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.
