Captain's Commercial Friend
The Maritime studies & course ashore, designed for Sailing staff are primarily based upon Safety, Technical & Soft Skills.
Very seldom a course offers the Commercial knowledge & moreover practical difficulties in handling commercial pressure.
This Section is dedicated to provide commercial assistance to Sailing Staff and few scenario are listed below & more will be added aoon.
Appreciate your feedback if any specific topic needs to be covered
From Captain's Desk
IMPORTANT POINTS TO CHECK BEFORE BOARDING THE VESSEL FOR TAKING COMMAND
- Brief details of vessel
- Type / built / Owners / DPA / Charterers details
- Trade of vessel
- Top 4 nationality and familiarity with Company & type of vessel
- Is this a Emergency Sign on or Routine
- Any Pre Handover report from outgoing Master
- Any Parallel sailing or In port Handover
IMPORTANT POINTS TO CHECK WHEN TAKING OVER COMMAND ON BOARD
- Trading certificates
- Crew Certificates & Visas
- Bridge Round – if any concern Navigation/GMDSS/Engine Equipments
- Any important follow up, deficiencies or outstanding items
- Present Voyage /Next voyage ,specific instructions and vessel readiness for same
- Handover report
PRE VETTING INSPECTIONS
Pre vetting inspections are carried out to prepare a vessel for OCIMF SIRE inspections by Oil Majors.
The inspection is usually carried out sailing with the vessel by an experienced Master Mariner. A punch list is drawn up and all issues attempted to be resolved before the SIRE inspection.
ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION
An incident /accident investigation is carried out to investigate the root cause and to learn from the incident so as to prevent recurrence.
Tools such as DNV GL SCAT is used to arrive at the root cause.
WARRANTY SURVEY
Warranty surveys are carried out on behalf of the Insurers or the P&I clubs to ensure that subject matter insured is loaded ,secured,transported and unloaded safely as per the scope of the insurance contract.
CONDITION INSPECTION
Condition Inspections are carried out to ascertain the structural and operational condition of the vessel and to identify major issues that might affect the vessel's economic life for the Owner , the prospective Manager, financier or the buyer.
An inspection usually takes about 8 hours and is carried out by an experienced Master Mariner, Chief Engineer or a Naval Architect .
PREPARATION OF MANUALS
Several manuals are required to be prepared during the course of setting up a vessel's Safety Management System initially and thereafter as per the upcoming regulations from time to time.
Manual preparation involves data collection, streamlining as per the Company Safety Management System , word processing, formatting and validation for presentation to Class for approval where applicable.
ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS AND PREVENTIVE ACTION FOR SIRE INSPECTION OBSERVATIONS
An effective Root cause analysis , corrective and preventive action is required to be sent to Oil Majors in response to SIRE inspection observations.
This requires a good understanding of the Company Safety Management system, analysis of the observation , communication with the Master, formulate a preventive action and implementing it.
ON BOARD SAFETY TRAINING
Training is best carried out when it's hands on. The trainee learns the best when he/she is engaged in the activity as compared to learning by reading, listening or watching.
Master Mariners would ideally train their crew regulary during drills. Where a need arises to train the crew additionally , an external trainer sails with the vessel to assist. Such situations can be during a new vessel take over, an upcoming voyage to US coast or when there is a need felt by the Company.
EXTERNAL NAVIGATION AUDIT
An external Navigation Audit of a vessel is carried out to ascertain gaps in the Navigation procedures ,assess the Bridge Team, to identify risks and take corrective action to prevent accidents.
An external Navigation Audit can be carried out by an experienced Master Master sailing with the vessel to study various stages of the voyage such as Arrival port ,pilotage anchoring and mooring.
It can also be carried out remotely by analysis of the VDR data.
SHIP RECYCLING
Ship Recycling is the process of dismantling a ship at the end of it's economic / structural life-cycle.
Guidelines to the process are provided by the Hong Kong Recycling Convention. There are local regulations like in the EU, as well as other local regulations.