journal of the company of master mariners of … bells june 2014.pdf · journal of the company of...

EIGHT BELLS JUNE 2014 SRI LANKA MASTER MARINERS QUARTERLY JOURNAL

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EIGHT BELLS

JUNE 2014

JOURNAL OF THE COMPANY OF MASTER MARINERS OF SRI LANKA

CMM CALENDER

Participate in the OPA “6-a-side” Cricket on 24

th August

Bi-monthly meeting with a technical Presentation *

Fellowship *

Annual Cricket match Vs IMarEST/SOCHEM *

Joint X’mas party in December*

Final confirmation and further details will be announced separately by the new Secretary and Council

In this issue

People and Events New CMM Council

NI Corner

Joining CILT

AGM news

From the Editor

CMM activities Guest Writer (Lanka Muditha part 2 – reflections of

an Engineer)

Fond Memories of CSC – Reflections

Day of the Seafarer

Quantum Positioning – the next level in navigation Safety matters – the sinking of the m.v. SEWOL

Member contributions - Missing flight MH370 and others

4 years captive in Somali Pirates hell

Port, Shipping and Aviation News

Reducing idle time in container operations

A few for the road

For CMM parents and their kids

All Members are invited to encourage contributions from prospective “Guest” writers known to them, which contributions will be included, subject to value addition and availability of space in the journal.


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PEOPLE AND EVENTS We wish calm seas and safe voyages to the following members who signed on recently: Capt.’s Vijith Dias, Asithe Abrew, Edward Perera, Shiran Nasoordeen, S. Manivannan, Daminda Samaranayake, Thusitha Buddhadasa, Nishantha Hettiarachchi, Sunny Wijesinghe, Mihira de Silva, Rohan de Alwis, Roshan Perera, Upul Peiris, Nishantha Jayakody, Prasanna Fonseka, Pramal Fernando, Sunny Wijesinghe, Dinuk Mendis, Ajith Maldeniya, Ananda Pushpakumara, Ranjith Kumarasiri. And a warm welcome back to the following who have returned from sea on vacation: Capt.’s Chandana Perera, Chandima Samaranayaka, P.A. Gordon, Patrick Rodrigo, Roshan Fernando, Nalaka Wijewardane, Sujeewa Dassanayake, Priyantha de Silva and M. Mankkaleswaran. Overseas members who visited Sri Lanka recently Capt.’s Chandra Godakanda Arachchi, Rohan Kaluaratchie, Gehan Sirimanne attended the AGM on 14

th June 2014. Others from overseas were Capt.’s

Sardha de Silva, Samantha Walpola and Keith Obeyasekera. We wish good luck to the following CMM members who have shifted their anchorages and taken up assignments ashore or shifted berth to other companies since the last issue. Capt. Samuel Jebananthan or Jeba as he is popularly known, a Batch 1 Cadet of the Lanka Kalyani; has, after years with the APL terminal in Los Angeles as Senior Labour Relations Officer, now joined as the Director of Safety, Security and Environmental Compliance of Metro Cruise Services and Metro Shore Services. We wish Jeba success and a safe new assignment. Capt. Samiddhi Dias was promoted to Deputy Harbour Master of the MRMR Port in Hambantota and Capt. Sugath de Silva took up his first appointment as Pilot in Hambantota. We wish them both safe piloting and a successful career with the SLPA. Going back to family connections, we regret the omission in our last issue to mention Capt.’s Shiran and Lalantha Senanayake who are brothers and Master Mariners and members of CMM. CMM Life Memberships were presented to the following members (those who attended the AGM) at the 2014 AGM. Capt.’s Srinath Peiris, Chandima Samaranayake, Manjula Dodantenna, Nishantha Samarasinghe, Nadeesh Guluwita, Prasad Ranasinghe, Vidya Karunaratne, Priyanga Udugampola, Chandana Samarasinghe, Sajeewa Wimalasiri, Jayantha Wijesuriya, Channa Abeytunge, Chanaka Fernando, Sunny Wijesinghe, Chaminda Manikdiwale, Athavan Athiroobasingham, Nishantha Ranatunga, Suntharalingam Balarajan, Aruna Kotelawela, R.M.P. Janaka, Nanda Sudasinghe,

Sampath Athukorala, Ranjith Jayakody, Shantha Gunarathna, Ajith Maldeniya, Jagath Bamunusinghe,Jude Saparamadu, Ranjith Fernando, Sujeewa Dassanayake and Ramesh Sathgunanathan. CMM’s total membership is currently 248 made up as follows: Life Members - 187 (includes the above 30 Life Members for 2014), Members awaiting Life Membership - 44 and ordinary Members - 17.

# Member Achievements - Members are invited to bring to the notice of the Editor, any special achievements of our Members and their organizations to be included in the 8 Bells. CMM as a member of the OPA has been a strong proponent of the “OPA Campaign for Rule of Law”. We are proud to announce that Capt. Ranjith Weerasinghe, a Vice President of CMM was appointed as Chairman of the special committee under OPA forum to study and propose means to restore “Rule of Law” in the country. The first part of the action is to launch a campaign to educate the people and strengthen the call for restoration of Rule of Law. The second is to formulate necessary changes to the constitution. Members can peruse the first document on the OPA website under National Issues - Campaign for Rule of Law. We wish Capt. Weerasinghe success in his spearheading of this crucial project.

From the Editor The 23

rd AGM was conducted successfully on 14

th

June 2014 in the presence of a record attendance of over 65 members. The helm of CMM is now steered by new hands; well, maybe not entirely new. We are into a 3

rd generation of Presidents and wish Capt. Nirmal

Silva a successful term as President of CMM. This e-version of 8 Bells continues to grow in content and variety and more members are showing interest (at least verbally at the AGM) in sending in articles of interest to others.

The missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 airliner is still missing since it disappeared on 08

th March,

although search efforts were renewed in mid June, after a period of relative inactivity. We have an interesting follow up by Capt. Mehran Wahid included this issue. We had another maritime disaster in the form of a capsized ferry in Korea in which hundreds of schoolgirls drowned. What can the relevant authorities do to prevent such tragedies in this 21

st century?

For a start, no better place to take the first step than from home. In this direction, CMM has focused through Capt. Ranjith Weerasinghe and a committee to point out and press for changes in local maritime regulations. The existing maritime regulations need streamlining, simplification and updating to make matters more commercially viable for maritime industrialists to invest in this important global location.


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8 Bells will keep the CMM membership updated on the progress.

On the other side of the coin, the new Executive Committee and Council will as usual meet on a monthly basis. Members can expect more general activities this year to interact with other members and enjoy the events with families.

Our appreciation continues to go out to the regular contributors for their support. A special appreciation to Capt.’s Mehran Wahid and Chandra Godakanda Arachchi for their wholehearted support to keep the 8 Bells going. As always, to Capt. Ranjith Weerasinghe

for his advise and the attractive presentation of this edition. Capt. D.J. Amarasuriya FNI, FICS, FCILT. Editor Members are reminded that any views expressed by contributors to the “8 Bells” are strictly their personal views and do not reflect the views of the CMM. Any articles, suggestions, criticisms, comments etc., can be sent to [email protected] and will be duly

acknowledged.

# Respect cannot be demanded, it must be earned – Respect is earned only by giving it away.

CMM AGM 2014

NEWLY ELECTED CMM COUNCIL

At the CMM AGM held on 14th June 2014, the

following new office bearers were unanimously appointed to the Council.

President Capt. Nirmal Silva Vice Presidents;- Capt. Ranjith Weerasinghe Capt. Palitha de Lanerolle Secretary Capt. Rohith Fernando Treasurer Capt. Tilak Wickramasinghe Editor Capt. D.J. Amarasuriya Asst. Secretary Capt. Kolitha Gunawardane Asst Treasurer Capt. Nandika Peiris Ex-Officio (immediate past President); Capt. Joseph Ranchigoda Representative Members : Ashore Capt. Ravi Jayaratne Capt.Rohan Codipilly Capt. Gajaba Sirimanne Capt.Gayan Gunawardane Capt.Mahendra Ranatunga Representative Members; Sailing Capt.N. Jeyasriskandharaja Capt.Daminda Samaranayake Capt.Nishantha Jayakody Capt. Chandana Perera

AGM NEWS AMENDMENT TO CMM CONSTITUTION AT THE AGM 2014 Due to the necessity of having sufficient Council representatives to follow up on CMM activities, the following existing Clause of the CMM constitution related to Representative Members was amended with the approval of the Members present at the AGM.

7. COUNCIL

7 c Representative Members

In addition to the ex-officio members in a) and b), the Council shall consist of Three (3) members representing Non Sailing Members and Three (3) members representing Active Sailing Members. Each sailing member shall, in writing to the Secretary nominate an alternate sailing member before proceeding on a sailing tenure. In the absence of an Immediate past president as an ex-officio member, the number of non Sailing Members is to be increased to four (4).

Following is the new approved Clause 7c to increase the representative members

7c Representative Members

In addition to the ex-officio members in a) and b), the Council shall consist of Five (5) members representing Non Sailing Members and Four (4) members representing Active Sailing Members. Each sailing member shall, in writing to the Secretary nominate an alternate sailing member before proceeding on a sailing tenure. In the absence of an Immediate past president as an ex-officio member, the number of non Sailing Members is to be increased to Six (6).

The amendment, which was proposed by the previous Council members, was unanimously adopted.

mailto:[email protected]


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A SUMMARY OF THE OUTGOING PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS at the AGM

Capt. Joseph Ranchigoda went through a recap of what CMM has done in the past year. Q :CMM is not doing anything very much for its members.

One of the main items achieved was at the last budget of Sri Lanka, regarding the allocation of funds to the office of the Director General of Merchant Shipping of the Ministry of Shipping. CMM was represented by its President and V/ President in a committee discussing this area at the Treasury. The Treasury Secretary was informed that the Directorate of Merchant Shipping was lacking funds to hold examinations and hire sufficient examiners to enable more seafarers to pass examinations and bring more revenue to the country. The Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera was surprised as I enlightened him that there are vocations in Sri Lanka where, compared to the labour force sent to the Middle East, sending one Master Mariner on a ship would be financially equivalent of sending many workers. Without going to parliament to get this passed, Dr. Jayasundera who was so convinced, immediately approved the required allocation of examiners and funds to the Directorate. More funds will be required from the government treasury as the CDC’s of seafarers are now outdated and a new CDC in line with ILO requirements needs to be designed and issued. Alterations to CDC’s, tippexing, cutting and chopping, along with signatures covering all entries have gone on for the last couple of decades. This needs to be stopped, as these CDC’s, when inspected by Port State Controls of various countries are subject to imposition of various fines. Very soon, such fines would be passed on by the ship-owner to the officer or rating concerned. This is a burning issue which has to be addressed as soon as possible.

Another item highlighted by one of the CMM members was regarding entitlement for duty concession car permits, as earlier, Master

Mariners who bring in vast amount of foreign exchange were not considered eligible for this benefit. CMM, now under the “Maritime’ category, is part and parcel of the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA). Most professionals who are entitled to duty concession car permits now include a new category under the heading “Navigation Officers”. So, presently any Master Mariner could meet the Import Controller and get more information on this subject and use this entitlement.

The CMM website has now been upgraded with me doing the skeleton. The CMM website is also very similar to the “Eight Bells”. The editor of the Eight Bells has a problem where he has nothing to edit and the CMM website is also at a similar position where no one is taking the trouble to update it. It is totally up to the members to give material such as photographs, write ups for this website and the Eight Bells to become more vibrant. It is nothing but fair that every member contributes something to keep the Eight Bells and the website functional. I request the membership to contribute something like what happened on a ship, near misses, funny happenings etc., to the Editor for publication.

The new committee will decide on the events ahead in due course. With the increase of Council Members, I request them all to attend each monthly meeting and to take a more active role in CMM activities. The Secretary has now decided to submit at the next AGM a register of the attendance of each Council Member, so that members are made aware of the attendance or absence/inaction.

A well-attended group visit to the new Colombo Port was organized by Capt. Rohith Fernando. The year-end joint Christmas party with the Engineers was also well attended and I hope for good participation this year as well. The next Eight Bells is due end June 2014 so please send in your contributions to the editor, Capt. D.J. Amarasuriya.

As per the tradition, we have decided to gift at this AGM, an exclusive white linen shirt to all attending members. If there are any issues on sizes you may kindly contact Capt. Rohith for a change of shirt. The cost of this AGM including the dinner is subsidized to members at a rate of Rs.3500. Hence, once you have confirmed attendance, CMM has to pay the hotel the actual cost charged. Also the banner you see on your starboard side reads “Work Safe, Be Safe - your family is waiting for you”. These words were coined and sponsored by Capt. Chandra Godakanda Arachchi who was also instrumental in designing the CMM logo. Thank you Chandra for this thought. We went through rough patches due to CMM office bearers being unable to participate at Council Meetings. I have to thank Capt. Rohith Fernando who


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voluntarily stepped in to fill that void and keep the flag flying. We have with us today, overseas members Capt. Gehan Sirimanne, Capt. Chandra Godakanda Arachchi and Capt. Rohan Kaluaratchie in attendance. We thank you very much for your presence.

The OPA was instrumental in putting forward the last 17

th amendment to the country’s Constitution.

Similarly, now there is a campaign for the “Rule of Law” to be established in the country and the OPA has formed a special committee of senior professionals with CMM’s Capt. Ranjith Weerasinghe appointed as the Chairman. This is to study and propose means to restore the law and order in the country. The first part of the action is to launch a campaign to educate the public and strengthen the call for the rule of law. This break of law took place in the last two generations owing to the unfortunate war. The next generation should now spearhead maintaining the rule of law. I suggest members go into the OPA website (www.opasrilanka.org) and read more on this campaign.

I have served as President of CMM for two years and I decided that the reins should be taken over by younger people. I thank everybody for their support. Thank you.

Capt. Joseph Ranchigoda

NEW PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Dear members, It gives me great pleasure in writing this small note to this edition of ‘Eight Bells’. I consider it a great honor to have been appointed as the President of Company of Master Mariners of Sri Lanka at the last AGM and wish to thank you for the trust placed in me in entrusting this position. I pledge that I would work to the best of my ability to carry CMM forward while maintaining the high standards already achieved. It was heartening to see a high turnout of members together with their spouses at the AGM and I look forward to your continued support by participation in the future events too. Your participation is the

greatest reward to the Council who work tirelessly in organizing any event. As mentioned in the March edition of the ‘Eight Bells’, the month of June was indeed a busy month with our AGM which was followed by the Golden Jubilee celebrations of IMarEST Sri Lanka branch which consists of our seafaring colleagues of the engineering fraternity. The celebrations culminated with a Dinner dance at the Cinnamon Lakeside which was well attended by mariners past and present. I would like to thank our Editor Capt. D. J. Amarasuriya and Capt. Ranjith Weerasinghe for another well compiled edition of ‘Eight Bells’. Capt. Nirmal Silva CMM President 2014.

AGM News ………… At the AGM, CMM invited two speakers to enlighten the membership on the future and the past. Vice Admiral Colombage, Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy and Chairman of the Ceylon Shipping Corporation (CSC) spoke of the new maritime hub concept and the revival of our National Carrier CSC. He answered a list of questions prepared by members and showed the direction the government plans to steer in making this vision a reality. Capt. P.A. Virasinghe, a past president of CMM spoke of those golden days of sea life in the seventies. He started his sea career as a Cadet with British India Steam Navigation. Capt. Virasinghe had the proud achievement of being the first Sri Lankan Master to sail in command with the Ceylon Shipping Corporation. Subsequently, he became a Pilot in the port of Colombo. From here, he was seconded to be the Marine Superintendent / Port Captain of the Ceylon Shipping Corporation, where he took an active role in initializing the Cadet training scheme. Capt. Virasinghe spoke of his early sailing days and the many occasions where the ship was “lost at sea” position wise, sometimes with no idea where the ship was and with no working radar! This brings us to the many similar incidents which we faced having no idea of our position for days. The term “Dead Reckoning” or DR position was used quite freely those days….. we wonder if modern seafarers have ever heard the term! There were overcast times when the C/O’s evening star sight gave a position behind the Second mates noon sight! Any stories on this topic flowed freely at the fellowship after the AGM and members showed interest in relating their “lost” experiences. 8 Bells will have a “lost at sea” section from the September 2014 issue.

http://www.opasrilanka.org/


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CMM Activities

The first meeting of the new Council is scheduled for 14

th July 2014. The proposed activities for the rest of

the year will be finalized and the membership will be informed through the Secretary Capt. Rohith Fernando. CMM will take part in the OPA annual “6-a-side” cricket tournament planned to be held at the NCC cricket ground on 24

th August 2014. This is a family event and

will give members a good opportunity to get to know other professionals of the OPA. CMM Secretary Capt. Rohith will update members with the details in due course. Members are encouraged to support our cricket team along with their families. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully. The new CMM website is operational and steered by Capt.’s Joseph Ranchigoda and Ranjith Weerasinghe. Members are kindly requested to log on to www.cmmsrilanka.lk and send in their feedback on-line. Kindly email your suggestions for improvement, additions; send in photographs of past and present events and information updates as a matter of priority, direct to Capt. Ranjith. Please advise of any changes to your personal data. The CMM is a member of the OPA. CMM members who wish to join the OPA as an "OPA Centre Member" can apply for life membership to use the OPA facilities. An application has to be made to the OPA through the CMM. Kindly note the only educational and professional qualification which is required from CMM Members and which should be stated in the OPA application, is “Master Mariner”. Please contact CMM Secretary for further details.

Members may obtain an “OPA Membership Application

Form” from Capt. Rohith Fernando. As per the OPA

directory of life members 2014, CMM has only 31 names.

Kindly forward your completed application form attaching

the required documents to the Secretary CMM on

email [email protected] with payment; or by post to

No. 14, Collingwood Place, Wellawatte, Colombo 06.

DO NOT FORWARD APPLICATIONS DIRECTLY

TO THE OPA.

Please note the following when filling up the

application form -

item No: 5 The Company of Master Mariners of Sri Lanka item No: 8 Academic Qualifications keep blank item No: 9 Professional Qualifications only write “Master Mariner Class I” item No: 11 will be filled by Secretary

A new design CMM white linen shirt (gifted to members at the AGM), a tie, a lapel and an attractive new cap are the latest additions to CMM Member items, which are priced at: white Shirt Rs. 1200; Tee-

shirts (L & XL) Rs. 750; Tie Rs. 1000; Cap Rs. 250; Jacket Lapel Rs. 500. For purchases, please contact Secretary Capt. Rohith Fernando at No. 14, Collingwood Place, Wellawatte, Colombo 06. Phone - Residence 2588171 and Mobile 0777 543 444 email: [email protected] All members are encouraged to attend the bi-monthly meetings and meet CMM colleagues in fellowship. Announcements are circulated by email to the general membership and will be posted on the CMM website.

In advancement of professionalism and keeping abreast with the technical and related aspects in the field of maritime transport, members are encouraged to join the Nautical Institute UK and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK, which is quite easy through the Sri Lanka Branch offices.

# If a drop of water falls in a lake, there is no

identity… But, if it falls on a leaf of lotus, it shines like a pearl.

We need to choose the best place where we can shine.

http://www.cmmsrilanka.lk/




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NI Corner

The Nautical Institute Sri Lanka Branch held the 2014 AGM at 1800 hrs on Friday 30

th May 2014 at the Ward room of SLNS

Rangala in the port of Colombo. Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage was unanimously requested to continue for another year as Chairman of the branch. Many CMM members hold office in the Executive Committee and the committee as listed below.

Prof. Capt. Nalaka Jayakody - Vice Chairman, Capt. Rohan Codipilly - Vice Chairman, Capt. Peshala Medagama - Treasurer, Capt. Nish Wijayakulathilake - Secretary, Capt. Sriyantha Arampath - Asst. Secretary.

Committee members - Capt. D.J. Amarasuriya, Capt. Harendra Perera, Capt. A.V. Rajendra, Capt. Nimal Perera, Capt. Ravi Jayawickreme, Capt. Keith Jayasuriya, Capt. Chinthaka Batagoda, Capt. Sunil Perera, Capt. Nirmal Silva and Capt. N. Jeyasriskandaraja.

Holders of Master Mariner Class 1 certificates can join in the category of Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute (AFNI) U.K. You can get further details by logging on to the NI UK website or contact the Secretary Capt. Nish Wijayakulathilaka (contact details in the CMM Diary) or watch the following Utube clip to see the work NI is involved in.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNauticalInstitute

NI website is www.nautinst.org or

you can Login here direct for membership details :

http://www.nautinst.org/en/membership/

The many benefits of Nautical Institute membership include : # worldwide professional recognition, including being able to display your Nautical Institute membership on your CV and business card # monthly copy of Seaways, keeping you abreast of key developments in the maritime industry (now also readable online) # 30% discount on all Nautical Institute specialist maritime books and practical guides # big discounts on attendance at many Institute and industry events together with the opportunity to network with colleagues, employers and customers # £100,000 worth of legal defence insurance cover, protecting you against criminalisation # support for your continuing professional development through our ‘CPD Online’ programme # online Jobs Board # a representative voice at IMO, IALA and other industry bodies on key policy issues # personal copies of our human element Alert! Bulletin and The Navigator # online knowledge resources and a monthly enewswsletter

CMM Members can also directly join the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) UK, through the Sri Lanka

Branch.

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport is a uniquely established global professional body. The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport is the leading professional body associated with logistics and transport. With over 33,000 members in over 30 countries worldwide, CILT holds unparalleled professional international recognition.

Established in 1919 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1926, the Institute has an exciting history behind it, but is always adapting to stay consistent with current logistics and transport issues. The Institute's Patron is HRH Queen Elizabeth II.

The principal objective of the Institute is “To promote and encourage the art and science of logistics and transport”. The Institute achieves this objective through both its membership and its educational qualifications. Membership provides a professional identity to those in the logistics and transport sector, as well as international recognition. The Institute’s professional qualifications educate not only those already in the sector, but also those wishing to enter into it.

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in Sri Lanka was established in 1985 and incorporated in the year 2000 by an act of parliament. Presently it has over 1000 members who are highly qualified in the Transport and Logistics fields.

Holders of Master Mariner Class 1 certificates can join in the category of Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Transport (CMILT) U.K. You can get further details by logging on to the CILT Sri Lanka Branch website given below. Contact the 8 Bells Editor Capt. D.J. Amarasuriya or Ms. Maryse below, for further information.

Ms. Maryse De Costa - Coordinator The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Sri Lanka C/O The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka 450, D.R. Wijewardana Mawatha Colombo 10 Sri Lanka. Direct : +94 11 5657 357 Mobile : +94 77 7579 798 Fax : +94 11 2698 494 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.ciltsl.com

http://www.nautinst.org/

http://www.nautinst.org/en/membership/

http://us.mc1603.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]

http://www.ciltsl.com/


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FOND MEMORIES OF CSC

MV . Lanka Muditha - baby of CSC’s container fleet In our March 2014 issue, our readers had a most informative and interesting article sent in by Capt. Sardha de Silva who started his sea career as a Batch 1 Cadet of the m.v. Lanka Kalyani, and as per the norm in those pre-ISM days of yesteryear, worked his way up through every rank and was selected to take over delivery of the new building m.v. Lanka Muditha from the Kurushima shipyard in Japan in November 1982. To quote from Sardha’s article “During the time I was Master many incidents happened on the Lanka Muditha. The most unforgettable was the serious accident involving Chief Officer Telwatte in the Arabian sea. Telwatte was at that time the best Chief Officer and one of the nicest officers I had the pleasure of sailing with. Fortunately, he fully recovered after being treated in a Jeddah hospital for a long period. I would like to mention all the officers and crew played a big role in saving Telwatte’s life, especially second engineer Mahinda Gunewardene. Mahinda volunteered to bring the Russian doctor in our lifeboat from the Russian ship which came to our aid in very rough monsoon weather as the Russian Master, for safety reasons, refused to use his lifeboat to send the doctor across to the Lanka Muditha. (Real life incident will be included in our next issue).” As promised, on contacting Mahinda Gunewardena, former 2/E of the Lanka Muditha and now based in Australia, we have a real-life drama and heroism at sea as detailed below.

REFLECTIONS OF AN ENGINEER – MV LANKA MUDITHA MV Lanka Muditha set sail from Colombo one day in June 1983 bound for the ports in the Middle East. From the very beginning this was no ordinary voyage. As we were preparing to leave the Colombo harbour a dead whale floated across our bow.

You can see the tug to the left with the ropes still attached to the ship.

The Whale had something sticking out of it. Perhaps a harpoon that brought about its end? The weather was calm as we settled in to the routine of a nearly one month voyage to the port of Aqaba in Jordan, our maximum carrying capacity being 101 teu’s!!!. Some four days out of Colombo, in the Arabian Sea, we came across a mass of timber planks floating on the water.

As we approached closer we could make out a ship’s lifebuoy amongst the debris.

It was decided that we would recover the lifebuoy. The gangway was to be lowered and the lifebuoy picked up with a boat hook.


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The “Mate”, Chief Officer Taraka Telwatte, along with the Deck Bosun started getting the gangway off from the secured position in which it is normally stowed whilst the vessel is on sea passage .The Mate had engaged the crank handle and was manually easing gangway off from the stowed position, before using the electric motor to operate the winch which lowers the gangway. At this moment the deck hand (name withheld); a dark stocky chap not renowned for being bright, decided to speed things up and operated the remote control for the electric motor that drives the winch. The manual crank handle, now driven by the power of the electric motor, flew off, hitting the Mate on the face causing serious injuries. The Mate was rushed to the sick bay where it soon became clear that the extent of the injuries were indeed very serious. It was not something that could be handled on the ship with the basic medical facilities available. Considering the nature of the injuries, there was an emergency requirement for a doctor to stabilise the patient. We, of course, did not have a doctor on board. The Master, Captain Sardha De Silva, now had a serious problem on his hands. Where and how could he get urgent medical help? At this point of time we were still several days from the port of Aqaba, far too long to wait for the immediate attention needed to stabilise the Mate’s condition. The nearest port Bombay, as it was then known, was some two and a half days towards the East. Reacting calmly and quickly, as he was known to do, the Master instructed the Radio Officer send a call to all vessels in the vicinity asking for assistance and if a doctor was available on board. This initial urgent request drew no favourable response from ships in the area, as it is not common practice for merchant vessels to carry a doctor. With no help from other vessels in the offing, the Captain decided to divert the vessel to Bombay where Taraka would be taken off the vessel and receive proper medical treatment. The CSC office in Colombo was informed to make the necessary on-shore arrangements to meet and take care of Taraka and the

Lanka Muditha increased revs to make the best possible speed towards Bombay into the evening. Captain Sardha had instructed the Radio Officer to continue to seek assistance from other vessels. Some several hours after changing course for Bombay, we received an offer of assistance from a Russian vessel which had a doctor on board. The two Captains then began to work out the logistics for a mid-ocean rendezvous. As Taraka was in no condition to be moved to the Russian vessel to receive treatment, the Russian doctor agreed to come across to our vessel. It was soon worked out between the navigational wizards where the two vessels would meet somewhere in the middle of the Arabian Sea. Updated weather reports indicated that the weather conditions at the time the two vessels were to meet would change from the slight seas we had experienced that morning to less favourable conditions. The sea condition was a matter of concern to Captain Saradha as the Lanka Muditha had only open lifeboats. However the Russian vessel responded saying that they had fully enclosed lifeboats and would bring the doctor across. With lady luck at last smiling, the Master ordered the second course change heading for the rendezvous with the Russian vessel. With both vessels making the best possible speed, the eta at rendezvous point was around midday. Thanks to the navigational skills of the officers on both vessels…..a skill that we engineers had little

understanding of …….…… on an overcast day with a moderate swell running the two vessels met as planned.


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However, from here on things did not go so well. With both ships having stopped their engines and making no headway, the full impact of the swell was felt for the first time, with heavy rolling encountered due to the swell now from the beam. Further time elapsed and then we heard that the Russians were not willing to come across in their fully enclosed life boats. To this day I do not know if this was due to concerns with lowering the lifeboats whilst the ship was rolling OR if it was the risk of manoeuvering between the vessels on that swell. This left us in a quandary… we had lost time diverting away from Bombay. Needless to say CSC would have been concerned about the cost of all the diversions. However to the Master’s credit all decisions had been made in the best interests of the Mate’s welfare. The weather was not set to improve, thus waiting would not be an option. With no feasible options left, I volunteered to take one of our lifeboats across to fetch the doctor. Many of the Deck and Engine crew immediately volunteered to join as the boat crew. The willingness of the crew to volunteer unhesitatingly for a somewhat risky mission is a true testament to the respect and regard in which they held the Mate and the confidence we all had in the Master to do what was required if we ran in to trouble.

The rolling of the ship was the first concern in lowering the lifeboat. Capt. Sardha got the ship underway and headed her up into the swell. This immediately reduced the rolling to a minimum. With the swell now running from forward to aft the next challenge was to drop the lifeboat into a trough. Having made sure everything was in order, the lowering of the boat commenced. On the first attempt we hit a peak and as the wave dropped off the boat jarred up on the davit cables and we were left hanging once again. The second attempt was great, right into the trough and as we rose with the next swell we let go the floating blocks attached to the falls wires coming down from the davits. We were now free of the lowering wires and should have made it clear. That is when “Murphy” decided to play his hand!

The plan was that as soon as we let go the floating blocks, we would also let go the forward and aft painters which were holding the boat close to the ship’s side. Most unfortunately, the crew on board the ship, who were expected to haul in the ropes as soon as they were let go from the boat, did not do so quickly enough. As planned, the E/R Bosun had the lifeboat engine running and engaged the propeller to get us away from the ship’s side, but the aft painter line which was still in the water got fouled in the propeller. We were now adrift in the ocean with our lifeboat propeller fouled with the aft painter line with one end secured to the deck!

. Trying to reverse the propeller didn’t work. The only solution was to get into the water and “unwrap” the fouled painter line to free the propeller. I dived into the sea and under the lifeboat and was able to clear the fouled line after several attempts. All the time desperately clinging to the rudder as I didn’t want to get separated from a crippled lifeboat in mid ocean! Once the rope was cut and the propeller freed, we were finally on our way to the Russian ship.

As soon as we were away from the lee of Lanka Muditha, we could feel the strength of the wind. The swell and waves that looked relatively manageable whilst on the ship now looked huge from the water level. With the lifeboat propeller occasionally coming out of the water and the engine racing, we made the crossing.


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THIS SPACE IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMBERS WHO, AT THE LAST

AGM, VOLUNTEERED TO CONTRIBUTE WITH ARTICLES FOR

FUTURE EIGHT BELLS EDITIONS

To this day I remember the feeling - so small in the middle of the ocean between two ships that looked very far away.

We managed to get the Russian doctor on board and got back to our ship without too much trouble. The doctor decided that the lower lip which had suffered the most severe injury needed to be sewn. To help the emergency medical operation, Capt. Sardha once again turned the ship to head into the swell at a controlled rate of knots to have the least possible pitching and rolling in the given sea conditions. I also remember clearly, how at one point, the doctor was passing the stitching needle through Taraka’s lip and

the ship pitched sharply, Taraka’s head dropped and the needle came away tearing a bit of the lip. In the end it was all done as best as can be, under extremely difficult conditions. Various medications were given by the doctor to get Taraka to the next port. Through this entire process, not once did Taraka complain. It showed a man of great inner strength and courage. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for Taraka for the manner in which he bore this ill fortune. We safely conveyed the Russian Doctor back to his ship with much gratitude, along with, I dare say, a few bottles of scotch to warm him up after a good day’s work! With this most unexpected incident behind us, it was back to the commercial requirements of the voyage. We once again got underway and headed full speed towards the Port of Aqaba. On our way, we pulled in to Jeddah Port where we dropped of Taraka where he received proper medical treatment and reconstructive work to his jaw. All of this was done, I believe, in a American hospital in Jeddah and thankfully if you were to meet Taraka today you would see the same smile from before that fateful day when “---- the terrible” pressed the remote controller on the winch.

PS – Photography courtesy my wife Sandhya who was

sailing with me at the time.

Contributed by Mahinda Gunewardena our guest writer from down under Editors note: Our appreciation goes to Mahinda (Ex – CSC Engineer) who is now based in Brisbane for the able support given to the Master and for readily responding to our request to pen this ‘true life’ incident.

# As we sail through life…. Don’t avoid storms and rough waters…. Just let it pass… just sail….Always remember, calm seas never make skilful sailors…..


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OTHER SNIPPETS OF THE LIFE ON BOARD OTHER CSC SHIPS Not everything about a ship has to be serious….it was the pre-ISM period and many senior seafarers are of the opinion that ships ran safer and better in those days (with lots of luck!). This is a matter which we are open for discussion as there is a dangerous suicidal trend nowadays by a few officers who cannot handle the work pressure and other environmental factors aboard ships. Here are some lighter moments on board and ashore.

Reflections - Forty Years Ago

# These reflections go back to the early 1980’s when

the m.v. Lanka Ratna visited the Port of Leixoes in

Portugal. Vessel was commanded by an ex - Naval

Master. Lanka Ratna, if I remember right, was CSC’s

first vessel to call at Leixoes Port. Leaving the

Mediterranean, passing through the Straits of

Gibraltar, the Radio Officer received a message from

CSC on W/T. The message had the full style of the

new Leixoes shipping agency named “Salgado,

Pereira & Silva Co Ltd.” The ship’s eta Leixoes was on

a Sunday afternoon.

The Master was thoroughly excited and was planning

for a good outing that evening. After the arrival

formalities were completed, at around 1500hrs, the

Master walked across to the nearest phone booth

found on the pier to give a call to the Agents. The

conversation thereafter went as follows.

MASTER : Hello Salgado, this is xxxxxxxxx, (Master’s surname) we have just arrived in your port. Would you be coming to the ship this afternoon as some of the boys wish to go in to town after a long passage at sea. SALGADO: Hello who is speaking please? MASTER: Salgado, mey xxxxxxxxx (Master’s surname) kathakaranney! SALGADO: Hello who is this. MASTER: This is Capt. xxxxxxxx, (Master’s full name this time) Master of the Sri Lanka ship Lanka Ratna. SALGADO: Oh hello Captain, welcome to Leixoes, I am just on my way to your vessel. It took some time for the Master to realize that Salgado, Pereira or Silva were not Sri Lankans. They were in fact Portuguese and no relations to our Salgado’s, Perera’s or Silva’.s

p.s. the poor Master was expecting a good Sri Lankan feed over a drink that night. # Lanka Ratna was due to sail out of Tunisia one

morning. The usual practice of a particular Third

Officer was to go around the ship the previous evening

collecting all left over coins and notes. Having

collected a reasonable sum, he decided to go to La-

Goulette city that night with the 2nd

Officer and the 3rd

Engineer. The 3/O put aside in his hip pocket the usual

taxi fare to the port from the city. After having a good

time with other peoples balance monies, these three

decided to get back to the ship around 01.00 hrs the

next morning. The burly 3/O sat in the front seat of the

taxi. The taxi stopped at the port entrance and the cost

of the hire was requested by the driver. The meter

read about twice the sum that was in the 3/O’s hip

pocket. Now in a quandary, the three officers

pretended not to understand what the taxi driver was

asking for, as they all realised that funds were short.

The driver made several attempts in sign language to

make these “pretending dumb” officers understand the

cost of the hire. Finally, the driver showed the cost of

the hire from the Tunisian currency notes he had and

in sign language asked for that amount of money. The

3/O displaying his innocent ignorance said thank you

to the taxi driver, took the currency notes into his

hands and thereafter tried to get off the vehicle. The

driver pulled him back into the taxi. The 3/O was now

in a big soup with no money to pay. In the meantime,

the 3/E and the 2/O who were enjoying the argument,

quietly got off the taxi and did a brisk walk into the port,

leaving the 3/O completely foxed not knowing what to

do.

Just then, the driver was distracted by a passing truck

and the 3/O, carrying his weight with difficulty broke

free and did a (Usain) Bolt straight into port and got on

board his ship. It was only later that they all realised

that taxi hires doubled after 11pm.

# In February 1982 an Electrical Engineer and four

senior Deck Officers specially selected for the delivery

of the m.v. Lanka Seedevi were flown to the JRC

Company in Tokyo for a week’s training on the

equipment JRC was to supply the new building.

Straight from the airport we were all taken to a small

cozy guest house operated by JRC. After we checked

in and settled down in our rooms, the guesthouse

keeper who spoke little or no English walked into our

room to welcome

us.

The first thing he

said was not to get

alarmed if we felt

any tremors at night

because

earthquakes were a

frequent and

common happening in the city. This frightened us all.


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The frightened additional Chief Officer immediately

took his Nanaki Dukan 2 in 1 (‘the’ Radio Cassette

Player of that era) which he had initially placed on the

windowsill and tucked it under his pillow for safety. By

the way, this 2 in 1 had been purchased in Antwerp

after receiving cash for donating a pint of his blood.

(During this time in Antwerp, there was a blood

donating campaign where authorities paid for the

blood donated. After donation, one was placed in bed

under observation for a short while and given a warm

cup of coffee. Our charitable crew, all known to be

generous donors, donated blood and immediately

took off by taxi to the Nanaki Dukan Duty Free Shop to

purchase electronic equipment. This was true blood

money!!)

Let us now go back to the arrival at the guest house.

The guesthouse keeper very politely wanted us to

follow him to the toilet area as he wanted to explain the

method of using the toilet. This made us all annoyed

and even angry, but we had no choice. For a moment

we were all staring at something that looked like an

airplane pilot’s cockpit seat with a large oval shaped

hole in the center. It was then that we realised that this

intricate seating arrangement was going to be our

routine “Hot Seat” each morning. Now this seat had an

armrest for both arms with a number of labeled

switches and lights. We were then given a

demonstration of how to use this sophisticated seat.

There were buttons to heat and adjust the seat

temperature, a button with an aimed warm water high

pressure spout and another button for a temperature

controlled steam wash. One of the delivery boys finally

ended up with a red bottom having missed out

controlling the steam temperature.

# At JRC we met some mates from another ship. The

session was on the operation of Radar, with Radar

Plotting included. Since most of us were certificated

officers holding Radar Observer and Radar Simulator

Certificates, the presentation offered was as basic as

peanuts. On completion of the morning session, we all

walked down to the massive cafeteria. Our individual

food choices listed at the guest house that morning

were correctly placed on the table at our allocated

seats. This was quite amazing, as the cafeteria

catered to over 500 staff including the CEO of JRC

who sat with us attired in the same grey work suit worn

by us and all staff. The lunchtime conversation drifted

to our Radar training course. One very senior officer of

our own group was heard saying “Hey that is fantastic

isn’t it, you can even find out the course and speed of

the other vessel without much difficulty”. This gave the

jitters to some of us who were wondering “is this the

guy that we are going on a delivery voyage with”.

# Now, on to the shipbuilding yard…….. While

overseeing the new building at the Pusan yard, the

Tong Yang Hotel in Pusan city was our resting place.

After a good “Pokumba” lunch (similar to Nasi

Goreng), we were back in our hotel early each

afternoon for a good siesta to prepare for long tiring

nights. Each guest had a calendar in the room.

Surprisingly, the calendars in most of the rooms had

the dates circled with a time and name on it as certain

names were difficult to remember. The evenings were

scheduled to a strict timetable!!! Readers can figure

this out individually. Needless to say, this paid holiday

was enjoyed by everyone.

# On the day we took delivery of the Lanka Seedevi

and sailed out from Pusan, we had our two CSC

designated shipyard engineers displaying an unusual

friendliness towards all of us. They were all over the

ship unusually spending hours and hours talking and

laughing with many goodbyes. It didn’t take us much

time to realize that they were after telephone numbers

and names of the loved ones our crew were leaving

behind.

# A surprisingly non-alcoholic ex-Navy Master of the MV. Lanka Shanthi requested the Chief Engineer to look after the bonded store order in Europe. The Chief Engineer was more than thrilled as this gave him the opportunity to ask for ample amounts of sample booze and bags full of compliments. The Chief Engineer immediately got down to work and finalized his bond order after consulting the Chief Steward. He was also shrewd enough to make a list of another order with enhanced figures, which popped the eyes out of every ship chandler that boarded the vessel. This 2

nd list was

always placed on the Chief Engineer’s cabin coffee table. The C/E’s cabin door curtain was always drawn to stop inquisitive shipmates from looking in. On seeing this 2

nd list and the size of the big order, the

visiting chandlers kept emptying their bags and bags of compliments into the drawers in the C/E’s office desk. This C/E later made full use of the Chandlers for all his shopping trips and his night’s out which were all on the house. It ended up with him personally purchasing 14 second hand deep freezers for his homeward voyage. Rest of the story is withheld for obvious reasons

“Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship”.


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Sea Sunday National Seafarer's Sunday service will take place on 13

th July, 2014 at 10.30 Hrs at St. Peters Church, Colombo Fort

(adjoining the Mission to Seafarers). CMM members have received an invitation from the office of the Mission to Seafarers, Colombo to attend the service. The Dress Code is National, Uniform or Lounge. For further information, please contact CMM Secretary Capt. Rohith Fernando.

Are you aware of IMO's mission statement? As stated in IMO Resolution A.1060(28), which sets out the Strategic plan for the International Maritime Organization (for the six year period 2014 to 2019), the mission statement is as follows: "The mission of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), as a United Nations specialized

agency, is to promote safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable shipping through cooperation. This will be accomplished by adopting the highest practicable standards of maritime safety and security, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of pollution from ships, as well as through consideration of the related legal matters and effective implementation of IMO’s instruments with a view to their universal and uniform application."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How many Seafarers remember the annual “Day of the Seafarer” and the support generated worldwide?

25

th June of each year is the "Day of the Seafarer",

recognizing the invaluable contribution seafarers make to international trade and the world economy, often at great personal cost to themselves and their families. This day should be celebrated by Governments, shipping organizations, companies, shipowners and all other parties concerned in an appropriate and meaningful manner.

The Day of the Seafarer was first celebrated in 2011, following its establishment by a resolution adopted by the Conference of Parties to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, held in Manila, Philippines, in June 2010, which adopted major revisions to the STCW Convention and Code.

The Day of the Seafarer has now been included in

the annual list of United Nations Observances. In 2011, the celebration took the form of an online campaign, in which IMO asked everyone to voice their support using social networks. On the “Day of the Seafarer”, people around the globe are asked to say “Thank you seafarers” on Facebook, via tweets, IMO encourages everyone to participate in this worldwide effort by celebrating and joining on the web. Quoted from the IMO new New Media Officer

Day of the Seafarer Facebook Page here<

A message quoted from Lesley M. Warrick,

Executive Director, Seafarers' House at Port

Everglades Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Imagine an item that you simply couldn't live without. Maybe it's your music player, or a pen, or your computer, something you use every day in your work, a piece of medical equipment or just your favourite toy.

Now stop and think: did that item, or any part of that item, or any of the materials from which that item has been made, come by sea? The chances are, the answer is "yes". June 25, 2014 marks the International Day of the Seafarer. On that day, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is asking people around the world to highlight just how important seafarers are to everyone on the planet, as they transport all over the world those critical items, commodities and components which are so vital to all our daily lives.

We hope you will take a moment during your day to join Seafarers' House in grateful acknowledgement of their service. Thank you for your support and prayers. As ever, [http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs036/110

1024335732/img/30.jpg] Unquote.


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Quantum Positioning – The Next Level In Navigation

GPS seems to be the highest level of navigation we have reached - but the next level is around the corner. It begins with the more sophisticated vessels in need of a high level of navigation - submarines. The hi-tech navigation systems being presently developed for submarines should, like many other advanced systems, eventually filter through to us ordinary navigators. Submarines have had one big problem from the beginning of their history - they cannot see where they are going when underwater nor can they be sure of where they are. Underwater is also their only reason for being. This formidable, sophisticated weapon, can today remain underwater undetected, for months at a time, anywhere in the world, carrying nuclear missiles capable of launch from their submarine depths to targets thousands of miles away. The problem is that they rely on inertial navigation mostly, which is a sophisticated instrument capable of measuring speed and acceleration (using accelerators), and change of direction (using gyros), and together with computers can work out an estimated position rather accurately. It is initialized by a GPS position while on the surface and thereafter while running underwater, the inertial measurement instrument works out where the vessel is. However, the longer the vessel is underwater without its position being re-adjusted; due to errors in the initial measurement instrument, the greater the error (approximately a kilometer a day). In the electronic world, quantum devices which make measurements down to the atomic scale have gradually been coming into use (e.g. quantum computers which can hold far more data and work far faster than conventional computers). Now comes Quantum Positioning using quantum accelerometers which can measure speed and acceleration at a far greater sensitivity than the previous accelerometers. Presently, the accelerometers are so sensitive that

even passing a mountain could produce errors due to higher gravitational force. Hence, much work needs to be yet done on perfecting this instrument. Once completed within the next few years, accuracy of this kind of inertial measurement instrument will reduce estimated position errors from 1 kilometre down to as little as 1 metre. The countries working on it are the UK, USA, China and Australia. [Source: New Scientist, 17th May 2014].

Sent in by Capt. Mehran Wahid from Bremen.

Safety Matters The sinking of the m.v. Sewol

While world attention is constantly diverted from one

disaster to another, two incidents which are linked to

us mariners are the loss of the MH370 aircraft and the

small passenger ferry “Sewol”. We hardly find any

news on the Sewol, so an article with questions and

answers and further questions is reproduced here

courtesy ‘Fred’ of gCaptain, for the information of and

feedback from members.

On April 16, 2014 the Korean-flagged passenger ferry

M/V SEWOL sank resulting in a large loss of life of the

passengers.

While this story will continue to develop as this disaster

is investigated, there are a number of questions that

should be included as part of the investigation. In

relation to the disaster, these are mere side-questions,

in that I do not think that the answers would have

changed the outcome. That said, I think these may

indicate serious issues that should be investigated:

Did a lack of lifeboats on the M/V SEWOL

contribute to the loss of life?


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Many passengers on the infamous TITANIC died

because regulations at the time did not require a place

in the lifeboats for every passenger and member of the

crew. Take a look at the SEWOL in the photo above.

The ship had no lifeboats. Instead, it fully relied on

liferafts for the safe evacuation of the passengers. This

might mean that Korean authorities permitted

substitution of liferafts for lifeboats. Again, looking at

the photo above, there does not appear to be any

boats that would have been able to marshal the rafts

together.

Was it possible for the crew to evacuate the

passengers using only the available liferafts?

When evacuating passengers with lifeboats, the

loading of one lifeboat does not prevent the loading of

other lifeboats. Liferafts sharing launching appliances

(equipment required to hold and lower the liferaft) limit

the loading and launching of liferafts to one at a time

for each set of launching gear. The liferafts on the

SEWOL appear to not have launching gear and seem

to be setup to drop into the sea once released from

their cradles.

There have been news reports that the liferafts might

have been faulty. However, I suspect that the persons

making the claims do not fully understand how these

liferafts were setup to function. For example, the

photos of the Captain abandoning ship show two of the

liferaft canisters released from their cradles and

floating in the water. The rafts had not inflated.

However, this was probably by design, with the raft

requiring the user to pull out the painter line from the

canister which will trigger the inflation once most of it

has been pulled out. As for the complaints that the

canisters would not come free from their cradles,

again, I suspect operator error.

The liferafts do not appear to have been equally

distributed on each side of the vessel. As the vessel

was listing to the port, only 14 rafts appear to have

been located on that side, with another 28 trapped on

the high side of the vessel.

Would placement of the liferafts have been an

issue?

Take a look at the photo below (Screenshot from video

in the following post:Phone Recovered from Deceased

Child Reveals Shocking Error by Sewol Crew).

In the photo you can see 14 liferaft canisters on the

port (left) side just behind the bridge. From the photo, it

appears that there are another 28 rafts on the

starboard side for a total of 42 rafts visible on the deck.

Some news reports claim that the vessel had 46

liferafts. This would leave only another 4 rafts to be

positioned elsewhere on the vessel. So you are

looking at the majority of the vessel’s liferafts in this

photo. It is not clear to me where those 4 remaining

liferafts were located.

It is also not clear how passengers were supposed to

board these liferafts.

If I had to guess, definitely not anywhere near where

they were stored. There are no ladders. There does

not appear to be any inflatable slides there either,

however they could have been located elsewhere on

the vessel. Looking at other photos of the vessel, there

does not appear to be any obvious place for

passengers to board liferafts once they were

launched/dropped into the sea. If there were slides

further aft, what was the procedure for marshalling the

liferafts to an embarkation point?

http://gcaptain.com/phone-deceased-ferry-passenger-hard-evidence-serious-errors-judgement/

http://gcaptain.com/phone-deceased-ferry-passenger-hard-evidence-serious-errors-judgement/


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Given that the hull below where the liferafts were

located does not have any obvious embarkation areas,

they must have been located further aft.

Where were the passengers expected to muster to

abandon ship? Also, shouldn’t crewmembers have

been stationed at the rafts? Who should have been

there and where were they during this accident?

How would weather impact an evacuation from this

vessel?

The seas at the time of the accident were calm, yet

there were reports of swift currents in the area. Without

a means to marshal the liferafts, how was the crew

expected to deal with this problem? How much more

difficult would it have been to carry out an evacuation

of this vessel in rough seas?

Did cost play a role in the Captain’s decision-

making?

The decision to abandon ship is a serious one,

however there is a difference between evacuating

passengers into rafts or lifeboats. There is no added

cost to launching lifeboats. Lifeboats are also

retrievable. There is however a cost to launching a

liferaft. Once a raft is opened it will have to be serviced

and re-packed.

Popping open 46 liferaft canisters would have been a

considerable cost. Perhaps it was a cost the captain

was trying to avoid at first, when there would have

been questions regarding whether the vessel would

right itself.

A couple of points to keep in mind:

1. This vessel was on a domestic voyage and as such International safety rules would only apply as far as the South Korean authorities would apply them. 2. I am not suggesting that there was anything illegal regarding the use of liferafts only. For this vessel to operate, the relevant Flag-State authorities would have approved of the lifesaving equipment installed on the vessel.

3. These questions are limited solely to events after

the initial incident or investigation. 4. Lifeboat Regulations are covered in SOLOS. I leave it to a SOLAS expert to explain the requirements that this vessel would have had to comply with. 5. It appears that many passengers died from being trapped within the vessel. Simply mustering on deck would have provided an opportunity to abandon ship and be rescued with or without access to a lifraft or lifeboat. 6. This post represents solely my opinion. My opinion at the moment consists mainly of questions.

This article should not be taken as a generic position against liferafts. I have to say that I started the article with that thought in mind. However, this article was written with the SEWOL incident only in mind. There are some very impressive, efficient and effective liferaft evacuation systems out there. Liferafts and lifeboats are equipment. Equipment that was not used during this accident.

Above all else, why there was no evacuation is a

question that definitely needs to be answered.

Update: Some general questions when it comes to

substituting liferafts for lifeboats on any vessel: Is the

use of liferafts instead of lifeboats going to make the

evacuation of passengers and crew easier, faster and

safer? Are passengers and crew going to be better off

in a liferaft?

Other questions need to be asked if the answer is no.

Courtesy “Fred” gCaptain April 2014

MPA: Human Error and

Poor Judgement….. COUR TE SY MIKE SC HULER OF GCA PT A IN MA Y

30 , 2014

Ships at anchor near the Port of Singapore. Picture taken July 17, 2013. REUTERS/Edgar Su

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)

has concluded its investigations into a three separate

collisions involving commercial vessels in and around

Singapore that occurred over a two week period earlier

this year, finding that human error and poor judgement

were the main cause of all three.

Following the three collision incidents, each of which

resulted in oil spills, the Maritime and Port Authority of

Singapore (MPA) conducted investigations to

determine the causes of the incidents and to see if

there were any systemic issues that led to the spate of

incidents. The three incidents in question included the January

29 collision between the Chinese-flagged

containership, Fei He, and a Hong Kong-flagged

http://gcaptain.com/author/mike/


18

chemical tanker, Lime Galaxy; the January 30 collision

between the Panama-flagged containership, NYK

Themis, and a barge was being towed by tug; and the

February 10 collision between a Liberia-flagged

containership, the Hammonia Thracium, and a

Panama-flagged chemical tanker, Zoey. All three

collisions resulted in oil being spilled, but no injuries to

the crews.

The MPA found that in all three events, there was lack

of situational awareness of the bridge teams,

including the pilots, even though MPA’s Port

Operations Control Centre (POCC) had provided

advisories and warnings of the traffic situation to the

bridge teams. The MPA said that bridge teams also did

not make use the Automatic Identification System

(AIS), Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA), Radar,

and Electronic Chart Display and Information System

(ECDIS) to avoid the collisions.

Appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken against

the members of the bridge teams, including the pilots,

for contravening the relevant regulations, the MPA

said.

Following the collisions, the MPA also formed a Safety

Review Committee (SRC) to review the overall system

of navigational safety in Singapore’s port waters and

Singapore Strait, which found that there was no

significant increase in the number of incidents between

2007 and 2013, nor was there apparent correlation in

the occurrence of incidents and growth in vessel

movements in the Singapore Strait or port waters.

The number of incidents over the last few years

remained low and averaged about 0.012 and 0.016 per

1,000 vessel movements in the port waters and

Singapore Strait, according to the MPA, and existing

systems and procedures put in place by the MPA have

helped to keep the incident rates low.

In presenting their findings, the MPA organized a

dialogue session with more than 150 representatives

from the shipping community to update them on the on

the investigation and measures to enhance the safety

of navigation in the region.

“MPA places a strong emphasis on the safety of

navigation and takes a serious view of any incidents in

Singapore waters,” said MPA Chief Executive, Mr

Andrew Tan. “Moving forward, we will work more

closely with all our industry partners to review our

safety management procedures and implement

additional measures to enhance navigational safety.

We will also not hesitate to take appropriate actions

against those who infringe our safety regulations.”

Some key follow ups from the investigation can be

found on the MPA website HERE.

PAKISTANI 2ND ENGINEER DROWNS AT SEA AFTER FALLING OFF SHIP’S LADDER

A Pakistani 2nd

Engineer died earlier this month due to drowning following a fall from a ship anchored in Colombo. The deceased, Sakier Ahmad aged 52, a father of two from Karachi, was climbing up a ladder from the boat trying to get on to his ship had slipped and fallen into the sea.

He was taken ashore and rushed to the Colombo National Hospital where he was pronounced dead on admission. At the coroner’s court the Inquirer concluded that death was due to drowning, following a fall from a ship.

Note : Many are the boat trips that are operated on a daily basis from the ports of Colombo and Galle. It is a known fact that over 85% of seafarers can hardly hold their own in water. Panic immediately sets in when falling into the sea unexpectedly, even with an average swimmer as the sea is totally different from a swimming pool. All it takes is a life-jacket to prevent drowning. How much does a lifejacket cost?? A standard (non- SOLAS) life jacket is less than 30 USD…. Should not someone be held responsible for the tragedy? With the SW monsoon approaching, seafarers getting on board in the anchorage will be exposed to an even greater risk. There have been previous instances where drowning and prevention has been referred to in the 8 Bells. Let this be an eye-opener to make wearing of lifejackets compulsory at all times from boat to onboard ship.

“Don't compare your life to others. ….You have no idea what their journey is all about!”

It happens in the air too!

Trainer aircraft lands safely at Ratmalana airport minus a wheel

A Cessna 152 private training aircraft which lost one wheel in midair landed safely at the Ratmalana Airport earlier this month. The pilot was flying over the southern expressway when the aircraft encountered the snag. The pilot informed flight control at Ratmalana, that he was coming in to land, minus a wheel. Emergency teams were on hand on the runway as the plane came in to land. Even though the Cessna 152 overshot the runway, it came to a stop safely.

The Air force spokesman said the pilot was unharmed but in a state of shock. The aircraft belongs to a pilot training school in Ratmalana run by Millennium Airlines. The wheel was later found near the Gelanigama interchange on the Southern Expressway. It was collected by the police and handed over to air force authorities. Police said the wheel had fallen outside the expressway and no one was hurt nor any vehicles damaged.

http://www.mpa.gov.sg/sites/global_navigation/news_center/mpa_news/mpa_news_detail.page?filename=nr140529.xml


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THE AGING SAPUGASKANDA REFINERY AND HAMBANTOTA The Sapugaskanda Refinery which was built in the mid 60’s is now over half a century old, so catching up with the ever increasing maintenance cost to run the refinery adds every extra maintenance rupee to the fuel price we have to pay at the pump. Similarly, the SPBM off Colombo is nearing thirty years since it was built by IMODCO. It is not unfair to say that both plants have completed the best part of their service to the country and are now struggling with the aging process. While Sri Lanka does not enjoy full energy security due to crude oil being imported for refining, there can be some sort of a back up energy security inventory for a while when in refining business. It was reported recently in the media about aviation fuel being imported at Hambantota port, possibly for re-fuelling at Mattala airport. It appears that this is the second occasion of a consignment of fuel being discharged at Hambantota, the first being a consignment of Bunker Fuel Oil some time ago. Given the expected quantities of bunker supplies to ships at Hambantota Magampura Port and for aircraft refuelling at Mattala airport, it is possible that the frequency of such imports may be low, suggesting that the fuel storage facilities at Hambantota will possibly be under utilised. Refining is an expensive business, particularly the capital cost needed to get a refinery underway. Sri Lanka alone may not be able to afford the luxury of a second refinery, though efforts can be made to team up with a rich country or an oil giant. Two refineries shut their gates in recent times in Australia due to high production costs. Caltex Kurnell (Sydney) is due to close within a few months and BP Bulwer Is Refinery (Brisbane) is expected wind down in September next year. The closure decision of Caltex Brisbane Refinery is still hanging in the air. The above is in addition to the closing of the Shell Clyde Refinery a couple of years ago. Labour and maintenance cost in Australia is very high. More so in the energy sector due to strict regulations and particularly the Carbon tax. It has been said that importing products is much cheaper than refining in Australia. This may well be the case in other Western countries in future too. Sri Lanka should capitalise on such market conditions and plan to have the second refinery as the production cost in Sri Lanka can be very competitive. Now the question is where to locate the second refinery. Trincomalee port, having deep water within the bay is ideal for a refinery where crude tankers can enter and discharge, and products can be exported after refining. However, it will not be so suitable for bunkering business due to being away from the main East-West shipping route. An option will be to ship bunker fuel from Trinco to Hambantota, which will then add to the cost of bunker prices at Hambantota. Building a pipeline from Trincomalee to Hambantota is

out of question due to the length, capital cost and operational problems of maintaining a long pipeline due to pour point of most bunker fuel oil. Much has been spoken about attracting the nearly two hundred vessels passing daily South of Dondra Head for bunkers to Hambantota. It is uncertain though if Hambantota can attract ships for bunkering, as ship owners would not want to waste valuable time in diverting. One possibility is the provision of offshore bunkering with competitive bunker prices relative to the prices of Singapore and Middle East. As can be seen, the cost of bunker fuel oil at the manifold is the key to get somewhere in the direction of the target. A better option to achieve this is to have the second refinery closer to Hambantota, probably with an SPBM for discharging crude oil. The second refinery should also be able to supply the gap bunker quantity (Colombo requires about 30,000 tonnes monthly and Sapugaskanda does not supply the full quantity) to Colombo supplies as well. Singapore is currently trading (exporting) a significant quantity of petroleum products. The demand for such petroleum products should only increase in the future with the growth in population and usage of vehicles, combined with many refineries shutting down in other parts of the world.. Sri Lanka should be able to be competitive in both price and quality (which is very important) to export petroleum products to various parts of the world. Planning in a broader sense including planned maintenance (an effective policy to manage the Hambantota tank farm on a longer term for the benefit of the country, avoiding short term benefit; a quality regional pipeline network required with provisions for future connections, etc.) is important for a successful long term outcome. Planned maintenance also require regular pigging of pipelines to get rid of any sludge and corrosion friendly water build up to maintain the flow diameter, analysis of pigged liquid for the presence of Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) followed by chemical dosing to neutralise the corrosion effect by SRBs etc. If not, a burst of a pipeline with little notice can be expected. Sri Lanka economists should seriously consider getting down to the drawing board for promoting a second refinery in Hambantota, geared with facts and figures which not only will create a lot of energy related regional jobs both direct and indirect. Then other investors and industries will follow into Hambantota as well, giving a huge boost for the economy of Sri Lanka on the long run while securing the energy. Contributed by our energy specialist Capt. Chandra Godakanda Arachchi - from Brisbane Former Mooring Master and Pilot Colombo Harbour


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Seafarer Training and Certification – Are we ready? No de-recognition of Filipino seafarer certificates -

Philippines administration to report back to EC every three

months

At the Committee on the Safety of the Sea (COSS) held on 23

rd April, EU Member States endorsed the

recommendation from the European Commission not to de-recognise Filipino seafarer certificates of competency. Instead, the Philippines administration will report back to the EC every three months.

Additionally, European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) will continue to undertake inspections to ensure continued compliance. Coupled with this will be technical assistance provided by EU member States to the Philippines in ensuring that they are able to comply with their obligations.

This is outcome is welcomed, providing the balance between an outright ban and a clean bill of health. The additional monitoring and technical assistance will provide the added assurance owners need when sourcing seafarers from the Philippines.

Note : The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is due to visit Sri Lanka in November 2014, to check on the standards of training, certification and watchkeeping.

Sent in by a concerned member Don't let someone become priority in your life, when you are just an option in their life.

Missing Flight 370 – How a modern aircraft could disappear - by Capt. Mehran Wahid

Malaysian Airlines MH 370 – one theory

which holds up Malaysian Airlines MH 370 went missing on 8

th March

in the early hours – in the days, weeks and months that followed, the world reacted incredulously to the fact that a large aircraft with over 200 persons after staying in the air for about 7 hours could disappear so completely in this day and age that even at the highest levels of authority there was no complete agreement on which direction it had gone – as to why it disappeared no evidence exists even for an educated guess. Let’s look at the facts here, and in the absence of anything else see what scenario best fits what is known however unproven it may seem. Leaving out all the 'crazies' theories such as UFO abduction, being spotted over the Maldives (indeed – when nearly the whole world is on mobile 'phones that this would go unreported/unnoticed is unthinkable), this author puts forward a theory which has run around the heads of various news media but remained unvoiced due to lack of proof. The fact that the aircraft was made to deliberately disappear is beyond dispute even though unproven. Several events occurred in a deliberate methodical sequence too well carried out to have been unrehearsed and unplanned. The transponder (the aircraft equivalent of our AIS) was switched off just after the Air Traffic Controller in Malaysian airspace handed over to the Vietnamese ATC. The turning off process is not accidental and requires a switch to be turned in several notched steps. The aircraft then went into a smooth programmed, sharp turn westwards away from its original northerly route towards Beijing – not a hasty manual turn as might be done in some kind of emergency or in a jerky manoeuvre as when a plane had just been hijacked. All subsequent turns would be carried out in a similar manner through standard waypoints as might be used by a trained pilot. There is evidence that at one point the aircraft dropped to a very low altitude which would reduce the chances of radar detection and would clearly indicate the pilot did not want to be seen flying in the direction taken. There was also a report that the aircraft climbed to its highest limits before dropping down again which could


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indicate an attempt to starve the passengers of oxygen. Unconscious passengers would allow a pilot with sinister plans to act freely and undisturbed. Malaysian military radar subsequently picked up the aircraft crossing the Malay peninsular into the airspace between Sumatra and Malaysia and then Indonesian military picked it up going on a NNW'ly course again around the northern tip of Sumatra and into the Indian Ocean. These were courses designed to have a high chance of avoiding radar detection and enable the plane to 'disappear' from the known world.

After the transponder was switched off, the ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) which is a datalink passing on information to the ground for maintenance and monitoring from the aircraft via Inmarsat short messages, had also been deliberately switched off (this is not meant for navigation or search and rescue). However, a little known fact to pilots (now revealed in all the news about ACARS since this incident), is that another component of this system automatically continues to attempt contact with the ground even when the main ACARS is switched off until a aircraft reaches its

destination and lands. This Classic Aero component as it is known carries out 'hand-shaking' in a similar way to cell-phone systems even if no data is available resulting in a very small 'no information' signal return from the aircraft. With no other information about MH370 available, in a ground-breaking move from a 'communications only' role, Inmarsat changed to a limited navigation role when in a matter of a few days their Engineers analysed the brief signal return from the ACARS and came up with arcs of position where the aircraft was believed to have finally reached (see 8 Bells March issue). The arcs of position were further narrowed to a relatively small area in the South Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Several major countries with sophisticated capability sent out ships and aircraft into an unbelievably expensive search of just this area – hard to believe they would do so unless completely convinced that the Inmarsat calculations were very reliable. Even a rather convincing report from an Australian oil exploration company that a aircraft was down in the northern Bay of Bengal with so-called supportive satellite evidence, did not draw away the

international search effort from off Perth, so

convinced were the powers that be of the

Inmarsat prediction! Hence we can be certain of the

aircraft's general

route, (the Inmarsat

calculation uses Doppler shift which is

dependent on speed and a difference in the assumed speed would

result in a small difference in the supposed final crash position which relatively speaking could be a several hundred miles), although not why it came on such a strange circuitous route into the only reachable large body of empty ocean. And now for the theory. In general an emergency can be ruled out – pilots of such a reputable (at least until now) airline would automatically be reporting in an emergency and are not going to following this strange apparently well thought out route. A route which had the highest probability of making the large airliner with


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its load of passengers disappear. A hijacking is useless to the perpetrator without a cause being announced – something for private gain would also have ended in a high news event and not this strange method of disappearance. Hence 'outsider actions' appear to be ruled out. That leaves the pilots – it would have to be one of them since this is already a mind-boggling unlikelihood, both pilots being involved would be unthinkable. There were confirmed reports of the younger co-pilot bringing young ladies into the cockpit and photographs of them with him. Thus we have a picture of this man enjoying life and quite unlikely to be contemplating suicide. Suicide? If this seems unthinkable note that this would not be the first time – refer to the Thai Airlines flight Silkair 185 and Egypt Air 990 the former of which was a confirmed pilot-suicide and the latter quite likely to have been one. Having ruled out the co-pilot of MH370, let us look at the Captain. Lets go back a bit to before the flight. There were news reports of his wife having left him – under the right circumstances this would be a powerful incentive to drive many mild-mannered, sane men to unthinkable acts. He had built a sophisticated flight simulator at home which would have given him ample opportunity to rehearse an entire flight for real without anyone being the wiser. Although nothing could be proven, investigators did later find deleted files on his simulator which could indicate he wiped evidence of his plans behind him. Afterwards it was also proven that the Co-pilot's cell-phone registered briefly on a cellular-phone tower on the Malaysian coast as the aircraft flew past on its way up the Malacca Straits. While not in itself proof of anything, it does not need much stretch of imagination for the following scenario. The Captain requests his junior (as can well happen in an Asian aircraft) to be so kind as to fetch him a cup of coffee while enjoying a little stretching of his legs and some chat with the girls in the galley. When the Co-pilot returns he finds himself locked out of the cockpit (or flight-deck as it is now called) and realising something sinister is going on, including the unexpected manoeuvres, he resorts to trying to use his phone to contact the outside. The contact with the cell tower was only fleeting as the aircraft flew past – but while not unusual, it seems strange that a professional pilot would leave his mobile phone on in flight. If it were any other kind of emergency he would have the sophisticated communications of the cockpit available for use and would not need resort to his mobile. In view of the unthinkable having happened before – pilot suicide with a plane load of innocent passengers is not impossible. The human drive that would make a previously responsible pilot do such a dastardly act could be his wife leaving him (not too long ago and according to

one report just prior to this flight). A man who spent so much time flying under well regulated conditions and then came home to play with his simulators possibly doing what he cannot on the actual planes, (ask any gamer who has played flight simulator whether he never flew upside down or glided in to land on the water at a gentle angle to see whether they could not repeat the miracle of the Hudson River landing by US Airways Flight 1549). Carrying out such unusual manoeuvres with a plane load of imaginary passengers in the simulator could blur the lines between this and reality sufficient for the Captain to be able to block out reality when it actually happened. As for going far south into the empty wilderness of the South Indian Ocean, he probably wanted to make a name for himself of a kind by making his plane completely disappear and go down in history as one of the greatest mysteries – which he has so far achieved.

It is this author's belief that when MH370 is finally discovered, which will happen if not in the months ahead, then in the years ahead, the remains of the Captain will be found in the cockpit with the door locked and the Co-pilot's remains in the passenger cabin together with the rest of the passengers and the remainder of the crew and all strapped into their seats... braced for a crash. It is hoped they will not be because then it would mean they would have mercifully not been conscious in those last terrible moments. [Except for the author's own conjecture, all reports are based on BBC and CNN news items most of which are still available on the respective websites in the huge plethora of news reports about the incident. ACARS and other technical information was also gleaned from Wikipedia.]


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More comments on the MH370 Fugro Survey Vessel Joins Search for Flight MH370

The Fugro Equator, fitted with state-of-the art multibeam

echosounder equipment,

will conduct a bathymetric survey of the seafloor in the search

area. Photo courtesy Fugro

AMSTERDAM, June 19 (Reuters) – Dutch engineers this week started a months-long survey to map unchartered deep-sea terrain at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, the next step in the search for the wreck of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a company official told Reuters. A survey ship from Dutch engineering company Fugro, carrying 40 crew and technicians, began mapping out an area larger than the Netherlands, some 1000 miles (1,600 km) east of the northwest coast of Australia. The search for the lost plane is being coordinated by the Australian Transportation Safety Board and is expected to cost 60 million Australian dollars ($56 million) over the first year. “It’s a rough area,” Rob Luijnenburg, strategy director at Fugro, which usually conducts surveys for oil and telecommunications companies, said in an interview on Thursday. “The area has mountains, ridges, valleys, and you can’t see a lot down there unless you make it visible with technology,” he said. “For the first phase you need a good map. Once you have that you can plan the next phase.” It will take roughly three months for the Fugro Equator survey ship, which is being assisted by a Chinese naval vessel, to map out the typography of the ocean floor. Once an accurate map has been constructed with the aid of computers on board the ship, searchers can begin more detailed, slower surveys in a bid to find the wreck itself, using unmanned robots and submarines to search the ocean floor. Flight MH370, carrying 239 crew and passengers, mostly Chinese, disappeared from radar screens on March 8 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

UNCHARTED SEABED Investigators say what little evidence they have to work with, including the loss of communications, suggests the Boeing 777 was deliberately diverted thousands of kilometers from its scheduled route. The area being mapped is largely uncharted, Luijnenburg said, since the area’s remoteness and depth at 6,000 meters placed it beyond the reach of the oil industry, which is still pushing down to depths approaching 3,000 meters. With a long maritime history and seafaring expertise, Dutch companies are leaders in the field of complex, large-scale undersea search and salvage operations. Wrecks on which Dutch companies have worked include the raising of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank in the depths of the Barents Sea in 2000 with the loss of all on board. More recently, Dutch firms were contracted to help salvage the Costa Concordia cruise liner, which sank off the coast of Italy in 2012. Fugro’s ship will use an echo sounder for the topographic mapping stage, building up a relatively low-resolution picture of the entire area as quickly as possible, its crew staying at sea for a month at a time. “It’s extremely unlikely that we will be able to pick up something the size of an aircraft and make it out to be that at this stage,” Luijnenburg said. Built in 2012, the vessel is one of four Fugro commissioned that is custom-built for undersea surveying, designed to be quiet and not interfere with the sensitive sonar mapping systems, which measure echoes bounced off the sea floor. What little is known of the topography of the area comes from satellite imaging and from surveys made in the past by ships that happened to be crossing the area with sonar turned on, he said. Data gathered earlier is inaccurate, because most of it was collected without the help of satellite positioning. (Editing by Anthony Deutsch and Sonya Hepinstall)

Courtesy gCaptain - Thomas Escritt 19 June 2014 Thomson Reuters.

First MH370 report details confusion in hours after flight was lost May 1, 2014

The Malaysia Transport Ministry’s first report on the probe of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370), released Thursday, adds few relevant details to the little already known about why the flight disappeared, while recommending that the industry explore real-time tracking of aircraft.

The report—which includes seven pages of narrative and details on efforts to contact MH370, air traffic control recordings between MH370 and Kuala Lumpur controllers, a seating plan, and the plane’s cargo manifest—shows that controllers and


24

the airline’s operations center spent nearly four hours attempting to contact the missing Boeing 777-200, seemingly overlooking key clues that suggested they had an emergency on their hands.

MH370 vanished from radar March 8 during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and with 239 people on board. The report, dated April 9 but made public May 1, confirms MH370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 00:41:43 local time March 8 en route to Beijing.

At 01:19:24, Kuala Lumpur control handed MH370 off to controllers in Ho Chi Minh, and somebody on MH370’s flight deck acknowledged the request. The last confirmed radar return from the Boeing 777 came at 01:21:13, but the flight never checked in with controllers in Ho Chi Minh. Contact with the flight was never re-established.

At 01:38, Vietnamese controllers contacted their counterparts in Kuala Lumpur, asking where MH370 was. After about a half-hour of attempting to locate the flight, Kuala Lumpur controllers at 02:15 contacted the airline’s operations center, which determined that it could “exchange signals with the flight” and that it was in Cambodian airspace. But Cambodian controllers reported having neither any contact with nor information on MH370, and Ho Chi Minh controllers confirmed that MH370’s flight plan did not include Cambodian airspace.

The ops center reported the flight in “normal condition” as late as 02:35. Within the next hour, however, the ops center acknowledged that flight-tracking information “was based on flight projection and not reliable for aircraft positioning,” according to a document released with the report.

Over the next several hours, controllers and the ops center tried to reach MH370, turning at one point to another Malaysia Airlines flight for help contacting the missing aircraft.

After nearly four hours of fruitless efforts to find MH370, officials activated an emergency response effort at 05:30.

The report touches on the seven Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) “handshake” messages sent after routine communications with the flight stopped, including the last one at 0819, but does not provide additional details. It also reviews the analysis of these signals that led investigators to conclude the aircraft’s flight ended in the Southern Indian Ocean, but does not shed new light on the aircraft’s known or suspected flight path, including much-reported altitude changes while the aircraft was still close to Malaysia.

Malaysian Defense Minister and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who released the report, also confirmed that Malaysian military radar picked up an aircraft “making a turn-back, in a westerly direction, across peninsular Malaysia on

the morning of 8 March.” No immediate action was taken, however, because “the aircraft was categorized as friendly.” A review of the military radar tapes soon after an emergency was declared helped focus the initial search and rescue effort in the Straits of Malacca, he added.

The report’s recommendation, from the Malaysian Air Accident Investigation Bureau, calls on ICAO to “examine the safety benefits of introducing a standard for real-time tracking” of commercial aircraft. ICAO is already working on the issue and is convening a flight data tracking summit on May 12-13.

Release of the report came following public outcry after last week’s revelation by Malaysia Director General of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman that Malaysia had sent an interim report on MH370 to ICAO, but not released it publicly. Two days later, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak revealed on television news channel CNN that the report would be made public, but only after an internal review.

“Last week, the Prime Minister appointed an internal team of experts to review all the information the government of Malaysia possesses regarding MH370, with a view to releasing as much as possible to the general public,” Hishammuddin explained. It is not clear how the publicly released report compares to the one provided to ICAO.

The report distribution protocol followed by Malaysian officials appears inconsistent with established international norms.

ICAO accident investigation protocol, contained in the organization’s Annex 13, calls for completion of a preliminary report “within 30 days” of the accident or incident under investigation. The report should be distributed to the countries linked to the operator, aircraft manufacturer, aircraft designer, and “any state that provided relevant information, significant facilities or experts,” the annex explained. A US National Transportation Safety Board spokesman confirmed the board received a copy of the report before it was made public.

While the annex does not discuss public distribution of reports, interim reports are rarely kept under wraps, regardless of how much information they may add to what has been publicly confirmed. In 2009, France’s BEA publicly released its first preliminary report on Air France Flight 447 accident on July 2, 31 days after the disaster. In 2000, Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council took less than a month to issue its first recommendations following the Oct. 31 crash of Singapore Airlines 006 at Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport.

We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through.Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return Home." - Aboriginal Philosophy-


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4 years of Somali pirate hell and then, dash to freedom Courtesy - Chathuri Dissanayake of the Sunday Times

Four long years in the hands of a group of Somali pirates, the only solace Niroshan and Bisthami found was by praying to God to bring about their rescue. They were among 11 who remained from what was originally a crew of 23, which comprised of two Indians and seven Bangladeshis.

“It was God’s will that we were able to escape after four years,” says Bisthami, a Marine Engineer with 35-years experience as a seaman, who returned home this week after a nightmare ordeal in the hands of the Somalis.

Bisthami: Thank God, we are safe now Niroshan reunited with the family

The two men were met by their families at the airport and a church service was held to celebrate Niroshan’s return.

Bisthami had boarded the ship four years ago, determined to make it the last sea voyage to earn enough to settle the mortgage on his house. Three months after he was taken captive by the Somali pirates, the bank confiscated his house in Walauwatta, and today, he lives with his family in a rented house in Kolonnawa.

The group was able to escape with help from one of the pirates assigned to guard them. The Somali guard who became acquainted with his captives, told them he will assist them gain safe passage, if they were willing to pay him. Realising it was their only chance, the group agreed and were given some sleeping pills to mix in the pirates’ food, but it had no effect on the guards who were eating a local herb to keep them awake.

Seizing, what Bisthami called was their last opportunity, they jumped out of a small, one-foot wide window of the building where they were being held. After running for hours and coming across a desert, they were able to call their Somali contact and get them to Galkayo, capital of the north-central Mudug region of Somalia. From that point onwards their return was facilitated by United Nations officials in the area, who had been in touch with them since the ship owner abandoned them two years before.

Bisthami was among six Sri Lankans on the ship, when Somali pirates hijacked the Malaysian flagged container vessel ‘Alberto’ on August 19, 2010, while on its way to Mambosa from Dubai. “The pirates were armed with AK-47s, machine guns and other armour, and the crew had no option but to surrender,” says Bisthami.

After three months of captivity, the pirates demanded a ransom of $ 20 millon from the vessel’s owner. The owner refused to pay so much, but offered $ 200,000 instead. Negotiations continued but the ransom could not be agreed upon. At one point, a young Indian crew member was killed in front of Bisthami and three others including a Sri Lankan, to pressure the owner of the ship to pay up. Consequently, $ 1.25 million arrived, and a ransom of $ 2.85 million was agreed upon, but the owner defaulted.

Having lost all hope of being rescued, the crew were resigned to their fate. In August 2012, the seven Pakistanis paid $ 1.2 million and were released. “The pirates tortured us and beat us often. Our Chief Engineer, who was also a Sri Lankan, took most of the beating, and then they beat me,” Bisthami says.

When the ship capsized, the Chief Engineer, who couldn’t swim, drowned. So did the other Sri Lankans, except for Niroshan and Bisthami who managed to swim to another vessel nearby.

Still under pirate captivity, the group of 11 hostages were taken to the mainland and kept ashore until their escape on June 6.


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Port, Shipping and Aviation news

Capt. Channa Abeyagunewardena (CMM Member) ,

Bunkering consultant to SLPA doing the honours with his

excellency the President of Sri Lanka (From the Daily Mirror of

23.06.2014) President Mahinda Rajapaksa opened the new Fuel Hydrant System and Aviation Refueling Terminal of the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) at Mattala, Hambantota on Sunday 22

nd June 2014,

widening the capacity to supply aviation fuel to large aircraft. The construction project of the Fuel Hydrant System and Aviation Refueling Terminal with a capacity to store three million litres of fuel was completed by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation at a cost of Rs. 5 billion. The Fuel Hydrant System and Aviation Refueling Terminal have been constructed using European technology. The MRIA has been designed to handle Airbus A380 aircraft which has a fuel capacity of 310,000 litres of Jet-A1 fuel. Some of the other larger aircraft expected at the MRIA are the Antonov 124 which has a capacity of 348,000 litres, Boeing 747 with 216,000 litre capacity, Airbus 340-300 with 140,000 litre capacity, Airbus 340-600 with 150,000 litre capacity and Boeing 777-200 with 117,300 litre capacity fuel tanks. The CPC Aviation Terminal is provided with 3.0 million litres of Jet-A1 fuel storage (3 x 1 million litre tanks), online filtering and sampling facilities, automated pumping system, emergency shutdown system at both apron and terminal, Fire detection and firefighting systems, refueling, loading and off-loading facilities, inventory management and quality control systems, total backup power generation systems during a total blackout and many more systems and facilities

REDUCING IDLE TIME IN PORT ON CONTAINER OPERATIONS The following article gives a valuable insight to a viewpoint from ashore. Ship’s Master, Officers and crew usually play a reactive role (naturally) as the control of the ship is from ashore – a planner in the office for each ship, eta/b/d, loading and discharging etc. The ship just follows instructions…. However, knowing what happens ashore, both in the office, terminal and the port logistics can be mind-boggling…. if one is interested enough to know. There are quite a few areas where the ship can concentrate more in making the economics of the voyage more gainful for everyone. As a continuation, all is not smooth sailing on board….security threats such as piracy, stowaways and drugs make life on board quite a hassle… combined with weather conditions such as typhoons, fog etc. The 8 Bells will have an insight from a sailing master in our September issue.

Competition in container shipping operations is intense. Profit margins for vessel operators are decreasing due to reasons such as the economic crisis, over- tonnage, reduced freight rates, etc. Greater emphasis is played to save costs by slow steaming and having a lesser turnaround time. A lesser turnaround time is mainly achieved by vessels being provided the following, in order of importance.

Berthing with minimum delay

Time to count from arrival at pilot station to arrival of the pilot. This is the main factor affecting turnaround time.

Improving Berth Productivity

The average of number of moves per hour done by a ships crane, from the time vessel is berthed and unberthed.

Reducing Idling time at berth

Time loss after berthing the ship and commencing the first lift plus(+) the time loss after the last lift and unberthing the vessel,


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time loss on change of shifts, meal breaks, waiting for prime movers to discharge, load containers, awaiting for stowage plan to be approved by vessels command, completion of break bulk loading, lashing, etc. This improves the Gross Crane Productivity which is measured over longer periods of time and Gross Crane Rate (GCR) which is the average number of containers that are loaded and discharged by a single crane per allocated crane hour. It regarded as the most important performance indicator of seaport container terminals for both the shipping lines and the terminal operators themselves. GCR directly affects the turnaround times of vessels.

Focus in this paper is on reducing the idling time at berth, concentrating mainly on very large container carriers, upon observations and study. Factors considered here are to minimize the waiting time to commence cargo operation and sail the vessel upon completion The above graph details a study on idle time based on (a large European container operator’s statistics on a major South East Asian container port) the time taken by (berthing the ship and commencing the first lift + completion of cargo operations and sailing the ship/2). Here, an average of 30 mts being achieved – (where lashers boarded the vessel with lashing cages prior gangway was down and semi automatic twist locks were used.)

Reduced time to secure the gangway

A study was carried out on several 13,400 TEU vessels over a time and it was observed an average time of 53 minutes was taken to secure the gangway with a safety net and cross gangway in place. These vessels arrive with approximately 13 meters drafts (possible maximum draft 16 mtrs) and the enormous size of the gangway is clearly seen and emphasized by the very high freeboard. It was also observed that vessels initially had only one deck crew member to attend to the gangway and more deck crew are added once the berthing operation of the vessel is completed. About 10-15 minutes of this time could be saved if the gangway could be turned out horizontally or lowered to half the freeboard level from the time pilot boards and on passage to the berth. However, this is at the

discretion of company’s safety policy and of the Master.

Reducing time for first lift

This also depends on factors as to whether authorities such as Immigration, Port health etc., need to board the vessel before any stevedores are permitted to go on board. Some Asian countries still insist that vessel must be cleared by certain authorities before cargo work is allowed to commence. There is nothing one could do if the Port regulations are such, other than to expedite the authorities to arrive on board ASAP. Some ports allow lashing gangs to board the vessel via the lashing cages. Here, around 3/4 lashers will board the vessel via cages attached to the spreader to unlock the twist locks from the top tier. On a 8 / 9 high tier vessel fitted with semi- auto twist locks, the lashers will unlash the 9

th to 3

rd tier from the cages. If a ship

has 21 rows across, unlashing a full bay will take more than one hour. Usually ships are planned at two bays per crane and it could take more than 1.5 hours to unlock full two bays. This delay can be greatly reduced if vessels are provided with latest generation of fully automatic twist locks, which more giant container carriers are relying on now. These fully automatic twist locks operate without manual intervention for discharging, as the twist locks turn from locked to unlocked position by the impact of the container spreader. Therefore, no manual unlocking is needed and lashers going up on 9 high containers, delays due to bad weather, safety factor where certain ports forbid lashers to go beyond 6 /7 high containers etc., are avoided. On a Asia / Europe run where these giants presently call at around 8/9 ports, a 1 - 1.5 hour saving a port is a huge cost saving in terms of fuel where speed could be adjusted to reduce speed to arrive at the next port.

Mustering port workers as soon as vessel

berths.

The majority of ports work on a shift system based on 12 hours or 8 hours (12 /8 hour). There is an inevitable time loss during shift changes. An in-depth study was carried out on how this time loss could be reduced,

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which resulted in effectively reducing the previous to 1 hour period to just 20 minutes. Staggered mustering points were created instead of the usual starting from one end of the terminal to another on a quay length of 4.3 kms, which was using 44 gantry cranes. Motivation of the crew was handled by the senior managers who also took turns to monitor the times. Vessels which were left with a few remaining container moves to complete cargo work were continued to the next shift. Persuaded by the shift managers to complete operations, the existing shift did accordingly to complete and sail - at times extending up to 1 hour.

Checking stowage / lashing plan prior

Vessels officers must comply early to check the terminal’s stowage plan, instead of waiting for the last moment. Lashings should be checked by the vessel’s duty officer soon after each bay is completed, and if not up to satisfaction, brought to the notice of the Chief Officer. This way, time loss can be kept to a minimum. The final loading plan which is normally given 1 hour before cargo operation is completed should be checked thoroughly for exceeding of stack weights, lashing forces, stability, trim, departure draft, finally visibility etc. Very often containers are shifted after completion of cargo operations due to visibility issues. This will make boomed up gantries to be lowered once again and shore labour recalled.

Checking Reefer containers , DG cargo on

correct locations, with proper stickers placed

Frequent complaints are received regarding reefer container machinery malfunctions (on reefers which have been loaded as local cargo), just prior to sailing. Such reefers have to be attended by shore technicians after cargo operations are completed causing delays. In worse cases, the malfunctioning reefer has to be discharged after shifting several containers, thus incurring further delays. The situation could be minimized if reefer containers are plugged in as soon as they are loaded and monitored for any possible malfunctions. Similarly, in the case of DG cargo a check should be made without delay if the correct UN number and DG stickers are placed on containers as per relevant regulations. Some US and European ports require UN numbers to be placed on all four sides. Sometimes this is overlooked and time lost when a DG container without the required markings has to be off-loaded when the Chief Officer finds out. The UN numbers consist of digits and it is not possible to have such digits at hand unlike DG stickers which are kept in limited quantities. A suggested solution is to have digits printed in black on a white back ground of required size 0 -9 ready for a ‘cut and paste’.

OOG cargo and Break bulk loading

Similar to the above, any break-bulk loading and OOG lashing should be completed and checked before the last container is loaded. Very often, extra lashings are required to be in place, after the workers have left the

vessel. Break bulk cargo such as locomotives, yachts and heavy machinery will come on board after the last container has been loaded. Officers should be vigilant to minimize any delay and keep a good check on the lashing plan.

Completion of Bunkering if any, testing of

engines, stowaway search, engine / deck

repairs.

It is a rat-race to complete bunkering before cargo operations is completed. If the vessel is having less moves and less cargo operations time, the idling time will increase as the waiting time for sailing is now extended after the last lift. To prevent this, every effort must be made to have the bunker barge ready on arrival, hoses connected without delay, bunker surveyors to be in attendance on arrival and have a safe pumping rate to maximize effectiveness. Very often, there are disputes between the barge reading and vessel’s tanks mainly in Asian Ports. Sufficient time must be left for retaking of soundings in the tanks on ship and barge and for calculations. Similarly, a stowaway search, which is required as per new regulations, must be systematically carried out to minimize delays. The same goes for testing of engines, which should not kept for last moment.

Monitoring the end of cargo operations and

calling the sailing pilot.

This task is usually from the terminal, as usually either the shipping agent or the terminal books the outward pilot. Again, it is crucial to arrange this with ample time in hand to reduce time from last lift and sailing pilot. Notifications should be sent early to have the required tugs, linesmen and pilot(s) ready. Vessels with draft restrictions need to sail at a higher tide, vessels tight on schedule to arrive next port (with less buffer), or arrive to join the Suez convoy need to negotiate with the terminal to give priority over other vessels. Quite often, 3 or more vessels will complete around the same time where different shipping lines and terminals will have difficulty to provide manpower for all to sail at once. Due to channel clearance and the required safety factor, large container vessels may need sufficient space to overtake or follow one another.


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Conclusion Impacts of reducing the idle time on ships are focused on terminal’s undertaking, e.g. allowing stevedores to board prior clearance from authorities, lashers to board via spreader cages, reducing meal break time by staggering, boarding gangs on staggered locations, early booking of outward pilot etc. as well as the vessel’s contribution by having sufficient manpower to lower the gangway, keeping the gangway turned out, checking lashing on completion of each bay, break bulk lashing, checking proper labeling for DG cargo containers, checking on local reefer cargo containers, OOG loadings, stowaway search, testing of gears, etc. Reducing idle time at port enhances the process of vessels needing a quicker turnaround time, which also enables vessels to adjust sea passage to a lower speed and to arrive at the next port on time. This directly affects the fuel consumption and will result in a huge saving on costs. Contributed by Capt. Lalin de Silva M.Sc, FNI. (Capt.Lalin has served over 16 years as Operations Manager on leading container terminals in South East Asia, working for top container operators. He holds an M.Sc Degree on Maritime Education from World Maritime University; Malmo, and UNDP / ILO trainer certification on container operations. He is the first Sri Lankan “Fellow” of the Nautical Institute UK, receiving it in 1993. Above are Lalin’s views based on his work experience, observations and study) Reference

Containers lost at sea - World Shipping

Council (WSC) Aug 2014

Safe transport of container by sea -

international Chamber of Shipping

Measuring productivity - UNDP / ILO project

on Port Development

Productivity and Capacity of container

Terminals - World Wide Shipping

Port Performance Indicators - Transportation,

Water and Urban Development Dept., World

Bank

Measuring and Evaluating Port Performance

and Productivity - UNCTAD

Other Shipping News

The State owned Ceylon Shipping Corporation Ltd., has announced plans to purchase two bulk carrier ships from China. The two 63,600 MT DWT bulk carrier ships will be built by the AVIC International Beijing Company Ltd., at Weihai, China at a cost of US$ 35 million each.

The need for acquiring ships for CSCL starting with these two vessels intended for transporting of thermal coal imported for the coal fired Norochcholai power

plant, is in order to build up a national fleet in the interest of the country and the national economy. Cabinet approval has been given to the proposal for the purchase of the two ships, which was announced earlier in the 2014 budget.

The ships are specially designed to add an extra deck at an extra cost to accommodate around 25 persons in addition to its standard crew complement, with a view to providing training for Sri Lankan Deck and Engineering Cadets who receive their pre-sea training and pass out from Sri Lanka Maritime training institutions.

Chairman of the CSCL, Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage, signed a loan agreement with the People's Bank for the purchase of the two ships of which the first is expected to be delivered by October 31, 2015 and the second by 31 January 2016.

China’s regulators scupper a vast container-shipping alliance June 2014

Sailing on alone

SIZE is considered a great advantage in the container-shipping industry. The largest of the colossal vessels that now tote metal boxes between the world’s ports are twice as big as those launched a decade ago. But such scale is not to everyone’s pleasing. On June 17

th,

China’s antitrust regulators sank plans by the world’s three biggest container-shipping firms to form a vast alliance aimed at sharing space on board their vessels.

The business of shifting containers across the globe has induced seasickness for some years. World trade is in the doldrums. The volume of goods travelling on the mainline routes from Asia to Europe and across the Pacific Ocean plunged in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 and has scarcely recovered. Of the 20 biggest container lines, 17 are breaking even or losing money. The three that make a decent return, Maersk Line of Denmark, CMA CGM of France and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), based somewhat counterintuitively in Switzerland, had hoped that their P3 alliance, dreamed up last year, would help them widen the gap to their rivals.

Container companies sent out the “dead slow ahead” signal to their captains, to counter the effects of a wave of new ships, ordered before the slowdown, that has swollen the global fleet. Slow steaming -the trip from China to Europe now takes around 26 rather than 21 days -means that more vessels are needed to transport the same amount of cargo, but fuel costs are lower. And some ships have dropped anchor indefinitely. But to cut costs further shipping lines have teamed up. MSC and CMA CGM had already agreed to co-operate. Two earlier tie-ups of three lines were knotted into a new group, G6, including firms from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Germany.


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Container-ship operators say that by pooling resources they can offer more frequent service to more ports. Costs can be kept down by ensuring that ships put to sea with less empty space. And greater bargaining-power will help in negotiating the best port fees and freight-handling rates. The P3 alliance planned a fleet of about 250 ships to ply the Asia-Europe, transatlantic and transpacific sea lanes. The three firms control over a third of global traffic and would take half of all container trade between Asia and Europe, prompting regulators to cast a quizzical eye over the deal.

However, America’s watchdogs rejected complaints from smaller container lines and waved the deal through. Earlier this month the European Union’s regulators also said that they would not intervene. It was left to China’s increasingly assertive competition authorities to forbid the capacity-sharing scheme, saying that the putative alliance was not in the “social public interest.”

Suspicious minds might interpret this as meaning not in the interests of China’s weak, state-owned carriers. The P3’s members argued that although they would consolidate their operations, they would continue to sell space on ships separately, and still compete on price. Assuming they believed this, the Chinese still seem to have concluded that by having the biggest, most efficient ships and lower costs, the P3 would have damaged competition.

Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much

Only for the “Cricket Crazy” While CMM has been having an “offtime” from active cricket, the Sri Lanka team has been so busy winning. Taking over from the last issue, Sri Lanka won the T20 World cup beating our arch rivals India and followed it up with a clean sweep ina most exciting tour of England winning the T20, Limited Over and the Test series. The CMM cricketers have been carefully watching the match analysis, replays and intelligent captaincy decisions to execute another clinical win later this year in the annual encounter against the Marine Engineers. However, before our ‘big match’, our team will be tested in the OPA 6-a-side tournament. Let us take this opportunity to wish our team good luck to win.

Sent in by “Power Play”

# The most important thing in any game is not to win but to take part… Similarly, the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle…. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

FOR CMM PARENTS AND THEIR KIDS

Did you know that our immediate past President Capt. Joseph Ranchigoda is an instant poet? I happened to dig this short poem out from an old e-mail and it is reproduced with Ranchi’s nod of approval.

Something I learnt today Honesty does not finally pay Bluffers n Liars rule the day

GOD help us is all we can say. (©Ranchi) "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of Trial and Suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

GOLF

A few editions back, we had an interesting contribution from Capt. Arosha Ratnayake from down under, all about Golf and those who play it. We also know that poor people play football and those who are mighty rich and up the corporate ladder play golf regularly. In other words, the higher you go up the ladder, the smaller your balls will be for playing. Read on… you will also learn how the word “Cadet” originated!

20 Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Golf Courtesy epicurean golfer

Did you know that golf is one of the world’s oldest sports? The modern game of golf originated in Scotland in the 15th century, but the game’s ancient origins remain unclear. While no one is sure who invented the sport or when, it has since become a fascinating sport that is played worldwide, both competitively and for fun. To help you become more familiar with the popular sport, Las Vegas Tee Times examines 20 interesting things about golf that you may not know. 1. Although golf originated in Scotland more than

500 years ago, the Chinese claim to have created a similar game that dates back as far as 943 C.E.

2. In 1457, the Scottish Parliament banned golf, believing that the sport interfered with military training. The ban occurred again in 1471 and in 1491. In 1754, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews was founded.

3. The world’s oldest golf tournament, the Open Championship, took place on October 17th, 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. It was here, in 1868, that the first hole-in-one was made by Tom Morris.

4. Golf balls were initially made from wood. In 1618, the feather golf ball (featherie) was introduced,

http://epicureangolfer.wordpress.com/author/theepicureangolfer/

http://www.lvteetimes.com/

http://www.lvteetimes.com/


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which was made with goose feathers tightly packed into horse or cow hide.

A featherie - Image courtesy of Geni under Creative

Commons License and GNU Free Documentation License

5. The word “caddy” comes from the French word “cadet” (pronounced “cad-DAY”), which originally meant “younger boy.” 6. The world’s first women’s golf tournament was held on January 1, 1881 at Musselburgh. 7. The term “birdie” was coined by American golfer Ab Smith in 1899 in Atlantic City, NJ. He was so impressed with his shot that he referred to it as a “bird of a shot.” 8. It was in 1953 that the first nationally-televised golf tournament, the Tam O’Shanter World Championship, was aired. It was played right outside of Chicago. 9. Golf is the first sport to have been played on the moon. On February 6, 1971, just before Apollo 14 was set to leave the moon, Alan Shepard hit two golf balls while on the lunar surface. 10. The longest golf course in the world is par 77 International Golf Club in Massachusetts. It measures 8,325 yards. 11. Americans spend over $600 million on golf balls each year. 12. Not all golf balls have the same number of dimples. The number ranges from 330 to 500, depending on the company that designs the balls. But a regular golf ball has 336 dimples. 13. Golf balls tend to travel much farther in hot weather. The warmer the ball, the more resilient the rubber becomes. 14. About 25% of professional golfers are female. 15. The odds of making two holes-in-one in one round of golf are 1 in 67 million.

16. The longest putt was 375 feet. 17. A golf course contains 18 holes. 18. 3 shots under par on a hole is referred to as an Albatross or Double Eagle. 19. 3 shots over par on a hole is called a Triple bogey. 20. Many American presidents have enjoyed golf. Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama are just a few of the presidents associated with the sport.

A few for the Road Capt. Rohith Fernando sent in this interesting information. In an earlier edition of 8 Bells, maybe over 15 years ago, there was mention of the “freight free” facility for CSC seafarers who had put in a minimum number of years of service on board. Many were the Benz car (thatu model), Fiat 131 and 128, the Ford Escorts, VW and Audis that were brought in before car carriers were operated and around the time Sri Lanka waswaking up from a closed to an open economy. A popular model was the Ford Capri which everyone thought was great looking and sporty but only two members bought, maybe due to being a 2-door version. One was bought by Capt. Shanthilal Jayamanne (then probably C/O) and the other was by the late Capt. Shanti Goonewardene. After the demise of Capt. SFG, Capt. Rohith took over the responsibility of the car on behalf of the family and I sold the car in June 2012 to Mr. Mohan Perera from Kegalle, who was a former 3

rd Cook on m.v. Lanka

Rani. Mohan came out of the blues after reading Rohith’s newspaper advertisement and was mad over buying this car which he had been washing and cleaning when on shipment from Liverpool to Colombo on board Capt. Shanti's ship, the good old CSC flagship "Lanka Rani". Mohan Perera happens to be a Ford fanatic, owning a number of very old Ford's now beautifully restored. The pictures show the Ford Capri 6 Shri 7304 being removed from Rohith’s home in 2012 and how it looks now in 2014.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/legalcode

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/legalcode

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

http://www.know4now.com/2013/07/golf-is-the-only-sport-to-have-been-played-on-the.html

http://www.know4now.com/2013/07/golf-is-the-only-sport-to-have-been-played-on-the.html


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Driving in Sri Lanka

During my recent visit to Sri Lanka, I was fortunate enough to get away with only one road accident (minor), given how carelessly the vehicles are driven by the majority. It was the day after I arrived Sri Lanka, I had stopped with the right signal light flashing wanting to turn right. I had waited probably about three to four minutes waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear. A Police Jeep that approached from the opposite direction stopped, signalled so that I could turn right. Having acknowledged the act of goodwill by the gentleman policeman, started turning right. I had just about to

cross the police vehicle, suddenly observed a motorbike driving the police vehicle between the police vehicle and the fence of the property, overtaking on the wrong side. Within a fraction of a second, the motorbike crashed on to the bumper bar which broke into two, also the number plate landed about a couple of metres away. I got off the car straight away asked the young boy and the girl who were riding the bike if they are ok, as they were getting up from the ground holding their backs. They seems to be in a bit of a bother even though they indicated no worries. I didn’t have to speak a word as the cops got off the vehicle,


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spoke on my behalf and blasted the riders for overtaking on the wrong side. The matter ended there with a spot fine to the riders as I did not wish to chase it any further due to my circumstances. I had seen on numerous occasions, vehicles, three wheelers and motor bikes overtaking on the wrong side, surprisingly in the presence of traffic cops. Once I had to tell the petrol pump operator not to use the mobile phone while pumping. Petrol pump operator was not wrong as the sign says “No Smoking” which suggested to me that if he wanted he could have a barbecue at the pump. There were a couple of near misses when driving in up country, a man suddenly jumping onto the road from a height on the road side (about five feet) and a motor bike suddenly turning right towards the middle of the road. After about three weeks of driving, I had improved my driving skills, learnt the tactics of road unique to Sri Lanka though not decided yet if I again want to run the risk of driving for the short holiday I am in Sri Lanka.

Sent in by Capt. Chandra Godakanda Arachchi based on his recent AGM visit to Colombo

Continuing from where Capt. CG started, the question is who is the biggest hassle to a careful driver? Is it the 3 wheelers who park at every entrance to a side road blocking the access, taking a u turn on a main road without looking, having a string of 3 wheelers going at slow speed, creeping in at ever slowing down of traffic or at traffic lights? Or is it the motorcyclists who take the maximum risks when riding at full speed and overtaking with a few millimeters space from oncoming traffic? One fall means a certain fracture or serious injury or even death. Creeping in at traffic light stops in a right angled manoeuvre is a cool thing. What annoys you most? One of our members had two accidents on his one car in the past 3 months, both hit from the rear by a 3 wheeler. The first was when moving and the second accident when stopped at a traffic light. The first one resulted in an insurance claim of Rs 35,000 to replace a buffer and the second one was a Rs. 81,000 claim on replacing the already replaced buffer and damage to the body. In both cases the driver at fault got off scot free! If we are to reduce accidents, there must be an easier way and simpler process to claim from the vehicle responsible if the fault is clear.

Can readers send in their views on what can be done without a prolonged legal process?

AND FINALLY….. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!

Life is like a journey on a train... with its stations... with changes of routes... and with accidents!

We board this train when we are born and our parents are the ones who get our ticket.

We believe they will always travel on this train with us.

However, at some station our parents will get off the train, leaving us alone on this journey.

As time goes by, other passengers will board the train, many of whom will be significant - our siblings, friends, children, and even the love of our life.

Many will get off during the journey and leave a permanent vacuum in our lives.

Many will go so unnoticed that we won't even know when they vacated their seats and got off the train!

This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, good-byes, and farewells.

A good journey is helping, loving, having a good relationship with all co passengers... and making sure that we give our best to make their journey comfortable.

The mystery of this fabulous journey is; We do not know at which station we ourselves are going to get off.

So, we must live in the best way - adjust, forget, forgive, and offer the best of what we have.

It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to leave our seat... we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life.

Thank you for being one of the passengers on my train!

Have a very pleasant journey of life.........! Author unknown…..

PERMANENT NOTICE - for non-life members only! Kindly contact the Treasurer Capt. Tilak Wickramasinghe or Asst. Treasurer Capt. Nandika Peiris to check if your subscriptions are due. Thank you.


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