry for a dedicated publication that will provide a national focus for the aquaculture industry. All the sectors and groups involved, large and small, now have an opportunity to participate, share ideas and research in an open forum, and keep up to date with the latest issues and technology.

In this issue we talk of the Royal New Zealand Naval Dockyard's management contract changing hands from Babcocks New Zealand to VT Fitzroy Limited. The dockyard is the largest heavy industry ship repair yard in New Zealand. It also has facilities for smaller ships of up to 200 tonnes. We understand that it was the RNZN's intent to move into the commercial world and pay commercial rates for its services supplied by contractors to the Navy. This is in keeping with the new Project Protector contract, where the RNZN is having seven ships built by Tenix Defence to meet our New Zealand 200 mile economic zone and South Pacific support commitments. These ships are essentially civilian-built ships painted grey with some military electronic equipment and weaponry on board. They will, however, be manned by sailors and officers of the Royal New Zealand Navy. This is an exciting time for the maritime support industry with an estimate of over $200 million being spent in New Zealand on this defence contract alone. More important will be the through-life support, during which the Navy will be seeking technical and professional support.

In this issue we farewell our sales professional, Graham Older, and on behalf of the magazine and clients we thank him for his sterling efforts of the past 3� years. We wish him well for the future.

Keith Ingram Editor

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The pending arrival of a new ship from Brisbane, Australia, gave the directors of Subritzky Limited the opportunity to restructure the company's activities. Their eight vessels are leased from Subritzky Maritime Holdings, and several are now up for disposal as more modern, efficient ships take over. These include the original 1963 motorised barge Port Kennedy, the vehicle ferry HA Subritzky (1983) and the coastal bulk carrier BK Subritzky (2001), along with the ageing Sea Link from the Great Barrier run. We understand some may be destined for Fijian waters.

The tri-hulled Sea Link has been replaced by the larger Eco Islander, the former Island Navigator from Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Although slightly slower than the Sea Link, the Eco Islander has a greater carrying capacity of 30 cars and 200 passengers in improved comfort. When the Seacat arrived in Auckland, she quickly entered the Waiheke service just in time for the Easter rush. By working with Seaway II, Subritzky's other fast vehicular/passenger catamaran, the company has been able to double the sailings and triple the capacity, departing on the hour every hour from the Half Moon Bay landing and Kennedy Point on Waiheke from daybreak until evening.

Subritzky's has retained the heavy motorised barge/ferry MN Subritzky on the Waiheke service as a dedicated ferry for heavy trucks, dangerous goods, stock trucks and smelly garbage trucks, says a director, Alan Moore. 'As all the garbage from the island is trucked off to landfills in Auckland, it was important to get these important clients away from the general travelling public,' he said. Unfortunately this was to create a casualty, with the owners of a new, fledgling service being offered in competition using the ex-US Navy landing barge Brandywine withdrawing from the Waiheke - Half Moon Bay service. Moore says they considered building locally but decided to buy offshore. 'We also saw some competitive opportunities opening up in Australia,' he said. 'We were able to purchase five new engines at a huge discount from a failed international contract from the yard. The steel bow section of some 15m had been removed from a sister catamaran destined for Vietnam'

The new owners needed an ocean open-water bow section, so they cut off the bow and built a new one. 'We were able to pick up the sheltered water bow section and build a new ship with an overall length of 49.7m onto it. The design and construction of the ship came together very well.' The Seacat was designed by Sea Transport Solutions of Queensland, Australia, who are recognised as being the leading high-speed catamaran designers in the southern hemisphere, Moore said. Ford Off-Shore Services, or FOSS, provided specifications, contract documentation and project management services to complete the Sea Cat at the Southern Hemisphere Shipyards.

Two of Subritzky's main requirements were that the vessel should process all grey and black water generated aboard, and that passenger comfort and services were well provided for, said Grant Ford, a director with Ford Off-Shore. A sophisticated sewage system was installed, and extensive work carried out in the enginerooms and drive line and the saloon, bar and services to help ensure passengers enjoy a pleasant trip. 'We must acknowledge the support and helpful suggestions from staff operating the existing SeaWay - their input was invaluable,' Ford said.

The hull was built by South Pacific Marine in Burpengarry, North Queensland, and towed to Southern Hemisphere Shipyards in Brisbane, where the alloy superstructure was built and the final fitout carried out. This was interesting exercise in ingenuity, with the bare hulls and vehicle deck being moored in the mangroves out in front of the yard, while the superstructure was built in four parts in the shed. The main part of the structure was in one piece, with the remaining three bits being the heavy bow ramp and loading fingers and the forward protective screens and passenger walkways for either side. A house removal truck was used to shift the main structure onto the hull. The hull was positioned in the vehicle garage area and jacked up. Once the load was lifted, the truck drove out of the shed, where a number of cranes were strategically positioned. Two large and heavy lift cranes were attached to slings under the hulls to stabilise the vessel as the truck and its load drove onto it. Two smaller cranes then helped to position the load, so as the truck lowered the structure it could be positioned within millimetres of where it was required to be welded to the deck. The barge was then pulled out of the mangroves, turned by two small tugs in the river and pushed back into the mangroves ready for the truck to drive off and the placement of the other sections, prior to the fitout. Once this was completed, the engines were installed and the ship towed to a local slipway for the installation of shafts, propellers and rudders and final paint, prior to sea trials.

The Seacat is not light, with a gross tonnage of 573 and a nett of 196. While primarily designed to carry 55 light vehicles, cars, utes and vans, she has been built to accommodate the axle loads of one fully loaded B train or truck and a semi-trailer rig with double plating in the for'ard centre area of the deck and the heavy bow ramp. The bow ramp weighs over five tonnes and is designed and constructed to allow walk-on passengers to board using a separate fenced finger. Once on board, they can leave any heavy bags or goods under the stairs, which take them up to the walkway above the vehicle deck to the spacious and very comfortable saloon. Cars are driven directly on and can easily be turned as they are positioned in one of the six lanes.

A high-volume saltwater drenching flushing system has been installed for added safety in case of a flammable spillage or fire in the garage vehicle deck. When activated it creates an instant monsoon that will douse any fire and flush inflammable liquids quickly over the side. It would not be a good time to remember that one has left the sunroof open in the BMW. The entire deck area is well ventilated, with engine fumes quickly being disbursed. Parked cars have ample door room so the driver and passengers can exit and make their way aft and up the stern stairs to the saloon or top observation deck.

Once in the fully airconditioned saloon, one quickly realises the benchmark for ferry passenger comfort has been lifted to a new level. The lounge is set out in three distinctive areas. In the centre forward, theatre-style seating faces a large, 50in plasma screen that displays onboard entertainment from DVDs. The home theatre has surround sound. Caf�-style seating is placed on either side of the lounge, and on the for'ard bulkhead on each side is a smaller, 40in plasma screen, one of which is intended to screen sport and the other news. The entertainment system is capable of receiving Sky Digital programmes through a gyroscopically controlled satellite aerial. Individual headphones will be available on request from the caf�. Modern toilets and a change area are situated on either side of the for'ard end of the lounge. We are told the lounge fitout cost $1.5 million, but the end result is worth it. Large windows ensure good vision even when seated. The deckhead or ceiling is covered with pre-finished alloy soundproof panels, while the owners chose Beurteaux seating throughout. Lifejackets are stowed under the seats, and in large lockers on the upper deck.

A caf� and bar serving light refreshments is positioned centrally on the aft bulkhead. On either side of the caf� are access doors to the protected aft sun deck and the central stairs to the top observation deck. The ship is huge for an island ferry, and her true size only becomes apparent once you move around the vessel. The views are excellent from the top deck. There is a noticeable absence of traditional engine drone. The Seacat is quiet throughout, and once underway it's hard to appreciate that you are doing 16 knots when she appears to be gliding along.

A rescue rigid hull inflatable and outboard is cradled on the stern with its own lifting derrick in the unlikely event of a man overboard emergency. Being high-sided, the vessel has good safety rails throughout the upper deck areas, which is comforting. But as we all know, no amount of safety rail will stop a determined jumper, in which case the crew may quickly deploy the rescue boat. The trip to Waiheke takes 45 minutes. Once the ramp touches the wharf at Kennedy Point the cars are quickly driven off and the waiting return vehicles are loaded. The separate fenced passenger ramp enables passengers to disembark while the cars are being unloaded. Even with a full load we are able to quickly turn around and be underway on the hour. Three short blasts and we are moving astern and turning for the return journey.

We have time to look down in the enginerooms before we head to the bridge. We enter the starboard engineroom off the vehicle deck and immediately get the feeling we are being watched. It's remarkably cool as we go down the stairs. The cooling and ventilating systems are such that the temperature is only two degrees above the ambient temperature outside. Noise levels are tolerable, and as we reach the bottom of the curved stairwell we meet one of the two Perkins-powered 65kVa gensets. The enginerooms are a mirror image of each other. For'ard are two Caterpillar 3406E engines, with the inside one placed slightly ahead of the outer engine. These are coupled to Twin Disc MG 5114SC 2.54:1 electronically controlled gearboxes driving Teighnbridge Aquaskew 92.38in x 30 five-bladed hooked Tiger counter-rotating propellers. The twin rudders are positioned only on the outside propellers. A watertight door leads to the next compartment, which houses the sewage system.

Each hull has five compartments, and the status of each watertight door can be monitored from the bridge. The fire and bilge systems are all duplicated, with each machinery space having its own carbon dioxide drenching system. Back out on deck, we climb to the bridge, whose main access is from a door off the lounge. The door is fitted with a push-button combination lock to meet new port security standards. Another small door at the rear of the bridge gives access for the master to the wing controls. The helmstation affords the master excellent vision. The bridge layout of electronics, navigational aids and on-board monitoring systems is excellent. Yes, there is a multi-station video camera monitoring system, which gives the master views throughout the ship. The Seacat has a PLC safety monitoring system. Sensors and controls throughout the hulls give the master remote advice of the status of watertight doors and bilges, and enable him to activate either the 240 volt or 24 volt bilge pumping system.

The electronics consist of an integrated Simrad navigation package supplied by Advance Trident. The Simrad CA 44 is a combination radar, chartplotter, GPS and echosounder. Many choices of radar scanner can be used with this set, depending on the range and power requirements. Subritzky's chose the 2kW, 24-mile enclosed scanner for inshore monitoring between Waiheke, Kawau, Great Barrier and other islands in the Hauraki Gulf. The CA44 displays either full-screen or split-screen images on a 10.4in TFT colour LCD display. A quick push of dedicated buttons brings up full-screen images of the radar, chart or echosounder. Pushing and holding the button scrolls through user pre-set split screen options. The chartplotter screen uses the latest CMap NT+ cartography and position is gained from an internal 14 channel GPS. The digital echosounder uses a 1kW dual-frequency transmitter that can be configured for either 38 and 200kHz, or 50 and 200 kHz, with ultra-sensitive receiver technology. Subritzky's say they chose this set after enjoying the three-in-one concept from an earlier model Simrad CA42 on one of their other vessels. They felt that the three-in-one concept gave the most flexible dash layout, as the electronics did not require large amounts of space. To steer them to the ports around the gulf they wanted the well-known reliability of a Simrad autopilot. The Simrad AP35 with dedicated workboat mode has been a popular pilot for fishing and workboats around the New Zealand coast for several years, and was chosen for the new vessel as well.

Steve Pratt from Linemaster Marine installed the electronics at the Brisbane boatyard. Advance Trident represent Pratt's Linemaster GPS buoys and line counters in New Zealand, so this relationship allowed Advance Trident to control the installation, and ensure that it was done to the highest standards to give the best performance expected of this type of product. All in all, the Seacat is an excellent workhorse that offers never-before seen comfort levels to passengers on this type of vessel operating in New Zealand. She is an excellent sea boat. Although she is surveyed for Auckland and Great Barrier inshore limits with Maritime Management Services, she proved her seaworthiness during the delivery voyage when she encountered nasty conditions and some 4m to 6m seas in the wake of two cyclones that passed through the South Pacific. She is never likely to encounter these conditions again in the Hauraki Gulf. Seacat is a further example of Subritzky's commitment to provide a safe and efficient freight and passenger service to Waiheke and Great Barrier islands.
 

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Get it right and bask in good fortune, get it wrong and suffer the stormy consequences. Janet Porter, a writer for Lloyds List, looks at how the shift from owned to chartered tonnage has radically altered the structure of the container shipping industry.

Five year's ago, P&O Nedlloyd either owned or bareboated about half its fleet. The rest was chartered. Today, chartered tonnage accounts for almost 80 percent of the carrier's requirements.

Never before has the charter market played such an important role in container shipping, or have chartering managers had to make such momentous decisions as in recent months. A few year's back, the chartering department of a major line would rarely have fixed a ship much bigger than 2500 teu, and then probably for no more than six to 12 months. Get it wrong, and the financial consequences were probably not too serious. Not any more. These days, container lines and their brokers have to put together huge deals worth tens or maybe hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet hesitate, and the opportunity may be lost forever, along with all the commercial business that would have flowed from the service for which the ships were intended.

Not so long ago, liner shipping companies only chartered in smaller tonnage required for regional or feeder routes. The larger ships in their fleets deployed on the core arterial routes would always have been owned. That has all changed as well, with German investors now playing a central role in the industry and being responsible for a considerable number of the latest 8000 teu ships on order. One of the world's biggest container lines, P&O Nedlloyd, has been at the forefront of this radical shift in the way the industry is structured, as it owns only a relatively small share of its huge fleet. The line recently agreed to a record high charter rate for a trio of 8400 teu vessels being built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering for Norddeutsche Vermogen. Delivery is in 2006, and P&O Nedlloyd will pay a colossal US$38,500 a day for 10 years, considerably above the $32,000 a day that Hapag-Lloyd is paying for a pair of sisterships for six years.

However, P&O Nedlloyd's in-house ship management company, Reederei Blue Star, will take over the management of the ships at a later stage, an unusual arrangement that demonstrates the way the market is adjusting to changing circumstances as owners and charterers find new ways to accommodate each other's needs. P&O Nedlloyd insists that the numbers stack up when taking everything into account, including the change of ship manager, plus the many costs that are incorporated into the time charter rate. Of the 154 ships currently operated by P&O Nedlloyd, only 18 are actually owned, while another 16 are on bareboat charter. The company recently transferred 14 formerly owned ships on to a financial lease basis in the German KG market, placing them under the management of Reederei Blue Star.

The refinancing was designed to provide the company with additional liquidity and increase the average length of borrowings. They bring to 120 the number of ships on charter, either short or long-term. Of those 120, the charter periods on around 50 will expire in the coming year. Overall, roughly one-third of P&O Nedlloyd's chartered fleet is on short-term charter of up to two years, and two-thirds are on long-term charter of up to about 10 years, says the director of corporate affairs, Aernoud Willeumier. Like every other line urgently in need of tonnage to meet the unprecedented volume of cargo now coming out of China, P&O Nedlloyd has had to pay some sizzling charter rates over the past few months. In addition to the three 8400 teu units that will bring its fleet of super post-Panamax ships to 11, the company is also paying $28,000 a day over eight years, with options to extend, to the German owner Stefan Patjens for a quartet of 5018 teu new ships that will be completed in 2006 and early 2007.

The same amount has been agreed for an eight-year fixture for a pair of 4600 teu ships, the Charlotte Wulffand the Viktoria Wulff, which will be delivered early next year. Also fixed to P&O Nedlloyd recently were a sister vessel, the 3987 teu Mare Siculumand, for five years at $32,500. P&O Nedlloyd's chief executive, Philip Green, said recently that he was comfortable with the line's exposure to the charter market, and the current split between short-term fixtures and long-term leases or owned tonnage. Possibly the highest rate ever seen in the boxship charter market so far is the $43,500 a day that Mitsui OSK Lines will be paying for the 4038 teu Mare Britannicum, although the period is for just a few months. Either way, the sums that charterers are handing over to owners are truly astounding, and are way beyond the levels that almost anyone was predicting as recently as a year ago, when the market was well into its recovery from the 2002 slump.

Yet no container line can afford to resist the demands of owners and risk losing out on the biggest cargo bonanza ever. In fact, the arrival of China on the world stage has been so sudden and dramatic that virtually no-one in the container shipping industry - owner or operator - was fully prepared for toady's boom, and with the tonnage ready to cater for the revolution in world trade. Perhaps two of the lines closest to China - Orient Overseas Container Line and China Shipping Container Lines - were the first to respond. OOCL led the way with the introduction of the first ship with a declared capacity in excess of 8000 teu, and China Shipping was the first to break the 9000 teu barrier. Maersk Sealand could claim to be ahead of all its competitors, with the largest fleet of super post-Panamax tonnage, but even the Danish carrier was in two minds a couple of years back, and slowed its delivery schedule at AP Moller-Maersk's Odense shipyard before suddenly speeding up production again. As the rush to place orders for the latest generation of very large container ships gathered pace over the past 18 months, it was the German tramp owners who proved as nimble as any, moving up from the size of ships traditionally traded in the charter market to put their money into some of the biggest vessels ever built.

That has changed forever the way business is done in container shipping, with many of the mega-carriers no longer owning all of the biggest ships in their fleets, but instead working in partnership with a new class of owners to secure their tonnage needs. Four year's ago, Clarksons produced figures showing that the top 30 carriers were only chartering about 18 percent of their tonnage in the early 1990s. By 2000, the proportion had risen to 40 percent. Recent figures from Clarksons show that charter owners now account for 45 percent of the current fleet and nearly 60 percent of the order book in terms of capacity. With demand outpacing supply, and these new-style owners gaining such a powerful grip on the container shipping trades, shipping lines have had little choice but to pay up, and just hope that freight rates follow suit. For there seems little indication of any charter market downturn in the immediate future. Willeumier concurs with the views of most brokers and analysts that the charter market is likely to remain high in the coming year, even if the pace of increase slows. 'The market may stabilise but we don't see any decline.'

Even 2006, when new deliveries swell to record proportions, may not produce the market collapse that some gloom-mongers are anticipating, if world trade remains robust, he says. All this places a huge onus on chartering departments which are now forced to make almost snap decisions as tonnage becomes available, and fix rates that would have been unthinkable even a few months ago. They must keep an eye on their own tonnage which is coming to the end of a charter, and make sure other lines do not grab ships they want to keep. At the same time, they need to scour the markets for ships on charter to other carriers about to come back on hire, and move fast to fix anything that meets their needs. P&O Nedlloyd says it has not been forced to postpone a planned service because of a lack of tonnage, but certainly some carriers have had to delay expansion plans or put together a mixed bag of ships until more suitable tonnage could be found.

The challenge now is to decide the level of exposure to the charter market. Some, such as CP Ships, want to keep it as low as possible, much preferring to own the majority of tonnage. In contrast, CSAV's fleet is entirely chartered in. P&O Nedlloyd has pursued a policy of acquiring new tonnage through long-term leases, with its eight 8100 teu ships under construction at IHI Marine United in Japan all ordered through Blue Star. The company is convinced it is financially better off in the long run using this formula rather than buying the ships outright for its own account. Nevertheless, the money involved is enormous, as NOL showed this week when publishing its half-year results. Vessel lease repayments will soar to $288 million in 2005 from $178 million this year. But when it comes to chartering long-term through other owners like Norddeutsche Vermogen, Claus-Peter Offen, Erck or Bertram Rickmers, and Costamare, decisions are driven by a number of factors apart from the headline rate, such as the collective needs of alliance partners or long-term fleet expansion plans. P&O Nedlloyd admits it was probably 'a little slow' in ordering super post-Panamax ships, by which time German investors and fast-growing lines such as the Mediterranean Shipping Company, China Shipping and CMA CGM had blocked off most of the available new build berths - and are said to be on the lookout for more as they start negotiating for 2007 and 2008 deliveries.

But with 11 ships of 8000 teu capacity in the pipeline, P&O Nedlloyd now has one of the larger order books. At toady's prices, though, it still takes nerves of steel to either purchase or charter new tonnage, especially given the industry's poor track record of pushing up freight rates and generating sufficient revenue to pay for these monsters. To charter or not to charter - that conundrum may not be solved for many years, not until toady's new ships are approaching the middle of their lifespan and the accountants can get down to number crunching based on known facts, not on inspired guesswork about future world consumer spending. By then, some pundits believe that container shipping may have undergone a complete overhaul, with the liner companies concentrating solely on cargo handling and logistics, leaving ship ownership in the hands of financial investors.
 

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