FINLANDS SJÖFART J SUOMEN MERENKULKU 61
BOARD
weeks that took in Rotterdam, Hamburg, Le Havre and
New York – before disembarking and returning to Mumbai
on an 18-hour flight home instead of a nine-hour flight
from London.
By that time, his 10-year-old had missed the start of the
new school term, having been unable to fly home from
London on the planned date.
Capt D’souza remains at a loss for why access to the
port was not allowed. ’My family has been sailing with me
for the last 10 years now and we have not come across a
single port in the world that has refused to allow children
of less than 16 years of age to step ashore,’ he said in an
email exchange. ’There would definitely be some waiver or
exemption which could help family and kids step ashore or
sign off, especially when the Border Force have no issue at
all and the family members all have valid UK visas.’
” My family has been sailing with me for the
last 10 years now and we have not come
across a single port in the world that has
refused to allow children to step ashore.”
Nautilus spoke with both London Gateway harbour
master Colin Hitchcock and ship’s agent Jamie Brian and
found several discrepancies in their responses that could
have sealed the family’s fate.
Mr Brian claimed he had been advised by the harbour
master that all children under the age of 16 in the UK must
use a child car seat when being transported by vehicle.
The port would not provide child seats. The agent chose
not to provide them himself because he ’didn’t have the
time’.
’It would open up a can of worms,’ Mr Brian said. ’What
if the ship came in at 04:00hrs? Would the captain want to
take his kids off the vessel then? Will the agent have to
get out of bed to provide child seats?’
Nautilus has subsequently discovered that Capt D’souza
had anticipated the UK car seat regulation and had
provided his own for the journey – but due to the lack of
information from the agent, was not granted the opportu-nity
to inform them of this.
London Gateway harbour master Colin Hitchcock
denied that the decision had anything to do with car seats,
and further clarified that the ruling applied to children
under the age of six only – not 16.
The reason was, he said, that a security audit at the port
had identified a high tidal range which could result in an
acute range of gangway angles. It was stated that children
under the age of six would not be safe using the gangway
at certain tides, and that carrying babes in arms or
assisting young children could put both the adults’ and
children’s safety at risk.
Mr Hitchcock said he was not aware that the family
were to disembark the vessel at London Gateway and he
was sorry that the Captain’s leave had been cancelled.
However, he believed – as a father of three daughters
himself – that the ruling would prevent accidents involving
young children at the port.
Nautilus member Capt Andrews has now written a letter
to Mr Hitchcock requesting details of the risk assessment
under a freedom of information (FOI) request.
’This rule is over-prescriptive or is being inappropri-ately
applied to further restrict the diminishing rights and
privileges of seafarers who have less time and access to
their families than those who drafted this rule,’ he told
Nautilus in an email.
’This sort of thing is the domain of tinpot regimes, and
had this happened in some God-forsaken part of the world
it might be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders, but for
it happen in our own country and in a port of our capital
city is nothing short of outrageous. Capt D’souza is not a
member of our union yet but this policy could well inflict
serious injustice to those of us who are.’•