On board ship vices continue to bring relief to mariners and cigarette tops the rest and, more often than not mariners smoke to death. Only a few are restrained by their being health conscious and stay away from smoking cigar. Heavy smokers are insensitive to non-smokers because of obscure or ambiguous ship’s company policy on the designated smoking area.

Cigarette addicts smoke their way inside crew mess at any given time, unmindful of their fellow crew having meal or just sitting during break time. Others who are hard headed smokers do their thing inside their cabin which is strictly prohibited under the ship’s SAFETY rules and regulations. In an LPG Tanker ship, a “NO SMOKING” warning signs are prominently displayed all over the ship, but still smokers lit their cigars carelessly.

Smoking mariners aboard ship also contributes damage to the already unhealthy environment of tanker vessels. Dangerous gases like nitrogen, butane, propane, methane, hydrocarbon and hydrogen sulfide are found onboard which are harmful to the human body. Working on board tanker vessel requires not only about competency but a healthy body.

This is a reality in seafaring more so on tanker vessel even though dangerous gases are present, compounded by cigarette smoke, mariners remains steadfast in their resolve to gain seafaring employment. To mariners seafaring is a journey of a lifetime – no ifs or buts. Smoking mariners outnumber non-smokers, which is why they are greeted with scorn and rebuke if complaint is put on the table.

To non-smokers, harmful gases on board tanker ship are already part of the danger that the seafarers face in their chosen field of work but not with smoke coming from cigarette addict mariners who puff their lungs out.

In an LPG Tanker for example which have a centralized air conditioning system, gases emits from every corner of the ship and goes directly to all cabins and one must be resourceful to at least limit the damaging effect of gases with matching soot entering the cabin like what the picture shows.
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Another concern is that when the Pilot lacks the ability or competence in doing what is appropriate during berthing or docking operation. Sometimes miscommunication between the Pilot and tugboats contribute danger during berthing. This incident actually happened last June 29, 2009 in the early morning of Monday in Can Tho, Vietnam.

Marine Tanker Minorca was there to unload LPG cargo and unfortunately things gone wrong during the ship’s maneuvering. The ship’s portside bow accidentally rammed the jetty’s other side which have no fender attached to it, causing dent to the vessel’s structure and inadvertently moved the jetty’s original position as alleged by the port officials of Vietnam.

The Master blamed the Pilot for his incompetence but the port personnel said otherwise. They asked for payment for the damaged done to their jetty. It was a compromising situation but then it was business as usual and the ship’s cargo was unloaded to the jetty’s depot. Because it was the Master’s concern, he took the incident as a lesson learned.

The “Vietnamese Boat People” chose to leave the country not because the Americans were defeated, as confided to me by Mr. Treth Theat Hao, a shipping agent from Quy Nhon City. According to him, the “Vietnamese Boat People” fled because they anticipated reprisal and death from the conquering northern brothers.

The very long years of sufferings of the “Vietnamese Boat People” was one of the history’s worst kinds of human degradation or humiliation recorded in the 20th century. And after that humiliating part descended upon the “Vietnamese Boat People” in the “cold war era,” a new generation of “Vietnamese Boat People” resurfaced but not as refugees but they are the “Vietnamese Boat Traders.”

The so called “Vietnamese Boat Traders” hawks their merchandize to both locals and crews of foreign vessels calling port mostly in Saigon a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh and nearby cities. The floating market or boat traders sell different kinds of goods from fruits, vegetables, wine with preserved curled snake inside of the bottle, drinks, souvenir items, apparels, shoes or sneakers and many other which have prices lower than in the department stores.

The “Vietnamese Boat Traders” are usually smiling young women in their colorful dress and paddy hat. Every time foreign ships approached ports or jetties, they scramble to get alongside the ship and immediately offer their goods to excited crews and officers. These young women are beguile and attracts attention so easily that ship personnel buy more goods in DOLLARS of course.

The “Vietnamese Boat Traders” has become a burgeoning class of Vietnamese society considerably because they earn DOLLARS in their own backyard without going the usual route of working abroad.

Before the rivers streaming south of the country looked placid and devoid of life. Normally locals ply their trade in their usual get-up – the common Vietnamese dress with matching conical hat or paddy hat. Their daily routine is repeated in as much as they could remember under the communist style democracy.

But after decades of underdevelopment Vietnam pole-vaulted into the 21st century and the country’s rivers, the primary access to the outside world was finally opened. The rivers’ “gate of development” was practically wide open that merchant shipping started to grow fast and brought in progress to the Vietnamese people.

Unfortunately, Vietnam which is trying to muster the threshold of maturity – economically and politically speaking – misread or did not pay attention to the other side of progress and development. The government which is too busy counting exports is seemingly unaware of their responsibility to protect their rivers from commercial destruction.

In our repeated sorties to deliver LPG cargo to Ho Chi Minh and neighboring cities like Can Tho, Dong Nai and other city, I came to witness the wanton destruction of the rivers we pass-by. Dredging equipments and boat-haulers continuously do their thing extracting sands near river banks and right on the middle of the river where big foreign ships travels.

Locals living near the river channels complain of soil erosion and they are afraid of losing their lands once the river completely gobbles-up the affected areas. According to a worker of an LPG depot, sands extracted were being exported to Singapore for construction purposes.

I came to know that cargo operations in general are quite complex or intricate because deceit or dishonest practices go hand in hand before, during and after commencing cargo transfer operations. Cargo operations normally commenced after clearing all papers reviewed and signed by the Captain, Chief Officer, Chief Engineer and shore personnel

But usually disagreements, protest, counter protest come into view during and after cargo transfer operations. In most cases the involve party argue about the actual number of tons of cargo transferred. In ship to port or vice versa cargo operations, the problem is minimized to a low level and ultimately resolved immediately.

But not with ship to ship cargo operations because the receiving party is always the one shortchanged of deficient cargo transferred. Here, protest and counter protest normally happened. Tons of cargo ends on the hands of deceiving party.

The worst violator in cargo operations are the bunker vessels. They use techniques to deceive or cheat and manipulate cargo transfer. Their techniques, honed to perfection, are pretty much applied during bunkering. They pumped bunker fuel mixed with full of oxygen to reached the agreed tons but actually falls flat when measured using sounding tape.

Crews of bunker vessels are stern and dirty looking men (literally indeed), shaped by their being dishonest. No wonder that they are easily agitated when confronted regarding deficient bunker fuel transferred. In some cases officers, particularly Chief Engineer unwittingly colludes with the bunker personnel in exchange for money. Bunker vessels earn millions of dollars through tricks and deceit. Singapore is the place where bunkering operations thrives and keeps in business all year round.

The Philippines and Vietnam which was on the top list of the US report failed to stamp-out human trafficking even though warnings and notice of communication had been continuously relayed by the US. In the Philippines human smuggling is a daily routine for scheming government officials in cahoots with progenitor of evil.

Most of the people being trafficked involved young women. Worst, these people ends in the Middle East, Malaysia and Singapore and other countries. The term modern slavery applies to these hapless people. They work in brothels and known hotels as masseuse cum sex partners, household slaves and work as prostitutes in well known parks of the host country.

In Singapore, many Filipino women recruited as tourists works as prostitutes catering to seafarers and other “seeker of flesh.” In Malaysia, Vietnamese and Filipinas work in prostitution dens and hotels providing sexual pleasure to patrons.

I honestly hurt and feel sadness when I was informed by my fellow crew member that Filipinas in Singapore ply their trade openly in the “Dragon City.” Shore leave is a must in Singapore because the country offers everything one could dream of. The same with Malaysia; young Vietnamese and Filipino women is a fixture in the country’s sex trade.

But the thing is, these people are victims of human trafficking and the root cause is poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and abuse inflicted upon them by the environment they belong.

Kalamansi (no English term) is a small citrus fruit that appears as cross between a lemon and lime, is a native and widely cultivated in the Philippines and does not occur naturally outside of the country. This small oval citrus fruit family is popular among the locals because of its many useful benefits not only in food servings but also to the human body itself. The locals usually use kalamansi juice in different varieties of foods like raw fis … Read More

via Nomadicasian's Weblog

During daytime fishing is not easy to do unless one has patience. But night time is more exciting because not only fish is being caught but various sizes of squid which is more than attracted to the ship’s lights. Squids and fish playfully swims and flips right on the spot of light that beams through the water. Catching these sea creatures right on the spot is a delight to sailors because its fresh meat gives tasteful eating binge accompanied with cool beer on the table.

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