Rumour and
intrigue keep coming up around. Guess that any ship with a Filipino crew will
definitely have these and from my point of view I haven't encountered any ship
without it. For the moment the main news running around CONTI Greenland is
about the upcoming disembarkation of me and mess man montoya, a lot of
speculation that both of us might disembark in Gibraltar or in Rotterdam
Netherlands.
Earlier it
was thought that the crew change will be in
Gibraltar, given that this ship will received another set of
"irregular" crew members for the soon to be retro fitting of this
ship, but now it seems that speculation has moved it to be in Rotterdam. From
what I heard arrival in Netherlands will be in December 5th this is only on the
arrival part and doesn’t include the time of anchorage and actual time we get
off on this ship and into the airplane. My rough estimate is probably by second
week of December me and mess man montoya will be in the Philippines
Speaking of
which, I had no idea why Mess man Montoya is in such a hurry to get off in this
ship - not exactly sure in his ulterior motive. In addition Mess man Montoya
speculates that captain kolev has something to do about the cancellation of
disembarkation in Gibraltar, I don’t exactly know if that’s true since this is
purely speculation
By the way
I had no idea on the matters regarding the soon retrofitting since this is
mostly an "Engine" department business. For us deck department ,
these set of irregular crew will be staying at the Suez cabin for the duration
of the work and the rest will be staying on some extra rooms on the
accommodation.
In other
matters …..
Bosun
Payopay seems to be unhappy lately, cant figured out why but I speculate that
this might be something to do on my upcoming disembarkation on this ship,
probably because Bosun payopay is part of the batch that should be included to
disembark in Rotterdam. Due to him being left out this and being omitted from
the crew change request this has caused a rift and friction between mess man
montoya and Bosun Payopay and eventually putting up intrigue on each other, He
seems to be pretty quiet lately about this matter , No idea what goes on his
mind though.
If I would
asked on what would be my opinion on this matter, I say I wouldn’t sent a crew
change request letter and my contract run along on its course - I'd wait for
NSB to send me a notice informing me to disembark . Unfortunately of course
messman montoya sent a crew change request pre-emptively and hasten our
disembarkation
Anyway
despite my opinion - it would be best I keep my mouth shut and choose my words
carefully, Being on-board a ship isn't exactly the same as it in back land
where a person can freely speak out . The environment here is way different and
very similar to conditions to that in a prison - minus only the violence and
killing, you cannot in anyway put a trust on any person on any information or
comments whatsoever. If I had something in mind , its best I think twice before
opening my mouth and always speak in neutral comments and decisions.
In other
news …
Had already
finished packing up my things, wasn't really that of a hassle rolling
everything up on my luggage - most of my stuff anyway is still packed from the
day I arrived here 5 months ago. For the record this ship is the shortest I had
worked since my job began , if my estimate is correct that id disembark on 2nd
week of December , my stay here is just 5 months and 10 days- assuming that I
disembark this december.
Anyway I'm
fine with that duration, and let it end that way. I had no quarrel with anyone
and didn't do anything stupid plus I'm not stressed out in anyway on work.
Working relations here stable and co-workers here pose little threat at all
compared to my previous ship CAPE TALLIN.
Currently
I'm busy cleaning my cabin in preparation for my soon disembarkation.
News on
work …..
Soon after
this ship was finished on Libya, were doing what we do best in maintenance.
Chipping , polishing , painting and usual stuff like any ordinary rank and file
employee in maintenance would do.
On Saturday
November 29, 2014 we opened up two fuel oil tanks located on the ship to
"Gas free" it (meaning
ventilate) . It's a usual procedure for any tanker ship to remove all toxic
fumes and vapours on any enclosed area, so that maintenance workers who would
go there won't drop dead from suffocation or poisoning. Anyway not my problem
since deck department here will not be involve in the retro fitting of this
ship, the 5 new crew members arriving in Gibraltar will be the one's doing all
the manual labour.
At about
10:30 am, we had an oil spill drill. Pretty boring stuff and did what my usual
task of carrying some "anti-oil pollution" equipment like a shovel
and a few mops. After the drill we proceeded to the crew mess for monthly
"safety meeting" which only discussed the already known 5 new crew
members and crew change.
Soon after
that Bosun Payopay , me and O.S. tan went to finish the work on the portable
vent machine to ventilate the Fuel oil tanks, everything was going along fine
until Captain Kolev arrived and meddled with Bosun Payopay decision on where to
place the vent machine. As a result the inlet water that powers the machine
burst and let out a fountain of salt water, Soaking Bosun Payopay , O.S. Tan
and Captain Kolev in the process. Me I managed to stay dry by hiding behind the
Vent machine and immediately shutting off the fire hydrant (vent machine is
powered by the fire hydrant, no electricity needed). Can't really paint on the
look on Bosun Payopay's face and Captain Kolev , They were obviously caught
surprise by the accident. Good thing I was wearing a face mask, so they didn’t
notice the smirk on my face, Anyway serves Captain Kolev right for meddling on
work and he got what he deserved hehehhe ;)
After that
the rest of Saturday and Sunday was free time and rest. Personally I liked the
idea that Saturdays are half day work and Sundays are totally rest compared to
some ships in Career Ship management and CSM have a more cruel and less
humanitarian approach. From what I heard on O.S. Tan tales some ships like for
example Cape Tampa and such have no rest days at all and crew there work
non-stop from Sundays to Saturdays and work from 6am till 6pm , and they only
give you roughly 130 hours of overtime work pay for it. 130 hours only ??? What
the hell ?!!!
Count that
on how many Saturdays and Sundays there are in a month plus calculate the 12
hour long work every single day and working hours will logically exceed the 130
hours - any person can logically figure it out that, however CSM only pays you
130 hours and it violates a standard ILO / STCW conventions about working and
rest hours. To simply say the soviet system of working standards is cruel,
repressive and totally unfair for any normal individual who has brains to
question the working practices by CSM.
Anyway for
the time being let's hope that my next ship will not be that bad , landing on a
nice ship is only by chance and luck.
