Croatia Maritime

According to the new regulation the final date for the mandatory exchange of UNLIMITED certificates to the ones with an expiry date will be 01. June 2011.

More information on Ministry of Sea, Traffic and Infrastructure

Company employment practices, as for the maritime seagoing sector, have changed during the past years or so to say they have evolved to a new low. It is the age of Internet, it is the age of standards and formalizations, it is the age of computers running databases, it is the age of mindless underpaid labour, and you can feel all of it.

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Croatian Captain Kristo Laptalo, who was imprisoned for the charge of drug smuggling, was finally acquitted and set free by the appeal court on the 27th November 2008 after a 16 month long ordeal in a Greece prison.
Previously on the account of command resposnibility captain Laptalo was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
However, the appeal court found no evidence to link the Croatian captain with the drugs found on board stating that the shipping company, not the captain, was responsible for the drugs getting onto the ship.

Captain Laptalo’s case received a lot of media attention whereas a similar case of our seaman charged for drug smuggling in Panama received only a marginal coverage.

In the Panama case the drugs were found attached on the hull of the ship and the Master Loris Šubat and Chief Officer Duško Tanurdžić were charged with command responsibility for they should have known that their ship was transporting drugs ?!

The bail was paid and our seamen are currently in a hotel in Panama awaiting trial appearance.

Master Loris Šubat and Chief Officer Duško Tanurdžić are in Panama since May 2008 and hopefully they will be acquitted to come home by the end of the year !

Every ship carries a lifeboat, the last lifesaving hope of a desperate seamen.
Is it really lifesaving or is it only hope ?

Port state inspectors, vetting inspectors, superintendents always insist upon checking the mandatory equipment, state of the engine, and various log book entries about lowering, launching, and changing the water in the lifeboat.
They also like to see that the lifeboat is correctlly stenciled with call sign and the number of persons the lifeboat is designed for.
And it is always a remark if something is not according their satisfaction.

And all these checks come second to the important issue:

How much weight can a lifeboat carry ? What is the allowed deadweight ?

You have it somewhere hidden in a plan: our example 1350 kilograms excluding the boat and equipment.

In our case the inspector is happy to see that the lifeboat can accommodate 18 persons which fits the vessel’s complement of 17, all European and Tuvalu origin.

What the inspector fails to see is that all crewmembers onboard are between 80 and 120 kilo with an approximate average of 92 kilo a full 215 kilo over the maximum allowed weight, not counting the extra water and equipment the crew is required to bring with them in the lifeboat.

Additionally, to make the things worse the seats are designed for a maximum of 100 kilo which excludes by default some of the crewmembers.

What would happen then if the lifeboat would free fall plunge in the water ?
Nobody can really know! Where is the safety in that !?

You are required to make a tax report if you are less than 183 days at sea during the period of one year or in the case you own a smaall business which is not a company. Then your revenue as a seafarer is listed under other revenue.

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