SPACE CONSERVATION

August 21, 2018 Tuesday

Enroute to Singapore

"Vanguard --> The position of greatest advancement or importance, leading position on any position or field"

"Vanguard" is definitely a Japanese made ship , even at first look I could easily tell. The architectural Japanese concept of minimalism and space conservation is evident amongst the structures of this ship. Almost everything here is miniaturized. Cabins, Laundry rooms, toilets, working spaces even at the bridge etc.

This maybe a cool concept back in land, however if you're a Filipino this concept is not ideal as Filipinos need a much bigger space to move around with. Everything here in view as a Filipino is cramped and not enough leg room. Even the pipings here have a lower vertical clearance which I might think that the Japanese who built this doesn’t have a human height of more than 5 and a half feet tall . For me I'm almost close to 6 feet and every time I had to go over on the other side of the ship (left to right , vice versa) I had to literary crouch down and bend my spine every now and then just to get on the other side. Really punishing for my knees.

Anyway "Vanguard" is the newest ship , I had sailed with so far and from the time writing this, the ship is just barely 2 years old (launched at October 2016). Almost absolutely rare to find rust in the deck area , and if there is rust its almost very small and not noticeable, Practically almost low maintenance. Most of the time the only maintenance job I could think of as of the moment which we had been doing for weeks is mostly painting.

In other news ….

I just found out a few moments ago that every week here has a drill, and same goes also on cabin inspection. So basically I had to deal with this complication for now for the next 8 months till my contract finishes.  Anyhow it's no surprise for me since the senior officers here are "uwak's" , usually when this people are around - they prefer more in meddling other people's business than doing their work and what are they being paid for. They spell and bring trouble for Filipino sailors.

"Uwak's" are so obnoxious that a majority of Filipino sailors population dislike them (I myself included) and these folks keep getting offensive that its even reported that most Filipino crew refuse to join a ship when they find out that ship officers are "Uwak's" . Even on recruitment in companies, some Filipino applicants , turn down job offers when the interviewer tells them that the principal has an "Uwak" presence. (and eventually some companies lie and hid the fact to job applicants that there are "uwak's" in their principals).

( Now I understand clearly why my fellow Filipino co-workers in "Eagle Boston" acted so harshly when they found out that there were "Uwak" officers rather than Myanmar ones. )

In the afternoon we had a drill and for a long time , I haven't worn a fire fighting suit (except on the training center) and not even shell's harsh and punishing policies were enough to make me even wear one. But this time around, I wore it and there is no pressure coming from my co-workers this time, I just did it voluntarily and I'm happy that no one here is saying any bad comments on me donning a fireman's outfit, and I'm glad no one did - if anyone does , then I don’t give a fuck and I'm old and experience enough to handle myself. 

FIRST SUNDAY IN A LONG TIME

August 20, 2018 Monday

Enroute to Singapore

Having half day work on Saturday and off work on Sundays really helps a lot as rest days and stress removal from work here. Compared to my previous employer "UPL - Shell" which have serious rest hours issue and they dont let they're crew to have rest days.  

As of the moment I'm satisfied and grateful that there is an actual rest days here, and it’s the first Sunday I have in a long time to have actually rested.

On news around this ship.,

I have heard some grim rumours from an oiler here that other ships here on the "TCC" fleet have brutal working conditions and that this is the one and only ship in the tanker fleet that has a lax policies. Based on the rumor I heard from him, the work there was so demanding that other crew nicknamed them "Training Center". Probably I surmise that this is because of the presence of "Uwak" ship officers there. From what I heard aside from demanding work load, the crew on those ships are being forced to take computer based lecture test often., and they use the excuse of "Safety training" as a means to make life difficult and put more strain on the crew there.

From what I heard from the oiler one such example is a ship named "KWK Excelsus" , the ship I was originally assigned to go until I was reassigned to another ship on the last minute. ( Thankfully the reassignment was a blessing, otherwise I would be facing again yet another " near shell company" working conditions yet again.)

Hearing that rumor from oiler makes me rethink again about my short term plans here on this company and principal. I had a swirling thought again that maybe I might consider to getting transferred to another principal, just to avoid those damn persky "Uwaks" or better yet find another new company that has no presence of any "uwaks"

After all if I heard correctly from the Oiler, only this principal in this company has an active presence of "Uwaks" and other principals have zero and "uwak" free working environments. The rest of the other principals from what I heard are managed by Europeans and have European ship officers ( which meant better treatment of Filipino crew and less oppressive working policies)

Whatever the case maybe, My Plan here on this ship is to have at least two contracts to erase my bad rep on the resume, afterwards the third contract is optional and heavily depends on the result of the second contract. The only main objective I have here is to get a U.S. visa and finish the second contract. If in any case I'm unable to secure a valid U.S. Visa , (which they won't even bother to give me one) . I'd definitely leave and find another better company - One which doesn’t have "Uwaks".

Mostly this campaign I'm working with is just plainly a "Reclamation" , just back tracking on filling up my financial losses on the previous two disaster campaigns (Cf Sharp and UPL-Shell). I suppose that sailing on this for a while might help recover my losses before moving on to the next company.

The only thing I could guarantee is there will be a second campaign here  , just to erase the bad reputation on me resume.

On other concerns ….

Since the policies here are not as hard as "UPL - SHELL" ., I might be planning to get a camera and take pictures all over the ship as part of my survey. And if all goes well I might be even able to post it on the social media as a means to distribute information.           

EARLY SURVEYS OF TCC

August 17, 2018 Friday

Enroute to Singapore

News came by coming from my house and apparently it looks like that things went bad when I left. Based on what my sister told me flood destroyed nearly more than half of our house appliances and the flood height was even higher than it was on typhoon "ondoy" ten years back.

I'm not sure on how high is the extend of the damage caused by the flood but I reckon I might consider investing on life jackets in the future and air seal tight containers for protect on electronic devices., After all I never expect that the flood would be that high after ten years.

In other news …

Life in Vanguard seems to be peaceful , and less busy compared to any other ship I've been around so far. I'm still adjusting on the daily routines here on this ship and observing carefully their schedules.

From what I learned a few hours ago , "Tool box talk" starts at 7.30 am in the morning and coffee break, lunch break, midafternoon break, and work end , starts at exact time compared to any of my previous employers which start 15 minutes early. Anyway exact time water breaks doesn’t bother me and it's just minor. Another thing that I might add is the "maxicare" private health card insurance that  recruitment brags to TCC is mostly a sham. From what I heard to O.S. Chris , the chance a sailor only gets to have this maxi care is when he has already signed up for three contracts. So in other words , it's not available for me since this is my first contract with them

I'm not really bothered in not getting a maxicare heath insurance as this option is only available when something bad happens to me (like an accident), so it's not a problem with me and I'm fine with that. In any case as based on my experience on several shipping companies , they usually never tell what the catch on their so called "Perks"

On work schedules ., apparently TCC principal is lenient , Sundays are off work, while Saturday is basically half day work and Week days like Monday to Friday have normal working schedules starting 7:30 till 5pm. And the day before and the day after mooring is automatically rest day.

As for the supply of water and other necessities , it looks like that mineral bottle and such here is sold on the bond store and is not given freely. Again this is only trivial on my part , since I have my salary at my disposal to cope with on the cost.

I'm fine with the 1270 USD per month salary as an O.S. , Its not plenty but its sufficient here to cover up my losses after two disastrous campaigns. (CF Sharp - Norstar, and UPL-Shell)

Speaking of water , the normal water here that is supplied comes from a fountain hook up in a filter (which in turn is hooked up on the fresh water supply). I'm not exactly sure if the filter here does its job as what local folks here say , the water coming from that taste a bit different like a metallic taste. (rust maybe ??) . Whatever it may be the situation on water is similar to the incident "EAGLE BOSTON" which I encountered two years back. If the crew didn’t complained about it, the Norstar management wouldn't even bother to respond and resolve it .

Another problem about this Principal "TCC" (called Tai Chon Cheang Steamship CO H.K. LTD) in O.S.M. , is the presence of "Uwak's" . Although it’s a lesser extent and the place is not entirely overrun by them compared to my previous employer UPL - Shell.,  its still doesn’t mean that they're not a threat. Most Filipino sailors avoid companies who have "Uwak's" , I know so because , "Uwak's" are difficult people to deal with, and they treat Filipino's worst. Here on TCC I had heard rumour's that filipino crew avoid this principal like the plague not because of the salary but because the presence of "Uwak's".

Personally I myself don’t like any presence of "uwaks" on a company , and would rather prefer Europeans. For me they are one of the worst vermin to infest a shipping company, It’s the primary reason why I left my two previous employers in the first place because of "uwak" policies are very oppressive and anti - Filipino.    

Aside from that work load here for an "O.S." sailor is a bit on the borderline with an A.B., here when on it comes to port. I'm not exactly sure if this is a policy given by the Indian Management or just a company policy.

Any Filipino crew who would be sign up here on TCC principal would notice that this principal and company is stingy ( "KURIPOT" sa tagalog). They don’t bother to give filipino crew's a travel allowance when they join the ship and they don’t put the crew on a transit hotel, after or before a flight. They immediately put the crew straight away on the airport. 

READJUSTING

August 15, 2018 Thursday

Enroute to Singapore

72 hours have now passed since my arrival on this ship., and I'm still adjusting life back at the Oil tanker.

For a start , I'm having motion sickness again but not as severe as during my early years as a sailor. Nevertheless its still unpleasant being sea sick again, probably because I got too comfortable on the LNG life were the ship rarely has a "rolling" movement.

Anyway despite the modern and complete equipment in the LNG , I'm still thankful being here in the liquid tanker than a gas tanker, UPL - Shell (My previous employer) . Is still far too brutal and too oppressive for a typical Filipino sailor. There is no force on earth that would make me go back on that god forsaken company.

Liquid tankers may not be as abundant or as well equip as UPL Shell gas tankers , but at least here THERE IS FREEDOM.

For the news on work.

Discharging operation in Perth Australia, went along fine and there is almost little to no problems for me handling my job. ISPS work here (guard duty on the gangway) is a piece of cake., no incidents whatsoever.

As for the discharging ops , I still have a few adjusting on some work here mostly related to piping systems throughout the entire deck area,. I don’t think those piping systems would be problem on me at all , I just need to be well acquainted on were its located.

For the moment , the first impression I had in working in Vanguard is generally positive. But I still have to be on my guard as usually positive things is just a tip of the ice berg and there's a huge possibility that the "dark side" is well hidden. For now I have to be always on guard .    

VANGUARD FLORA AND FAUNA

"The ship approaches. from this distance, it holds similarity to the environments back on land. I must not take comfort on this. From comfort comes weakness and that is something I cannot abide. Although we have prepared for the world below, it will not be enough. If we are to survive and last, we need to learn more. To be vigilant. To adapt."

--Unknown Filipino Sailor---

August 14, 2018 Tuesday

Perth, Australia

Here is the overall details I had found out on my deployment on this ship (and company).  I'd category it on a pro's and cons  criteria

The first and foremost appeal of this ship and company is SALARY , which is 1270 USD for an OS like me. 

Second most appealing fact is that this is practically a new ship which was only released from the shipyard last October 2016, roughly just two years old while writing this . Since this is just a new ship , expect that the facilities and equipment here is still shiny and brand new. 

Third part that appeals is that this ship is permanently based on AUSTRLIA and is rumored on the information I had gathered on the internet that it is being used as some sort of floating storage tanker and rarely goes on a voyage and I had checked also the records based on the ISPS logbook , it is indeed had only a few trips and mostly stays in Perth,  Australia.

ON STRANGER TIDES

August 14, 2018 Tuesday

Perth, Australia

"The ship approaches. from this distance, it holds similarity to the environments back on land. I must not take comfort on this. From comfort comes weakness and that is something I cannot abide. Although we have prepared for the world below, it will not be enough. If we are to survive and last, we need to learn more. To be vigilant. To adapt." 

----Unknown Filipino Sailor ------

Probably this is my shortest vacation ever recorded , and as of today while typing this entry , I'm just roughly 83 days that have passed since I formally left UPL - Shell  company to be here on this new company. 

Personally I never thought that I would have a replacement job too soon after my employment on UPL - Shell fell off on its ass. I was expecting that I would be off on the job for probably a few months or maybe as far as even close to a year like what happened on my transition phase from CF Sharp to UPL - Shell.

After all the reason I started out looking for work early was the fact that my U.S. Visa had already expired and that chances of employment without a U.S. Visa would be more difficult. Another reason why I started out early was that my money have already been depleted as soon as after a month. It was too soon for me to ran out of money, and whatever I had earned with was spent only in replacing equipment that I had used from my previous employer.

I found out via message on facebook saying that there is an opening for the position of O.S. and based mostly of the source of information I found out via face book, accepts applicants without a U.S. Visa and to make it more interesting is that they're financial bank they use is BDO.

Anyway now that the fiasco in UPL - Shell is sorted out and I am now here. The principal they assigned to me is called T.C.C. (tai cheon chen) , which is a Hong Kong based on the company profile I had read during on Google search. After a few process of interview and computer based test I was endorsed here and went off to the TCC liaison office located nearby (located near Victoria building , same building were far east maritime training center is located) , where I was interviewed by Captain Sicat. It took me a lengthy interview which lasted more than an hour before finally being approved.

The whole process of me finding work took only as little as three weeks , and before I even know of it , I was already being scheduled and lined up on the TCC ship , So on the eleventh day of August 2018. I was put on a fight to join this ship.

UPL - SHELL / NAKILAT REPORT

People from the social media often tell me that I should refrain from posting any negative comments about company. The problem about the seafarer life in the Philippines is that it's too dogmatic and too Fascist ., you can almost criticize everything save for the shipping companies, when it comes to discussing or even mentioning negative remarks on this - it is immediately labelled as "TABOO" as if like their authority are absolute, and should not be questioned at all

I remember an old saying in history channel about the history of European monarch or the roman catholic church in medieval times.  "Absolute power means Absolute Corruption"

For now I will discuss point here about the good points first in this company , Their selling points

• Both local Manning Company and its principal are generous (at least while you're still in the philippines). They will treat new hires to a hotel room and pay for everything.
• Their ships are one of the most advance and modern
• Well-known name for working credentials
• 6 Months contract
• Allotment is never delayed and arrive early.

• Almost no age requirement

For those who don’t want to know the dark side and negative comments . DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS LINE

• 7am to 7pm Working hours, overworked and underpaid There are no rest days on their ship, crew will work Sundays till Saturdays

• Filipino Crews here are practically moochers and booth lickers (sipsip sa filipinong salita at palakasan)

• CONTRACT RELATED ISSUES, Deceptive Contracts (you sign up a contract as a regular crew and end up being a riding crew , worst part they never mentioned the contract changes and you will only knew when you're onboard their ship, contract doesn’t even say specifically that you're a riding crew )

• "Uwak" Officers and "UWAK" Policies

• UNFAIR TREAMENT , Crews get fired over and sent home immediately over the simplest things without due process, like brining a cardboard cutter onboard , drinking beer while on shore leave, any form they consider a violation of their personal interpretation to "safety" - and yes they fire crews immediately without any due process , this how iron fisted the management is.

• Safety Equipment Advance but NOT WELL SUPPLIED or REGULARLY TO CREW . PPE is modern and yet they will never issue you a new one., In other words your practically stuck with the same PPE for the whole duration of the contract. If you really want to be issued a new PPE,. You will have to first show the old PPE you got before being issued another one and debate over it whether you should be given or not. 

• Too many Regulations and Rules of "SAFETY" (safety is questionable on the fact that they are too controlling and too severe , plus exaggerated safety policies. No medicines allowed , Injuries have to be concealed because the principal avoid paying for insurance,  etc

• NO SHORELEAVE and Almost impossible to get one if not limited. All persons who wish to have a shore leave must first sign a form a week or two weeks before port and have to wait for approval.

• ANONYMOUS REPORTING SYSTEM . There exist an anonymous reporting system in shell that acts like a dreaded "secret police" , almost anybody can be fired on the spot and be sent home immediately if they get reported by any anonymous crew member if they find you're doing "unsafe" act. They just fill out a form and submit it and it directly goes to the principal. The unsuspecting victim then receives a plane ticket and be fired., they say that he was fired because of committing questionable "unsafe" acts.

• POOR TO NO PROMOTION TO CREWS   . Based on their odd and repressive working standards, Transition and promotion from one rank to another is almost practically stagnant. Before and O.S. get promoted to A.B. , he could be dealing with a lot of years serving on different ships before they would even consider promotion., aside from that The O.S. rank here is just practically "By paper" and that the real work and duties he would be doing are already as an A.B. ., To simply say youre hired as an O.S. and yet unofficially you're doing work as an A.B. and their paying you less than what contract you signed for. If a poor person is really desperate to get a promotion ., a lot of paper work should be done first (aside from work) ., 

END OF BT SEMINAR

July 14, 2018

Seminar in ZRC took very quick and 2 days was very fast if the company I'm hanging with is interesting. I had always thought that this seminar with just go along professionally and go along with our own lives without any attachment, guess I was wrong on that part. Probably because the class I encountered with was majority of it coming from passenger crew and that the crew there tend to be more civilized than cargo related crew.

On the second last day of the seminar (Monday) ., everybody had to come along on the attendance because "Mr. Benigno" was reassigned to a different class to teach., no more easy going when it comes to the seminar. Unfortunately for the class the instructor that was assigned wasn’t as lenient as Mr. "benny" and was a totally douche when it comes to handling people ., ABOSULTELY NO CELLPHONES around entirely even during breaks. Some of my classmates were unlucky and got scolded over this cellphone policy.,  A lot of people don’t like Mr. Santiago around and more than half the class hates him.

Turns out why Mr. Santiago was such a douche was because he's came from the infamous PMMA ( Philippine Merchant Marine Academy) and folks coming there typically lack in manners, I myself avoid these people like the plague. Of course people from the passenger crew don’t exactly know the real deal from folks coming from PMMA., for them this person is just imaged as a person with attitude problems.

Anyway luckily for us at the class ., Mr. Santiago gets only to be an instructor for only a couple of hours, he will be replaced after that by an assessor which basically will handle the exam for this seminar.

As expected the exam for the seminar was easy , everyone passed. Exams on this seminars should be taken lightly after all , I haven't seen any person flunked his / her seminar exam.

Now that the lectures on this seminar is over ., the practical exam will be followed on the next day. The practical part of this seminar is very easy , it has no exams and the only objective to accomplish here is sign the attendance sheet. The only problem I see is that I have to carry some working clothes for the seminar and that I have to wake very early to be on the meeting area , so I won't miss out the bus.

Its unfortunately that I won't be able to ride on the metro train this time and I have to commute from marikina all the way to ermita malate area since the LRTA trains isn't open yet at 5am. I did make it in time and almost all of my classmate did arrive as well except for two folks "Leni" and some other guy who will directly go on the training site.

We arrived on the training site at about 7am and immediately we dressed ourselves on working clothes for the drill,. The instructor on the site told us on what to do in the drills and such and what we should expect. The first drill we had was the fire drill , it was easy and just went by in a snap. And after that we took on a small break.

During the break I found out that one of my classmates came from the dreaded PMMA school , and I said to him that for a PMMA kid , he's a bit more friendlier than the rest of his kin

Now the second drill exercise we had was difficult on my part normally because I cannot swim and swimming drill for me is such a pain. Even with a life jacket I can be easily distinguished from the class because of my inept skills on water, good thing for me this will not be a problem on this seminar despite me having to jump on about 4 meters in height to the water and swimming my way toward the floating platform.

At about 2pm , the whole drill exercise is finished and we proceed back to the training center via bus., we waited for an hour or 30 mins for our certificates to be released  and after that we headed off in our own different ways     

BASIC TRAINING IN ZRC

July 08, 2018

Seminar on "BASIC TRAINING" started out over a week ago in ZRC., and honestly It took me by surprise that this seminar is the most interesting of all seminars I took so far.

Hanging out with cruise line crew Trainee's is much more entertaining than folks from cargo crews and honestly they are more liberal and easy to talk with compared to trainee crew coming from cargo ships which are plagued with Ego problems (tankers, bulk , gen cargo etc) . They're so liberal that they are not afraid to speak out on what inside their minds and they just act normally as what folks back in land behave. I could really tell the difference from trainee's coming from cargo ships to trainee's coming from cruise line / passenger ships.

 They have good social views favoring reform and progress. Personally I like my fellow cruise line trainee's here in this class and they are not bound by the autocratic environment (which is typical in cargo ship crews). It didn’t matter to them what is the background of a person, as long as were working together. Reminds me a lot of my time when I was still working back in the call center., People there are liberal and respect each person's civil rights.

I envy them and wished that the environment on how people behave in cargo ships should be like this., if that ever happens - then being a sailor in cargo ships is  a lot more meaningful and a lot better to live in. I'm very lucky to have that 95 percent of this class came from the cruise line / passenger ships.

Within two days this training seminar is going to end and I will certainly have mix positive feelings about this class., Overall I wished that I should have known more of them better  and longer before reality check comes in on me.

C.M.P. COMPLETE

For the moment, I'm currently in disposed on finishing phase one of my employment plans. Which is updating my training seminars. The first seminar I took is "CONSOLIDATED MARPOL" subject which is basically a compressed series of training seminars before. Years back getting  MARPOL certificate in the Philippines is per "annex" , which meant getting the whole subject thru six certificates (which is more costly because you pay the whole training six times) . Glad that now they have compressed it and not only do I have to pay it only once but the cost now in getting this has drastically been reduced, no thanks to stiff and fierce competition among training centers.

Now I only got the certificate by 850 PHP in ZRC training center located in Ermita manila (just beside U.S. Embassy). Fairly good price compared to my previous training center which is PNTC that cost around 6,000 PHP.

Honestly the whole training was a pain in the ass., because of its cheap price. They scheduled me to a night class which later on the last day shifted to a morning class, and ended me staying only on the house for three hours. Aside from that there's also a plague alert when one of my fellow trainee's arrived in classes with a high fever and rashes., Thankfully the instructor sent him home early and as a bonus he won't have to take a remedial class for it. 

Anyway due to budget concerns ., I will only take two training subjects. "Consolidated MARPOL" and "BASIC TRAINING" which is previous called "SOLAS" ., Only the important ones. The rest if there will be any trainings I had to take, will probably be announced on the next company I'd be hanging out with. If with luck ., I hope they won't announce any more new trainings.

Consolidated Marpol subject is now finished and the next subject will be Basic Training. It will take roughly another week and a half to finish this whole agenda before I move in on the next phase which is job hunting.