Et Two?

It is now three weeks since the Hebei Two were set free; the initial brouhaha seems to have died down. The impression one gets is that we are now back to business as usual, and that the protests from many industry bodies at the time of the liberation have now muted. Claims that justice had not been served even after the two were freed, and that action would be taken to clear the besmirched names of the two officers now ring hollow. Meanwhile, South Korea and India are in talks regarding the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries; Korean diplomats say they want to sign the treaty ‘as early as possible’. The Hebei Two were never really a diplomatic issue between the two countries, so why start now?


The ICS and ISF had expressed “disappointment” that the Hebei Spirit officers had not been found innocent of the charge of causing pollution by the Korean courts. InterManager had vowed to work to clear the records of the two officers, with President Girogi saying, "We will work hard to exonerate these two professional men and to clear their career records." Meanwhile, ITF general secretary David Cockroft had said: “Like everyone in shipping, we find it unacceptable that the lesser charge against them was never removed”. That is a strong word, unacceptable.


Maybe I am just being cynical. Maybe these, along with other good organisations, are still as determined as ever to right a wrong and will pursue this issue strongly. Nevertheless, I predict that this sorry story will go the same way that Capt. Mathur’s story went after the Erika incident; precisely nowhere. I realise that Capt. Mathur is just another name and another high profile incident. Much like Capt. Apostolos Mangouras of the Prestige, he, like Capt. Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.


The history of mercantile shipping is replete with such names, known and unknown. The chapters of the stories are predictably interchangeable: an accident occurs, Masters and crews are made scapegoats and Port States behave in a manner unjust, unfair, and unethical and in defiance of all accepted norms of jurisprudence and the law of the sea. The rest of the industry just watches, making appropriate noises, more so when the crew in question comes from Third World countries. As for the mariners caught in this storm, their victory is usually Pyrrhic, at great cost to themselves. Their victory consists only of getting away from such incidents with life and liberty: the feeling of satisfaction at having received justice is a feeling a seafarer does not usually recognise, because he gets it so rarely after an accident.


I admit that my pessimism may well be premature. Three weeks is not such a long time, and wheels may well be in motion behind the scenes to put pressure on the Koreans. My disappointment may also arise from the fact that I expected more this time.


This is why I expected more: I believe that the Hebei Two would still be rotting in some jail in South Korea if so many in the industry and many of its bodies had not exhibited an unprecedented show of solidarity with the officers. I believe that the story thus far would be different if the managers had not stood strongly by the two; mariners are otherwise usually abandoned to their fate. Of course, greater pressure should have been put by the Indian Government on the Koreans, but the shipping constituency may be asking for too much if it expects a volte face from either the authorities or Indian society in general. We must find ways of correcting this unacceptable state of affairs. (There is that word again, unacceptable)


Nevertheless, my expectations from the Hebei Spirit incident are higher. I seriously think that this incident, and its aftermath, has the potential to become a watershed criminalisation case, mainly because it has already evinced global outrage and consequent support for the two officers. Therefore, my expectations are that we will pursue justice for the two officers with much more vigour than we have shown since their release. I hope that the Hebei Spirit case becomes a litmus test on how we will bring fair treatment to our seafarers in future.


In this context, recent legislation in the European Union and Canada worry me. Penalisation and criminalisation of the innocent seafarer is on the increase in these two huge and important regions; it won’t be long before other countries follow suit with draconian laws of their own. Penalties and jail terms for accidents are higher. The burden of proof in maritime pollution incidents is shifting from the prosecution, where it rightfully belongs, to the defence. Against all tenets of criminal law, an innocent seafarer in a foreign land (faced with huge litigation costs that he cannot afford) may soon be asked to prove his innocence instead of the authorities being asked to prove his guilt, as they should be required to do. The seafarer is a sitting duck in such circumstances. And, although there have been protests from some industry bodies in Canada, the legislation may well go through. Opposition to the EU legislation seems nonexistent anyway.


Seafarers face injustice in many smaller ways too. Whether ashore or afloat, many of us are guilty of shortchanging crews during normal times. Wages are sometimes not paid. Insurances are delayed or unpaid if a mariner dies. Medical records are sometimes fudged to minimise legitimate dues to which a mariner may be entitled. Contracts are almost universally one sided. Contractual disputes are not addressed justly even when they are brought up and pursued. Contractual terms are intentionally made obtuse or subject to interpretation that is usually favourable to the shipowner. Working hours are usually against international conventions, and, as UK’s MAIB said recently in a report, are ‘close to slavery’. Moreover, whenever the excreta hits the fan with what are euphemistically called ‘crew problems’, the prime objective of some Masters, Managers and Owners is to sign off the crew in question with a minimum of fuss and a minimum of payment. We all know there is not too much he can practically do once he is home and not on the ship’s articles, especially if we threaten to ‘blacklist’ him. Even if he has the inclination, he does not have the time, energy or resources to stop working and instead pursue expensive and elusive justice.


In this duplicitous atmosphere and in the event of an incident, the affected crewmember will return home glad to be alive or free or rid of the ship. He will lick his wounds and try to put the experience behind him. The company will not call him back or he will not return to it. Life will go on.


You know, maybe the basis for this entire article is bunk. It seems to ask for a global system of ethical and just behaviour towards the innocent seafarer. It assumes that there is justice for all.


How dare a seafarer ask for justice from outsiders when his own colleagues will not give it to him?



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Beggar’s Masquerade

and why the Prime Minister needs to get insomnia again.


With the imprisonment of the two Hebei Spirit officers, the burlesque act has almost come full circle. The caricature of justice in South Korea, accompanied by equally pathetic attempts across the world to have the two officers get justice, still has a final act to perform in the Korean Supreme Court. Meanwhile, we prove to the mariner, once again, that despite verbose guidelines of ‘fair treatments of seafarers’, the countries of the world hold him and his human rights in deep contempt. Worse, there is no escape, no respite and no effective support from the industry.


This overt disdain for the sailor is actually a remarkable achievement. One would have thought that, given that most international trade would grind to a halt if seamen disappeared, a bit of thoughtfulness towards their well being would be forthcoming. Far from it. This prosecution of accident victims, which is what the Hebei Two are, as
a criminal also has no parallel with any other international industry that I can think of. Even prisoners of war have rights, but it appears that seafarers have none. We are all fair game.


Remarkable, yes, but perhaps not surprising. One cannot expect respect from outsiders if, hypocritical lip service aside, one is treated shabbily by one’s colleagues in the industry. One cannot expect justice from the Koreans when one’s own Indian Government does not seem to care. Remember the Haneef case last year? An Indian doctor wrongly arrested in Australia is released within three weeks, partly because Prime Minister Manmohan Singh publicly said he ‘couldn’t sleep’ because of Dr. Haneef’s plight, besides making other statements in support of the innocent doctor. The PM’s insomnia seems to improve dramatically when innocent Indian seafarers are detained for a year, and then sentenced to jail. Perhaps mariners would do better if we marketed ourselves as vote banks instead.


Instead, even as Chetan’s wife Preetha says that the two are living in appalling conditions in prison, we have the Government of India asking South Korea to treat the two senior officers more humanely. What a nice, civilised, and useless thing to do.


The unions and industry bodies did make some representations to the government. These repeatedly failed, and will continue to fail in future for much the same reasons. Lobbying weaknesses, conflicts of interest and partisan agendas will ensure this. So will the fact that industry protests always start after an untoward event, while successful lobbying involves pressure to obtain a desired outcome before such an event even occurs. Put simply, we were reactive, not proactive. Another factor which will guarantee an effete result is the fact that, in the end, all elements of the industry consider their bottomlines before they look at anything else (quite revealing, the bottomline watching, if I may say so); any action against South Korean interests, in this case, will be weighed against possible punitive repercussions, and so no effective action will be taken. Will the industry, for a start, boycott all business dealing with South Korea? Will mariners refuse to sail to that country?


Most of all, all these impotent efforts will fail because the people who are most affected by the criminalisation issue, which is the seafarers, are nowhere to be seen in these so called ‘seafarer representation’ bodies. Although individual merchant naval groups have publicly protested, notably in Chennai, the fact is that unless there is concerted and decisive action in which a wide mass of seafarers are brought in to participate, all such protests are doomed to be ineffectual.


I am positive that many recruitment managers would have worked out the chances of their seafarers refusing to ply to South Korea. The consensus may well be that in the present economic climate, seafarers concerned about their jobs would fall into line easily once again. That the Hebei Spirit ruling is a travesty that must be fought for the future well being of the industry itself will be a sentiment brushed aside with impunity. The short term will prevail. Greed before integrity again.


Meanwhile, individual ex mariners, irate at the developments, propose a boycott and destruction of South Korean goods, besides other such knee jerk reactions. I disagree with these options, because they will be too little, too late. These kinds of options may have gained some traction in June, when the Hebei Two had a favourable court decision behind them. Today, the two have been found guilty and sentenced. South Korea, like any other country, will not want its courts to be seen to be buckling under commercial pressure. I also think a boycott will not pressurise them enough, and not quickly enough.


Despite my usual cynical pessimism, the solution to our innocent colleagues’ incarceration is actually not too complicated. All it needs is for one major body, (whether the government, FOSMA, MASSA, INSA or any of the unions) to make one decision. “Effective immediately, Indian seafarers will not sail on any ship destined for South Korea”. I believe that the Government of India is best placed to do this. I also believe that it is up to the rest of us in the industry to force that decision right now. Government pressure is the best and quickest option for Capt. Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan now. This includes Indian pressure at the IMO and other international industry bodies. Pressure needs to be applied now, before the Korean Supreme Court appeal even starts, not later. We all can burn Korean products later.


We claim we are a superpower in the making. Let us behave like one. We have been threatening to rattle sabers since the Erika incident ten years ago. It is a pitiable state of affairs when innocent Indians continue to be abandoned by shining India to suspect judicial systems, to say the least.


Regardless of the final outcome of this tragic sentencing of innocent mariners, it would be good to remember that this is not an isolated incident, that many other seafarers continue to be criminalised worldwide, and that this parody of justice will recur and probably sometime soon. We need a concerted and preplanned national response to this, else we will go through the same motions again, trying to helplessly reinvent the wheel while our colleagues are in prison. We need to fix the system, not firefight each travesty of justice.


We are all furious about the plight of Capt. Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan. Nevertheless, unless we translate this anger into meaningful long term protection of our seafarers against criminalisation, we will play out this beggar’s masquerade of wealth again tomorrow. Just the names of the innocent will change.
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Time for the Hebei Jeebies

Capt. Jasprit Chawla and Chief Officer Syam Chetan must be heartened by the support they have garnered from the international shipping community. The two senior officers of the 'Hebei Spirit' have become the focus of an international outcry of sorts; for the first time in my memory, at least, organisations such as BIMCO and the ITF have, along with a gamut of individuals and organisations from across the maritime spectrum, condemned the South Korean intransigence and asked for the two mariners to be sent home at the earliest.

In India, too, the joining hands of diverse organisations such as MASSA and FOSMA with the NUSI and MUI is an unusual occurrence in itself. Office bearers of these organisations have, in petitioning the DGS and the South Korean Consulate, warmed the hearts of many seafarers who continue to see a Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads every time they sail. The guillotine of criminalisation that has both dismayed and disgusted seafarers seems to have been begun to be blunted.


So it may seem all the more blasphemous for me to suggest that these initiatives are the smallest tip of the iceberg, and may even be championed by organisations I consider inappropriate to do so. As said earlier in this column, I am a little wary of Owners or Managers Associations and the Unions taking upon themselves the onus of championing seafarer causes without any appreciable seafarer input; I would go further and say that seafarer issues have to be driven mainly by seafarers and not by anybody else. In my experience, none of these organisations can speak as well for me as I can. Besides, there are clear problems of conflict of interest here.


I urge readers to consider the criminalisation issue as a war which has to be fought. This is not a one off thing; for every Capt. Chawla there are many innocent Masters under the axe in many countries.

Yes, we have to start somewhere. But if we take a step back, this is what we are saying if we don't think this through: that every time an Indian officer is prosecuted anywhere in the world, we will do nothing and just count on our industry to support him. In this case, months after the event.

Folks, that does not work because it is arbitrary and unplanned. We need to systemise our attack before we enter the war zone. We need a multi pronged strategy to fight this; we have to prevent the Capt. Chawlas and Chief Officer Chetans of the future, not support them after the damage has been done, or after they have gone through, in their own words, "anger, fear, depression and frustration" over a period of eight months before we decided to support them. And remember, they are still not free men.


If this is a war, I think we should have our strategy in place first; the tactics (some detailed later on in this article) will follow. In any case, the tactics will change with geography and the unfolding of reactions to our resistance to the so far largely unchallenged status quo.
I must define the 'we' who need to fight the war. My 'we' are all the Indian elements of our industry which have a direct interest in a flourishing shipping industry. It means Indian shipowners, Indian seafarers and Indian shipmanagers. Let's call them the Trinity. These three are impacted directly by criminalisation of the seafarer; one obviously and the other two by the growing manpower shortages with criminalisation being a factor continuing to make the industry less attractive for seafarers.

(The rest of the industry, administration and government do not have a direct interest and so will be unwilling or lethargic warriors. Besides, seafarers are not vote banks.)

This identification makes us run into our first brick wall. Seafarers, by virtue of their occupation, are not easily organised. I have a few suggestions about this which I will surface in a week or two; for now, I will only say that seafarer's voices must be given an organised outlet. It is ridiculous to propose solutions to their problems with a complete absence of decent input from them, or without them having a representative say in critical matters directly of their concern.


Anyhow and back on topic then, these are some of the factors which the Trinity's strategy should take into account:

· The goal is the satisfactory resolution of the criminalisation issue and the implementation of a true 'Fair treatment of Seafarers' by all countries represented at the IMO.
· A policy of gradual escalation in fighting criminalisation. Incremental steps and pressure to be applied as necessary by the Trinity.
· Use of the Hebei Spirit episode as a test case. To be used to fire a 'shot across the bows' of more powerful countries like the US and in Europe. Hebei Spirit to be the beginning, not a one off.
· Consider joining hands with the POEA in the Philippines as the other country supplying seafarers in large numbers. More teeth.
· Publicity, both national and international, is critical. Both of the problem, and the resistance to it. And in mainstream papers, because we need more than industry support; we need to dig into the Indian emerging power psyche and pressurise the Government at the same time.



Tactically, and a far from extensive list:

· Organise seafarer resistance. Like I said, more ideas in a week or two on this.
· The Government of India should be pressured by all Industry elements to make policy decisions and laws that protect its citizens who take to the sea as a career.
· The GOI to be pressured to make an immediate statement at the highest levels demanding the release of the two innocent mariners. Will the PM make a statement similar to the one he made when Dr. Haneef was arrested in Australia a few months before the Hebei Spirit incident? (I can't sleep at night). If not, why not?
· The GOI to demand that the IMO and the ILO come down on the S. Korean government. A resolution at the IMO demanding the release of the two? A boycott by ILO affiliated organisations?
· The GOI to be pressurised to raise the broader seafarer criminalisation issue with the US as well.
· Sustained pressure on the GOI to become more proactive at the IMO in protecting Indian seafarer and industry interests. Practical implementation of 'fair treatment' issues to be put high on the agenda. Officials to be chosen on the basis of their professional standing, not their political one.
· Similar pressure on the ILO and other international bodies
· Indian port unions to be pressurised to threaten boycott of South Korean ships calling Indian ports. Just threaten, for now.
· Trade magazines and media to mount a sustained campaign on this issue.
· Mainstream media to be targeted by the Trinity. The goal is to reach the protests to mainstream media on a regular basis. Erudite serving seafarers would make excellent spokespersons for the industry here. The campaign has to be sustained. I would like to see us persuading just one national news channel to take this up as a cause. I am sure this can be done if all the stops are pulled out.
· Seafarers should vote with their feet. An exclusion clause in a thousand employment contracts, saying, "The seafarer will not be asked to sail to or from S. Korea" will make the world sit up and take notice. Let's call it the Solidarity Clause.
· Shipmanagement companies to appraise any S. Korean clients on all these moves. In the end, it will be pressure on their government which will work.
· Shipmanagement companies to suspend acquisition of S. Korean clients.
· Pressure on the GOI to slow track any S Korean investment plans.
· Boycott of South Korean goods and services by the industry, and widespread publicity of this boycott, till the two officers are released. It is not the amount of revenue lost which will pinch the companies, it is the negative publicity.


If all this doesn't work, then I am afraid escalation may involve, say, a short message from the DGS stating that 'Effective two months later, Indian Certificates of Competency will not be valid for South Korea". Or something similar from the Government of India, essentially barring Indian officers from sailing into or out of South Korea.

The time is now. We can begin and test resolves and tactics and workability; lets also gauge whether we can use the same resolve to take on the broader, generic issue of seafarers being treated as criminals for no fault of their own, and even after being proven innocent.

For now, let's just start. It is time to give the heebee jeebies to the countries that treat us shamefully. The Hebei Spirit may well go down in history as the incident that made that difference and shook the lethargy out of us.


We need to do this for another reason. I believe that, at some level, this is not about Capt. Chawla or Chief Officer Chetan, or the dollars we will make and lose, or the fear that S. Korea will take reciprocal action against India. I believe that, at a very basic level, this is not about the fear of losing jobs or gaining job market share or Unions flexing political muscle. This is not even about addressing manpower shortages with promotion of seafarer interests.


The truth, as usual, is much simpler.


At a very primal level, this is about your self respect and mine.



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