Óli Olsen
Deputy Director
Seafarers and Manning Department
In each edition of The Flag we are taking the opportunity to introduce readers to one of our departments, giving more information about the work they undertake and shining some light on their achievements.
This time it is the turn of Seafarers and Manning, led by Deputy Director Óli Olsen who has been with The BMA since 2013.
As the name suggests, the Seafarers and Manning department looks after all aspects of the Bahamas Flag that involve crew and personnel – so that encompasses everything related to training, certification and endorsements and also deals with the maritime regulatory bodies including the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC).
In fact a large part of the department’s role is to look after seafarer welfare, ensuring that contracts have been issued which stipulate hours to be worked, paid vacation that is allowed, precise work and rest hours and also the length of the contract itself.
Representatives around the world
The BMA’s global Seafarers and Manning department, ensures that contracts are fair and that they comply with the rules and regulations surrounding employment of mariners. For example a mariner can be asked on occasion to work for 14 hours in a 24-hour period but, at the same time, they must have 77 hours of rest in any seven-day period. Regulatory work and rest hours are specified in MLC and in STCW and must be adhered to by all Bahamas flagged ships.
The impact of COVID
Of course the COVID pandemic put a strain on the world’s seafarers that no one could have anticipated. For those at sea it very rapidly became close to an impossibility to get home and, similarly, for those yet to embark, getting on board their vessel was equally difficult. As the situation worsened it fell on Flag authorities worldwide to do what they could to help in repatriation efforts and also to ensure that seafarers were treated as well as possible in the circumstances. The BMA was instrumental in facilitating and helping seafarers who were stranded on ships that took refuge in their Caribbean waters and the Seafarers and Manning team dealt with the large number of manning issues that arose.
One of the more challenging issues was the bankruptcy of a company which left more than 1,600 seafarers with no means of returning home. Óli and his team dealt with the insurers and other institutions on the seafarers’ behalf and succeeded in getting the insurers to not only repatriate the seafarers but also pay their outstanding salaries.
Sick passengers
Other challenges arose when seafarers were diagnosed with or exposed to COVID. The stringent rules being applied by some countries around the world meant that decisions were frequently being made where none of the options were particularly good. And in the case of cruise liners, in the early days guests were on board when the virus broke out, leaving many trapped at sea without the medical facilities needed to keep them safe. The difficulty was in persuading ports to accept the passengers and give them the treatment they needed.
Certification and endorsements
While looking after the welfare of mariners is a key part of the team’s role, so is ensuring that vessels are safe and that the mariners working on them are qualified to operate the ships safely. The Seafarers and Manning department ensures that all seafarers have the required qualifications to obtain a Bahamas Certificate of Competency (CoC) or Certificate of Equivalent Competency (CEC) to carry out their duties. These documents are now all available electronically so that seafarers can obtain them wherever they are working in the world. It also represents another important step towards a paperless office for The BMA and is in line with its sustainability goals.
Training current and future generations of mariners
Training plays a crucial role in the preparation of seafarers for their duties at sea and is a requirement of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) that sets the minimum standards for masters, officers and watch keeping personnel on all seagoing merchant ships and large yachts. The Seafarers and Manning department is responsible for deciding which training providers offer courses of sufficient quality to train personnel on Bahamas flagged ships.
The BMA has a stringent approval process to ensure that quality remains at the highest level for all mariners operating on its ships who have been issued with Bahamas certificates. Recently the department has approved a number of suppliers offering courses online. These virtual courses have been found to maintain the high standards expected but enable seafarers to sit the course at a time and place of their choosing, crucially at sea if that is what they prefer. This means that both time and money can be saved whilst ensuring that ships are not short of staff due to lack of training options. The BMA has also for the first time endorsed a Mental Health Awareness and Wellbeing course in recognition of the vital role played by good mental health in the operation of a ship. This fits in very well with our role in a joint ILO working group looking into mental health.
It needs a common-sense approach
According to Óli, “The international Conventions make the legal framework for operation and the key to success is to take a common-sense approach to every situation while ensuring that every decision remains inside that framework. As a team we are always working to build great relationships. We are all ‘people’ people.
“We have to work at the micro level with individuals and then again at the macro level with organisations (which are nevertheless made up of individuals).
“We participate in working groups for many of the industry bodies and that means that we can have our say when regulations and new ways of working are developed. Having a team who have developed specialisms but are still happy to share the load with everyone else is something I am particularly proud of. I think for all of us the key to our success is that we like nothing better than to take on an issue that is having a profound impact on someone and resolve it with them.”
