Publication:Sea Talk Autumn 2007/Flexi-crewing trial update

By CMDR Trevor Hay*

Ship's company on board HMAS Warramunga enjoy that 'coming home' feeling after a six month deployment to the Persian Gulf. Pic by ABPH Nadia Monteith

Many lessons have been learned in the 18 months since the Winter 2005 edition of SeaTalk reported the start of the flexi-crewing trial in HMA Ships Arunta and Warramunga.

The shortage of MT and ET sailors meant that Warramunga was not fully flexi-crewed and this, coupled with an assessment that little more would be learnt after completion of her operational deployment to the Persian Gulf, led to the decision to withdraw Warramunga from the trial at the start of her refit in March this year.

On the other hand, Arunta's participation in the flexi-crewing trial has been extended until June next year.

This will allow Arunta to fully test flexi- crewing in an operational environment during her forthcoming Gulf deployment and will build on Warramunga's experience where crew changeovers were conducted in Dubai and Kuwait.

It will also allow modifications to some of the flexi-crewing trial practices to be observed and further evaluated.

While the overall response of the ships' companies to the impact of flexi-crewing has been positive, there have been some negative aspects.

Only partially flexi-crewing Warramunga created respite inequities among junior sailors. Unanticipated issues such as disquiet at having to change bunks and lockers every few weeks have emerged.

Regulating senior sailors have had their workload significantly increased as they have had to manage the rotation of personnel on and off the ship; and the impact of changes to the fleet activity schedule on the individual has been brought into sharp focus.

Families on the wharf welcome home HMAS Warramunga, back in the west after a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. Pic by ABPH Nadia Monteith

Flexi-crewing has had minimal effect on the operational capability of the trial ships and the requirement to manage every person onboard on a day-by-day basis has given the command team an unprecedented appreciation of the status of the ship's company. Although not part of the trial, some senior sailors have also had the opportunity to take respite when their presence onboard has not been essential.

Flexi-crewing is but one form of alternative crewing and the Sea Change workforce renewal project (SCWRP) is investigating a range of crewing options for major fleet units.

These include:

• 'Multi-crewing', as practised by the hydrographic ships and the Armidale class patrol boats;
• 'Squadding' which is similar to flexi-crewing but uses one pool of supplementary personnel to service several hulls;
• A 'Qantas' model where the ship is handed over to a maintenance/support unit on return to homeport and the crew proceed on leave/respite; and
• 'Mission crewing' which means that only those personnel required to perform the mission tasks are embarked at any one time.

Obviously not all of these models will be suitable and it may prove that there will need to be different crewing strategies for different classes of ship.

A team led by CAPT Michael Petch is looking at all the options and will make recommendations to CN later this year.

The RAN is not alone in investigating different ways to maximise use of expensive ships without 'burning out' personnel. The Royal Navy is using the 'squadding' system and both the US Navy and Coast Guard will implement 'multi-crewing' in new classes of ship in the next few years.

These are significant changes to the way navies have traditionally operated, but need to be considered if modern technology is to be used to its fullest potential while ensuring that ships crews experience adequate respite during demanding sea postings.

* SO1 Alternative Crewing Project, SCWRP