Michael Grey

Seatrade Maritime Correspondent

Michael Grey is a columnist and correspondent and has been associated with the maritime industry for the whole of his working life. At sea for twelve years with the Port Line of London and the holder of a British Foreign Going Master’s certificate, he came ashore to work in the safety and technical department of the UK Chamber of Shipping, before moving into maritime journalism.

Currently he is the London Correspondent of BIMCO and is the author of a number of maritime books. He lectures at the World Maritime University and Greenwich Maritime Institute.

Michael’s Recent activity

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Critical concern about container inspections
Jul 14, 2022
It did not seem unreasonable when the International Maritime Organization (IMO) politely required its member states to let them know the state of their regime for the inspection of container contents.
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Obstacles to optimisation
Jun 17, 2022
"Just in Time" arrival for vessels seems an obvious winner on all counts, but it is not exactly a new idea.
Filipino seafarers arrive home safe in Manila from Ukraine
Lives lived on the frontiers
May 18, 2022
Seafaring has sometimes been described as a “frontier activity” with all sorts of hazards that are not normally encountered in shore-side employment.
P&O Ferries Pride of Kent
Not the smoothest of handovers
Apr 19, 2022
As a number of P&O Ferries vessels remain under detention Michael Grey explains why the process of changing crews has proved considerably more difficult than management seemed to anticipate.
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P&O Ferries ‘big bang’ backfires
Mar 20, 2022
Even taking into account the lamentable record of the shipping industry’s general treatment of its seafaring workforce throughout history, the cack-handed instant dismissal of 800 ferry workers by P&O Ferries seemed...
Bangladeshi bulker on fire after missile strike
Seafarers – always collateral damage
Mar 11, 2022
Nobody, I am willing to wager, would have suggested to the crews of ships bound for Ukrainian ports last month that they might have been putting their lives on the line, or finding themselves in harm’s way.
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APL England and defining unseaworthiness today
Feb 18, 2022
With the Master of APL England facing trial over the vessel being unseaworthy after it lost 50 containers overboard, Michael Grey questions the definition of unseaworthiness.
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What’s going wrong with lifeboats?
Dec 17, 2021
Seafarers really shouldn’t be afraid of equipment that is supposed to save them, but this is all too often the case, as news of accidents involving lifeboats filters around the seagoing workforce.
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Eyes off the ball
Nov 16, 2021
Michael Grey argues that all the time spent on decarbonisation is taking away from immediate issues such as the treatment of seafarers in the pandemic.
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