Another summer has passed. Canceled ferry connections, local residents who are stuck on the quayside, crew shortages and tourism that is blowing up the capacity of the connections both in Northern Norway and in Western Norway. Maybe it sounds familiar? Marius Strømmen of the Sea Officers’ Association calls it a crisis without end. Something must happen in order for the ferry service in the whole of Norway to be able to carry out its social mission. – It gets worse year by year. I don’t think we see any light at the tunnel yet. We have probably only seen the start, I said that last year too. And it hasn’t gotten any better this year, it’s actually gotten worse than last year. This is the case, for example, at Vennesund on Kvaløya in Nordland. Here, the long ferry queues have created problems for both residents and emergency vehicles, writes Brønnøysund’s Avis. Traffic is obstructed as a result of the ferry queue stretching far up the county road towards the ferry terminal. – This is a problem that has gotten worse and worse over the years, says mayor Gunder Strømberg to the newspaper. The aerial photo at the top of the case has been used by the mayors in meetings with county politicians to illustrate the challenges. The picture shows cars queuing far up the county road near Vennesund. This is what it looked like on the Kilboghamn-Jektivik ferry connection this summer after the last ferry had left for the evening. Photo: Private – Screaming crew shortage news has spoken to three central unions about what they believe is the cause of the so-called ferry crisis, and their proposals for how to solve the chaos. In short, the confederation points to these common denominators as to what the problem is: 1. There are no longer large Norwegian shipping companies left on the market. This means that the reiarlaga is owned by an international hedge fund. They want to make money, which means that the cheapest shipping company wins the tender contracts, i.e. the mission: To transport people from one city to another. Those with the lowest possible security staff will be able to reduce costs and thus win these tender contracts. 2. In order to be cheap and competitive, the shipping company cuts crew. There will therefore be a shortage of crew, which in turn can go beyond security measures. 3. People with the right education move to other professions, such as farming companies or offshore work, with more lucrative contracts. Unattractive working conditions have a negative impact on recruitment. Photo: Lars-Bjørn Martinsen What is a tender? When the shipping company wins a tender, they win an agreement to carry out the work to be done: To transport people across the sea. In the past, owners’ associations worked more in clusters, and Norwegian-owned domestic owners’ associations had their own areas. This means that sailing teams that faced challenges could create practical triangular routes because they had boats on each side of the connection as well. But today, with tenders, there are competitors on both sides when a stretch has a problem. The Naval Officers’ Association: – Vicious circle Marius Strømmen of the Norwegian Naval Officers’ Association points out that it has been operated by tender for 20 years. – And there is no unison success factor when 60 per cent of the costs in the contract are mostly crew costs. Then there is a competition as to what terms and which management team has the lowest cost and wins the contract, believes Strømmen. Chairman of the Norwegian Naval Officers’ Association, Marius Strømmen. Photo: Tri Nguyen Dinh / Norwegian Naval Officers’ Association – And in the wake of the vicious circle, we now see a screaming manpower shortage, says Strømmen. – It gets worse year by year, I don’t think we see any light at the end of the tunnel just yet. It also does not help the problem that there are many old vessels in operation. This means that departures are canceled due to technical conditions, and that the operators with low staffing do not have time to carry out preventive maintenance. What type of ferries will be opened for the various connections, it is up to politicians and other authorities to set requirements. See what the Minister of Transport has to say further down in the matter. – Not reliable enough Strømmen wonders if the politicians are aware of their responsibility when they set up the tenders. – And they are unable to make this operationally reliable enough, is my claim. He believes the solution is for politicians, the Norwegian Road Administration and the county council to sit down with the parties and intervene. Because according to him, it is not possible to achieve anything locally with the Ferry Owners Act, which is governed by tenders where the costs cannot be increased. Canceled ferries are a common problem in summer. According to the central unions in the ferry industry, there will be no end to it. Photo: Sigurd Steinum / news – What is the response from the politicians and the Swedish Road Administration when you talk to them then? – It is the eternal point game between the authority, the operator (i.e. the management team) and who is responsible. The authorities say that the owners are responsible, the owners say “yes, but we have to compete, so we can’t increase the costs any more”. – And thus the shipping team takes a calculated risk of not carrying out the trips with the equipment and crew they have under those conditions. The Seamen’s Association: – Unsafe situations Jahn Cato Bakken in the Seamen’s Association agrees. – As we have experienced this summer, it does not work painlessly. Bakken has the same experience as Strømmen in the Naval Officers’ Association. – What would you say about that, that most management companies are owned by hedge funds and that there are no large Norwegian management companies left? – It is like many other things, it has become international owners and they focus on the bottom line. Getting a return on investment. Another point is security. A small crew will create unsafe situations, believes Bakken. Jahn Cato Bakken in the Seamen’s Association. Photo: Privat And if you are going to get people in, it must be attractive to work and live there. Because even though some shipowners have changed their shifts so that they are similar to offshore shifts, there are still many who have to live at the place where they will work. – You can’t get younger people to spend their free time in a very small dormitory or, in the worst case, a barracks on the quay. – Would you call it a crisis? – Yes, I want to say that it hasn’t worked this summer either. It has only become more and more of it. Machinistforbundet: – Extensive problem Hege-Merethe Bengtsson, managing director of the Machinistforbundet, calls the problem extensive, although it is not a problem everywhere in the country. She also believes that the tender regime does not work in a good way. – We support that opinion in the main, says Bengtsson. – And then there are regulations about what constitutes minimum staffing, i.e. safety staffing, and even that one tries to keep the pressure as low as possible in certain places. Managing director of the Machinistsforbundet, Hege-Merethe Bengtsson. She is keen for the authorities to ensure that shipping companies can compete on equal terms, all the while ensuring that deviations are kept to a minimum, such as delays and ferries not running. In the next step, they must make arrangements for workplaces to be competitive, also with regard to wages and other working conditions. – There is a great demand for people and not enough expertise available, and then one has to compete, of course. The central confederations advocate the same solution: The authorities must intervene, talk to the parties, and stop pointing fingers at each other. The ministry responds to this. State Secretary Tom Kalsås in the Ministry of Transport has been presented with the criticism. – The government is concerned that all workers in Norway should have safe workplaces and good pay and working conditions. This of course also applies in the ferry sector, according to Kalsås. He points out that it is the Swedish Road Administration that tendered the national road ferries on behalf of the Ministry of Transport. news asked these questions news asked these questions to Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård (Ap): How would you comment on the criticism? Does the government have control over the development? Is the ministry doing enough to solve the challenges in the ferry industry? How will the ministry ensure that the ferry industry is well equipped to carry out its social mission? What is the consequence of all Norwegian shipping companies being managed by hedge funds today, do you think? – Tenders are used to ensure that the society’s funds are used in a responsible manner and with the best possible effect, writes Kalsås. He underlines that in recent years there has been a focus on access to crew, especially in connection with holiday management. – This has been followed up closely, he claims. Furthermore, he writes that there is great variation in how easy it is to recruit crew. For example, interurban connections do not have the same challenges, as the confederation also points out. Tom Kalsås in the Ministry of Transport. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news – While it is more demanding in some parts of the country. On the ferry connections for which the state is responsible, only a few connections are responsible for the majority of layoffs as a result of crew shortages. He further points out that it is the owners’ association that is responsible for having the crew necessary to provide the services they have committed to in contracts with the public sector. – It has been claimed that an old-fashioned and low-tech ferry fleet has contributed to the ferries being an unattractive workplace. Old and worn material is also in some cases the cause of reduced regularity. – Technological and financial measures have been initiated to improve the situation. Marius Strømmen in the Maritime Officers’ Association has this comment on the minister’s reply. – They continue with the same answer that we got last year in Dagsytt 18, and continue with exactly the same ulla further. It is clear that the politicians push the problem ahead of themselves and point the finger at the shipping company. – And they point back again to the politicians and the tenders because the tendering regime does not work so that they manage to raise wages and conditions for crew. Published 07.09.2024, at 11.28
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– It gets worse year by year – news Nordland
