June 2011 Contents Pages Letter from the Chairman 2-3 Message from the Editorial Team

MARLOW 

NEWSLETTER

JUNE 2011

8TH ISSUE

June 2011

Contents

Pages

Letter from the Chairman

2-3

Message from the Editorial Team

4

Personal Accident Insurance

5

Training

6-10

Safety and Security on Board

11-12

Activities on board

13

Incidents

14

Marine Story

15-16

Watch Giving - 10 Years

17

Long Serving Seamen

18-23

Marlow Navigation Social Events

24-31

The Winners of  the Photo Contest

32-33

Prize Giving - Winners of  Photo Contest 7th Issue

34

Jokes

35

Sudoku Puzzles

36

1

8th Issue

June 2011

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2

Dear friends and colleagues,

In this issue, I would like to address a subject which has tormented

the shipping industry for far too long and is currently still 

unresolved.  A subject which next to being enormous financial 

burden on the vessels and the cargoes, it has devastating influence

on the lives of  ships’ crew and their families the world over.  I am

of  course talking about Piracy worldwide and especially in the Gulf

of  Aden which by now includes large parts of  the Red Sea and the

Indian Ocean.

Let me pause here for a moment and mention the recent release of  the M.V. Beluga 

Nomination.  We are all very pleased with the safe return of  the seven seafarers to their

families and the lucky and dramatic escape of  two of  their colleagues as well as the 

return of  the M.V. Beluga Nomination to her rightful owner. The good news however is

heavily overshadowed by the fact that one seaman was brutally murdered by the pirates

and two more are missing.  Our thoughts are with the families and friends of  these three

victims. 

The topic of  piracy is the subject of  urgent debates in all shipping fora and is highly 

attended in all national and international authoritative bodies. They all try to find the most

appropriate protective measures to discourage piracy. Naval forces have been deployed to

the area, best management practices have been applied, reporting procedures have been

implemented etc.  But all have proved to be inadequate. They do not solve the 

problem and we are still witnessing our seafarers experiencing the cruelty of  the pirates.  

So, what went wrong and how could this problem escalate to its present proportions?

The main answer is that obviously there is no political will to tackle the problem. All

measures taken so far may be considered as an alibi of  the international community and

the occasional arrest of  some pirates and the subsequent safe transfer to shore does not

really serve as a deterrent. To the contrary, the pirates have become more powerful and

more sophisticated demostrating an ever growing determination to reach their goals by

any means necessary.

The whole situation becomes even more unbearable when considering that the hostages

are mainly of  Philippine, Indian or East European nationality. Does the lack of  effective

measures imply that seamen from these countries simply do not deserve the help and

support required? Or can anyone imagine that for an extended period of  time West 

European or American seamen could be held hostage, tortured and killed without a strong

and effective reaction?

I would like to take this opportunity to assure our seamen that we will continue to 

encourage and promote all possible measures concerning the safety of  our seamen. As a

first step and as an interim solution only, we also believe that armed guards should be 

employed wherever possible. This of  course cannot relieve the International community

from their responsibility to create clear rules of  engagement to the naval forces in the area

to fight the pirates and their assets effectively. At the same time a land based solution has

to be found in Somalia.     

These measures are long overdue and have been discussed at all levels of  Governments

and shipping circles. Unfortunately there is no sign of  an imminent solution. I am afraid

that it is time to consider how the shipowners and the seamen can help 

themselves. We have already heard warnings for possible boycott of  the dangerous areas

but another way and really as a last way solution could be that the labor supplying 

countries like the Philippines, India or the Ukraine would ban their seamen from sailing

through the Gulf  of  Aden. I fully realize, that this is a very provocative and 

controversial proposal but everybody should also accept that the seamen have been 

suffering and victimized for far too long. 

June 2011

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3

Hermann Eden

Chairman

We are always glad to receive comments

and suggestions for our Newsletter from

all of  you.

Our best wishes to you and your 

families for a lovely summer.

Enjoy!!

The Editorial Team

June 2011

8th Issue

4

Hello to all our readers,

Welcome to the 8

th

issue  of  our bi-annual

Newsletter.  Firstly, we would like to 

express our gratitude to all our 

contributors who support and  help us

improve our Marlow Newsletter.

In this issue we have gathered interesting

articles which include training on board,

safety and security, several social 

gatherings which were organized by 

Marlow within the last 6 months, as well

as activities and incidents that have 

occurred at sea and ashore.

You will notice that in this issue, we have

changed the layout of  our articles, hoping

that this will be more to your preference. 

Lastly, we will share with you photos that

were taken as part of  the photo contest

but also the photos of  the winners of  our

previous issue.  

M e s s a g e   F r o m   T h e   E d i t o r i a l   T e a m

attached to each Crew Employment 

Contract.   Although more information

will be provided onboard, we kindly ask

all our seafarers serving onboard to 

contact their manning agents after their

disembarkation in order to obtain all 

pertinent information on this matter.  

The Management

June 2011

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In our efforts to improve further the 

entitlements of  our crew members,  we

are in the favourable position to announce

an additional benefit which will be 

provided by our company to all our  

seafarers.  

More particularly, after long lasting 

discussions with all parties concerned, we

have reached an agreement via which we

will extend the onboard Personal 

Accident Insurance policy to cover crew

members also when they are on leave at

their countries of  domicile.  The duration

of  cover will be for a maximum period of

three months and  will be provided 

without any cost to the crew members.

The effective date will be the 1

st

of  July,

2011.  

The above arrangement is a very positive

development under the present difficult

financial shipping market situation, and it

is another measure aiming to 

further strengthen the bond between our

seafarers and Marlow.  The terms and

conditions of  this new arrangement will

be outlined into an addendum to be 

P e r s o n a l   A c c i d e n t   I n s u r a n c e

booking external courses for license 

upgrades.

Great interest was also received from the

Heavy Lift Course in Manila that we 

introduced in our last issue by seafarers

and operators of  heavy lift vessels alike. 

Another course that has been recently

added in Manila is the Commercial and

Admiralty Law course that aims to refresh

the management level officers’ knowledge

in the area of  the Maritime commercial

law and to connect it with real practical

case studies. The 5 day course held by a

master and a lawyer in tandem teaching

provides theory, and case studies with

active discussion between the participants. 

The full range of  activities of  MNTC

Manila is available on the MNTC website

www.mntc.com.ph

. The courses are also

available in the regularly updated course

catalogue issued by MNTC Manila which

you will find in your manning agency.

June 2011

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“Maritime Commercial Law course 

MNTC Manila”

T r a i n i n g

MNTC Manila 

We promised to keep you informed about

the new developments in MNTC Manila

in each issue of  this newsletter.  The 

training facilities have become very 

popular and all the STCW required 

training courses offered in the MNTC

and a number of  other upgrading courses

have been accredited by the official 

governmental bodies like Maritime 

Training Council (MTC) and Technical

Education and Skills Development 

Authority (TESDA). We decided to 

highlight all accredited courses in the

course catalogue in order to notify our

seafarers that they can attend these

courses fr ee of  char ge 

rather than book

them with external training providers and

pay for it as in the past.  These courses

include:-

- Ship security officer course

- Marpol Annex I, and Annex II

- Ship simulator and bridge teamwork

- Ratings forming part of  a navigational     

watch

- Ratings forming part of  an engineering 

watch

- Cargo handling and care of  cargo

- ECDIS

- GMDSS / GOC

- Others

We urge all Filipino seafarers to obtain the

latest list of  accredited courses from

MNPI upon return to Manila before 

June 2011

8th Issue

7

MAN ME control system simulator

One company that was impressed by the

MNTC facilities was the engine maker

MAN B&W. After an initial visit they 

approached MNTC to place a main 

engine simulator of  MAN in one of  the

classrooms. Here, MAN designated 

instructors will conduct 5 day ME – 

engine courses (for electronically 

controlled engines).  The course is 

targeting management level   engineers

planned for vessels equipped with a

MAN-ME engine. We are in discussions

with MAN B&W to further strengthen

our cooperation and to enrich the 

training for our engineers.

MNTC Manila and KSMI Kherson –

cooperation and know-how exchange  

Since we have a strong focus on training

in Manila and training in Kherson /

Ukraine, where we are pursuing 

sometimes very similar or identical 

projects, a cooperation between MNTC

Manila and KSMI in Kherson was in the

air for some time. In March this year we

finally managed to bring to Manila the

Rector of  KSMI V.F. Khodakovskiy, and

since the Ukrainian ministry of  education 

supports the cooperation, we also had the

Deputy Minister of  Education of

Ukraine Mr. Sulima for a visit. A formal

cooperation agreement between KSMI

and MNTC was signed on the 18.03.2011.

The Heavy lift simulator in Kherson is

part of  a larger project that includes 

modernisation of  the training facilities of

KSMI. It will also provide KSMI with a

training unit that holds a water basin for

survival training and helicopter under

water escape training (HUET)  as well as

life boat and fire fighting facilities as

“MNTC Manila training in the ECDIS simulator”

“Visit of   Minister Sulima in MNTC Manila”

“18.03.11 signing the agreement between KSMI and

MNTC”

Ukraine, the Kherson district and KSMI

on 17

th

February 2011.

Maritime Resource Management

(MRM) project in Ukraine 

What’s new about MRM? The project,

equally supported by DEG, develops as

planned and MRM courses for our senior

officers are being conducted regularly.

Since the existing 2 Workshop Leaders

that conduct the MRM courses in the

Ukraine are not enough, additional work

shop leaders were trained by the Swedish

Club Academy on 15

th

of  February in

Odessa. Mr. Martin Hernqvist from the

Swedish Club Academy conducted the

training of  6 Workshop Leaders of  

Marlow Navigation Training Center

Ukraine, 5 Workshop Leaders of  KSMI

and another 8 Workshop Leaders from

other Training Centers in Ukraine.

As part of  the same project, MRM 

principles are implemented into the 

academic curriculum of  KSMI and into

the Maritime Education in Ukraine. 

June 2011

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8

“17.02.11 100 Kherson cadets with laptops”

mandatory training requirements for 

offshore crew. Our plans are to transfer

the expertise from the building of  the 

offshore unit in Kherson to MNTC

Manila at some point where we intend to

establish similar training unit in the 

future.  Thus both training organisations

will cross-fertilize each other with 

technologies and know-how. 

The HUET simulator project, is 

supported by the DEG and provides

to the 100 best students of  the second

year in KSMI with a laptop. The hand -

over ceremony of  laptops has 

followed the official signing of   the four

party agreement of  cooperation between

Marlow, the Ministry of  Education of

“HL simulator  layout Kherson”

“HUET simulator layout Kherson”

June 2011

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We secured the support of  the Ministry

of  Education and of  the Kherson State

Regional Administration and following

their order KSMI and other Ukrainian 

educational institutions have created a

working group to follow an action plan

aiming the implementation of  MRM. 

MRM training in other locations

MRM in Russia

The MRM courses in Russia are running

as planned with the same intensity as in

2010 in all locations where we have our

recruiting offices. We are receiving  very

good feedback from the participants of

this high level training. 

MRM in Lithuania 

Another location where the MRM course

was planned to take place is Klaipeda,

Lithuania. The first MRM course for

management level officers was organized

with the assistance of  our colleagues from

“Gretimybe” in May. The course was 

conducted by Capt. Dmitry Ablogin of

our office in St. Petersburg– Russia.

MRM in Poland

It’s two years already that the MRM

courses are running in Poland. In April

13-15th another MRM course took place

in Szczecin. 

Please contact your local agent for latest

planning of  MRM courses and other

training activities available.

Increasing training activities in 

Marlow Navigation Vladivostok

Increasing training activities in Marlow

Navigation Vladivostok-Russia.

A number of  training courses were 

introduced recently in our manning

agency in Vladivostok. The list of

training courses includes:  

- ISM and Risk Assessment training

- PSC and New Inspection Regime (NIR) 

training

- SATPRO for marine officers.

- ANTIPIRACY 

The courses are conducted as in-house

lectures by a well known marine expert in 

Vladivostok. He was working as surveyor,

ISM auditor, consultant in marine 

“Odessa MRM workshop leaders training day”

“KSMI-Kherson working group for implementation

of  MRM to the academic curriculum”

in March 2011. The final aim of  the

project is gradual application of  the

methodology to all cadets in MSU.

Maritime Labour Convention,  2006

In our previous issues we have advised

you about the MLC 2006 developments.

Initial plans indicated  that the Maritime

Labour Convention, 2006, would come

into force in  August 2012.  Due to the

fact that so far only 12 countries have 

ratified the  convention, it is expected that

most probably  the implementation will

be delayed further and will come into

force in the end of  2012.  We will keep

you informed about the developments. 

Article Provided by:

MN CYPRUS

June 2011

8th Issue

10

“Marlow Vladivostok English training class”

accidents investigations and teacher in

Maritime State University.

English Courses for ex-crew

is another

upgrading training provided in our 

manning agency in Vladivostok for the

last 2 years. 

All courses are running on a daily basis

and are free of  charge.  Additional 

information about the courses you can

find on the website of  the agency

http://www.megmars.com/.

Maritime English Training project in 

Maritime State University of  

Vladivostok (MSU) 

In year 2010 we arranged an English 

language teaching consultant to introduce

new methodology (the communicative

approach) to make English teaching in

MSU more effective. The English 

communicative approach project was 

initiated for long term improvement of

onboard English communication skills of

Russian cadets and covering the STCW

requirements and industry expectations

for English language knowledge of

prospective officers. 

Our positive experience from the 

implementation of  the new English

methodology into the regular academic

curricula for the cadets of  KSMI –

Ukraine where the project is running 

already 2 years was shared with the 

management and the teachers of  

Maritime University in Vladivostok 

during a series of  meetings and seminars

June 2011

8th Issue

11

S a f e t y   a n d   S e c u r i t y   o n   B o a r d

Regulations Update - Bridge 

Navigational Watch Alarm System

(BNWAS)

Under SOLAS Reg 19, Bridge 

Navigational Watch Alarm Systems will

become mandatory for newbuilding 

vessels with keel laid on/after the 1

st

of

July 2011 and for existing cargo vessels

the system is to be installed before the

first annual safety equipment survey after

the 1

st

of  July 2012 for vessels of  3000 grt

and above. 

The BNWAS control panel is located on

the bridge and monitors the awareness of

the OOW (Officer of  the Watch). It will

also detect any kind of  disability of  the

watchkeeping team that might lead to a

casualty. 

The function is very simple. The Master

sets the timer interval for a period of  

between 3 – 12 mins. This is the 

frequency with which the system must be

reset by the OOW in order not to activate

a visual alarm. If  the alarm is not 

acknowledged within set time periods, a

first stage audible alarm is activated on the

Bridge.  Further, if  there is no response

on the Bridge, a second stage alarm in the

back up OOW or Master’s cabin and then

a third stage alarm throughout the Crew

accommodation will be sounded. The

BNWAS also has an emergency ‘push’

button call function so that help can be

summoned to the bridge in the event of

an emergency. 

The alarm can be locked with a key

(on/off), which is under the control of

the Master so it is not possible to switch

the unit off  without his permission. 

Manual-function mode allows the Master

to choose when he will switch the system

on and off. 

Auto-function allows the system to be 

automatically switched on whenever the

auto-pilot or hand steering system is 

activated.  In pilotage waters, this may be

a nuisance since the Bridge is fully

manned so procedures generally stipulate

that the system shall be in use ‘at sea, with

the vessel underway on passage’ when the

OOW may be alone on the Bridge. 

It is important to note that the BNWAS

regulation does not replace the 

requirement to have a lookout on the

Bridge from sunset to sunrise. 

Further information on BNWAS can be

found in MSC.128(75).

You can view the layout of  a BNWAS on

the next page. 

June 2011

8th Issue

12

Photo showing typical layout of  a BNWAS

Article Provided by:

MN CYPRUS