Erik Kravets

View from the EU Columnist

Erik Kravets is a founding partner of Kravets & Kravets http://www.kravets.de, a maritime and admiralty law firm providing bespoke solutions to clients navigating the North Sea and beyond. Clients involved in ship brokering and management, offshore, towage and salvage, vessel chartering, cargo handling/stevedoring and carriage of goods by sea come to Mr. Kravets for representation. (Photo: Heina Dannemann http://www.foto-dannemann.com/)

The Captain's Way

By Erik Kravets 2018-08-24 17:24:37

Ship captains are made, not born (notable exceptions, of course). Almost all are officers first, but some get their start among the ship’s ratings. Formal training and education, as governed by international treaty and national laws, follow. It’s a rank earned through merit and hard work. The creative tensions inherent in the rank of captain can be difficult to reconcile with the responsibility of having to look after the safety and security of both the ship and the crew. It’s...

A Tale of the New M/V Atlantis

By Erik Kravets 2018-05-07 17:43:11

It’s a special celebration when a new ship is launched! Even if the girl was already sailing, when she finds a new owner – and a new future – it’s good cause to break open the champagne. And I don’t only mean the champagne for the christening ceremony. Cassen Eils invited the maritime community to join in for a lively party at Boots- und Schiffswerft Cuxhaven, i.e. the Boat and Ship Dock Cuxhaven, commonly known as BSC. Both companies, which...

Look Beyond the Flag

By Erik Kravets 2018-03-23 19:27:00

[This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2018 edition of The Maritime Executive Magazine] What’s the measure of a merchant marine officer? Trick question: There isn’t one measure, but many. Although requirements vary from country to country, merchant marine officers have in common that they are subject to the 1978 International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). In theory, thanks to STCW, all merchant marine officers meet the same essential requirements, and all possess a baseline...

A Blue Angel for Cassen Eils' MS Helgoland

By Erik Kravets 2018-03-18 19:28:45

Known colloquially as "the German eco-label", the Blue Angel (in German: Blauer Engel) has been awarded since 1978 to the top 20-30 percent of environmental performers in various categories (e.g. household appliances, automobiles). Intriguingly, the German tourism fleet (i.e. the passenger ferries doing coastal trading) is also a category for the Blue Angel label. Naturally, Germany's most prominent LNG ferry, the MS Helgoland, was a chief candidate as being an extremely low environmental impact mode of transportation. All of that...

SQUEEZING THE LITTLE GUY

By Erik Kravets 2018-03-09 22:47:00

Work it harder, make it better, do it faster. We may remember these lyrics from Daft Punk’s biggest dance hit of 2007, but they could also be today’s motto for workboat charterers. Not included but equally, if not more, relevant: Do it cheaper! Today’s workboat jobs must get done on razor-thin margins despite increasing complexity. It doesn’t matter how you define “workboat” because, when all is said and done, no charterer will pay extra for semantics. Whether you consider tugboats,...

Fresh Ships, Fresh Fish

By Erik Kravets 2018-01-17 05:06:52

It's not even a fair fight for the fish anymore! The German Fishery Union (DFFU, or, natively: "Deutsche Fischfang Union"), has taken over two Norwegian newbuilds, namely the factory trawlers Berlin and Cuxhaven. The DFFU is a wholly owned subsidiary of Icelandic Samherji and primarily exists to gain access to the German market. Samherij conducts fishery operations on a global scale. The christening ceremony was held in Cuxhaven on Friday, January...

The Same Old Bunker Contracts

By Erik Kravets 2017-11-26 01:38:04

A couple years ago, I wrote a review of the BIMCO Standard Bunker Agreement. The fact is, this contract has not been widely adopted in maritime practice. Bunker companies typically prefer to operate on a handshake, or they have their own terms and conditions, and shipowners rarely take the initiative in proposing their own contracts. Alternatively, the middle men present in every port, i.e. shipbrokers or agents, have no incentive to make bunkering more complicated. The result is: "same old,...

Red Sky at Night

By Erik Kravets 2017-11-23 19:06:53

About 9,000 ships per year call at the port of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. Each of those 9,000 ships – whether bulkers, tankers, box carriers, dredgers, offshore support vessels or elegant cruise ships like the Queen Mary 2 – must, on their way in, steam down the Elbe river. So when I’m in the mood for spectacle, I walk to the pier and watch the parade. What do all those 9,000 ships have in common? They...

We Can't Scrap Our Way Out of the Crisis

By Erik Kravets 2017-10-31 15:37:04

For many decades, shipping companies worked together and cooperated in a way that is not permissible under today's understanding of antitrust law. The shipping companies formed organizations that were closed to the public and which decided on matters like prices, capacity, market share, allocation of customers and even division of profits. These groups were called "conferences" (synonymous with trade shows, but not the same). The conferences, in effect, exercised a kind of oligopoly-power by reducing competition. In Europe, shipping conferences...

Ready-Made Contracts

By Erik Kravets 2017-10-17 17:43:38

The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), based in Copenhagen, is a shipowner-led organization representing 65 percent of the world’s tonnage. In a region characterized by linguistic, political and cultural diversity, BIMCO aims to create a sense of a European maritime community with a shared legal and economic destiny. Its standardized charter parties are published under intrepid code names like SUPPLYTIME, TOWHIRE and PROJECTCON. BIMCO addresses the need for transactions between shipowners and charterers to be executed in a standardized,...