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IN THIS ISSUE

Welcome
LNG salaries
G'day kind sir
Richard bruce crossby farthing ma cc (1926 - 2007)
CV blunders
Training costs
Staff absenteeism
Current Vacancies
Earn £400

WELCOME

The Master Mariner, Lloyds List journalist, MNI, MBE and author (phew) Michael Grey who is a good friend of Spinnaker has always maintained that although we talk about the 'shipping industry' it is actually the 'shipping industries' that is relevant. He's right of course and saying the shipping industry is buoyant often doesn't tell us very much.

To offer a more incisive glimpse Clarksons have produced 'Shipping's top 20' according to where shipping investors are putting their money and in turn therefore which fleets have been growing. To measure this they calculated the increase in the orderbook as a % of the fleet between 2002 and 2007.

So which was the top investment ? LNG?

Well, in fact it was a real outsider - car carriers Five years of "globalisation" means that seabourne car exports are now growing at over 8% per annum and PCC and PCTC investment has boomed, pushing the orderbook to 31.4%, almost four times the 2002 level.

Close but no cigar
The next two down the list didn't take top spot but had an impressive investment story nonetheless. In 2002 Capesize investment was in the doldrums, but its leading role in supplying the Chinese steel industry gave it one of the best investment stories in shipping history, quadrupling the orderbook to 35.2% of the fleet. Not far behind were LPGs which with the help of associated gas from LNG production propelled the orderbook from 10.6% of the fleet to 40.9%.

Panamax came in 4th and Handy bulkers in 5th. Since 2002 their orderbook has trebled to 12.6%, driven by strong Asian trade. The middle of the graph is dominated by favourites who already had a big orderbook in 2002.

At the bottom are a couple of negatives. The Ro-Ro orderbook slipped from 10% to 8% of the fleet and Combos went to 0%.

Who will win in the next five years? Perhaps the unloved ones at the bottom of the list deserve a look.

LNG SALARIES

Following our cry for comment on LNG salaries in the last edition of Changing Course, one kind reader has sent us an interesting email, which we paraphrase below with his view on the history of LNG salary growth and his suggestions for retention.

"... spiralling LNG salaries have had many causes. It all started with poaching to meet the demands of top of the line companies that were offering higher wages than their less privileged competitors and that got the ball rolling. Having said that, the demand for seafarers ashore also started increasing at the same time as employers preferred those that had similar experience at sea to man the terminals/vetting/office staff.

"In view of the high cost to own an LNG fleet and demands from investors and insurance companies to ensure that ships were manned with qualified experienced officers, companies opened their wallets whenever there was a threat by officers to leave.

"I remember attending a new building for a gas carrier last year as owners representative for a very reputable ship-owner and the feed back I got from the officers chatting in the yard was that the salary ranges were humongous. There were some companies paying almost double that of others. In order to compensate for this, the salaries for lower ranks were reduced to levels similar to those of petroleum tankers with the hope they would be promised promotions. There lacked planned succession and recruiting managers were just living for tomorrow and not the future.

"The demands were high and the supply was poor. I know of one company who is investing in their own officers to train from the dry fleet directly as additional LNG officers for their existing fleet in order to cope up with the demand for their future expansion. If all companies followed similar ways of training/cadetships and have their own officers then the salaries can be kept under control. Unfortunately, all do not want to share the burden of extra costs especially the management companies.

"I truly believe that granting stock options to senior officers is a very effective tool for companies to leverage and have their officers stay on for longer periods. The effect has value-add to the bottom line as well. The IT industry is following these trends for the same reasons and it is high time that shipping companies start treating their senior management on board as directors for their floating factories with stock options similar to those ashore in similar ranks."

G'DAY KIND SIR

The London Shipping Law Centre invites members and their colleagues to a joint meeting of the Anglo Australasian Lawyers Society and the London Shipping Law Centre.

The speaker will be the The HON JUSTICE JAMES ALLSOP (Judge, Federal Court Of Australia).

The subject will be English and Australian Maritime Law - A Past and Continuing Relationship.

It will be held at the International Dispute Resolution Centre, 70 Fleet Street, London, EC4 on Wednesday 23rd May at 6pm. This event is accredited for 1 CPD point

For further info and to book your place go to http://www.london-shipping-law.com/events/EventsResultList_current.asp.

RICHARD BRUCE CROSBY FARTHING MA CC (1926 - 2007)

It was with great sadness that we learned this week of the unexpected death of our Bruce Farthing, on Saturday evening, 21st April. We understand that funeral will be for family members only, but there will be a Remembrance Service in London at a later date.

In his time Bruce notched up many achievements and occupied a number of influential roles within shipping. He co-authored Farthing on International Shipping and, quite apart from his other roles within the Chamber and International Chamber of Shipping, he was Deputy Director General of the Chamber of Shipping, Consultant Director of Intercargo, Rapporteur Maritime Transport Commission at the International Chamber of Commerce, Secretary of the Committee of European Shipowners and Secretary General of the council of European and Japanese National Shipowners' Association.

Bruce was still serving as President of Maritime London at the time of his death. His passing is a great loss, not only to Maritime London, but to the Corporation of London and the world at large. He will be missed.

CV BLUNDERS

Explaining a conviction by simply saying "I killed my spouse", including a picture in swimwear, and stating that they were sacked for stealing, are amongst the most unusual CV blunders revealed in a recent survey.

Other mis-judgements included submitting a CV on "Garfield the Cat" paper, a candidate explaining that they are financially incompetent, and listing a main hobby as going out with mates every single night.

Other blunders revealed included one candidate included his chest and shoe sizes and another included holiday plans for the next three years and made it clear she would not be changing them.

TRAINING COSTS

We are sometimes asked by our employer clients if they can legitimately deduct the cost of expensive training courses or further education should employees leave them within the first year or so of joining the company or completing the course or indeed drop out of the course.

The Employments Rights Act 1996 (and no doubt similar legislation outside the UK) only allows deductions from wages that are authorized by a specific law or by a relevant provision in the employment contract. The former include tax laws, the right to re-claim overpayments of wages and, commonly, the latter include the right to re-claim wages where an employee leaves having taken more than their holiday entitlement. It is possible therefore to incorporate a [clear and unambiguous] claw-back clause relating to the cost of training or further education in the employment contract at the point of hiring a new member of staff.

STAFF ABSENTEEISM

Employers often think that there's nothing they can do if they have a member of staff who takes excessive time off work because of ill health. They fear claims for unfair dismissal and indeed disability discrimination. Whilst these are risks and employers should be live to the fact that a member of staff may have a legitimate disability, a considerable amount of protection is available via company-wide absence policies or attendance procedures.

These policies remove the need for employers to fall back on their disciplinary procedures and give employers a potentially "fair" reason for dismissal on the ground of "incapability". An attendance or absence policy enables employers to set minimum standards and to make clear what steps will be followed if standards aren't met.

This can be a difficult and embarrassing issue for managers to address - a policy has the added benefits of communicating to staff that attendance is a high priority and that absence is monitored. Properly applied it also enables employers to identify and help members of staff who have serious illnesses or personal difficulties.

CURRENT VACANCIES

EARN £400

Below is a list of vacancies currently available. However, if you are not interested or not suitable for any of these positions but you know someone who might be interested, you can EARN YOURSELF A £400 referral fee by passing details of the vacancy onto them.

You simply need to go to http://www.shippingjobs.com/jobseekers/referral_scheme.asp and complete our simple form giving us details of the person you have referred the job to. Subject to the terms of the scheme, if that person gets the job, you get £400. Simple.

(Please note that those marked with an 'AD' reference are advertised directly by the client and are therefore not eligible for the scheme.)