EU Shipping

[vic mcclymont]

According to the Cyprus Mail, Greek ships account for over 50% of the EU Merchant Shipping fleet.
Vic

[Captain Kong]

and the UK used to have 52% of the entire worlds merchant fleets,
now Nothing.


what happened.?

[cappy]

wages to high in that as a market place ...not enough return for shipowners ...who were panicking over jim slaters promising ABs on 50 quid a month he would get them 200 quid a month .....as he spouted in the bars in shields which i saw saw him make this statement ....they put there capital elswhere...one fact idid see were greeks and russians in ports world wide in there dozens in the 50s.....china buying up old UK bangers ...and crews working for a bag of rice russkis on starvation rations .....the only ones getting rich was the union wallahs .....slater like scargill living like kings ....while the MN went down the tubes....that is my view and a ship was not a commercial investment any more sadly.....the shipowners started to look for better returns and before anyone ses what have the unions done for you cappy well the answer is nothing in my lifetime except take money to tell me i could go to sea after paying......plus at that time the shipyards holding ships to ransom with the most stupid union demarcation rules in the world at that time......dead camels come to mind......cappy.....ps standing by for nuclear fall out....but it is my view

[Tony Taylor]

wages to high in that as a market place ...not enough return for shipowners ...who were panicking over jim slaters promising ABs on 50 quid a month he would get them 200 quid a month .....as he spouted in the bars in shields which i saw saw him make this statement ....they put there capital elswhere...one fact idid see were greeks and russians in ports world wide in there dozens in the 50s.....china buying up old UK bangers ...and crews working for a bag of rice russkis on starvation rations .....the only ones getting rich was the union wallahs .....slater like scargill living like kings ....while the MN went down the tubes....that is my view and a ship was not a commercial investment any more sadly.....the shipowners started to look for better returns and before anyone ses what have the unions done for you cappy well the answer is nothing in my lifetime except take money to tell me i could go to sea after paying......plus at that time the shipyards holding ships to ransom with the most stupid union demarcation rules in the world at that time......dead camels come to mind......cappy.....ps standing by for nuclear fall out....but it is my view

In 1972, I bought a car from Rossleigh in Newcastle (a Triumph) they were main dealers for Jag and Rover also.
When I walked into the show room there was a spanking new looking Rover V8, but the registration plates were a few years out of date. I remarked to the salesman that it was in good nick for the year, he said its brand new, which I thought was strange. Salesman said it is for Dan McGarvey (boilermakers union) he doesnt want his members to know he has got a new car!

[Louis the fly]

#3 Different day, same old sh.t. CONTAINERS, FLAGGING OUT. Shipping companies seeking to increase profits for shareholders at the expense of ship personnel. Cheap foreign crews, tax dodging, no longer paying their percentage of NI payments , no longer subject to British safety standards and far less rules and regulations in their chosen flag state. Seamen cannot be blamed for decisions taken in boardrooms.

For those members new to this site unions are a favourite subject for Cappy. We have heard this repeated over and over again, you will soon get used to it, unfortunately.

[cappy]

#3 Different day, same old sh.t. CONTAINERS, FLAGGING OUT. Shipping companies seeking to increase profits for shareholders at the expense of ship personnel. Cheap foreign crews, tax dodging, no longer paying their percentage of NI payments , no longer subject to British safety standards and far less rules and regulations in their chosen flag state. Seamen cannot be blamed for decisions taken in boardrooms.

For those members new to this site unions are a favourite subject for Cappy. We have heard this repeated over and over again, you will soon get used to it, unfortunately.

louis what pension did your union give you....you paid them all your life...while they invested in companies that made profits ......of which you never saw a penny but paid increase after increase in your dues ...while the leaders drove round in jags with offices costing millions in london and drew bigger and bigger wages ...not mentioning the pensions company houses and things you would never hear about ...they priced seamen out of a job and i sympathise with you for that ...the sad thing is the unions are CAPITALISTS of the ist degree using the members to feather there own nests and you cant even see it .....but there you are wonder boy corbyn is found out others willfollow ......cheers cappy

[Captain Kong]

Hi Louis,
if Union bosses are Bent and Corrupt they need to be exposed.
I cannot think of One excellent Union Boss. who not only got excellent wages and working conditions and a good Pension, but increased the number of jobs.
Brian

[thomas michael]

In 1972, I bought a car from Rossleigh in Newcastle (a Triumph) they were main dealers for Jag and Rover also.
When I walked into the show room there was a spanking new looking Rover V8, but the registration plates were a few years out of date. I remarked to the salesman that it was in good nick for the year, he said its brand new, which I thought was strange. Salesman said it is for Dan McGarvey (boilermakers union) he doesnt want his members to know he has got a new car!

hi tony
typical i have just finished reading a artical about the great ( Mcluskey ) whom went a long way to improving the lifes of the liverpool dockers, ie all the way to the dole.
as for the rover SDI V8 it was a great car, but only because the engine was a american.
tom

[cappy]

.... slater new if he got the union in his hand he could hold this country to ransom.....he could stop the trade of this country ....easier and quicker by a long chalk than the uboats ......another reason why shipowners got out ...along with other union lefties ...this country could have been brought to its knees ...dead unburied ....morgues full... no electricity factories stopped hospitals without heat and light ...and a three day working week ..no coal ...the typical marxist plot .....can never understand why they dont just clear of to russia and the arms of president putin....they tell me russian vessels are good feeders.....cappy

[Ivan Cloherty]

and the UK used to have 52% of the entire worlds merchant fleets,
now Nothing.


what happened.?

Remember reading a long time ago that the rot started with the Nairobi or was it the Kenya Agreement where-in the leaders of the developed countries agreed that to aid the developing countries, these countries needed their own merchant navies. It was agreed that if Developed Countries shipowners decided to buy new tonnage then the working tonnage being replaced should be sold to a developing country at scrap prices, that selling company or Country would agree to supply experienced personnel along with the vessels to train up the developing country's own personell, some of the countries benefiting from this largess were Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, India the latter now having the 3rd/4th largest MN in the world. These new shipping lines once established introduced their own restrictive practices declaring that all exports from their countries had to be carried in their own flag vessels, this was later extended to all imports intended for their country had to given priority for a national flag vessel if one was in position and all coastal trade had to be carried in their flagged vessels. The USA still practises that today under the Jones Act. We lost the right to do that with our own coastal traffic once we'd joined the EU.

We lost a lot of our trade and shipbuilding because we (our Govts of all hues) would not bend the rules as practised in other EU countries to supply subsidies, given under any other name. Our shipowners and Unions were slow to see the writing on the wall, and of course a lot of ship owners went into the booming construction industry which gave greater returns, and the Govt (of all hues) didn't exercise its muscle to retain a viable MN forgetting for political expediency that we are an island and that a MN is just as vital to our defence and survival as much as any naval vessel.