Captain

Christian E. Rørbeck

I do not speak for A.P. Møller-Mærsk nor the Danish Maritime Authorities.
I am here as the “hands on” expert…
Captain Rørbeck – CV info

• Been with A.P. Moller-Maersk for 27 years

• Been Captain for 9 years

• Sailed 1.426.513 Nautical miles

Feb 2013
 66 times around the Globe

Picture: Apollo17 - Dec 7th 1972

3,5 times to
the moon
and back…
Captain Rørbeck – CV info

Portcalls:

 938 calls – 451 as Master

 To 113 different ports – 55 as Master
 In 38 different countries – 28 as Master

Feb 2013
Ports as Captain

Chart from SPOS

”Desiring to facilitate maritime traffic by
simplifying and reducing to an minimum the
formalities, documentary requirements and
procedures on the arrival, stay and
departure of ships engaged in international
voyages.”
 A Captains
administrative burdens
Specially related to
Port Documents
Port vs Pre-arrival documents

In the following I will talk about Port

Documents and Pre-arrival documents.
Port documents are handed over on
arrival

Pre-arrival documents are sent in advance

Pre-Arrival documents very often have different deadlines for
submitting; 72-48-24 hrs prior arrival…
Port vs Pre-arrival documents

Port documents are in most ports handed

over to the Agent.
In some ports, the various authorities
attend to collect – typically Immigration,
Customs & Health (Quarantine).

Pre-arrival documents are sent to various

entities at given time limits prior arrival.
Port documents
All Port documents are of course to be
signed and stamped with vessels stamp…

Without the Ships Stamp, the shipping

world would stop…
Port Documents
• Crew lists
• ”Passenger” lists (spouses & children)
• Crew Effects declarations
• Bonded Stores & Provisions
• Ship’s Stores
• Vaccination lists
• Port of call lists
• WHO health declarations
• Special local declarations
• Many others
Ports selected

• Zeebrugge
• Gdansk
• Aarhus
• Rotterdam
• Southampton
• Tangier Med
• Suez Canal Transit
Ports selected

• Yokohama
• Singapore
• Ningbo
• Busan
• Vostochniy
• Arica
• Balboa
• Lazaro Cardenas
• Los Angeles
• Vancouver
These ports have not been selected to
single any one out.

Just ports I have been in – some of them

many times…
Pre-Arrival documents
Many ports have requirements for various
pre-arrival information to be sent.

For some ports, our Agents handle the

reporting – for other ports the Master
communicates directly to the Authorities.

Following is a list of documents required by

the selected ports around the world.
Zeebrugge
• Arrival Crew and Passenger lists
• Departure Crew and Passenger lists
• Crew and Passenger effects declarations
• Stores list (Bonded & provisions)
• IMDG Information
• Waste declaration

- all documents to Agent – 48hrs in advance

Gdansk
• Various certificates
• Crew change information
• Crew & passenger lists
• Port of Call list
• IMDG for Gdansk discharge
• IMDG in transit
• Waste declaration
- all documents to Agent – some 48hrs some
24 hrs in advance
Aarhus
• Arrival Crew & Passenger lists to Police (48h)
• Departure Crew & Passenger lists to Police (48h)

• Arrival Crew & Passenger lists to Port (48h)

• Crew change information to Port (48h)
• List of visitors and suppliers to Port (48h)

• Waste declaration to Agents (48h)

Rotterdam
• Arrival crew & passenger lists to Immigration (24h)
• Departure crew & passenger lists to Immigration (24h)

• Crew & passenger lists to Terminal gate (24h)

• Waste declaration to Agents (24h)

Southampton
• Waste declaration to Agents (24h)
• Special ISPS to Agents (24h)
Tangier Med
• Crewlist
• Dangerous cargo declaration
• Dangerous cargo manifests
• Inward declaration
• Ship information
• Waste declaration

- all documents to Agent (48h)

Suez Transit
• 96 – 48 – 24 hour arrival notice to Suez Canal

• Report to Gulf of Suez VTS Authorities (24h)

• Crewlist to Agents (48h)

• Certificate of Registry to Agents (48h)
• 6 different Suez Canal Forms to Agents (48h)
Yokohama
• RPM message to Agents (36h)
• Crew lists to Agents (9days)
Singapore
• Arrival Notice to Port Master (24h)

• Crew list to Agents (96h)

• ePans to Authorities (48h)

(A xml-file with security, arrival, crew and other info)
Lazaro Cardenas
• Crew list (new special Mexican)
• IMO Crewlist – arrival
• IMO Crewlist - departure
• WHO health declaration
• Port of call list
• Vaccination list
• NIL List
• Crew effects declaration
• Stores list

- all documents to Agent – 72hrs in advance

All signed and stamped. Takes approx 10 minutes of satellite

time to email
Los Angeles
• Crew list to Agents (5days)

• e-NOA to US Authorities (96h)

• Ballast Water reporting form to US Authorities
• e-NOA departure to US Authorities (1h)
(A file with vessel, crew and voyage info)

• Arrival info to Plead Control (48h)

Vostochniy
• Crew list
• General declaration
• Cargo declaration
• Master’s Obligation
• Ships stores – (Fuel, Lube & water)
• Ships Stores (Bonded & Provisions)
• Crew money declaration
• Vessels money declaration
• Narcotics list
• Crew Effects declaration

- all documents to Agent (96h)

Busan
• Crew list
• Nil-List
• Port of call list
• 4 certificates

- all documents to Agent (48h)

Ningbo
• Crewlist to Agent (72h)
• Ships Particulars to Agent (72h)

From time to time, Agents will however

request a lot of extra information – just for
their files – some of it quite strange…
Arica
• Crew list to Agents (48h)
• Port of call list to Agents (48h)

• Sailing plan arrival/departure to Authorities (1h)

Balboa
• Myedcs-file to Agents (96h)
(A file with arrival, security, cargo and crew information)
Vancouver
• Crew list to Agents (7days)
• Passenger list to Agents (7 days)
• Ballast Report Agents (24h)

• PAIR to Authorities (96h)

(A mail with security, arrival and cargo info)
Port Documents
Each port has its own requirements
regarding paperwork to be submitted on
arrival
– even if some of them have been sent
electronically in advance.

Following is a list of this for the same ports

just presented.
Zeebrugge
• 4 Arrival Crew lists
• 3 Departure Crew lists
• 2 Crew effects declarations
• 4 Passenger arrival lists (if pax)
• 3 Passenger departure lists (if pax)
• 2 Passenger effects declarations (if pax)
• 2 Stores lists (bonded and provision)
- Should be noted that all of these were sent by
mail before arrival…
Gdansk
• 4 Arrival Crew lists
• 1 Crew effects declarations
• 4 Passenger arrival lists (if pax)
• 1 Passenger effects declarations (if pax)
• 1 Stores list (Bonded and Provision)
• 1 Stores list (Deck & Engine
• Ship Currency declaration – in POLISH
Aarhus
• 1 Arrival Crew list
• 1 Departure Crew list
• 1 Crew effects declarations
• 1 Passenger arrival list (if pax)
• 1 Passenger departure list (if pax)
• 1 Passenger effects declarations (if pax)
• 1 Stores list (Bonded and Provision)
• Port of call list
Rotterdam
• 5 Arrival Crew list
• 2 Departure Crew list
• 2 Crew effects declarations
• 5 Passenger arrival list (if pax)
• 2 Passenger departure list (if pax)
• 2 Passenger effects declarations (if pax)
• Narcotics declaration (medicine)
• Dutch stores list (partly in Dutch)
Southampton
• 5 Arrival Crew list – special British version
• 1 Departure Crew list – special British version
• 2 Crew effects declarations – special British version
• 4 Passenger arrival list (if pax)
• 2 Passenger departure list (if pax)
• 2 Passenger effects declarations (if pax)
• 4 General declaration – special British version
• 3 Stores declarations – special British version
Tangier Med
• 5 Arrival Crew list
• 5 Departure Crew list
• 1 Crew effects declarations
• 1 Stores list
• 1 WHO Health declaration
• 4 Nil-lists
Suez Transit
• 7 Arrival Crew list
• 2 Departure Crew list
• 4 Port of call lists
• 1 WHO health declaration
• 2 NIL-lists
• 1 Vaccination list
• 13 Special Suez Canal forms
Here you actually try your utmost NOT to have any
contact with shore, but you still have to do the
paperwork…
Yokohama
• 3 Arrival Crew lists
• 3 Port of call list
• 3 Departure Crew lists (if crewchange)
• 3 Passenger arrival lists (if pax)
• 3 Passenger departure lists (if pax)
Singapore
• 2 Arrival Crew lists – special Singapore version
• 2 Crew effects declarations
• 2 Departure Crew lists (if crewchange)
• 2 Passenger arrival lists (if pax)
• 2 Passenger departure lists (if pax)
• 2 Stores list (Bonded and Provision)
• 2 Stores list (Deck & Engine)
Lazaro Cardenas
• 2 Crew list - new special Mexican version
• 2 IMO Crewlist – arrival
• 2 IMO Crewlist - departure
• 2 WHO health declaration
• 2 Port of call list
• 2 Vaccination list
• 2 NIL List
• 2 Crew effects declaration
• 2 Stores list
• 1 Copy of pilot card used on arrival (?)

- All of these were sent by mail before arrival…

Los Angeles
• 4 Arrival Crew lists
• 4 Departure Crew lists
• 3 Crew effects declarations
• 1 Luggage declaration for offsigners
• Landing permits
• Special form for offsigners
• 3 Stores lists
• 1 Special passenger list
- All of these are special US forms
Vostochniy
• 7 Arrival Crew lists
• 2 Crew effects declarations
• 3 Stores lists (Deck & Engine)
• 3 Stores lists (Provision & bonded)
• 2 Narcotics list
• 2 Declaration of Crewmembers cash
• 2 Declaration of Vessels cash
• 1 General declaration – Russian version
• 1 Application on arrival – special Russian form
• 1 Bayplan – all pages
• 1 Port of call list
• 1 WHO health declarations
• 1 General declaration – special Russian form
Vostochniy
- Departure
• 2 Departure Crew list
• 1 Crew effects declarations
• 1 Narcotics list
• 1 Declaration of Vessels cash
• 1 Application on departure – special Russian form
• 1 Stability calculations
• 1 Bayplan – all pages
• 1 Loading plan
• 1 Stores lists (Deck & Engine)
• 1 Stores lists (Provision & bonded)
Vostochniy
On top of this:

- spend approx 4 hours with Immigration

and Customs for arrival and departure
formalities,

- sign approx 200 extra signatures on

various documents and plans….
Busan
• 2 Arrival Crew lists – special Korean
• 2 Crew effects declarations
• 2 Port of call lists
• 2 WHO health declarations
• 2 Stores lists (provision)
• 2 Stores lists (Deck & engine)
Ningbo
• 6 Arrival Crew lists
• 3 Crew effects declarations
• 2 Port of call lists
• 3 Stores lists (provision)
• 1 Vaccination list
• 1 Ships Particulars – Special Chinese form
• 1 List of Crew’s body temperature
Arica
• 6 Arrival Crew lists
• 4 Crew effects declarations
• Health Declaration – special Chile form
• 6 Passenger lists (if pax)
• 4 Port of Call lists
• 4 Stores lists (Provision)
• 4 Stores lists (Deck & Engine)
• 1 NIL-List
• 1 Port of Call – covering last TWO years
• 4 Vaccination lists
Balboa
• 8 Arrival Crew lists
• 1 Crew effects declarations
• 2 Departure Crew lists (if crewchange)
• 3 Stores list (Bonded and Provision)
• 5 Port of call lists
• 2 WHO health declarations
• 2 Vaccination lists
• 1 Narcotics list
• 2 NIL-Lists
• 6 special Panama documents
• Various certificate copies
Vancouver
• 3 Arrival Crew lists
• 3 Crew effects declarations – special Canadian
• 3 Departure Crew lists (if crewchange)
• 3 Passenger list arrival (if pax)
• 3 Passenger list departure (if pax)
• 3 Narcotics list
• 3 Canadian stores list - special Canadian
Waste reporting

Many ports have their own Waste

declaration forms – very often in their own
language, not always perfectly translated.

15 out of 16 European ports have their own

form….
ISPS

Many ports have their own ISPS form.

It may not even be the same in the same

country.

Just heard Belgium have made a new form

according to a EEC reporting directive…
Crewlists
I know about following special crewlists:

• IMO crewlist • Panama

• Hong Kong, • Australian
China • New Zealand
• Malaysian • Brazilian
• USA • Mexican
• Singapore • Nansha (PRC)
• Korean
• English
Crewlists
Some ports have special requirements to the
format of the crewlists.

Crewlists are normally given as:

Surname, Given name

- Just as on an airline ticket…

Crewlists
Some ports do not allow the comma, as this
is not in the passport…

So
Rørbeck, Christian E.

Becomes
Rørbeck Christian E.
Crewlists

Some ports requests reverse order:

Christian E. Rørbeck

And some requests the names in separate

columns…
Rørbeck Christian Engelbrekt
Crewlists

Thai passports have “Mr.” in front of the

surname.

In some ports the “Mr.” has to be on the

crewlist.

In some ports the Mr. must absolutely not

be there….
Crewlists

The issue here is of course that all these

changes have to be made manually, as the
standard format is – standard…

This is rather time-consuming…

And can cause delays…

Health Documents
I know about special health forms from
following countries:
• IMO WHO Form • Panama
• German • China
• Chile • Taiwan Province
• Hong Kong, China of China
• Japan • Saudi Arabia
• Korea • Italy
Captains job…

The big problem here is of course that you

as a Captain have to know all this in order
to comply with the different regulations and
avoid delays / fines…
A Captains job…
So, instead of doing what I have been
trained to do:
A Captains job…

I end up doing this:

• Automatic crewdata
• Automated filling of documents
• Many of the “special documents”
Same country or region…
“Taking into account the procedures carried
out on the arrival of a ship at the first port
of call in the territory of a State, the
formalities and documents required by the
public authorities at any subsequent port of
call in that country visited without
intermediate call at a port in another
country should be kept to a minimum.”
Multiple calls to same country

One has to start all over again on the

paperwork…

Despite both ports being German...

Multiple calls to same country

One has to start all over again on the

paperwork…

Despite all ports being Spanish...

Multiple calls to same region

To travel 6 Schengen Countries,

I have to prepare 80 documents
and send 42 documents in
advance…..
Multiple calls to same country
A total of 85 documents !
(not counting numerous documents and certificates
sent in advance)

Plus approx 10 cm of extra paperwork

to be stamped and signed – most of it
duplicates in Chinese of my own
paperwork…
With a very few exceptions, I could
continue the same story for other
countries where multiple ports are
called…
Strange Documents

As a Master you are often presented with

some pretty strange documents – many of
which you have no clue as to the meaning
of...

As the Masters signature is legally binding,

this could present a problem…
Strange Documents

Here is a collection of some of the

stranger ones…
Means that You will be allowed to leave Gdansk
(when form is confirmed by customs) with same
amount of money that You have declared on arrival.
My father was a lawyer…

He would have disowned me for

signing at the bottom of a blank
sheet !

For crewlist only

Detergents containing alcohol
Why is a solution a must?

Is it simply because Captains are lazy?

Cost

In some ports, cargo operations cannot

start before the paperwork is done .

A vessel like mine costs approximately

USD 3500 per hour.
Cost
Let’s be fair and say approximately ½-hour
for the paperwork.
- That is before Customs and Immigration
will allow us to start cargo operations…

With 52 calls a year to this port this

amounts to:

91.000 $
Cost

This cost can only be paid by…

Solution

• A single entry reporting point for each

country/region

Just as it is for persons arriving on an

international flight and continuing on a
domestic flight…
– no more passport / customs control.
Solution

• Preferably electronically – as already exists

E-NOA (USA)
ePans (Singapore)
PreArrival (Germany)
PAIR (Canada)

• Only 1 set of documents for check in each

port – not up to 9 (but preferably none…)
But how do we…
The authorities argument may be, that – unlike
for domestic flights – how do we know that
the ship has not strayed from the course and
picked up something (persons or contraband)
en route?
Recap

Why is it important to reduce paperwork?

• Financial impact (delays, extra fuel ect.)

• Quality impact (Less errors in data information)
• Safety aspect (total work load on Captains/crew)
• Logistics ashore (collecting, filing, storage ect.)
• Environmental impact (paper, toner, Ozone)
Total Workload

It is not any of the individual tasks a Captain

performs that might overload him...

It is the sum of them….

What does a Captain do?
A Captain is a…
• Secretary • Fire marshal
• Doctor • Travel Agent
• Bookkeeper • Bank
• Payroll clerk • Personnel Manager
• Purchaser • Number Cruncher
• Priest • Hotel/restaurant Manager
• Shrink • Election committee
• Policeman • Computer expert
• School teacher • Shipping agent
• Substitute Mother • Crew union man…(!)

And just sometimes he actually gets to sail the vessel….

E-Mails
Average number of mails in + out
per month

1200
1000
800
1086
600 1106
400 640 659 734 751

200 1005
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2010 2011 2012
E-Mails

The Master must read and evaluate all mails in

order to determine who onboard/ashore are to
receive them.

Some mails are two lines with a short message…

Some may be several pages with complex

information…
New rules & regulations…

And there is a constantly growing stream of new

rules & regulations…

• MLC 2006

• STCW – Manila amendment

What does a Captain do?

And the Captain is on 30sec standby 24/7 to answer

to any question or emergency that might arise – and
to take the command on the bridge, should his
presence there be required – for as long as
necessary.

That is of course not a problem, the Captain is

always well rested – he does not have anything else
to do…
Never any traffic…
Navigation always easy…
Visibility is always perfect…
And the working platform is always stable…
Captains priorities

As there is only 24 hours in a day, it is obvious that

the time spent on paperwork can only reduce the
time available for the Captains most important job…
Captains priorities

To ensure the safe navigation of his

vessel in order to protect:

Her Crew
Her Cargo
The Environment
Thank you very much for
your time.
Fair winds and smooth seas….