A Master's views on the DGS Revalidation course . . .

Dear Veeresh,

I did my revalidation for master’s COC at ___________ last 4 times .

The first time I told the Directors- that Capt ____________must be put out to pasture. This ignoramus was so full of ego that he tried to treat us like kindergarten kids.

One of the ship’s business lecturers was Capt ________— old ex-_______ – maybe ??? years old. A good guy BUT totally out of touch with modern day REALITY.

Last 2 times I met the Director ____________ personally and told him not to make this course a FARCE — that __________ must go. I am sure he is still there.

Training is being done on sentiments-- Wish I could run my unforgiving and merciless _______________ carrier tanker on sentiments.

This ego thing-- when you have an international conference of brain surgeons – there is maturity and mutual respect. When we have maritime seminars , just see the way the shore guys act as if they are gold medallists, who scored 100% marks— while the seafarers are the moronic bunch who scored zero percent—and hence banished to sea as divine punishment!!

brgds

_______________

Humiliation and difficulties experienced while getting DCE at MMD Mumbai

One of the most frequent inputs I get from seafarers, officer and crew, has to do with the issues faced by people at MMD and DGS offices all over the country. And of all these, one of the most frequent issues is the what should be simple job of getting a DCE endorsement from MMD.

Over here, the name of one specific person, "Captain Prashant Y. Manchalwar" keeps cropping up again and again. Not just from seafarers, but also from vetting inspectors abroad, who speak with the officers and crew.

Anybody else got any inputs on this before I publish the full report, please - because this one is seriously disturbing.

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Wow, got some more inputs including tapes on one Capt. R. Johri, also at MMD, Mumbai. What is happening? Need to check for authenticity as well as double check, but as of now, seems there is a price for everything at MMD.

Good heavens.

Proposed speech here in Delhi

It does seem as though some people are beginning to agree with what I write here, especially on the issue of maritime piracy, criminalisation of the seafarer, human relations in the shipping industry and finally, the role of the National maritime authorities. As a result of which, I have been asked to speak at a rather high-level meeting in Delhi on the subject, across different departments,so am sharing the thoughts I want to get across with readers here, first.

Bullet points, which will be expanded, keeping things simple without power points or charts. Please let me know what you think and how I can improve it? This will also help me develop a longer article for the print and net media, and can not be done without help from active seafarers and others ashore.

# As seafarers, it has been made clear to us as adults that this is a risky profession, and we enter it with our eyes wide open. Ships are never going to be zero-defect, and life is not as easy as it seems, with money not being the main motivator any more since you can make much more ashore.

# The training used to be and has to be tough, not just physically, but also mentally. The need to be able to segregate everything else and concentrate dis-passionately on life while afloat has to be acquired, so that risks can be analysed, and acted upon without emotions.

# Piracy at sea is not new, nor is it that romantic feature from movies, nor the big dark guy with a scar and an Islamic head-dress. It has been more in the news now because the kidnap and hold for ransom aspect has spiralled because of Somalia.

# Where piracy resulted in material losses onboard, it never made news, in fact civil authorities will deny it and call it "theft" or they will fudge the records, both of which are nothing new or to be surprised about.

# Where piracy resulted in quick theft of ship as well as loss of life, like in the days of the LTTE around the Bay of Bengal or still ongoing in South China Sea and environs, then also it did not make news because in the book of accounts of shipping companies it became a one-line item under insurance.

# Modern day piracy is well orchestraed by the suits and boots in financial capitals. The targeted hijack of the FAIRCHEM BOGEY in August 2011 as an example.The evidence pointing to coordinated moves from bankers, insurance companies, security companies, even shipowners looking for write-offs. In addition to piracy due to disputes, which is almost legit in some parts of the world, where the ship and crew are held, arrested, kept hostage, sometimes jailed.

# The personal involvement, late Capt. RK Menon, Capt. Prem Kumar, Chirag Bahri, and others who are still stuck and can not be named. The trauma for families, the post release issues. The non payment of dues.  ASPHALT VENTURE owners now willing to pay salaries anymore.

# The invisible shipowner, the pliant ship-manager, the even more pliant DGS, unions, FOC "business" consulates, the tax haven connection, historical linkages of some dominant shipowners themselves with piracy and opium, arms, ammo and money laundering, and the fall guys therein - the seafarers.

# So, seafarer is in for risk, nothing new. But it is the reward or the security which has gone bad over the years. Today, the criminalised or pirated seafarer is ignored. What is new there? What are the solutions?

# Triple wages while in captivity for ANY reason. One to be  paid to the family and two to be placed in escrow till end of episode. Full medical expenses for family and seafarer on return. Kidnap and ransom insurance as is normal for expats in dangerous locations from specialist companies.

# Political solutions, UN, American interests, Diego Garcia, Chinese in Seychelles, Indians Lakshwadeep, Iran issues, larger political picture - all fine, but back to the seafarer and simple solutions therein, instead of just a BMP-4.

++++

Wonder if any of our Nautical Advisors, Surveyors, Shipping Masters, would go on board a ship through the Gulf of Aden . .

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/iaf-chief-flies-su30mki-to-assure-it-is-safe/213941-3.html

Pune: A week after a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter plane crashed leading to grounding of the fleet, IAF chief NAK Browne on Wednesday took an hour-long sortie in the aircraft in Pune, in an exercise aimed at restoring the confidence of pilots.

The Air Chief Marshal took off from Lohegaon air base and was accompanied by Wing Commander Anurag Sharma, Commanding Officer of the SU-30 MKI squadron, based in Pune.

Addressing the air-warriors after the sortie, Browne said, "I wanted to be here to not only fly the SU-30 MKI but also to assure you that our SU-30 fleet is in good and capable hands."

IAF had temporarily grounded the fleet of nearly 120 Russian-made Sukhois to carry out checks after an aircraft that had taken off from Lohegaon base crashed on December 13.

"The Chief has been restoring the confidence of pilots and all the air-warriors in these fighter aircraft. He personally wanted to ensure that the Sukhois are safe," an IAF spokesperson said.

Browne is on a working visit to Lohegaon base, which he had commanded as the Air Officer Commanding (AOC), from 2001 to 2003.

Stressing that the force personnel have been doing an "excellent job", the air chief said the momentum of building up the new SU-30 Squadrons needs to be maintained.

"Our people should remain our highest priority because it is then, that a cohesive team translates itself in to a success story," he said.

Officials also said that the IAF chief performed several different manouvers on the plane.

"The sortie of course had a profile and the aircraft performed several tasks during the flight," they said.

The report of the Court of Inquiry (CoI), which was ordered after the December 13 crash, is yet to come but the Sukhois resumed flying duties from Monday. Russian experts have also been called in to assist in the probe.

IAF has also deployed the Sukhoi-30 MKIs in North Eastern region as well and Browne was touring one of these bases when the crash took place.

Sukhois have been serving in the IAF for over a decade and has registered a sound safety record with only three crashes so far.

Two of these crashes took place in 1999 owing to the fly-by-wire control system, which were repaired by the force.

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I wonder what our Deck side Nautical Advisor, Engine side Chief Surveyor and for that matter the Radio Chief at DG Shipping would do if they had to sail onboard a ship in the Arabian Sea piracy affected areas?

Note what the Air Chief said:- ""Our people should remain our highest priority because it is then, that a cohesive team translates itself in to a success story,"


Have any of us in all our lives EVER heard of any of our Nautical Advisors, Engine Surveyors, Radio Surveyors, Ship-management managers, Shipowners even SAY ANYTHING remotely like this, leave alone DO anything about this.


A few steps away from the office of the DG Shipping is the office of the Shipping Master and MMD. A few days ago I received feedback of what was going on there, as well as a video clip of the "activities" therein, and am currently taking legal opinion and permissions on posting the video online because the building also houses some Defence offices and there is the issue of the identity of the person involved. That should take a few days, because this is only for safety's sake, and the issue of prohibiting photography at Government Offices or premises of Public Authorities was taken care of me a few years ago in context with photography at airports and in airplanes - the DGCA subsequently issued a circular saying it was permitted here:- http://dgca.nic.in/manuals/Procedure%20Manual%20for%20Regulation%20and%20Information%20Directorate.pdf

Take a look at Chapter 11.

Why is taking photographs of illegal activities on ships and in shipping offices so important?

Well, from the seafarer's point of view, simple:- take a look at how the crew members (Master and 2nd Officer) of the RENA are looking forward to 7 years in jail for "altering records".

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/12/21/Rena-crew-faces-new-charges-after-spill/UPI-33011324473801/

Which Merchant seafarer has not altered records at some stage or the other, and will be backed up by the unknown owner for doing so?

All parts of a larger puzzle - and the solution lies at the DG Shipping office's doorsteps. They HAVE to start walking the talk on caring for their seafarers first - just like the IAF Chief did.

Technocrats are of no value after some time, if all they do is warm chairs, and prefer to be surrounded by sycophants.

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Fatigue at Sea - a Master's point of view

In response to the earlier article on the subject, which can be found here:-
http://matescabin.blogspot.com/2010/11/fatigue-at-sea-lllloooong-post.html


The Master in this case is in his 50s, owns and operates family as well as own businesses ashore INCLUDING a software company, is extremely competent and known as the best SAILING Master in the company he works in on gas carriers, is thoroughly computer literate, and comes out to sea because he enjoys it, always did.


When this man, at such an early age, wants to hang up his boots in disgust now, even though he is absolutely fit, one wonders - what's really happening out there on ships?


Here are his words, in context with my previous article on the subject:-


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With reference to the essay on fatigue by Veeresh Malik:-


All above factors are inherent. Only counter measure has been stipulation of rest & work (R/W) hour duration by  (STCW). This is only a monitoring mode and does not address the root cause of fatigue. Also, be frank, this record of R/W is easily fudged or maintained to satisfy the monitors. There are multiple electronic and satellite based ways to keep track of this if required - even taxi and bus drivers now utilise these.


To attack, this word used specifically because it is killing the industry, the root cause:-


A) Safe manning:- This certificate is taken by owners and operators in collusion with the authorities as the only requirement to meet statutory manning needs. Once issued, it is seldom, if ever, reviewed by the flag state, and hardly ever by the port state, which eventually is the ultimate sufferer in case of an episode or damage.

1) This certificate is issued on basis of a ship being new and all systems and automation being in perfect operation. It does not consider the obvious effects of the age of the vessel where by ageing the original designed systems have degenerated, additional workloads due to excessive maintainance becomes a fact of life, and increase in excessive breakdown maintainance makes for massive issues which cannot even be described since often they involve the "chewing gum and baling wire" kind of "jugaad".

2) This certificate does not consider trading patterns and port turnaround times. By rights, a safe manning certificate should take this into account for different trade patterns, just like load lines. As a matter of fact, one wonders what Plimsoll's fate would have been if he had been around today, probably not survived the shipowner's lobbies! 

3) Workloads increase in adverse weather conditions like storms, ice navigation, restricted area navigation, STS operations etc. This has become even worse with climate change. Here again, what are the realities are well known, but where are the solutions that take these into account?

4) Manning level is maintained and certified at bare minimum for owners to save manning cost. That is a known fact.  When owners talk about safety margin in every aspect, then why can't the required safe manning also be increased to take this consideration to maintain a little higher level of manning? What, after all, are we talking about, 3-5 more people per ship?


Leaving this judgement to ship-managers and ship's staff (who are under the mercy of owners) surely leads to operating a vessel under manned for intended voyages. Fudging of work and rest records is then a natural follow-through to satisfy the monitors (PSC, FSIS, Class etcetc.)

In a scenario where a master opines that:-


(1) The vessel though meeting safe manning requirements of certificate is under manned for the intended voyage and delays voyage to meet requirement, (2) And then delays sailing due crew not sufficiently rested . . . then who will stand behind the Master's decision when it is in conflict with owners interest, rather ensure his continued employment? This also can be extended to a crew member who refuses to work beyond the rest work hour requirement.

SOLUTIONS

*1. Raising safe manning levels as safety margin basis age, condition, voyage of vessel as well as data gathered by automatic means. If retro-fitting of lifeboat capacity and accommodation is not possible, then conditions of class to apply.
*2. Immunity to Master who excercises his overriding authourity in meeting rest work hour periods requirement for Indian flag vessels as well as foreign flag operating under Indian DGS RPS Regulations.
*3. Penalty on owner or operators for flouting work rest hour periods. waiver or additional loading of insurance cover in above cases.
*4. Provision by regulators to receive formal as well as anonymous complaints about overwork on ships.

*5. Taking this forward to vessels calling Indian ports, as is increasingly happening in developed countries also.

B) Reduce factors increasing workloads:-

The industry seems to be believe only in inspection , monitoring n data generation as means of ensuring safety which in turn has increased workloads and information overloads. This in itself is self cancelling. To give an example:-  when a tanker/gas carrier calls port, these are the least level of activities:-

1. Customs, Immigration, Health  formalities. even today in times of computers and paperless technologies at least 1 ream and more is wasted generating papers required and equal amount of time (Most companies have passed on this load to Master / Other officers after making radio officer redundant after the introduction of GMDSS)

2. Port safety inspection

3. PSC or FSI, Coast Guard Inspection

4. Internal or external audit

5. Vetting/SIRE inspection. (On average, owners require to maintain 3 valid vettings (validity 6 months) some maintain more than six) no two SIRE inspection or 2,3,4 can be concurrent this inspection.

6. Company shore staff, Inspection, General Inspection, etc most companies have not less  than once every 6 month.

7. Class Surveys.

8. Various extensive other logistic activities like store, crew change,customs rummaging , repairs, etc etc.

All this takes places concurrent to critical cargo operation where most staff is keeping six on six off watches. Ships staff is over stressed and overworked prior arrival, in port preparing and undergoing these activities. (I challenge any one to meet R/W norms in above scenario.)

So, fact remains, vessels enter and vessels sail out with crew fatigue.


Earlier ports calls were rejuvenating.  By a way that seafarers could step ashore. have a change of food, atmosphere etc. Today we dread coming to port, and that is the simple truth, even if we get shore-leave we are treated as not just easy prey but also as criminals.

C) Information overload:-


ISM has added additional burden of paper work at sea. Number of checklists, procedures, records are being generated. Who ever says that ISM does not mean excess paper work is being very economical with the truth. At every audit a new checklist and a new procedure is added without evaluating its neccesity. There is no questioning or enquiry to audit observations. Checklist content has swelled up beyond practicality or rationale. Common seamanship practices have been lost and have become only items of checklist.


If a duty officer has to really comply to adhere and fill these up sincerely, she or he wont have time to look out of bridge front. 90% of checklists are filled up post operation to satisfy the auditors. If that is to be the case, then the office may as well send trainee managers to sail after doing basic STCW and get short-term CDC as purser, so that simultaneously they understand what life on the ships they may manage is really about.


New generation of quality managers ashore with minimal or no practical experience at sea are adding more and more to this garbage. Same people will ring-up to find out what time-zone the ship or port is in, what is the distance between ports or even simple questions to which answers are there in their own computers or files or books behind their tables.


And then there is the overload due to paperwork. To give an example with operational SVDR, ECDIS,e/r dataloger, digital echosounder with 30 days memory, we still maintain manual sounding log, gps log, e/rm movements etcetcetc. Even bus conductors where still left, or drivers, have better equipment, often hand-held. These documents are required as documentry evidence that officer is monitoring positions, soundings, engine movements, weather, everything. Additionaly we have new checklists as coastal navigation, CL tss, watch t/o checklist, ocean passage checklist . . . passage plan is written as thesis copy-pasted often without understanding. Important info is buried under this garbage. In open sea, middle of Pacific you have wheel over position marked and written in passage plan for 15 degrees course alteration.

Do these not contribute to fatigue at sea?


So, will somebody come forward to audit this information overload? And not just somebody who has been ashore forever. We require comptent Masters and Chief Engineers, not just those with Certificates of Competency, with recent seagoing experience (atleast 12 months in the last 5 years) to  trim this mess created by novices becoming quality manager by virtue of being good with Excell or Word and having done a 100% passing rate auditors course on time-pass basis.

D) LACK OF RECREATIONAL FACILITIES ONBOARD:-

There is no regulation to ensure recreation for seafarers on board. How many ships have a gymnasium onboard? A laser projector coasts peanuts now, but how many ships have a good auditorium for the complement? How many ships are fitted with omni directional tv dish antenna? How many owners give free access to emails, or have internet onboard? if at all given what are address and size limitations?

New ships are being launched with lesser and lesser amineties. this lack of recreational facility adds to fatigue, and is amongst the most important because the ship is the seafarers work place as well as home.

e) Alcohol

I have not yet seen any concrete data as to accidents related to alcohol abuse at sea. We
hear about stray incidences like EXXON VALDEZ, where Master though having claimed  to be consuming beer was not actually conning the ship at the time of the grounding. He was in the radio room, communicating with charterers and owners. 


Alcohol world over is considered to be a validated social medium. Not being under influence of alcohol when taking a responsible job is understandable. But why he should he be deprived of it when he has leisure time? It is uderstandable for pilots who maximum remain in the air for 12 hours. Offshore rig staff work on 15 days on 15 days off. A seafarern on an average today sails for 6 continuous months. Depriving him of this relief as leisure is adding to the fatigue
levels.


This has entirely destroyed social life onboard. Those who have to drink will manage to do so, in secret and alone, and that is worse. There use to be exchange of jokes, light moments and healthy interaction in onboard bars. It used to be a place to share happiness and sorrow. 


Today  we see grim faces only in alleyways, with no social contacts with fellow shipmates.

Depriving seamen of alcohol has been a major contributing factor to fatigue at sea. There can be norms for controliing abuse but to enforce 0 alcohol ploicy is not right. Surprisingly, no seafarer organisation has objected to this practice of 0 alcohol even at the cocktail parties thrown after discussing these issues at the many seminars on the subject.


+++

Finally, fatigue is one part , but creating unbearable conditions for seafarers on ship is the larger one. They both go hand in hand. This is dissuading good talent to come out to sea. The quality

of youth coming out to sea is falling. In 70's there used to be competition and only cream got to see sea. Today we are getting the residue. Worst to note is the pride of being a seamen is being lost. 

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Taxation and the Indian seafarer - NCV, FG, NRI - impact India and elsewhere . . .

While the plight of the Indian seafarer is slowly but steadily becoming one of the more important subjects on this medium, along with the subject of maritime fatigue and the larger effect it has on seafaring as a career option, another subject which draws the numbers is taxation.

This article written by me, almost a year ago, still draws in regular readership as well as questions:-

http://matescabin.blogspot.com/2010/11/so-are-you-nri-or-what.html

Aimed more at the NRI seafarer, spending 6 months or more at sea on foreign or Indian flag, there is still nothing new on the subject of how the new Direct Tax Code will impact the Indian seafarer seeking NRI status. At the same time, great movement in the world on international taxation and especially in context with the tax havens where shipping companies are often registered, is bringing major changes. And the Indian seafarer is not going to be immune from these vital changes.

So a word of caution - as a resident or an NRI seafarer working on foreign or Indian flag ships, the requirements to be fulfilled by the Indian seafarer were mainly as per Indian laws. This will change soon, has been changing, and very soon compliances of flag state of vessel, flag country of management company, flag country of vessel owner, and flag country of beneficiary owner, will also in many ways impact the status of the seafarer working onboard a ship.

To give two examples:-

1) You could be a resident of anywhere in India, but if your shipowner or shipmanager was from Maharashtra, then sure as day follows night, a deduction for Maharashtra State Professional Tax will be made in your accounts - especially if your articles, agreement and other documents were signed on a Mumbai address. (Whether the shipmanager or owner actually remitted that money to the Maharashtra Government or not is another question altogether . . .) It does not matter if the vessel was registered in Mumbai or Mongolia, you will pay a few hundred rupees every month.

2) The 'front" or even the beneficiary owner of your ship could be an entity whose eventual citizenship or domain is in any of the developed countries, after passing through one Flag of Convenience address and maybe one or two tax haven addresses, but eventually, the owners are individuals or corporates based somewhere. Their taxation adherences and evasions are increasingly being passed on to their custodians, employees, agents - and have you, especially as a Master, read about your liabilities lately? Not just pollution related . . .

+++

It is a very serious matter, this business of signing two or more contracts as a seafarer. Apparently, it has become the norm, especially on Indian ships, to sign one lower figure for the official Government articles and another higher figure as a separate agreement nullifying the first to some extent. And after showing it to friends in the IRS, their considered opinion is that it is a very dangerous matter, and needs to be investigated further.

Situation being like this:- what happens when the taxman uses the second agreement, loads it with all kinds of demands basis perceived income when in reality you may not even have been paid, and then presents you with a demand? Leave aside the sheer illegality of making a seafarer work on two separate agreements which is for the DGS to look into - where in the MSA does it say that an Indian seafarer on an Indian flag ship or otherwise has to sign two agreements?

To start with, and this needs to be implemented by all shipowners and management companies immediately, there should be only one agreement for one seafarer working on one ship. And that is the articles. If union wages are low, which they are, and a higher wage or salary has to be paid, which is often the case, then so be it - let the higher wages be reflected on the articles. There is no rule that prohibits this.

And you, as an individual seafarer, have everything possible to lose by signing two separate agreements for one job. Another view the income tax department can take is that you were actually due to get paid both amounts, so now sit and explain why you got paid only one, meanwhile please deposit . . . yes, it can happen.

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So here's a brief primer on the latest taxation scenario for seafarers working onships with all sorts of possible documents, and getting paid by legitimate means.

1) Are you an "employee" as defined by the company hiring you? In which case, you need to be on their rolls, get TDS deducted as an "employee", have EPFO subscriptions or equivalents and in general, satisfy the conditions applicable to other employees in the same company. That's a given. Yes, I know, the ship-owner and the ship-manager will convince you otherwise, but.

Since most seafarers on floating staff basis are not shown as employees by the shipping company or shipmanagement company, they don't realise it, but they as far as taxation is concerned end up being shown in the company's books as "consultants".

So now, it seems that you are a consultant, an Indian person in an Indian company, so what are your liabilities from the income tax point of view?

1) Nature of income as a consultant is classified as income from profit and gains of business. So now you start claiming deductions of expenses and depreciation while calculating the taxable income, which you can not, as an employee. Works fine, till the Income Tax authorities can ask you - where else were you a consultant. Nowhere else? Uh-oh, this can be classifed as income. Pay tax, no deductions for expenses and depreciations.

2) Books of accounts. Especially if you were claiming to be a "consultant" as an engineer. And remember, once you cross 15 lakhs, then all become mandatory.

3) Advance Tax. Ouch, forgot that one, almost?

And finally, very soon, expect all "consultancies" to come within the ambit of "service tax" too, which is not under Income Tax but Excise Department.

+++

Indian seafarers working in Indian companies are supposed to be under the protection of the Directorate General of Shipping, who are supposed to be looking after their welfare, not sending them into deeper trouble.

The root of this problem is the issue of dual (or even more) agreements between seafarer and shipowner/shipmanager. This has to be brought to an end right away.

And Indian seafarers working on Indian ships need to be employees, with proper tax adherences and the full protection that goes with it.

That's step-1 in improving matters for Indian shipping. Otherwise, if the shipowner and shipmanager couldn't care less about the people on board their ships, then the rest is somuch hot air.

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Life on an Indian Flag Coastal ship - Part 1

I am just back from 6 harrowing days as Chief Officer on an Indian flag coastal ship. Maybe it was not representative of all other coastal ships, maybe it was at the bottom of the barrel, some dredgers would probably attract the dregs of society, though modern dredgers can be highly technical and elsewhere tend to attract the best of the breed, but whatever - it was a fully certified, inspected, audited, licenced, registered ship, apparently adhering to all the assorted laws and rules and regulations. Not too small either, about 10000 DWT fully loaded, 10 knots, twin screw, lifeboat capacity of 35 and just about 5 years old.

From what I heard onboard from a variety of people (the Chief Engineer, who had joined a few days before me, also quit - and he was the only person who had sailed mainline vessels, foreign and Indian flag, in the past) who have been in nothing but coastal shipping all their lives, including the Master and Additional Master and down to the cadets and crew - as well as from the "Personnel Manager" (more like haftaa looter) at the "RPS DGS approved Management Company", this is how it is, like it or lump it, and "hum nahee sudherenge".

It starts with the experience with the "DGS approved RPS agency" which does the manning, personnel and technical management on behalf of the owner. If it wasn't so pathetic, and if it wasn't seafarers at the wrong end of the stick, it would be a joke. As it is, the has-beens in charge, usually derelicts from other shipping companies who wouldn't get a job as a telex operator for fear that they would steal the keyboard, are out to squeeze the seafarers at every step for every paisa that they can.

You start with meeting, usually, a trumped up "receptionist" who is in charge of what is probably the filthiest corner of the office, and more often than not she will be digging her nose while talking on the phone and licking the number-pad. In between she will glance at you and throw a badly designed application information form at you, which will also list out a demand for a dozen or more photo-copies of everything including deep personal information and a dozen photographs.

The next discussion is then with a personnel officer whose perspiration smells of cheap booze and whose breath smells of dental decay. If you are lucky you will survive. This is the person who is sizing you up to see how much he can make out of you by way of haftaa from all points for getting you a job - even if the demand is for your rank and qualifications, he will make you feel as though you are not required. The shipping company probably needs you yesterday, but it is this person's role to make you feel totally insecure and unwanted - and then demand a cut.

In my case, I met two champions - one a senior personnel manager who was short, fat, pudgy and very sweaty. His printer was never working, his email was always slow, his phone was always ringing for what seemed like calls from suppliers asking for payments and his notes on your application form were taken down in pencil. Nothing this man said could ever be believed - whether about the real situation on the ship, the other people on the ship and most of all in context with the money you were going to be paid.

The other dude was your typical ex-Scindia's journeyman from the office, the sort who helped a certain breed of seafarers bring down that excellent company, by selling dunnage and more. He was, too, unhappy with his life. He also did not look in the mirror too often - because he did not like what he saw. By 4pm or so he was getting the shakes anyways, DT would be too kind a word.

Between them, they would negotiate your wages downwards, provide you with duplicate appointment letters, put you up in fleabags posing as hotels to prepare you for worse onboard - and then argue about providing you food and taxi allowance. All the way it was lying, bullshitting, and assuming that the other person across the table, the guy going on the ship, was an adversary.

This, then, was my introduction to Indian flag coastal shipping. I should have taken due heed at that juncture itself and walked away. Instead, I accepted the offer, and caught a flight.

+++

I hate to say "in the old days", but here it is:- we received better treatment as raw cadets, 5th engineers, fitters or whatever - we met the senior managers, people who knew amillion times more about handling people than the present bunch of monkeys. That, in turn, gave something that the company wanted - loyalty.

Today, Masters and Chief Engineers, never mind the rest, have to kow-tow in front of every little pen pusher. And be degraded at every step.

The owners don't seem to know, and worse, the bankers whose money it is out there in the oceans, don't seem to have the tools to find out what is really happening to their fast depreciating close to NPA.

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(To be continued)