Mercado de futuros y opciones

MahaDevi port has a 24-hour operation and in consonance with that, the VTS station is manned around-the-clock. Four VTS operators report on duty at 7 am for the beginning of their 24 hour shift and between themselves take turns to work and rest. They usually work three hours at a time and in total could work for more than six hours during the 24 hour shift.

At any given time, usually one VTS operator is in the office and another might join him, depending upon the workload and traffic volume⁷¹. The following day a different set of four would report on duty⁷² and the cycle would continue. These men travel on an average, nearly two hours each way to get to their office. In an interview with one VTSO, I was told that this arrangement helped the VTS operators, as most of them live in the suburbs, which are far from their place of work and with a 24-hour shift pattern (with rest interspersed) they need to report

70 There are three docks in the port.

71 The other three can be in the designated restroom for the VTS operators, which is furnished with desks, chairs, beds etc. so that they can read, eat, rest and sleep there.

72 This had a bearing on my data collection as within two days, I interviewed eight VTS operators.

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for duty three days a week and have four days off. Though hectic, the design of the 24 hour shift pattern suits them as it addresses their need of travelling to their place of work a few times each week. This also reflects upon their perceived nominal salaries and the high price of real estate in the port city which drove them to live in faraway city suburbs.

The MahaDevi VTS operators are 'operators' and not officers. Their job is of a clerical grade and they felt that there was a lot of work load and stress and pressure in their job. It was widely felt that the work required of them did not match their grade or salary. Consequently it was felt that their grade level and remuneration did not do justice to them and the work they did.

This affected the morale of the MahaDevi VTS operators. I was told that their salary was less than INR⁷³ 30,000 or USD⁷⁴ 600 a month, which was less according to them for living in the Indian port city (see chapter 7 on the micro politics of port communication).

A ship arriving at MahaDevi port first makes contact with the VTS on coming within the range of the VHF radio. This first call to the VTS announces the arrival of the ship in the vicinity and its participation in the port VTS system. A key piece of information at this juncture is obtaining the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA). This information is passed on to the office of the control station. This sets the wheels in motion; the control station may have already received a booking request from the ship’s local agent and based on the availability of berths and pilots, a programme is made available to the VTS. The programme originates from the Harbour Master’s office where it is prepared after a combined traffic check for all the docks and available berths. This programme is further developed by the Dock Master Station’s office by assigning pilots to ships before being made available to the VTS office. This programme is a blueprint of the day's movements that gives an indication of the vessel movement in the channel. The programme can be updated during the course of the day as and when more information is made available. However, this programme is limited to the merchant vessels of shipping companies whose agents have applied for a berth at MahaDevi port and hence by itself cannot account for all of the traffic in the very busy harbour as the harbour is also used by vessels who turn up without a pre-booked berth (and apply subsequently), by the Indian Navy, Coastguard, barges, fishing boats, dredgers, tugs etc. The VTS operators call ships on

73 Indian National Rupees

74 United States Dollar

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the radio, based on the traffic movement schedule and instruct them accordingly.

“Hamara kaam hai, eta liya, usko pass kiya” (Transliteration)

“Our work is to get the eta and pass it on” (Translation – discussion with VTSO, field note, 22 Dec 2010)

Depending upon the day's docking programme/schedule, the MahaDevi VTS operators call the ships in ample time⁷⁵. Speaking to ships, is informed by the ship’s trajectory and the corresponding key stage in communication. Chapters 5 and 6 empirically identify the main ship trajectories in the harbour and explore the key communicative stages in the ship’s voyage.

Ships are monitored and the VTS operators speak to them at key junctures for navigation safety.

“Our main task is to bring the ship safely from outside to the pilot station and from the pilot station to its berth. Our job is to take all the relevant information from the ships and pass on their eta to the office of the control station which would then arrange for pilots, pilot launches, tugs etc. as per requirement” (interview with VTSO 2)

The VTS operators are very busy. There are incessant calls on the VHF and the telephone.

They do a lot of paper work and there is some duplication of effort in the record-keeping being done. The MahaDevi VTS operators feel that there is heavy workload and stress in their job and that they cannot make a single mistake. The interview excerpts are illustrative –

“We cannot make a mistake” (translation)

“Galti hum kar hi nahi sakte” (transliteration) (interview with VTSO 2)

“Imagine the stress of the person who is sitting in the VTMS. Even a minor mistake can be a big incident” (interview with VTSO 3)

“Sometimes it is stressful... there is high workload and no scope for mistake... reaction time is slow with ships, to start a movement takes time and to stop also it takes time so for safety we need accurate communication” (interview with VTSO 3)

“The first priority is the VHF and the second is the telephone, and on the VHF, the first priority is the pilot” (interview with VTSO 2)

75 Each ship is asked the notice/time it requires to reach the pilot station and this requirement is built into the arrival instructions given to the ship.

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In addition to the VTS operators on duty, there is an office clerk, who works a 10 am to 6 p.m.

shift. He works on the customised port software platform to log data onto the system. The software integrates and harmonises port operations, cargo, vessels and rail transport. Pilots come and leave their work reports with him and he inputs the information of pilotage services in the system. Among other things, the daily log of the ships serviced by pilots helps to remunerate the pilots. The work of the clerk is related to the work required of MahaDevi VTS operators because after the day’s shift is over at 6 p.m. and the clerk leaves the office, the VTS operator(s) on duty are required to update the log with the incoming new information. The VTS operators, in addition to monitoring traffic, complete the log from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. until the clerk reports on duty the following morning.

In order to prepare for the day's work ahead of them, the VTS operators go through the programme for the day and to update themselves of the traffic movement during the previous shift, they go through the log registers in the office. In addition to monitoring traffic and speaking on the VHF radio, the VTS operators answer the telephone, update the electronic log of the port software (when the office clerk is off duty or when on leave) and fill in by hand several hardbound running logs. There is one main logbook in which all the movements are entered by the VTS operators. There is a separate logbook for inbound and outbound vessels.

The outbound vessel log records internal movements in addition to the departures. There is no continuity between shifts and to achieve it, VTS operators apprise themselves of the current traffic scenario on their screens and go through all logs and information to prepare for their shift. The lack of continuity is a challenge which is overcome by VTS operators with prior preparation, however it highlights the lack of adequate technological support available to the operators, which will be further discussed in this section.

Prior preparation is required before taking VHF calls, especially at the beginning of the shift, as the VTS operators who had knowledge of what had happened in the previous shift have all gone home. The below mentioned transcript extract and field note demonstrate that the VTS operator on duty could not immediately make out the position of the vessel which was already at anchorage inside the port limits. The VTS operator in line 15 began by asking the vessel its present location and thereafter its destination when the vessel was already at anchorage inside the port. This highlights the lack of continuity between shifts as well as the lack of technological support available to the VTS operators. Instead of being completely informed

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about the location of each vessel in the VTS area, the VTS area operator asked the vessel itself about its current location.

Example 4.9: VTSO unaware of vessel location 10. Mala 31 – MahaDevi Port control, Mala thirty one 11. VTS – Mala thirty one, VTS

12. Mala 31 – Which channel speak sir?

13. VTS – Mala thirty one, go ahead

14. Mala 31 – Sir we are going to try out our PP at anchorage position. We're going to try out our PP at anchorage position.

15. VTS – You are ↑at? (.) Your destination port is (.) MahaDevi?

16. Mala 31– We are already at anchorage sir. We are at Himalaya anchorage and we're going to try out our PP nozzle

Mala 31 called and the VTS operator did not know the location of the vessel. The VTS operator asked the vessel where it was and thereafter if it was bound for MahaDevi.

The VTS operator was not aware that the vessel was at anchor inside the port and in this instance, did not come across as well informed (field note, 23 Dec 2010).

In line 12 of the above example (4.9), the seafarer clarifies the channel he should speak on and continues once he is told to ‘go ahead’. Speaking with the correct target on the appropriate channel is an important part of navigation safety which will be discussed further in chapters 5 and 6. The main focus of the MahaDevi VTS operators is the fairway and the movement in and around it. The MahaDevi VTS operators seldom pan their screens to zoom in and focus on stationary vessels in the various anchorage points on both sides of the channel. The topmost priority is the traffic movement in the fairway and in the immediate areas that can threaten navigational safety.

Therefore, when the VTS operator received a call from vessel at anchorage inside the port, he was not immediately able to locate it as the software of the VTS technology marks stationary vessels with a grey circle and the vessel names also appear in grey. Therefore, it becomes difficult to locate them on the monitor as grey coloured names with overlapping grey circles and green radar echoes crowd the screen. Given the high density of vessels at anchorage inside the port, it takes time to positively locate a stationary vessel. It can be done by searching for the vessel by name.

However, on a live radio call, the practice of ascertaining information from ships, persists. This points to a gap in the available technological support. Nevertheless a quick look at the previous day’s logs would have informed him about the location of the vessel in the port. Going over the previous logs is one of the VTS operators’ methods to accomplish continuity between shifts, however to expedite obtaining this information, they directly ask the calling vessels on the VHF about their location. This is somewhat similar to Harper and Hughes’ (1993) study of the ATC in which an operator told the researchers that it would be virtually impossible to look at all the radar

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blips on the screen, therefore, the ATC would first take a look at the flight strip before ascertaining the location of the aircraft. Ascertaining vessel location highlights the role of technology within in situ VTS work, recovers technology for analysis and evaluates the inadequacy of current technological support, which can in turn inform design of supportive technology (Button 1993c).

Figure 4. 5: Stationary vessels in grey colour, marked by grey circles; anchored on either side of the main channel

Source: Student (picture taken and used with permission)

Content analysis of the transcript in ATLAS.ti (Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) software package) reveals that the question, ‘where are you?’ has been used alone, as part of ‘where are you now?’ and ‘where are you going?’ 42 times. It is used by VTS operators (36 times), pilots (5 times) and ships (1 time) in the transcript. The usage of the question was visited in context to nuance this finding. The VTS operators have used it 36 times to ask vessels of their location, destination or programme. Apart from the 6 cases in which the vessels were outside the port limits, for the remaining 30 times, the vessels were in the VTS area and ideally the VTS operators should have been aware of the location because for as many as 20 times the question was posed, the ships were at anchor inside the port limits. This analysis does not aim to reveal that the VTS operators are unaware of the location of some of the vessels, because the VTS operators, at times, use this question to confirm what they already know (see example 4.10 below). The question was used 4 times in the transcript to confirm the VTS operators’ knowledge about the traffic situation. The lack of awareness is explained in part by the lack of technological support, while more importantly this analysis reveals the emic (see

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Pike 1967) in situ practice of questioning ships to proactively locate them in the VTS area (see Garfinkel 2002). This highlights the importance of placing actors in the VTS area for building situational awareness in a dynamic environment (see Brödje et al. 2010) and can be understood as a members’ method utilised by the VTS operators to accomplish monitoring and VTS service provision.

Example 4.10: VTSO confirming vessel location

2135. VTS – where are you now? You are at number two anchorage point?

…

4340. VTS – where are you, number one anchorage, correct?

A common practice of the VTS operators is to paint a picture of traffic in the channel with words and give the surrounding traffic to vessels that call. This practice is introduced here but will be further explored in chapters 5 and 6. The following transcript extract is illustrative.

Example 4.11: VTSO painting a word picture of channel traffic

9390. VTS – Pilot M eleven is outbound on Everest. Present position is number one dock channel. He is outbound on Everest, Pilot eleven, and inbound traffic, Sally one dredger, inbound now, passing number eight line Sally one, and after that next inbound is Faculty passing outer red buoy now.

9391. M37 – Okay Sally one inbound right now near number eight line and Faculty at outer red buoy

9392. VTS – That is correct and Trident arriving pilot station one one three zero hours, she is also for the number one dock

Traffic monitoring is an important part of VTS operators’ work. They closely follow the situation in the channel and at times categorically instruct vessels on how to pass leaving no room for confusion (example 4.12 below). Collision avoidance negotiations for passing, meeting and overtaking situations are further explored in depth in chapters 5 and 6. However, the crisp utterances/instructions of the MahaDevi VTSO leave nothing to chance and tie in with the emphatic theme of “Hum unko samjhaa dete hai” (transliteration), “We make them understand” (VTSO 1) explored in chapter 6, section 6.4.2.i, p. 222-227. This can be compared and contrasted with the verbose statements of the Singapore VTSO to Maersk Kendall (page 7) where he was unsuccessful in communicating the gravity of the situation to the Master and Chief Officer on the ship’s bridge.

Example 4.12: VTSO; instructions on how to pass 21. VTS – Graceful Lady, VTS

22. GL – Yes Graceful Lady replying, over

23. VTS – Okay, you please pass red to red, port to port with the inbound vessel Indy

115 24. GL – Roger, copy. Inbound vessel, port to port.

25. VTS – Indy, Indy, VTS

26. Indy – VTS this is Indy, go-ahead Sir, over.

27. VTS – Pass port to port, red to red with the outbound tanker Graceful Lady.

28. Indy – Okay Sir, copy, port to port sir. Over

Vessels in the MahaDevi harbour talk to each other all the time to confirm how to pass (for the impact of AIS on increasing VHF communciation, see Bailey 2005; Bailey et al. 2008).

The VTS operators believe that this practice enhances clear communication of intent (Goffman 1971, 2010 edition) and should be undertaken to clarify intentions and dispel confusion (see chapters 5 and 6). This needs to be seen in the light of IMO ‘Rules of the Road’

/ COLREGs⁷⁶ which do not advocate that ships talk to each other for collision avoidance (IMO 1972) (also discussed in chapter 2). In the following excerpt, the MahaDevi VTS operator tells a seafarer that he can talk directly with another ship to confirm how to pass. The manner of the VTS operator’s communication was that the seafarer on-board Enchanting, bothered him needlessly and that the seafarer should have directly contacted the other vessel in the first place. The below remark of the VTSO can be seen as downgrading in nature where he trivialises the vessel’s communication to the VTS.

Example 4.13: VTSO and seafarer; inter-ship communication

740. Enchanting – VTS this is Enchanting I will keep this Kajal twenty on my port side I will keep this Kajal twenty on my port side

741. VTS – you can speak directly Kajal twenty. Channel fifteen stand by

The VTS operators interactionally action and achieve the Harbour Master’s traffic plan and movement schedule on the VHF radio (see chapters 5 and 6). The VTS operators also reprimand vessels and exercise their authority. The role and function of reprimands is further explored in chapters 5, 6 and 7. If the VTS does not instruct a ship, then theoretically it cannot enter the channel. In the example below, the VTS reprimands the vessel for calling repeatedly especially when no one had told it to keep the engines ready.

Example 4.14: VTSO reprimands vessel 215. Sevak – VTS, MahaDevi VTS, Sevak 216. VTS – Who is calling VTS?

217. Sevak – Yeah VTS, good evening sir this is Sevak

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218. VTS – Sevak I’ll tell you what time pilot will come, no need to call every now and then.

I will call you and let you know

219. Sevak – Yeah I understand sir but my engines are running since three o'clock so I would like to know the status over

220. VTS – Nobody told you to get your engines ready. Shutdown engines and stand by one five

221. Sevak – Okay we can shutdown engines and stand by one five

221. Sevak – Okay we can shutdown engines and stand by one five