the pasha bulker ten years on – an insider account / 6 · media there is the hindi media and then...

The Navigate Response newsletterJuly 2017

The Pasha Bulker ten years on – an insider

account / 6Engage or enrage

at your peril / 5

Seven signs you’re not ready / 11

navigateresponse.com 2/12

There are few places on earth where the new digital media has been as enthusiastically embraced as India.

As you would expect in the world’s largest democracy, freedom of expression and the belief that everyone has a voice are views held sacred by many Indians. The country of 1.35 billion people has one of the most vibrant media scenes in the world.

Whether it is TV, mainstream media (MSM), social or print, India has every sector covered in abundance.

What is quite surprising to the outside observer is the extent to which the Indian media has become so aggressive and intrusive in recent times. With non-stop 24 hour news cycles, many believe there is a culture of attention grabbing, ‘shouty’ media which competes commercially with each other as much as they do for breaking news.

For shipowners and the maritime sector in general, this is not particularly good news.

Shipping as an industry rarely receives consistent in-depth coverage in India’s business media. Even though shipping and ports especially are a vital part of India’s industrial story, the sector is perceived as inward looking by journalists. There are just other more interesting businesses to cover.

When there is a problem with a shipping company or a maritime accident in Indian waters, the coverage can often be lurid and sensationalised. It focuses on the human element and can often involve angry communities which have suffered as a result of actions taken by a ship or shipowner.

Rarely do the Indian media talk to owners or get their side of what is nearly always a negative story.

Navigate Response

Spring is always a busy time of year for us with media training and client visits, and this year has been no exception.

Always looking for a new challenge, we’ve added media simulation to our training programme across Europe and clients in the rest of the world can expect to see this coming their way in the second half of the year. This addition to our programme brings a level of realism to the experience that makes the day both more instructive and more enjoyable.

We are pleased to officially welcome Candour Communications as our network partner in India. Headquartered in Delhi with operations in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, Candour works with large multinational conglomerates, path-breaking start-ups, development agencies and government bodies and is recognised as one of India’s top PR agencies.

We also have a couple very exciting partnerships to announce with some of the leading players in the maritime industry, but, for now, we’ll just have to leave you guessing. More in the coming months.

Wishing all our northern hemisphere clients a wonderful summer.

Mark your calendars:

IG P&I Correspondents’ conference, London, 24-26 September 2017, www.igconference.org

Crisis communications event with Reed Smith, Hong Kong, 16 November 2017

Maritime risk management conference, TBD

India’s media landscape is changing fast

Ed Ion, Director, Navigate Response Asia

Outside observers often forget that India has the world’s largest English language news media.

There are literally hundreds of TV channels, talk radio shows as well as many online and in print media.

“We are seeing tremendous changes in India’s media and this is exciting as the country opens up to

the wider world...”

Santosh says: “On top of the English media there is the Hindi media and then the regional media which often uses local languages. The media scene is complex and foreigners can often misunderstand the picture.”

He noted that despite the English media perceived as the most used by India’s elite, it is often the most guilty when it comes to sensationalist news reporting.

“Often the tone of reporting and accuracy in the Hindi and regional media is better,” he argues.

Shipowners with vessels in trouble in India in recent years have had a torrid

time as they have failed to work with on the ground knowledgeable local advisors who understand the complex local media scene.

One owner with a recent casualty off the coast of Tamil Nadu state in southern India sent a media advisor from Mumbai.

The news media covering the incident was reporting in Tamil, a language the Mumbai based advisor did not understand.

In a European context, it was like an owner having a ship in trouble off Greece and then sending a Norwegian media advisor to liaise with the local Greek media.

The lesson: It always pays to have advisors who not only understand your company and your fleet but also have inside track knowledge of and relationships with the media on the ground in the vicinity of the casualty. Flying ‘foreigners’ in to deal with local media can often backfire.

Navigate Response’s partner in India is Candour Communications with offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. www.candour.co.in

navigateresponse.com

This is because the industry itself does not engage very well with the media and the companies tend to be conservative and low key.

Santosh Patil, who is Associate Vice President at a leading international ship classification society, believes shipping will continue to have a tough time getting its message across – in good times and bad.

He says: “We are seeing tremendous changes in India’s media and this is exciting as the country opens up to the wider world.

“But there are also some trends emerging which are not positive for an industry like shipping which is an often misunderstood B2B business.

Santosh believes the new journalism in India is becoming more ‘views media’ than news media.

“We are seeing more and more broadcast stations which have given up all attempts at presenting news in a fair, balanced and accurate manner.

“Today, the rolling news agenda and the need to grab attention for commercial reasons means much of India’s broadcast media is ‘shouty’, opinionated, biased and inaccurate,” he says.

3/12


Crewless but not clueless

The whole issue of cyber-security is causing a massive headache, particularly as shipping has already been hit by several high-profile attacks. Autonomous shipping has the potential to open a new playground for these misguided techno-trolls to unleash their own brand of chaos. And the ramifications of this are mind-blowing.

And what about reputational risk and the media? If the vessels are unmanned, does this mean the owner, manager and charterer are invisible? Who is culpable for a failure and who’s to blame?

On the one hand, a vessel without a crew is immune to the lookout tweeting an explosive picture and sparking a media frenzy. On the other, a spill is still a spill, pollution is still pollution and a grounding is still a grounding irrespective of who, if anyone, is on board. Media will still need to be managed and reputations protected.

But have we added a further complexity to the mix? Media will want to know the usual circumstances of an incident but they are sure to ask who was controlling the ship, was it a technology or a human failure, was it caused by a cyber attack, why wasn’t it protected, who provided the technology and answers to endless other intrusive questions.

Not only will the usual suspects be rounded up (owner, manager, class, flag etc) but the technology and software provider will likely find themselves in the sights of the media too.

Non-crewed vessels are already on the scene and we’ve seen reports of such vessels being trialled on short, contained and straightforward routes in certain parts of the world. And pundits are predicting 2025 as a realistic time-frame for these vessels to become a commercial reality.

We can’t ignore the inevitable and we need to ready ourselves for a significant change in how shipping operates. Rather than an unmanned vessel allowing the owner to remain unconnected and invisible, the reality is that these futuristic ships are likely to intensify and widen the media spotlight. Just because the vessels might be crewless, it doesn’t mean we should be clueless with our media response.

There’s a lot of talk about autonomous ships. The media is full of it, conferences are discussing it and most industry sectors are working out how to manage it.

Some are talking “autonomous” and others are talking “unmanned” – and there’s a difference. Most agree that an “unmanned” ship is likely to be controlled by a real person sat behind a bank of screens in a remote office. “Autonomous” vessels are more likely to have been dispatched on a computer defined route with minimal human intervention until they reach port. The difference is important, not least because it might determine if the vessel is in compliance with international maritime regulations. Ships must be “sufficiently and efficiently manned”; every vessel must maintain a “proper lookout”; each ship must be “in the charge of a master”. At a stretch an “unmanned” ship might meet these regulations but it seems doubtful that an “autonomous” vessel would. But that’s largely academic as regulations will – or should – be amended to suit the incoming technology.

Many sectors are already discussing how they can cope with non-crewed vessels. Insurance people, for instance, are scratching their heads about how to identify the risks involved, and then how they might be quantified and mitigated.

Mike Elsom, Director, Navigate Response

The “Social Media Fail” was one thing, but the complete failure to engage the media was an absolute shocker. It took three days before Cruz fronted a news camera with reports abounding that he had earlier refused interviews, by this stage he was facing a very combative minded media. Why was it such a shocker?

BA had effectively driven the media towards disgruntled customers and the unions by not engaging. If there’s a big story afoot the media will get content no matter how and if it’s not coming from you they’ll get it from elsewhere.

Despite the growth of social media, it’s the respected media outlets that many people turn to when they want the facts about what’s happening in uncertain times.

Lastly, but certainly not least, is the fact that by locking out the mainstream media BA created an antagonistic atmosphere by frustrating and alienating those whose job is to report what’s going on.

It’s never a good idea to make more enemies when the chips are down! Now engagement doesn’t mean hundreds of one on one interviews but continually updated media releases with regular press conferences. This is certainly something that a corporate giant like BA should be able to achieve but failed to deliver.

The ongoing importance of these basics, media release and interviews, is borne out in the recently released 2016 APAC Journalist Survey of reporters, news editors and editors-in-chief. The report found that official press releases remain the most trusted source of news followed closely by a corporate spokesperson.

Of the respondents, only 10% listed a company’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts as a trusted source with one Asian Editor stating social media “is still far too chaotic to be a reliable source of news.”

If there’s a lesson to be learnt here it’s that engagement has to be on multiple levels. Social media engagement is important but it shouldn’t be at the expense of mainstream media and it doesn’t matter which media you favour - you have to constantly update and inform.

As for British Airways, it will no doubt endure, but when I booked flights to Singapore last week for my parents and BA was one of three airlines in the reckoning, I struck them from my list.

They don’t really seem to be on top of things at the moment - so why risk it?


Engage or enrage at your peril!

“BA in Blunderland” was just one of the damning headlines that swept the world on 27 May as one of the world’s most recognisable airlines suffered a systems wide failure that disrupted the travel plans of 75,000 passengers.

Sidestepping the causes of the failure itself, as accidents do happen, it’s actually what BA did next, or didn’t do next, that enraged customers, the media and stakeholders.

To put it simply what they didn’t do was engage. After an hour and thousands of customers tweets questioning what the problem was, BA’s Chief Executive Alex Cruz posted a short video on the company’s website and Twitter account with a brief explanation and a promise that there would be further updates. But it was nearly a full day before the next Tweet and Cruz’s next video.

If you’re going to use social media effectively you have to embrace its immediacy; a simple tweet and statement on the website at the very beginning with the basic facts and repercussions of the system failure would have temporarily placated customers and media, everyone accepts to some point that crises happen.

Post video, the failure to continue to update and advise allowed others to fill the narrative, angry customers and unions with tales of cost cutting and IT outsourcing.

5/12

By Andrew Leahy, Senior Consultant Navigate Response

to pick up, “Yes Matty,” he said in his assuasive tuba-voice, “the chopper’s on its way.” “Can you see the ship?” Pete asked as I got closer to Nobby’s Beach. I looked through the windscreen at the foamy puffs of water lashing high over the deck.

“Oh, can I what…”

The hull of the 40,000 tonne Pasha Bulker was strikingly red. A garish lipstick-coloured lump with white accommodation quarters jutting from the stern like high density home units - in the middle of Newcastle’s main beach.

The Westpac helicopter had rescued all crew from the vessel and with forecasts that the weather would ease the Pasha Bulker appeared to be firmly grounded – for now.

Anders and I went into the boardroom of Svitzer’s Newcastle tug base where I met Drew Shannon, who was handling shore-side logistics. Drew warned that a re-

float attempt might or might not work. Any attempt would be time consuming, weeks, months maybe. Equipment and personnel would come from across the globe. You didn’t just press a few buttons in such situations and see the beached ship off.

It was agreed that Gary Webb, Newcastle Port Corporation CEO, and his media team would continue briefing journalists and providing all-important visuals such as oil booms being placed on the beach. I’d handle media enquiries on behalf of Svitzer. Naturally we’d have to work closely and be on the same page in terms of facts and developments, especially in an environment where things could change frequently.

One of the largest industrial helicopters in Australia was secured to transport salvage equipment onto the Pasha Bulker. It pulsated back and forth from a water-side equipment assembly zone at Carrington. A ‘super-tug’ anchor handling barge sourced from Asia was steaming for Newcastle. These were important visuals, to show the media and the community that things were happening. More salvage folks arrived from interstate and overseas – some 30 all up.


08.30am, 8 June, 2007

The worst of the unforgettable storm that pulverised Newcastle seemed over but news about a coal ship about to beach off Newcastle’s Nobby’s Beach meant it had really just begun. Gripping eyewitness accounts of the ship sliding her way onto Newcastle’s doorstep were all over the radio as I headed to the beach through crowds of on-lookers.

I phoned Anders Egehus, the Australia Managing Director of Svitzer, “Get ready for a media onslaught if you’re chosen to handle the salvage response,” I said. It would be quite a ride given that the spectacle was there for any camera to pick up.

With my ex-journo juices flowing, I also called the Chief of Staff desk at National Nine News in Sydney where I’d been an on-road reporter for many years. The legendary reporter Peter Harvey happened

6/12

The Pasha Bulker ten years on – an insider account

Matthew Watson, former communications consultant for Svitzer Salvage

A comical moment unfolded when Gary Webb, Minister Tripodi, their staff and I trod down the headland track for the nightly media briefing. My mobile phone rang. It was Drew Shannon, on board the Pasha Bulker. “We might have oil in the water,” he said. “How much?” I asked, feeling my heart buck. “Hard to tell. We can just smell oil. Might be nothing.”

The media and public would crucify us if there was an oil spill and we’d said nothing about it. If it turned out there was no oil in the water, so what? False alarm. It just had to be clearly explained that identifying oil in the ocean at night is extremely difficult, so we wouldn’t know what we were dealing with until sunrise. And so, Minister Tripodi and Gary Webb stood before the camera lights piercing the night and calmly said, “well, there might be some… oil in the water.” There were gasps. The journos went live on their phones and the TV link trucks cranked up. An “OIL SPILL!” it was quickly confirmed there was no oil (or a miniscule amount at worst). So, the good-news angle of the morning, bravo, was that there was no oil spill at Newcastle!

No one in the inner sanctum will forget the evening of 2 July. With the tide high and three tug boats roaring to pull the Pasha Bulker free, exasperation fell over the media pack on the headland. I sensed it was a tipping point, a moment where they’d attack. Gary Webb and Minister Tripodi had the unenviable task of fronting the cameras again.


The wrinkling on the port-side of the hull gave away that the vessel was straining from the constant push of waves. The salvage team knew she would, in all likelihood, only hold up for so long. Yes, she might break up. A priority was pumping the on-board fuel oil off, yucky stuff that would leave a hell of a mess if it ended up on the beach or coast.

With every passing day, the media became hungrier for something new. The journos wanted an expert from the ship. And so, nearly two weeks after the grounding, it was decided to wheel out Drew Shannon.

Drew’s first media performance - after multiple practice sessions - was all but flawless. Not bad for a guy with no prior interview experience asked to stand in front of a global media pack. He was straight-talking, no-nonsense and sure-footed. He exuded professionalism, honestly and credibility. The media warmed to him and this was instrumental in forming an indelible impression with the public. Drew basically said, “We can’t promise a good outcome, but we’ve got the best people and the best possible plan in play. We’re doing our best folks….” It bought time and reduced pressure when the media may have gone for the jugular.

The first re-float attempt on the evening of 28 June failed due to a snapping tug cable, scepticism amongst the journalists lifted after the second attempt failed.

7/12

The questioning was pointed. Then, with the Pasha Bulker as the backdrop, a lone female voice simply said “…she’s moving.” Every set of eyes focussed on the glowing Pasha Bulker.

“SHE’S MOVING!!”

And wasn’t she just. Quickly. Literally flinging away from the beach. Someone said “Get out of the way!” and a confused-looking Minister Tripodi hobbled from his interview position so the cameras could get the money shot of the Pasha Bulker getting the hell out of there. There was clapping, cheering and hugging. Down in Newcastle car horns tooted. The Pasha Bulker was gone in a matter of moments, towed into the inky Pacific.

The media conference resumed. “So, what was the secret of the success, Minister?” “Well…. it was a flexible plan.” Everyone just laughed, including the Minister. There was “bad news”, the ship’s rudder was jammed in the rocks off the beach, meaning the re-float was only a 99 percent success. That created a few chuckles.

Some months later Drew Shannon visited my office in Sydney and handed over a palm-sized chunk of rusty steel as heavy as a brick. “A memento to say thanks for the professionalism.” That unsightly piece of the Pasha Bulker’s rudder sits on my desk as I write this, ten years later.

Matthew Watson is Managing Director of Repute Communications and Associates and a former Nine Network journalist. He is one of Australia’s foremost media and crisis management specialists. Matt is Navigate Response’s network partner in Australia.

Easy to digest

A study has revealed that 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. The brain also processes visuals 60,000 times faster than any text. When designed well – enhanced using bold text, colours and design – the audience is able to digest the information on the infographic more quickly compared with reading a paragraph of text. In other words, infographics are a compact representation of complex data.

Easier to commit to memory

Not only are infographics easy to digest, they’re also easy to commit to memory.

People retain 80% of what they see, 20% of what they read and 10% of what they hear. More than just creating a visually-appealing infographic, a good infographic is one that clearly illustrates the complex information to its audience, in a format that is easily understood.


Infographics – embrace the bigger picture

Fazirah Sa’im, Consultant, Navigate Response Asia

If, as a company in a digital age, you are not focusing on visual content in your marketing strategy, it is time to re-think your strategy.

With the (almost) infinite amount of content available via the internet, it is important that your content stands out – content that is visually engaging such as the use of infographics to easily capture the attention of your audience.

“...it is important that your content stands out – content that is visually engaging...”

An infographic – a graphic visual representation of complex information/data/concept – is widely used in today’s content marketing. When complex information is simplified with an infographic, information can be presented more clearly, with the interesting visual easily capturing the attention of your audience.

So why are infographics gaining greater importance in today’s content marketing strategy?

8/12


Generates traffic on social media

We’d all agree that people spend a significant amount of time on their mobile phones and on social media platforms. In the fast-paced, digital world that we live in today, it is crucial that marketers understand that social media users appreciate and prefer looking at visuals to scrolling pages of text.

Visuals trigger reaction and therefore result in a high user engagement. It is no surprise that infographics are liked and shared three times more than other content. Reason being, infographics are easy to understand, saves reading time and the use of colours and design makes them visually appealing.

Not just a content marketing strategy but also a brand strategy

Branding is far from just a logo – it is your company’s identity. And how best to incorporate all the elements of your brand strategy? Through an infographic.

Using your company’s corporate font type, colours and elements on an infographic can help solidify your company’s brand identity, and improve brand recognition.

And not to forget, infographics are versatile and can exist beyond the internet.

Apart from posting them on your company’s social media platforms, blog and website, you can also incorporate infographics into your company’s annual report, newsletter and even as a press release attachment.

Organisations, large and small, are exposed to multiple risk factors, both internal and external. When faced with threats, management teams too often discover that their untested ‘Crisis Management Plan’ is pretty much worthless leaving reputation and brand at risk.

Learning how to plan, test and manage a crisis scenario is where our platform ‘Triton’ can help.

Triton replicates media and social media activity to test response plans allowing participants to experience a real-time, realistic, challenging and highly engaging exercise. Participants are able to engage through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, News and other channels.Each course is tailor made for the client in terms of their specific industry, focus, crisis risks and social media landscape.

The risk posed by social media in a crisis cannot be underestimated, from the time the first post is published, organisations need to be on hand to monitor and respond accordingly or risk having third parties define their reputation.

From our 90 minute drills to major international exercises, Triton will ensure organisations are prepared to navigate their way out of a crisis both professionally and efficiently.

The platform is used for major (and minor) simulated corporate incidents with some of the biggest players in industry, government and the NGO sector.

www.navigateresponse.com/triton

9/12

mandated emission control area (ECA) zones will be easier because technology to measure emissions already exists.

There are several options available for shipowners to comply with the emissions cap. They can install scrubbers, use low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) such as marine gas oil/marine diesel oil (MGO/MDO) or new ECA fuels, or refit the vessel to use liquified natural gas (LNG).

LNG vessels are environmentally-friendly as they emit virtually no sulphur, but it may not be economically viable as switching to LNG is not cheap. Whereas for scrubbers, besides the investment and maintenance costs, there are other not-so-obvious problems such as loss of cargo room when fitting the system into a ship.

LSFOs have their issues too. There may be operational problems when using such fuels in engines that are optimised for HFO use, especially when the engine is running for a long period. It is up to the shipowners

to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the different systems.

Switching from HFO to LSFOs such as Gas Oil will mean extra costs for shipowners, which can mean there is 50-60% difference in the cost of the two oils and this can add up to between US$10,000-$20,000 to bunker costs per voyage.

“In 2020, the entire world will be an Emission Control Area, so there are no cheap options left,” said BIMCO’s chief shipping analyst.

One of the key issues for ships using LSFOs is the distribution of such fuels. It seems many ports will not be able to deliver these fuels in satisfactory amounts by 2020. The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has warned that many ports and countries will not be able to replace the current supply level of HFO with LSFO in time, resulting in the need to import bunker fuel from distant refineries.

Sulphur emission is a health scourge, and the move towards a cap of 0.5% is welcome, but it seems unlikely that all ships would comply with the ruling by 1 January 2020.


The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) ruling to cap ships’ sulphur emissions to 0.5% by 2020 was applauded by environmentalists. This will reduce SO2 emissions from shipping by 85% compared with today’s levels, and save millions of lives in the coming decades. However, the challenge comes in implementing and enforcing this decision.

There are also concerns about the costs shipowners will face when switching from high to low sulphur fuel, availability of cleaner fuels, use of scrubbers, and upgrading or ordering of new vessels.

The use of technology to measure emissions could be one solution for enforcement. However, questions remain – who will pay for this and who will check that shipowners are not exploiting loopholes and switching back to heavy fuel oil (HFO). HFO currently dominates the market and has a high sulphur content. Surveillance in IMO-

Russ Green, Managing Director, RTG Communications

10/12

Sulphur cap deadline a tough ask for shipowners

1. You’re not sure what the approval process is for issuing a statement. Or, equally bad, the approvals process depends on one person.

2. You haven’t practiced media response as part of a drill for more than two years – I mean really practiced – journalists on the phone, social media activity, more than one statement approved.

3. Only your senior team has ever had any media training – remember everyone in your company can end up talking to a journalist – or worse, no one has had media training.

4. You can’t remember the name of your media response company, or worse you don’t have one.

5. You haven’t had any contact with your media response company for more than a year (paying the invoice doesn’t count).

6. You’ve never practiced publishing a statement to your website…out of hours? While your tech person is on holiday?

7. You don’t know who manages your company’s social media channels. You think it might be a couple of employees who setup the accounts in their spare time.

Any of these statements sound familiar? If they do, then you’re probably not as ready as you should be.

Now, I can already hear some of you saying, “That’s not my area of responsibility; someone else looks after that.” But media response is too important to be left to the comms team. Yes, there should be a single lead for media response; having too many spokespeople is a sure way to spoil the story, but everyone in the company should know enough about the media response plans to be able to say honestly that none of the statements above apply to them.

We can all think of companies who have found out the hard way that they weren’t ready. These companies end up leaving an indelible mark on themselves and, regrettably, on the rest of the shipping sector.

Policymakers don’t always differentiate between companies – if one shipping company makes a mess of things, we all pay the price…and I don’t just mean through the P&I pool.

So please, if you’re not sure, make crisis comms a meaningful part of your next exercise and find out!


You have a plan, you’ve done a couple small drills that went ok and you even have a contract with an external media consultant; surely you’re prepared, right? Not necessarily.

The number of major incidents across the shipping industry is at an all-time low, and this is very good, but it does present a problem – most people in most companies don’t have any, or certainly any recent, experience managing a major incident.

Companies complete their mandated drills each year, but these drills rarely feel like the real thing, after all, budgets are tight and time is tighter.

Ask yourself, thinking about your company, are you ready to deal with the media fallout from a major incident? Check yourself, do any of the below hit uncomfortably close to home?

11/12

7 signs you’re not ready

Dustin Eno, COO & Crisis Response Manager, Navigate Response

Crisis communications for shippingNavigate Response is the strongest global crisis communications network specialising in the international shipping, port and offshore industries; headquartered in London and Singapore, we operate a global network of 34 offices in 24 countries around the world.

Engaging Navigate Response ensures that you are prepared for the worst and allows you to focus on dealing with the operational side of an incident without being distracted by the pressures of the 24/7 media.

Navigate Response is recommended by P&I Clubs in the International Group.

Contact

24/7 incident line: +44 (0)20 7283 9915 www.navigateresponse.com

United Kingdom

[email protected] +44 (0)20 3326 8451

Singapore

[email protected] +65 6222 6375


the pasha bulker ten years on – an insider account / 6 · media there is the hindi media and then...

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