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AOS USA Maritime Updates 

The Professional Association of Catholic Mariners, Cruise Ship Priests and Catholic Maritime Ministers.

 

June 17, 2014
In This Issue
Survey for AOS Port Chaplains!
Sea Sunday Message from AOS Vatican!
Lost Leader: Chandrika Sharma.
Obama Signs Pivotal Port Bill.
AOS Welcomes New Protocol on Forced Labour.
KVH Crewtoo Named Most Popular Maritime Website.
Looming Seafarer Shortage will challenge carrier profitability.
Upcoming Events
PrayingHands

    Prayer Requests:

 

  

For Miss Mary Cadotte, step-daughter of Jim McGee, with the Seafarers' International Union in Houston. Mary was just diagnosed with Hodgekin's Disease, and is undergoing testing at MD Anderson. 

 

 

For the repose of the soul of Fr. Carl Feil, OSM  - AOS Port Canaveral who passed away on March 30.

 

 

For Deacon Bill Wanca & Deacon Jack Rhine - AOS Port Canaveral who have both had to retire due to illness.  

 

 

 

For Mrs. Anite Badeaux, Grandmother of Doreen Badeaux. Anite had a stroke 2 months ago at the age of 101. She is now back in her home, but requires full care. She has more movement, and her mind is crystal clear. Her speach is improving and she continues to ask for prayer. She thanks everyone for their prayers. She says they are working.  

 

 

 

   

 

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Join AOS USA Today!

 

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ATTENTION PORT CHAPLAINS:

Vatican Fundraising Survey -  Please Respond! 

  

 

Dear Friends,  

 

AOS Vatican is requesting that all AOS Port Chaplains participate in a Survey regarding Fund Raising.  This is important, in that it is needed if they are to be able to assist in the development of initiatives to address this.

 

Our Regional Coordinator for AOS North America and the Caribbean, Karen Parsons, would like to ask all AOS Port Chaplains in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean to please click the following survey link and fill it out. There are only 10 questions, and we ask that you fill it out by the end of July. 

 

So, best idea....do it today!

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TQ7GLV 

  

All the Best!

 

Doreen M. Badeaux

 

Secretary General 

 



PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE PASTORALCARE FOR MIGRANTS AND ITINERANT PEOPLE 

  

Sea Sunday Message(13th July 2014) 

  

 

Throughout the history of mankind, the sea was the place where routes of explorers and adventurers intersected, and where battles determined the rise and fall of many nations. But it is, above all, a privileged place for exchange of goods and global trade. Actually, over 90% of merchandises worldwide are transported by nearly 100,000 ships, that unrelenting, are sailing from one end of the world to the other, run by a workforce of approximately 1.2 million seafarers of all races, nationalities and religions.

 

During this Sea Sunday, we are invited to become aware of the hardships and difficulties that seafarers face daily and of the valuable service provided by the Apostleship of the Sea in being Church who bears witness of the Lord's mercy and tenderness in order to preach the Gospel in the ports of the whole world.

 

Due to a number of factors related to their profession, seafarers are invisible to us and to our society. As we celebrate Sea Sunday, I wish to invite every Christian to look around and realize how many of the objects we use in our daily lives have come to us through the hard and laborious work of seafarers.

 

If we observe their lives carefully, we immediately realize that they are certainly not as romantic and adventurous as sometimes is shown in films and novels.

 

The life of seafarers is difficult and dangerous. In addition to having to face the rage and power of nature, that often prevails even upon the most modern and technologically advanced ships (according to the International Maritime Organization [IMO] in 2012, more than 1,000 seafarers have died as a result of shipwrecks, maritime collisions, etc.), we should not forget the risk of piracy, which is never defeated it but is transformed in new and different ways and is manifested in many maritime routes, and also the danger of criminalization and abandonment without wages, food and protection in foreign ports.

 

The sea, the ship and the port are the universe of life of seafarers. A ship is economically viable only when sailing and, therefore, must continually sail from one port to another. Themechanizationof cargo-handling operations has reduced the time of berthing and the free time of crew members, while security measures have restricted the opportunities to go ashore.

 

Seafarers do not choose their companions of journey. Each crew is a microcosm of people from different nationalities, cultures and religions, forced to live together in the limited area of a ship for the duration of the contract, without any interest in common, communicating with an idiom that often is not theirs.

 

For seafarers loneliness and isolation are traveling companions. By its nature, the work of seafarers bring them to be away, even for long periods, from their family environment. For the crews is not always easy to have access to the numerous technologies (telephone, wi-fi, etc.) for contacting family and friends. In most cases, children are born and grow up without their presence, thus increasing the sense of loneliness and isolation that accompanies their life.

 

The Church, in her maternal concern, for over ninety years has been providing her pastoral care to the people of the sea throughout the Work of the Apostleship of the Sea.

 

Every year thousands of seafarers are welcomed in ports, at the Stella Maris Centers, distinctive places where seafarers are warmly received, can relax away from the ship and contact family members using different means of communication made available to them.

The volunteers daily visit seafarers on ships, in hospitals and those who are abandoned in foreign ports, ensuring a word of consolation but also concrete support when needed.

 

The chaplains are always available to offer spiritual assistance (celebration of the Eucharist, ecumenical prayers, etc.) to seafarers of all nationalities who are in need, especially in times of difficulty and crisis.

 

Finally, the Apostleship of the Sea gives voice to those who often have no voice, denouncing abuses and injustices, defending the rights of the people of the sea and asking to the maritime industry and to the individual governments to respect international Conventions.

 

While, during this Sea Sunday, we express our gratitude to all those who work in the maritime industry, with a trusting heart we ask Mary, Star of the Sea to guide, enlighten and protect the sailing of the whole people of the sea and support the members of the Apostleship of the Sea in their pastoral ministry.

 

 

                                                         Antonio Maria Cardinal Vegli�

                                          President

 

X  Joseph Kalathiparambil

Secretary 

                        

 

 

Lost Leader: Chandrika Sharma, a
pioneer for the rights of
small-scale fishworkers,
is one of the missing on
Malaysia flight MH370 

Courtesy: National Fisherman
By: Paul Molyneaux

June 2014 

(Editors note: AOS-USA mourns the loss of Chandrika Sharma, who did so much for fishermen.)

  


When searchers go out looking for a vessel overdue, everyone feels it in a fishing community.  We feel it right down in our guts, because we all know that one of our own might be out there, clinging to a life jacket.

 

When the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control as it entered Vietnamese airspace on the morning of March 8, 2014, word flashed around the global fishing community:  one of our own Chandrika Sharma, the executive secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, had boarded that plane in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and she was missing along 238 other passengers and crew.

 

Click to read the rest of the story:

Chandrika Sharma 

  

     

 

Obama Signs Pivotal Port Bill 

Courtesy: IHSMaritime360
By: John Gallagher

10 June 2014 

  

 

US President Barack Obama has signed legislation that port officials and the dredging industry believe will jump-start harbour deepening and expansion projects.

The Water Resources Reform and Development Act, signed by Obama on 10 June, streamlines federal permitting for navigational dredging while directing more money towards maintenance dredging.

The American Association of Port Authorities called the legislation a major victory because it includes numerous policy priorities of the group, including setting a path toward full use of the Harbor Maintenance Tax.

The tax is used to keep ports and harbours dredged to appropriate depths for commercial vessels.

The legislation also lifts major construction hurdles for ports that have been waiting to start harbour deepening projects to take advantage of larger containerships.

One of those projects, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) at the Port of Savannah, Georgia, has been in the planning stages for 16 years.

"With today's action, SHEP has officially received a green light," said Georgia Ports Authority executive director Curtis Foltz.

The State of Georgia has already allocated $266M to help finance the $706M project, which will deepen the Savannah River to 14.6m.

The bill lifts a spending limit set when lawmakers first authorised the project in 1999, allowing both state and federal dollars to be used for the project.

The next step calls for Georgia to enter an agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers to more closely define cost sharing for the project, which Foltz said he expects to have in place within 90 days.


 

 

 

 

  

     

 

Apostleship of the Sea welcomes new Protocol on forced labour 

Courtesy: AOS Great Britain

12 June 2014 

  


Catholic seafarers' charity Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) supports the recent adoption of a new Protocol aimed at boosting efforts to tackle modern forms of forced labour.

 

The legally binding Protocol was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on June 11 and is seen as a firm commitment from governments, employers and unions to eradicate contemporary forms of slavery.

 

While most seafarers and fishermen enjoy good living and working conditions, there are some, in particular migrant workers, who remain in danger of being exploited and abused as a result of globalisation and labour shortages.

 

AoS national director Martin Foley said seafarers and fishermen deserved decent and safe working conditions. "Seafarers and fishermen work in one of the most dangerous environments and yet all too often governments and authorities turn a blind eye to the appalling conditions many are forced to endure." 

 

"We've read about the brutal treatment of workers in Thailand linked to seafood production. Sadly such appalling conditions are not confined to Thailand," said Foley.

 

The International Confederation of Catholic Charities (Caritas Internationalis) whose work is to serve migrant communities and promote social justice for migrants also submitted a statement during the Forced Labour Committee of the 103rd International Labour Conference in which the Protocol was adopted.

 

Part of the statement refers to the plight of seafarers and fishermen. It reads; "We would like to highlight the situation of seafarers and fishers, who are often migrants.  They are invisible and because of the nature of their work easily become victims of exploitation and abuse."

 

"Their working environment makes it difficult for them to seek help and protection in situation of need. Though in the maritime sector there are specific laws and conventions, sometimes it is difficult to implement them." 


 

  

     

KVH Crewtoo Named Most Popular Maritime Website
12 June 2014  

   

 

MIDDLETOWN, R.I., June 12, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crewtoo(R) , the seafarer social network operated by KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq:KVHI) has been named the most popular maritime website in a survey of mariners conducted recently by Futurenautics, an independent information resource that identifies technology trends in the shipping industry. 

 

The Crew Communications Survey 2014 addresses many topics surrounding the issue of crew access to the Internet for staying in touch with family and friends. When respondents (nearly 3,000 mariners from 30 different nationalities) were asked to name their favorite maritime website, the single most popular choice was Crewtoo.

 

With 105,000 members, Crewtoo is the world's largest online network dedicated to seafarers, and was founded less than two years ago. The online network gives seafarers a way to post comments and photographs from their vessels, chat with colleagues on other ships, take part in seafarer-related polls and votes, and keep up with maritime news. Crewtoo recently added an online maritime jobs board to help match the right companies with the best seafarers.

 

"We are thrilled to have been named by an independent survey of mariners as their favorite maritime website," says Mark Woodhead, managing director of KVH Media Group. "It reinforces to us how important it is for mariners to feel a sense of community while at sea."

 

KVH Media Group produces a wide range of news and entertainment content for the maritime industry with brands that include: NEWSlink(TM) -- daily news from around the world, in print or video; MOVIElink(TM) -- new-release movies from Hollywood and other international studios; TVlink(TM) -- popular shows and series from leading studios worldwide; SPORTSlink(TM) -- highlights of games and teams around the world; and MUSIClink(TM) -- an array of digital music. KVH Media Group's content is delivered in a number of ways, including KVH's new IP-MobileCast(TM) content delivery service utilizing multicasting technology.

 

KVH provides maritime broadband connectivity to vessels worldwide through its TracPhone(R) V-IP series terminals and mini-VSAT Broadband(sm) service. KVH recently shipped its 4,000(th) TracPhone system for mini-VSAT Broadband. The mini-VSAT Broadband service is the market share leader in maritime VSAT, according to an industry report by Euroconsult released in March 2014.

 

Looming Seafarer Shortage Will Challenge Carrier Profitability
Courtesy: Maritime Executive 
11 June 2014 

The current shortage of officer corps seafarers is forecast to worsen and risks impacting carrier profitability, according to Drewry's recently published Manning 2014 Annual Report.


Owners and managers need seafarers - and they want experience, expertise and quality. However, they do not have the resources to fund substantial rises in remuneration. In recent years owners and managers have been heavily cost focused as weak freight rate earnings have yielded poor returns. Manning has become the natural target for cost cutting, being the single largest element in ship operating costs, with officer recruitment being directed towards the lowest cost source.


Drewry estimates the current officer supply to be 610,000, representing a shortfall of 19,000 personnel. This shortfall is forecast to rise to 21,700 by 2018 given that there will be a requirement for an additional 38,500 officers by this time.


"While ratings (crew) remuneration packages tend to follow International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) standard terms, officer earnings are more market driven," explained Drewry's managing director Nigel Gardiner. "Manning costs look set to come under renewed upward pressure, putting a further squeeze on profitability unless owners are able to push freight rates higher."


However, there is less supply pressure with ratings and this will have a moderating influence on wage negotiations currently underway between the ITF and International Bargaining Forum, which represents employers. The other factor in owners' favor is that most seafarers are paid in US dollars. When converted to domestic currency, seafarer earnings tend to compare well with other occupations.


"But the shortage of officers remains, especially among senior engineering ranks and for specialist ships such as LNG carriers," warned Gardiner. "There is also a general drift towards shorter working tours and increased benefits which is putting further pressure on supply."


"The sailors arrive with just flip-flops": A Look at Plymouth's "Invisible" Visitors 
Courtesy: The Herald 

 

WITH more than 90 per cent of the world's goods transported by sea, a port of Plymouth's size is a frequently used stop-off on the delivery route into Europe.

 

But how much do we know about these "invisible" visitors to our city?

PATRICK DALY popped-in to see the Apostleship of the Sea, a charity which works directly with seafarers, to find out more.

SITUATED in a small two-room office in Victoria Wharf with no computer and no wifi, it seems hard to believe this is the base from which "the hand of friendship" is extended to thousands of incoming sailors every year.

 

But stocked with everything from shaving cream to emergency clothing, volunteers from this upstairs cubby hole visit as many as 10 ships a week.

 

Volunteers from the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), a global organisation tied to the Catholic church, keep track of ships docking into Plymouth - from small fishing trawlers to heavyweight cargo carriers - and pay a visit to the crew on board.

 

Some of the sailors come from as far as West Africa, the Baltic and South East Asia, spending eight to 10 months a year away from their families.

 

Jayne O'Connor, a former Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander and a ship visitor of 12 years, said that many arrive in the city unprepared for northern Europe's harsher climes.

 

"They arrive with just a pair of flip-flops," explained the 67-year-old.

"They ask us if we have any clothes. They come from warm climates but of course it is much colder here. Their next stop might be somewhere in Sweden," she continued.

 

"They bring a bag up to the office and take what they need. We have shoes, clothes and jackets which have been donated.

"Sometimes they pick things up and I say, 'Would your wife like that?' and they say, 'Oh could I?'

 

"We offer a hand of friendship and anything else we can offer."

The way African and Asian seafarers are treated is a particular concern for the charity, which has had a base in Plymouth since 2005.

"These fishermen have gone to an agent in their own country and they get sent over here with a contract that says they will work 18 hours a day and paid 'x' amount," said the Stoke resident.

"We have heard of them being left waiting at the airport. When they do get picked up and taken to their fishing fleet, their passports have been known to be taken from them.

 

"We have become most concerned with the fishing boats over the last few years. They have relatively small crews of about six men.

"What happens is, they follow the fish around. If the shoals of fish are about for 24 hours, then they fish for that whole time because that is what fishing is about."

 

Mrs O'Connor explained that while some fisherman negotiate being paid a percentage of the final catch, Ghanaians and Filipinos are often tied into fixed earnings which they agreed to when signing up in their home country.

 

Along with the smaller fishing boats in Sutton Harbour, 'coaster' cargo vessels carrying fertiliser, clay, salt and wood chips are common to Victoria Wharf, while large oil tankers and fishing trawlers come into the industrial Cattedown Wharf.

No matter how small the boat, AoS volunteers try and pay a visit to the crew.

 

A non-proselytising charity, the visitors go armed with mobile phone top-up cards, newspapers in the crew's native languages and information about the city. They also hand out prayer books, Bibles and Mass times to those who want them.

 

Mrs O'Connor explained that once the captain has given the all-clear for her to climb on board, she heads straight for the mess deck to mingle amongst the workers.

 

"I can be in and out in a flash. Shipping these days does not have much time," explained the mother of three.

 

"Time is money. They load or unload and get off again. They do not have time for the niceties in life and a chin wag.

 

"That is why I hone in on the mess deck as that is where the most people will be.

 

"We come in with mobile phone top-up and if they can pay, then that is great. If they can't, that is not a worry. Most of them do offer to pay.

She continued: "I went onto a tanker once and a chap kept playing with his watch.

 

"He said he couldn't get it to work and asked if I was going into town. I took him down to get his watch fixed and left him with a map as he said he wanted to stay and look around town. We help in whatever way we can."

 

The charity's work is supported by Catholics in the city, through donations of time and money, with gift sets given at Christmas and chocolate eggs at Easter.

 

"I get so much help from the people of Plymouth," added Mrs O'Connor, who also works two afternoons a week for Plymouth Community Healthcare.

 

"I often put a thank you in the Plymouth Cathedral newsletter for the help we get towards the top-up cards and all the other help.

"There is a group of ladies that come along and knit a lot of woollen hats for us. All the clothing we receive has to be new or nearly new."

The charity visited 500 ships across the South West ports of Teignmouth, Brixham and Plymouth last year.

 

The AoS in Plymouth currently has two ship visitors in training who will back up the work carried out by Mrs O'Connor and the South West lay chaplain, Ann Donnelly.

 

"IF WE HAD A CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM CREW, WE'D HAVE TO CALM THEM DOWN EVERY DAY"

 

I HAD heard the horror stories.

 

Jayne O'Connor, a longstanding Plymouth Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) volunteer, had briefed me about the gruelling hours, poor conditions and rouge Captains which are still all too prevalent on today's seas and oceans.

 

So when a diesel tanker finally agreed to let myself and a Herald photographer on board, I didn't quite know what to expect.

After being fitted with hard hats and having our mobile phones confiscated by the inspection staff at Cattedown Wharf, we followed hot on the heels of Jayne and trainee ship visitor Liam O'Hara, a former Chief Petty Officer in the Navy.

 

The MT Ganges Star tanker, docking in Plymouth for the first time, struck an imposing sight as it stood against the dock.

Having come from Rotterdam in the Netherlands loaded with 10,700 tonnes of diesel, four Filipino deck workers were busy discharging the fuel, a process that would take 20 hours.

 

While we checked-in, the crew cleaned and swept and tightened valves as the bright orange fuel pipes hummed and pumped away.

On the lower mess deck, German captain Marko Miessner and his two female cadets were getting ready to eat lunch.

 

The other 16 crew members were all from the Philippines, including the two chefs.

 

Captain Miessner explained that having crew made up of the same nationality and religion made life more harmonious, especially when it came to avoiding arguments.

 

"Usually the Filipino crew spend six months on board, whereas someone from Europe gets a two or three month contract," he said.

"Filipinos speak English well and for a European company which is Catholic or Christian, it makes it easier to have them all the same religion.

 

"It could be a big mess to have Christians and Muslims and Buddhists together. You would have to calm them down every day."

And everyone liking the same food also cuts down on the workload, said one of the chefs.

 

He explained how their German boss, when not filling out countless hours of paperwork, enjoyed spicy food so was happy to eat the same native meals as the crew.

 

With the tanker in seemingly immaculate condition and plenty of entertainment on board in the form of a satellite television, internet (albeit with a slow connection), board games and a darts set, I did wonder whether the crew valued ship visitors much.

 

But the skipper said his crew were always happy to have Aos visitors, especially in places where the city was not immediately accessible.

 

"The charity bring some newspapers for free and sometimes they offer phone cards," he explained.

"They also offer free transport into the city which is what the crew want.

"It looks pretty easy to get to the city here in Plymouth but in other places there's nothing.

 

"You can be in an industrial area and the visitors bring you to the Seaman's Mission so you can buy simple things like sweets or food."

Once Jayne and Liam had finished their meeting and greeting and handing out freebies, we departed, leaving the crew to eat with their next day's destination still unknown.

 

Other News Items  

 

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin #118 Spring 2014 

 

Catholic Maritime News Spring 2014 

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin N. 117 Dec 2013 

 

Catholic Maritime News - Winter 2013 

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin N.116 June 2013/III

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin N.115 June 2013/II 

 

Catholic Maritime News Spring 2013 No. 72  

 

 Apostolatus Maris Bulletin N.114 March 2013/I 

 

 

Catholic Maritime News Winter 2012 No. 71 

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin N.113 2012/III   

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin N.112 2012/II  

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin April 2012 (111)  

   

2012 Easter Message from the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants 

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin December 2011 (110) 

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin Sept 2011 (109) 

 

Apostolatus Maris Bulletin July 2011 (108)   

 

Audio Report: No Pirates of the Caribbean - Vatican Radio (December 7, 2011) 

 

Piracy video from Lloyd's List 

 

 

Important Upcoming Events for
AOS USA Members

   


Sea Sunday
July 13, 2014 
 
National Maritime Day
May 22, 2014
 

May God Bless you with Smooth Sailing throughout your day!

Contact Info
Doreen M. Badeaux
Secretary General
Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America
1500 Jefferson Drive
Port Arthur, TX  77642-0646
PH:  409-985-4545
FAX:  409-985-5945