Some people say it's all about the money. And for me, it's about the money too, along with 98 other things why I love working on ships. So on one starry night, with a cold beer in my left hand and a few more bottles behind me, this idea popped into my head. I...
What’s the big deal when a person falls into the water? If you are a seaman, you can just swim to the nearest shore, right? Or you can wait for the ship to turn around and pick you up. But that is not the case. As a matter of priority, a man overboard alarm signal is...
At one point in our seafaring career, we all experience emergencies in one form or another. My first was a fire in the swimming pool while discharging gasoline in the Port of Amsterdam. Fortunately, I managed to survive and live on to tell the tale. Nobody knows what...
You might be rigging pilot ladders for many years already without knowing that your methods may not be correct. As a matter of fact, the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA) studied 3,322 pilot boarding arrangements and discovered that 13.43% of them are...
Marine meteorology is a branch of science that studies weather and climate as they apply to the ocean and the coasts. Studying the phenomenon happening at sea is very important. For one, the ocean comprises a huge part of our work environment. 70% of the earth’s...
An International Certificate of Vaccination (ICV) is a document that contains the record of your vaccination history. On a positive note, member states of the World Health Organization recognizes this certificate. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, seafarers and OFWs...
If you want to learn how to steer a ship, ask the people on board. They are more than ready to help you. However, theory is good but experience is something else. Being the person on the wheel teaches you many things. Being a helmsman can be very challenging. It's...
Dredging is the process of extracting or removing sediments and other materials under bodies of water and transporting them to another location. Extracted deposits from seabed includes silt, sand, soil, trash, mud, gravel, debris and marine organisms. Dredgers are not...
Merchant ships are the lifeblood of global economy. They move an immense number of goods that feed billions of people around the world. There are an estimated 74,000 vessels floating in many parts of the seas right now. We categorize them into different types of ships...
P/V Valves are part of a tanker ship’s primary venting device installed to avoid damage due to over or under pressurization of cargo tanks. This arrangement allows the tank to “breath” during pressure variations. P/V valves are built on many oil and product tankers of...
Inert gas system is one of the most critical component of a tanker vessel. Vessels using inert gas in their tanks are enjoying the benefits of safe operation against fire and explosion. No smoking on deck, no naked lights, intrinsically safe equipment only and always...
Tanker ships or commonly known as "tankers" in the maritime world, are special kinds of vessels designed to carry liquid cargoes in bulk. Anything of liquid form can be transported through these ships. Since there thousands of various liquid goods out there, there are...
New Year holds a special place in our heart. The holiday season brings everyone much closer as relatives and friends gather near to celebrate the coming of a new era. Seafarers aren’t different. We are normal people too and we enjoy family gatherings. It’s the most...
Philippines continue to dominate the world’s seafaring market in a recent joint study conducted by BIMCO and ICS. While the Russian Federation persists on the second spot, Indonesia, China and India respectively lands on the third, fourth and fifth place. Global...
As we are all aware today, quarantine guidelines for returning OFWs and seafarers are lighter compared to a few months ago. Here is my previous post about crew change in the middle of pandemic last year. The emergence of “Red, Yellow and Green Countries” added ray of...
Clock changes are part of seaman’s life. The first time I heard about the ship’s time being retarded was, well, a bit confusing. How could time be retarded when it only ticks and doesn’t think? Then I learned that it will be moved backwards to comply with the Daylight...
Crossing the equator should not be a big deal. This imaginary line is nothing special it only marks the boundaries of the northern and southern hemisphere. If you cross there, nothing really happens. You don’t get young, turn old or grow some scales. I remember...
Recognizing the importance of seafarers in keeping the global economy running, some European ports are now offering free Covid-19 vaccine to seafarers. The first COVID vaccine in the European Union started in Belgium last June 1. Around 2,200 seamen got their jabs in...
The largest ship owning countries are seafaring nations since ancient times. With their boats and simple sailing tools, they were responsible for allowing communities to flourish by trading goods from one port to another. As globalization sweeps around us, shipping...
Anchoring is an operation on board that involves dropping a metallic object with “claws” called the anchor. It is attached to a chain connected to the ship and held at the bottom of the sea. Safe and proper anchoring maintains the ship’s anchor and its fittings in...
After more than five years of implementation, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) finally ditches Management and Operational Level Courses (MLC and OLC). Under the shipboard organization, this course is applicable to deck and engine officers only. MARINA Advisory...
Coronavirus vaccines are now available in many countries especially in Europe and the US. In fact, they already started mass vaccination to flatten the daily rise of cases. Many countries are also slacking their quarantine measures as a means to restart the economy....
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) adapted its training requirements for maritime institutions to include blended learning or hybrid learning. As I wrote on my other article, hybrid learning is a combination of online learning...
Metro Manila is still the epicenter of jobs in our country. As the government slowly reopens the capital, many of us are planning to go back to the Metro and return to the jobs we knew. However, it's not like we used to be. Getting out of the province is not as easy...
Its the holiday season. As what we always here, its the most wonderful time of the year! But could this be also true for seafarers who spend Christmas on board? Throughout my seagoing career, I celebrated nearly half of it at sea. Some were pleasant while a few were...
A Bosun is an unlicensed head of the Deck Rating Department. He is primarily responsible for various deck operations on board. Generally, his job is to keep the vessel’s hull in good condition. Although he’s in charge of deck maintenance, he is also under the...
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