IN THE NET WITH IAN WILKINSON
A Report for FIBS by Lee Hazell
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the proposed changes to the coastal shipping industry, with a new company set to take over from Byron Marine, who have been running the service for the last 11 years. Ian Wilkinson (IW), CO-director of the Company, came in to the studio to set a few things straight.
LH: How was the Company formed?
IW: The Company was formed between myself in the Falklands here and a company called Gardner Management Limited in the UK, who are an off-shoot of the company that owns the St. Brandon, which is the vessel that does a similar role for the MOD out of East Cove. And, it was formed so that we could put out a tender when the Government asked for new tenders for this particular service.
LH: We all thought it was going to be called Falkland Islands Coastal Shipping Services. That’s now changed. Why is that?
IW: Yes. I had to make some sort of name so that this is what we were going to do and we could be what the company was called but Falkland Islands Coastal Shipping Limited is too near the name that was in existence some years ago when the same service was operated, I think, by the FIC. So, when our solicitors approached the Registrar of Companies down here, he said you can have any name but that. So, we can’t have that name.
LH: So, what is the new name?
IW: The new name will be "Island Shipping Limited." And, that’s the name we put forward to the Registrar and as far as I know, there is no problem with that.
LH: so, what will your main responsibilities be here in the Falklands?
IW: I will be taking on the role of Operations Manager, Operations Director, whatever you want to call it. I will be responsible for the day to day every day running of the Company, the role that Byron Marine plays at the moment, the scheduling of the vessel, the issuing of the Bills of Lading, manifests and so forth, contacting customers, liaising with customers, hopefully digging up new customers and generally looking after the operation at this end.
LH: The press release from the Chief Executive recently said that some of the terms of the contract needed to be agreed on. What were these?
IW: The terms of the contract – it’s a fairly standard contract for the provision of a service which will provide a similar and hopefully better service than at the moment. So the terms that we had to discuss were the number of voyages we are obliged to maintain to certain islands and certain connections with the West and also the provision of the passenger ferry during Sports Week.
LH: Are these all of the changes or what other changes did you propose?
IW: I don’t think we propose many changes at the moment and our intention to carry on the service as its being operated at the moment. We may, after we have been running it for some weeks or months, decide that we will change things a little bit. But we have got to work within fairly tight restrictions, which have been laid down by the Government because it is a social service as much as anything in that if we do not provide the right and the regular service, people in the West and people on the islands are going to suffer. And, the Government, at the moment, aims to promote people living on the islands and on the West. So, it’s very much a link between the mainland here and the islands, so there’s not a lot we can do to change things.
LH: There’s been a bit of talk around that the St. Brandon will be the vessel used. Is that right?
IW: No. The reason the St. Brandon’s been mentioned is that for some time, as you know, I worked directly for the MOD and, for some time, the question of the St. Brandon doing similar work to the TAMAR has been brought up by people at MPA. And, as I said earlier, the St. Brandon is run and owned by Gardeners, who I talk to fairly regularly on this. And, the MOD wondered if there was a possibility of using the St. Brandon, not as the vessel – because they require the vessel to do work for them – but on occasions when, perhaps the TAMAR was unable to perform a duty for the civilian freight, IE because it was too heavy, or another problem, perhaps the St. Brandon could be used. So, the St. Brandon’s name has been linked with the contract but it is not the vessel for the contract. There is a possibility that on the odd occasion (and I have to stress here it would be the odd occasion) she could be used for a particular role. And, that’s why her name comes into that particular equation.
LH: So, the TAMAR is the vessel that will be used. I think there is probably a few concerns around Stanley and mainly already with the crew of the TAMAR at the moment. I mean, will you be using any of those people?
IW: Yes. When the announcement was made, the first thing I did was to have a word with Lewis Clifton. I didn't make the approach direct to the crew because we haven’t finalised discussions with FIG at that stage but I said to Lewis Clifton I’m sure that some of the crew will be very worried that if you don’t get the contract and we do, they may be without a job. I said to him I would like to him, if he would, to assure the crew that if any of them wished to join the new company under our terms and conditions, we’d be delighted to have them. So, that’s the situation as far as that’s concerned.
LH: So will you put out adverts for jobs when things are finalised?
IW: As you can imagine, taking on a ship isn’t like picking up a second hand car. We have to have her surveyed and so forth. And, at that time myself and the Engineering Superintendent from Gardeners Management will be onboard the ship. We will be checking the ship itself, the equipment that comes with it and that’s a golden opportunity for myself to talk to the crew and ask them about the ship, see how they operate and put to them proposals of how we would like to operate the ship and offer them our pay-scales and conditions and so forth. I haven’t done anything yet but I have, as I say, through Lewis Clifton, mentioned that we’d be delighted to discuss with the crew. I am well aware that the crew have been there for some time and they run the ship, as far as I can see, well. It would be fool-hearty of us to try and start a new company, new ship and new crew. Yes. We would like to talk to the crew.
LH: There benefits with having a local staff that are local crew that have been on there for a number of years.
IW: Indeed, yes. It’s a specialist job and I have never seen anything operated like this before and, all right, people have tickets to say they can drive ships and they are engineers but when you put them on a specialist ship such as TAMAR, you need to have that specialist knowledge which, of course, they’ve got.
LH: And, how will the improved service benefit the public?
IW: Why are we going to be any better? I don’t know that we are going to be and better as far as the public’s concerned. I hope that we will be and that will be our aim. I think that they will benefit, I hope, by us being able to maintain a cost-effective service so, at the moment, as you know, the Government subsidises the coastal shipping and, of course, every pound that the Government subsidises the shipping has to come out of local taxes. And, nobody likes paying taxes. If we can run a system or an operation that is, perhaps, more cost-effective, than it is currently being operated, hopefully the freight rates that are currently in operation can be maintained for the foreseeable future. Also, we may re-schedule slightly. There are possibilities of doing calls in different rotations and so forth, so we have hope that we can build up a relationship with the farms and the islands that we have to service and we will be asking them before we start the service what they would like to see in place, any changes, and so forth. And, if it’s possible for us to implement those changes, we intend to do so.
LH: Have you decided on any rates? Is it like freight or travel charges?
IW: We can’t. The Government sets the freight rates. The Government, as I said earlier, want to encourage people to remain in the Islands and in the West and they realise that every pound that those people have to spend on freight on goods coming in or wool or products going out is a cost to those people. So, the Government has set the freight rates. I have to say (and I am sure everybody knows) are not commercial freight rates. They can’t be because if you charged a commercial freight rate for moving bales out of a particular spot, I’m afraid the farmer would find that he’s going to have to pay 3 or 4 times what he currently pays. Government chose a level of freight rates which they believe are fair and then this is why they have to pay the subsidy because they know that those freight rates would not cover the cost of running the ship. We have no control over the freight rates. We are not going to put them up sky-high and people aren’t going to see a massive increase in freight rates. If they want to know what’s going to happen to the freight rates, FIG are the people to speak to.
LH: When do you think a decision will be made, whether you have the contract or not?
IW: We are hoping to sign the contract within the next couple of weeks. Again, that’s a question that has to be asked of the FIG. But our negotiations are well advanced. There was a meeting in London the week before last with the representatives from Gardener Management Limited about ship costing and so forth. I’ve had conversations and exchanged correspondence with both FIDC and FIG down here and, at this stage, I think all we’re doing is dotting "Is" and crossing "Ts." The Company is going to be a local company but we have a tie-up, obviously, with the UK company. The legalities of that are being sorted out as we speak. It’s sooner than later.
LH: When the contract is signed, when will you undertake the first voyage?
IW The current contract ends at the end of June, so therefore, July the 1st is kick-off day. And, as far as I know, that’s our intention, if you remember the press release, the Chief Executive did mention that there would be a bit of a gap between the current operators and the start of the new. And, I think, in reality that will have to stay because taking over the ship there are certain items onboard that belong to Byron Marine, we will have to replace and setting up arrangements with the crew, I will have to move to a new office and so forth and again, I will have to take on an assistant to help me with this, the printing of our own bills of lading and stuff like that. So, in reality, although the ship does her last voyage middle to end of May, the whole of June, we will be getting ourselves geared up, ready to start. At the moment, we intend to take over on the 1st of July.
LH: Is there anything else that you would like to talk about or mention?
IW: Just to say that you’ve asked all the right questions. I hope I’ve given all the right answers. It isn’t going to be St. Brandon. It’s going to be TAMAR. We would like to employ as many of the current crew that would like to come across to us. The only change that customers will see is perhaps a slightly better service.
LH: Thanks a lot for coming in, Ian.
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