JOURNAL
ENTRY : August 15, 2016 Monday
Location :
Enroute to Malaysia
There has
been a sudden change of schedule, Originally this ship was supposedly meant to
be in the Chinese dry docks for ship repair. Now new news came in that China
will be scrubbed out and the new location for ship repairs will be in
Singapore.
Now here's
more of the problem, being in Singapore for ship repairs is a hassle compared
to china and the latest news also suggested that the crew here have to enter
and clean up black oil residues inside the cargo tanks before dry dock, hinting
that the next set of job will be messy and coverall wasting. If so this will be
the case then good luck if some of us have enough coveralls left and industrial
soap to use for the work,
Another
thing that I had to worry about is the permanent tropical hot weather in
Singapore, Although this is not blazingly hot compare to UAE Fujairah area and
the weather here is almost identical to the Philippines (probably around 30
degrees celcius or so on average temperature), it does not mean that its
comfortable working outside. Probably I have to bring out my water canteen yet
again and use every available "anti-heat" techniques I have at the
moment. It's also obviously that I have to wear my safety helmet all the times
again because superintendents will be visiting this ship very often from here
on till it gets out of Singapore area
Anyway its
always like this in the whole Asia Pacific area , the weather will be
permanently warm till the next ice age, and this is one of the primary reasons
why I hate being here in the pacific. If I'm correct the weather will be very
warm all the way till japan area up until September to October.
Being in
Singapore for ship repairs is more problematic than having ship repairs in
china, as it meant more work for the crew. We don’t mind the work but the thing
is that salaries here will not change and will remain fixed.
Some of
Co-workers here are hopeful that some sort of "extra" pay will be
made available about this "tank cleaning" work, but I don’t want to
get they're hope's up on this one because this principal cant
compensate us on our "overtime" rate pay in the first place, - if
they can't pay us properly on our regular salaries, then let alone the
"extra pay" for the tank cleaning work. Seriously I think
Norstar will not even bother to pay us at all here, and judging from what I'm
looking , they eventually will. Shame that my co-workers here have already been
around longer than I had been as a sailor and yet they are dense enough and
still don’t know exactly the reality of what's going to happen. Anyway I just
keep my mouth shut about this and let them figured it all out, As for me I'm not enthusiastic nor even
optimistic about what will happen on the next few days, the only thing I care
about is get the fuck out of here as soon as possible, hopefully at least by
December or January .
In
other news
By
around late afternoon, I was told by the Chief mate to tell the other five
riding crew that they should go to the bridge at 6pm. I have no idea why they
are being called by I bet my bottom dollar that it has something to do about
their contracts and related to their stay here on this ship.
