Maritime industry all at sea

Able-bodied seaman Peter Davis

Fifty-five-year-old Peter Davis has been working as a merchant sailor since he was 15 and has taken New Zealand beef, butter and lamb to the Middle East, Europe, Caribbean and America.

But those trips to far away places are a distant memory for a man who has dedicated his life to the maritime industry - today he moves cement from Whangarei to Wellington.

"We've got every other country in the world coming down picking up our cargo. Everything that comes out of this country at the moment is shipped by foreign owned ships and manned by seamen on cheap wages."

Those wages are less than half of what New Zealand sailors make and in some cases are less than the dole. No wonder so many of them jump ship once they reach New Zealand. But any ship working in New Zealand waters for more than a month must be crewed by seamen with New Zealand working papers.

Davis now works as an able bodied seaman (AB) on the MV Golden Bay, which rarely leaves the sight of land.

"It's not a very good situation. We're a maritime nation. We're surrounded by sea and we've got very good exports. I just can't understand."

The lifestyle of an AB was interesting and adventurous when Davis used to travel to foreign ports. Away for up to nine months at a time, the ships would sometimes sit in Greek ports for weeks acting as the only available refrigeration facility. Butchers would grab a half dozen lamb off the ship each day while the sailors would take shore leave.

New Zealand only has one cargo ship which leaves its waters now. The Rotoiti does Trans Tasman runs but even she will be finished at the end of the year.

The death of the New Zealand sailing lifestyle is more than the loss of another career option. New Zealand's strong maritime tradition stretches through generations.

"I had no choice. My grandfather, father, all my uncles and brothers all went to sea. It's a long history," says Davis.

In fact, Davis did not even set out to become a sailor.

"The day I turned 15, I walked up the gangway of a ship. My father just came and got me out of school at lunchtime and said, 'You've got a ship, boy'. I was up the gangway of that ship at three o'clock that afternoon and away I went."

But yet after 40 years he keeps doing it.

"I love it. It's a good lifestyle. It's just the comradeship of my mates and all that. A lot of them, we grew up together and all went away as deck boys when we were 15. We're still good mates. It's just the life."

Davis says there used to be times when the crew felt like family and he didn't really feel like returning to shore.

"It's hard to explain if you haven't been out at sea how much you enjoy being out there. It's so relaxing. There's no traffic or people moaning. It's a very peaceful life."

But life is not like that on the MV Golden Bay. There used to be around 16 men working a ship at a time but today there are only six. Frequent port calls mean no lazy days at sea and an intense work schedule.

A 24-hour roster sees Davis and his shipmates working in four-hour shifts around the clock. And when she's coming in and out of port it's all hands on deck, regardless of the roster.

"When she's loading and unloading you have to run around watching to make sure the ship is stable. You're running up and down turning valves, looking after the pump room. It's a very physical job."

While at sea the responsibilities are also significant.

"At night time we do watch keeping on the bridge. We do lookouts for other ships or lights for safety. In the daytime you just do maintenance like painting, general splicing of ropes or wires - just whatever needs to be maintained and repaired."

It is a lot of work for six men.

"They want the same amount of work done. I think a lot of shipping companies have realised that they've undercut the manning but it's too late now. Ships don't have the accommodation to increase the crew."

The seamen maintain this regime for a month and then have a month ashore. But sleep can be hard to come by while at sea.

"You get a bit of sleep in between shifts but if there are any jobs that urgently need to be done, well, you still have to do them. You're lucky to get six hours sleep a day. By the time you finish your month you're very tired."

But for every day an ABs spends on the ship, they receive one day of leave.

"We might be away a month or whatever but we get quality time home when we're home. We get more time with our families than people who do eight-to-five jobs."

But even still, it's not the fairytale romance of women waiting for their men to come home from the sea.

Sean Kelleher is an AB on the Silver Fern Shipping tanker, Kakariki, and says divorce runs rampant among crew members.

"Relationships on this job - you've got to be joking. You've got to find the right kind of woman."

Forty-two-year-old Kelleher went to sea at 16 and has also done his share of overseas tours.

"We'd go to Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Mexico. I mean where are we going now - Bluff? I mean it pales in comparison. It's just not the same."

Kelleher was also drawn to sailing because his dad, dad's friends, uncles, granddad and cousins were all sailors. Things were more relaxed when he first started.

"Back in the old days when I was young and stupid, you'd get off watch and you'd go and have a couple of beers. You'd think nothing to drink through till your next watch. Well, you can't do that now."

Nowadays sailors are more concerned with cheap labour from the Philippines taking their jobs.

"They're actually getting paid more on the dole here in New Zealand. I mean you just can't compete against someone who will work for what we get here on the dole."

But Neville Kershaw, New Zealand vessel and terminal operations manager for Maersk Line, defends his company's policy of using crew which are mainly manned with crews from the Philippines.

"Seaman and sailors from New Zealand are generally not cost effective on an international standard."

Kershaw says there is little career path for New Zealand able-bodied seamen. The career prospects are so bleak that the training course for them at the New Zealand Maritime School does not have a single applicant.

Senior lecturer, Kees Buckens, says Kiwis just can't work for third world wages.

"The market is flooded with people from the subcontinent, from Philippines and Indonesia and they work for much lower wages."

Buckens says there are still opportunities for deck officers and marine engineers but not seamen.

"I can't look somebody in the eye and say they'll have a great career as an AB because we know that's not likely to happen."