Effective Manning of the U.S. Merchant Fleet (1984) / Chapter Skim
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4. Manning of Merchant Vessels in Northwest Europe and Japan
4. Manning of Merchant Vessels in Northwest Europe and Japan
Pages 29-62
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From page 29... ...
Management responsibilities for ship operations are being decentralized from shore to whip. Often 29
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From page 30... ...
Industrial strategies f or counteracting high labor costs involve tradeoffs, for example, in technical features, maintenance, training, fringe benefits,.and accommodations. Less tangible costs attendant to organizational changes include costs of dealing with unions and shore organizations, for example.
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From page 31... ...
Changes in Vessel Design, Technology, and Equipment Unattended Engine mom The most basic level of engine-room automation consists of remote control of main propulsion machinery from the br idge, in con junction with remote sensing of operating conditions and alarm capability. These provisions eliminate the need for round-the-clock watchkeeping in engine spaces.
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From page 32... ...
In general, much maintenance that cannot be accompl ished with in the normal wor kday and an acceptable range of overtime is reserved for shore gangs when the vessel is in port ~ in shipyard, or in coastwise transit. Bridge Manning level adjustments due to automation have not been so signif icant in the deck department as those proceeding from technical innovations in the engine room.
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From page 33... ...
Satellite systems have made possible dependable, high quality voice, telex, and computer ship-to-shore communications. There recent communication advances have made mar iners ' direct communication with their families more colon, and has made it easier for senior officers to be involved in the bus iness as well as the technical aspects of ship operation.
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From page 34... ...
In this arrangement, the shipboard management team works together in one office; there is central storage of data; and work planning may be facilitated by central display of tasks to be accomplished and progress made. Changes in the Organization of Crews Intradepar tmental Flexibility Perhaps the simplest manning reductions from an organizational perspective are those which are achieved through elimination of certain billets, accompanied by intradepar~cmental adjustments to the contents of others.
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From page 35... ...
Additionally, intradepartmental integration of tasks in this department has taken the form of chief stewards who also cook, second cooks who also bake, and steward utilitymen whose responsibilities now include all facets of the department's operation. Although come additional training may be required for the expansion of responsibilities within departments of certain billets, these initial manning reductions have not posed a serious challenge to the traditional organization of crews.
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From page 36... ...
Occasional department crossover is widely accepted in Norway and West Germany, and in the United Kingdom was pioneered by e~erimentation conducted in 1964 by the Br itish Shipping Federation, Cunard Line, and the National Union of Seamen. The Danish Seamen' s Union proscr ibes ~~~ ~ is a provision in the the practice for its members, although there Danish Firemen' s Union for working in alternate departments.
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From page 37... ...
In spite of some disappointments with early GP exper iments, the more serious companies and countries are expending much effort and money to modify crew organizations and national training schemes to make GP work as it was intended. Since 1980, only GP ratings have been produced by the nautical training system of the Netherlands, and within 5 years, the only entry rating training available in West Germany will be for GP.
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From page 38... ...
Decentralization: Shipboard Management Teams A number of ship operators throughout Europe are transferr ing some management responsibilities front the head off ice to the ships to improve the job content of ships officers, to improve the effectiveness of the shipboard organization, and in some cases to permit reductions in the stat f of the shore suppor t organization. The management team consists of the master and department heads and occasionally junior
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From page 39... ...
Shipboard management teams are the maritime expression of decentralizing, a trend throughout Northwest European industry to push management decision making to lower levels of organization. The underlying theory is that the best decisions are made by those individuals closest to the problem.
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From page 40... ...
Shipboard management teams, as so far constituted, have consisted almost exclusively of off icers. In those instances in which shipboard decision making has been devolved to the level of the ratings, it has generally taken the form of work planning sessions.
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From page 41... ...
Changes in Union/Management Arrangements, Shoreside Support, and Corporate Policies Employment Stability Long-term employment contracts to seafarers are an established practice for some Northwest European ship operators. Such contracts give the seafarer slightly better pay and benefits, a more systematic vacation schedule, and more employment security.
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From page 42... ...
European ship operators recognize that it is no longer possible to rely on casual wor kers with standard skills to meet the needs of operating environments that have ceased to be standardized and narrowly def ined. They consider permanent employment of mar iners essential to the manning of vessels with smaller, reorganized crews.
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From page 43... ...
Even then there should be some provision for mobility in the event of the inevitable interpersonal problems that occasionally accompany isolation. Social Integration of Crews Manning innovations have been accompanied throughout Europe by Reemphasizing the traditional status difference between officers and ratings.
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From page 44... ...
Such billets would not attract ache quality of rating that is envisioned, nor would they offer ratings the opportunity to earn the respect of off icers. To counteract this, technical training programs have been initiated and organizational changes onboard have been made to increase the technical content of the jobs of ratings.
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From page 45... ...
In fact, it appears that the national educational systems of some of the European countries are developing in such a way that it is becoming more -- not less -- difficult for ratings to make the transition to officer s tatus . Shoreside Reorganization Although the initial focus of manning exper imentation has been on shipboard organizational change, exper fence has taught that modif ications to shore-ba~ed organizations are necessary to the realization of the overall objective of effective manning.
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From page 46... ...
Shipboard management teams, and other manning innovations, alter the traditional departmental division of responsibility. To take advantage of an integrated management approach on the ship, companies have found it necessary to make corresponding changes in headquarters organization.
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From page 47... ...
Ideas fir organizational change may be derived from theory and research; they may be adapted from studies, experiments, or practices in ship operation in other countries, or in other industries in the same country, or, they may spring from operating experience. The top management a: the innovating company may be enthusiastic, skeptical, or uninformed about the need for change.
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From page 48... ...
The most complete change incorporates participative work planning, off icer role flexibility, vertical role flexibility between off icers and ratings, and stability of crew assignments. A number of other supporting changes are often made, including leave time and common f abilities.
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From page 49... ...
A very early pioneer, Shell Tankers B.~., may have been less persuasive to the other Dutch shipping companies because of perceived dif ferences between a division of a large oil company and independent ship operators. DENS was small, peripheral, and differentiated from much of the Danish fleet, which may help explain the negligible diffusion of its internally effective shipboard management innovations.
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From page 50... ...
When the rest of the Netherlands shipping industry exper unented with manning innovations, they operated their own pro ject ships rather than base their decis ions on Shell ' s decade of exper fence . O In Norway, the Hosqh exper iments with GP and other concepts wer e discussed, debated, approved, monitored, and evaluated by an industry-level "contact group.
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From page 51... ...
In West Germany, two of the largest and most influential shipping companies, Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Sud, had opposing preferences about the manning models they wished to employ and
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From page 52... ...
West Germany is moving in the same direction. Involvement of Participants Another major factor influencing the success of experiments as well as subsequent diffusion in the Northwest European ship manning exper iments was the degree to which direct participants, including the crew, were given an opportunity to discuss, review, and shape proposed or p ilot innovations .
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From page 53... ...
This can be illustrated by reviewing the Brostrom case. The Brostro~ manning innovations, which have been extended to seven Ro-Ro ships over the past several years, have the following well-publicized aspects: a 16-man crew, 6 general purpose crew members, and an operational strategy which transfers almost all maintenance to shc~re-based facilities.
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From page 54... ...
Examples of informal networks include the 1980s Group (alumni of the Sealife Programmed, the proposed Advanced Manning Croup of the General Council of British Shipping, and similar but nameless networks in other European shipowner associations. Compared to other industries worldwide, ship operators in Northwest Europe and Japan have devoted a remarkably large amount of effort to learning about organizational Innovation.
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From page 55... ...
A number of countries have revised rating and officer training schemes to support manning innovations in the national fleets. Norway has expanded its Ship ' s mechanic.
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From page 56... ...
The two types of laws or regulat ions that bear most directly on manning innovations are manning scales that specify numbers and qualif ications of seafarers for specif ic tonnage and power vessels, and work environment laws which specify maximum numbers of hour s of allowable war k. The pattern throughout Europe and Japan has been to move away f ram legislated manning scaler in ache direction of regulations which can more easily be modif fed and interpreted for special circumstances.
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From page 57... ...
In Norway, an industry-labor agreement provided for permanent employment, fixed annual salaries, and more vacation time. In West Germany, the 18-Han Containership Experiment also provided for continuous employment, additional holidays, guaranteed overtime, and other fringe benefits.
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From page 58... ...
These voluntary programs are assisted by the fact that these shipping companies are a part of larger industrial groupings. RESULTS OF MANNING INNOVATIONS Reflecting those historical conditions of the industry which led to effective manning programs, evaluation of innovations has focused primarily on the economy of vessel operation and the degree to which changes have improved the quality of working life.
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From page 59... ...
as manning level-, are reduced and economic working practices introduced. The most effective innovations are felt to be those that simultaneously increase productivity and improve working conditions {e.g., decentralized collision making, participative work planning, assignment continuity, higher levels of training, competetence, and responsibility}.
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From page 60... ...
, agencies with this responsibility have monitored the hourly work records of experimental ships. Operators and shipowner associations generally claim that effective manning vessels are not only as safe as traditionally manned ships, but have resulted in better safety records because the smaller, higher trained ~ be ~ ter motivated crew is more aler t and attentive to duties.
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From page 61... ...
manned, one union observed that it is the most modern wellequipped vessels that are being crewed in the new fashion. Arguing that such high-~echnology vessels should be safer than older ships simply from a technical point of view, this union maintains that effective manning vessels should therefore be required to show safety gains, and not just the absence of safety slippage.
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