FIREWORKS

Entry log : November 22, 2017 Wednesday

Location : Enroute to Singapore

Due to work politics / policies here onboard, my "Side arm tool" is prohibited from being used. This setback adds more on my discomfort in working with UPL - Shell / Nakilat, on the fact that I had been using that equipment since I time and memoria when I became a seafarer few years back (since I was deck cadet way back 2010). Now that equipment will just on the corner of my cabin collecting dust for the rest of my contract - all because of tougher exaggerated "safety policies" here.  For now I'm stuck and left only with my wits on working here.

On this unfortunate events, I am now conducting research on some spy / stealth gadget equipment's which make me be able to use a small compact version of my tools and at the same time maintain concealment. I haven't thought of any suitable gear yet but its certain that I'd invest my time and effort in building one.

Latest news that came in is that there is an incident in the morning involving the Bosun and the "Algerian" Chiefmate. They had a big argument on the tool box meeting in the morning and even resulted to the bosun calling in the captain in order to resolve the dispute. Their argument was huge and I could only just stood silently and be amaze on how the exchange heated words,

Apparently based on the what I heard in the argument, the chief mate is complaining that the last time he visited the workplace he couldn't see people around and hinted that some crew might had took off and hid from work. Of course this has led to a heated misunderstanding as Bosun tells him that nobody ditched work and everybody was busy doing their job. The scene was spectacular seeing these two argue and when the captain came they were still arguing.   

In reality the Algerian chief mate's accusation was not baseless, Although almost all of the deck crew maybe off doing work , but on my case I was already inside my cabin hiding at around 5.30pm. It's not that I did it willingly , I didn’t saw any people around 5.15 to 5.20 pm so I mistook that they were already inside and went on the accommodation and then hid on the toiler area in the cabin until 5.55pm , I never went outside my cabin until 6.15pm just to make sure that nobody notices me. It was a blessing that this ship was huge that it's hard to keep track of people and took advantage of that situation.

It was already 6.15 and I was going down to the crew mess, then Admin officer "Fao" saw and called me ., he said that I should tell the Bosun to repairs the hinges on the locker room, because he can't sleep on the banging sound every time it opens and threaten that if I don’t he will closet the locker room and prevent access on it . (in other words I can use my standard working equipment). Admin ofiicer "Fao" was being an asshole and total dick just because of a minor issue. 

TRIP HAZARD

Entry log : November 21, 2017 Tuesday

Location : Enroute to Singapore

According to paper. Shell / Nakilat (along with UPL) has been bragging about safety culture shit and modernity when it comes to equipment and such. True ! They do have the most modern facilities and advance equipment I had seen so far. So advance that even normal liquid Tanker crews would drool over it. However despite their modernity. Working on UPL Shell / Nakilat is never comfortable and never enjoying - oh no , far from it.

Has people have heard of a term called "Over safety" ? . Few people in the maritime industry mention this and even on my part , I had only heard of this during my college years. To summary "over safety" is a term used when too much  safety equipment is put on that its already considered impractical and unsafe.

Recently I was assigned to the usual deck maintenance , which is usual chipping rust , polishing the area and painting it. Based on my experience here, it was a chore and troublesome doing the same job here compared to that in a liquid tanker. Here an ordinary task gets overly complicated because of too much safety equipment - ( that its more becoming of a hazard than a protection ) . It's so over safety that its already ridiculous. This is an example

POLISHING CHIPPED RUST AREA's

I have to wear the basic PPE, then on my helmet I have to attach a Visor and inside the visor I have to wear goggles. On my body aside from coveralls I have to wear a safety harness along with an leather apron and gloves. Bottom line I looked more of like a bomb disposal unit from the explosive ordinance division of SWAT

I'm forced to wore this too much safety equipment that I have a hard time moving and seeing visually. Aside from that the leather apron is a trip hazard when climbing  up pipes, not to mention I can't see well resulting to me having a lot of trouble accomplishing my work. Another thing that annoys me is that they overcomplicate things, aside from the annoyance of difficulty on movement - I have to be reminded that I should adjust my "safety Harness" every now and then, If I forgot to adjust some of my crew mates (or even ship officers) would zoom in and say to me that I should adjust my harness every few minutes or so, and super annoyance.

REVIEWING THE DARK SIDE

Entry log : November 17, 2017 Friday

Location : Enroute to Singapore

How is day to day life onboard an LNG tanker for me ? First and foremost , not all in UPL-Shell that they advertise are true. The reality is that it's just half as packaged and not really worth the effort to join their fleet. It didn’t surprise me to find out that something was indeed going on and I got good reasons to be suspicious, thankfully I have a natural talent of being one.

On my previous blog entry I have already establish that my theory was right and the truth behind why are they mass hiring O.S. ratings.

And here are some negative aspects I had noticed in just a few days' time, although the Filipino crew here are helpful on their fellow Filipino's (and I am thankful enough that they did) ., They're helpfulness are somewhat restrained as if something is wrong - and one thing I had notice is that they are afraid of something - something big which I suspect they are afraid of ship officers here. Here is some debatable facts.

Every time i turn the wheel of the fire hydrant, A.B. "art" is uneasy and scared over it.  Mumbling always about breaking the fire hydrant drill and point id be in big trouble if I break it. In a liquid tanker this may seemed harmless because we occasionally suffer equipment breakdown every now and then (especially on my previous ship and that's the reason why we're doing maintenance. If it breaks then just simply call Pump man and he'd fix it up.). I was puzzled why A.B. "Art" reacts like that as if like it’s a big deal and mortal sin if I break something.

Anyway the only logical reason I could think of , is that Filipino crew here are somewhat afraid of ship officers - and no matters how much they say that ratings here have their own voice. From my perspective it doesn’t look that way here and that things here are still backward - like in the old days. It was dismaying that the world has moved on and there is MLC and ILO , and yet here in UPL Shell / Nakilat principal  things here are still what it used to - way back in the 90's . Even other long time crew members are somewhat like this in some way and that they still think ship officers here still have the power of "life and death" were they can terminate a person's employment., even to the extent that even a simple and minor argument with any ship officer could be professionally deadly. (nowadays this practice has been banned thanks to MLC / ILO)
 

For now I will still write about what I had experience on work. What I can comment is that Filipino deck ratings here are unusually terrified when it comes to  Ship officers and terrified on the management as well. I am still establishing the link in why this is the situation.

  

POST WITHELD FOR THE TIME BEING (UNTIL MAY 2018)

Due to the sensitivity of information of my blog post, I will with held my blog post for the time being until May 2018.,

Obviously not all people / Philippine manning companies will like my post but i don't give a shit about them,  ... and to avoid any further trouble like what happened to my previous employer (CF Sharp / Norstar Ship Management) were they had to violate privacy just to get information against me and hunt me down, i will postpone all my blog post for 5 months . Just to be on the safe side

PARADISE LOST

LOG ENTRY NOVEMBER 16, 2017 Thursday

Location: Incheon, South Korea

After the long hurdle I went thru just to be here, I am now having second doubts about staying here on this company on a long term basis. As much as the demonstration of generosity shown while I was back in the Philippines., there is a grim reality and a "Dark side" on the UPL - Shell company and it only gets revealed on the last minute (or first few minutes onboard). I'd start first on my situation

I was right on my earlier suspicion (or theory) during induction seminar in the philipppines. Turns out The main reason why UPL Shell was "mass hiring" Ordinary Seaman position was the fact that most existing O.S. personnel they have already left on numerous reasons - ranging from work related thermal stress (due to the fact that the company is operating middle east to Asia) , down to certain weird strict policies imposed, some of which are very ridiculous and only being said for the ruse of "safety". If any by chance an unsuspecting sailor get caught up unintentionally ., there is a possibility that the sailor will be fired from the job over a minor and trivial reason. Bottom line there is no such thing as job security over exaggerated strict "safety" policies. Despite they advertise (or I am told) that ratings here have more democratic say when it comes to work, It always comes down to their rule "if you have a problem with our safety (exaggerated) practices, then you should find another company to work with" . Meaning it's not exactly a democratic process

So as a result on the exodus of their ratings was mass, so huge that they were hiring folks on that are almost utterly under qualified or even not qualified at all.

On my situation., there was a significant misinformation being told on new hires like me. I was never told that I was signing up on a "maintenance riding crew" and what even appears on my contract was a regular Ordinary Seaman position. Absolutely no one told me what I was exactly doing and only found out a few minutes went I stepped here on this ship.

Now that I'm a riding crew , its means that I'm currently a temporary crew member doing a specific difficult task which means , as I found out that id be actively here until "Dry docking" of this ship is finished. Whatever the case the whole plot is reveal why I was hired here. The only good or positive part about UPL-Shell is that the contracts are short which is relatively six months and if by chance I encounter any problems whatsoever - it will be very easy to correct and remedy with.

Also just to add, situation here is not as "full package" as advertised or in some case misleading. Supplies here are not apparently plentiful as what they mentioned during induction., what I saw first is that the menu and food supplies are no different from any tankers I had been previous with , be it chemical , product or this a gas tanker.

In regards to working culture here , the culture is not as lenient as what I experienced on before. Working schedules here are very long, as matter of fact almost every day here is a working day. Weekdays work here starts as early as 7.25 am (for the tool box meeting) and goes as far as 6pm based on what I heard. On weekdays , there is still work being conducted - Saturdays work is 8am to 5pm , while on Sundays is considered half day work. I should take note that this is the moment working schedule and will most likely be a lot worst (and hectic) as dry dock arrives by February or march.

Onboard internet here in Shell / Nakilat is somewhat limited and has only a cap of 4GB and an allowance of 2GB per two weeks. Although its quiet big even to be noticed ., it doesn’t mean that it allows access all the time the only fair treatment here is that at least it's free.

So overall to end my entry ., I have solved the riddle on why UPL-Shell is mass hiring Ordinary Seaman positions. They're were not hiring because they bought new ships , and they were hiring on the fact that most existing O.S. they have left.  So it proves my theory that they were mass hiring because they were mass firing on the other side., and I assume that they are fire people and use the scape goat excuse of "failing" safety policies

SHELL INDUCTION

After the long hassle in clearing my medical in halcyon medical clinic., i went on the long postponed Induction Seminar held by UPL shell

Honestly Induction seminar is more like an orientation meeting about UPL shell ., I was not expecting that they were generous on the accommodations and treatment and I don't get to see such generosity from my former employers like this. UPL Shell really knows how to make an impression on its employees and crew. They had us stayed at a 5 star hotel for the accommodation

They laid out all the in's and out, and Perks of joining them as a crew. and to compare their benefits are superior compared to other shipping companies out there plus they offer short contracts.

Despite all the glamour and perks of UPL Shell., i did find out that it also has a dark side of things- that promotion on a seafarers career here is very slow to the point that I'm thinking that its a stagnant.

Conference seminar room at the hew world hotel

Registrations starts at around 8am

In any case I will continue to observe and record the pro's and con's of joining their crew. Here are the pictures I took during the seminar.

MORE MEDICAL PENDINGS

It has been more than a week and yet my medical is still ongoing. Halcyon as expected is increasingly difficult to clear . Right now they keep dumping me will all sorts of medical pendings that they can think of just to squeeze every bit of money and I'm furious about this.

first halcyon said that my pendings were just simply going on the treadmill and Getting an Rapid PPD test. To the best of my efforts I did finished those pendings and even borrowed money from my younger sister, confident that after I had settled this , there will be no more follow ups after - just like what happened two years ago during my first encounter with halcyon.

However after clearing those test ., I manage to log on to the halcyon website to check my records and found out to my horror that I had another two more pending. One pending tells that I had to sign up for some sort of paper of "Pre-Hypertension" and the other says that I had to get some clearance from a pulmonologist from "halcyon" (which I suspect will be charging me with another yet again expensive fee). Whatever the case , Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is not making my medical exams any easier and their getting bolder than ever before in ripping off peoples wallets.

For now i had to ride along on these setbacks and see how this medical exam will conclude if its "fit" or "unfit" . In the mean time I have to ask help again on my sister about this and it add more financial burden to her.

OPT - 100 PHP

Dental appointment - 50 PHP

Threadmill - 1650 PHP ( Have to sign a document of pre hypertension)

Rapid PPD - 450 PHP  (have to get a medical clearance on HMHS)

In other news

Lately while I'm still waiting for help from my sister., I did some routine check on my equipment and see if I could as much as reduce the weight of my check in luggage and fit it in a very small back pack that my sister bought for me on my birthday. As of the moment early trials proved to be successful in cramming all those equipment on the new tactical bag, and the only challenge for me will be the electrical cords. My target goal is that my back pack should have less than 10 kilogram weight on my back pack., anywhere beyond 10 kilograms will be problematic for me in an emergency.

By the way the proposed new backpack that I will use on my new shipboard assignment will be a "military type" of back pack with molle attachments. In plain speaking it's more like a Transformer type of back pack and can have all sorts of  attachments .

THINGS TO PONDER

Despite doubts and skepticism on my medical result in halcyon., I had been thinking about the possibility that my health might be failing in the years that will come. The thing that bothers me was the recent medical pending that I had currently about my ECG result.

Apparently it says that I had some sort of blockage on my heart arteries., (well based on halcyons dubious medical result). I had been thinking that if there is a possibility that this might be true - then it's very much and sure that my time as a sailor is already near its end (or the beginning of its end), career wise and biologically wise that is.

Career wise in the sense that I'm already reaching the peak (and possibly the start of my decline) in my career and knowing that being a sailor in the Philippines is not the most stable job -  Its only logical to assume that I might already be on the edge of early retirement.

Biological wise ., I'm already in my middle age in an average human lifespan and at this time - it's in the normal lifecycle that some health problems will arise on this stage.

Now the question to me is "what am I going to do about this ?" (assuming its true)

Apparently my first logical action would be going back to the call center environment., after all that working industry has been a haven for workers who are considered to be Physically Unfit on normal . It's probably the remaining option for me in case the maritime industry decides that I'm no longer needed.

However as I said earlier the medical results in Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is somewhat dubious ., two years earlier I first encounter halcyon and it was the same problems., After that I went to three different medical clinics and they never hinted that I had these problems and now I'm back again on this same crappy clinic., I am again having problems. 

Proposed backpack id use on my next ship

PENDING MEDICAL TEST

Pre-employment medical exam went on as expected and as usual I'm not very enthusiastic about Halcyon Marine Health clinic knowing that this clinic is notorious for being a money gouging one. I had no trouble finding the clinic since I googled it a day before to know its location. The directions going there was basically I had to take a bus and drop off in "buendia" area in edsa and walk my way until I reach "Pacific star building" and turn right on the street.

I did finish the usual screenings like ECG, urinalysis , blood lab , x-ray etc. and finished all the test by around 2pm. During the medical exams I still brought along my old x-ray film inside my back pack just in case it might be needed - thankfully the x-ray staff inside the clinic told me that it's no longer needed since I was previously a patient here two years back.

The following day I had come back again to submit my stool sample and finding out any pending test that I had on the medical. (Apparently halcyon's online patients medical records wasn’t that updated until I finish first all the medical screenings., in other words I won't find out any problems until it's too late - so I had to be there in person just to ask them what seems to be wrong. )

The staff in halcyon was very rude this time ., starting off with the security guard which had me going back and forth on the 10th , 14th and 19th floors of the building because of wrong information he gave . The medical staff wasn't helpful as well especially the booth on where I had to ask the staff on which medical test I had pendings with.  Very ill-mannered staff !

Anyway ., I never liked Halcyon medical clinic in the first place because they extort a lot money on their patients. They always come up with all sorts of medical reasons or excuses just they can get away of their fraudulent practices. 

From what I learned I had these "pending" medical test,.  Apparently the medical test I flunked in their clinic.

OPT Otoscopy (basically means get an EENT doctor to remove my earwax)

Dental prophylaxis (means get a dentist to clean my teeth )

Threadmill (apparently I flunked their ECG and had to undergo this test)

Rapid PPD (something to do with a lung test ., )

Overall this is the "appointment" fee they have to charge me , if I show up again on their clinic.

OPT - 100 PHP

Dental appointment - 50 PHP

Threadmill - 1650 PHP

Rapid PPD - 450 PHP  

BACK TO HALCYON

Within a short time , UPL has accepted my application and has endorsed me on its principal "Shell". It didn’t took long that they accepted and I was quickly told via SMS that I should report back to UPL office to get my medical referral slip for the job.

When i reported in the office a couple of days later., I was surprised to see that the medical clinic I will be having for my medical was "Halcyon". The same clinic that I had a hard time with more than 2 years ago. Basically "Halcyon" medical clinic was a scam to begin with and frankly their medical test only cover the initial test ., any succeeding medical test (or test that needs to be repeated) have to be paid by the patient (seafarer). So as a result Halcyon probably flunks most of its patients to squeeze much money as they can. So for people taking medical exam on halcyon , better gets their wallets prepared for the rip off .

If I recall correct the problems I had two years ago on halcyon were these.

Urinalysis

Psycho / IQ exam

ECG
Dental

Now my main problem when I face Halcyon medical clinic will be the urinalysis and ECG (which is expensive) ., which I will counter by already stopped drinking soft drinks and any other carbonated drinks a few days ago - and drank only water.

For the IQ test there's no exact remedy for it, just probably take my time in answering all the question and see how it works ., as for the dental I'm not sure if there's any problems at all but as far as I recall all dental problems had been fixed since last March 2017.  

Most likely it will take me at least three days to normally clear a medical exam., with the assumption that no failed medical test will occur for me. But of Halcyon ., I'd say probably for a month.

SUPRISING TURN OF EVENTS

Things have turned out for the worst for me, not only that I'm stuck here in the Philippines for months now - but my only chances of returning and going back as a sailor have turned me down. So practically I'm unemployed right now. As of now I'm trying my best in finding work.

Recently things had a surprising turn of events ., UPL Shipping Lines (Earlier I thought that they're not interested in me). Suddenly dropped me a call and said I should report on their office for initial interview, So I went and as it goes by - the situation got dragged along with a couple of interview with the company and later on the principal representative. Up to the point that they had collected my documents.

For now they said that I should wait for further announcement from "Shell" principal on what I should do next. It's an advantage that I had to wait to this as a "breather" and prepare on what will be next. The latest word I heard from "sally" in UPL is that its possible that I should take an BTLNG training seminar (Basic Training of Liquefied Gas Tanker seminar)  of some sort , as its possible that I might be assigned to an LNG type of tanker ship.

For the moment my overall impression with UPL is Generally positive, Most of the HR staff in Shell principal is welcoming along with "Jeremy Francisco" on the Passenger HR as well. The only exception was the female head manager (sort of) on the shell principal in which I view as an intimidating and vicious little bitch. Her interview is more like a threat rather than a typical job interview. Can't imagine she was threatening me by saying that job promotions on this shipping company would be very stiff and she implied that on my case ., I have to have at least 4 contracts with them (minimum) for them to just even consider being promoted.

They reason out a ridiculous answer that they wanted a more stable crew workforce and frown on crewmembers who will ditch them out if things went sour. Not realizing that if they wanted a crew member to stay they should "throw in" some perks to make the stay worthwhile (like call center companies do)