eSea 16 Piracy - Søren's Somali Story

Piracy – Søren’s Somali Story

Ngoc's Fourth Bar >Colony of hope >

Farewell Favela, So Long Shanty >Starbuster >

All Sorts Have One Aim >Knowledge Seekers >

Helsingborg to Prague, via Svendborg >Surely not >

eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 1 6 / 2 0 1 4

EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING

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Colony of hopeA personal view of what it is like to put discrimination and apprehension aside and visit a leper colony in Chennai. Kishore’s mission was to bring some gifts to release the in-mates potential. >

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Farewell Favela, So Long ShantyAn initiative to make education the route out of Rio de Janeiro’s vast slums. For 25 young men and women the country’s booming oil industry is the key to hope. >

All Sorts Have One AimThe organisers take the logic out of logistics when a Nordic Tankers safety-enhancing course goes much further in building internal bridges and understanding. >

Knowledge SeekersA group of bright young Angolan graduates swap sun for snow and spend a month being indoctrinated into the Maersk way of contributing to the oil and gas industry. >

Helsingborg to Prague, via SvendborgKlaus Pedersen worked on the principle that forgiveness was easier to obtain than permission – so he booked himself on a Dynamic Positioning Advanced course. >

Surely NotIn the 1930’s she was the world’s biggest star, in 1950, America’s sweetheart left the movies, on 10 February 2014, Shirley Temple left us all. >

Ngoc’s Fourth BarFrom refugee craft to the top of a big vessel’s ladder, Captain Ngoc on the bridge of Maersk Thomas on his maiden captaincy voyage >

Capturing a Leopard838 painful days of uncertainty and nights of misery, but Søren Lyngbjørn is deeply philosophical and without a trace of hatred. Here he tells his story. >

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When you sit down and catch the news in the

evening, the stories provoke different levels

of response. As a rule news editors travel

the spectrum from horror to humour, and

generally in that direction. It’s often difficult

to, in the comfort of your own home, to get

behind the stories and see them from the

inside out. That’s what we’ve attempted to do

with this eSea.

The strangest thing in targeting looking from

the inside out is that a disproportionate

number of photographs and words in this

issue come from one very small area, one

we’ve never even visited before in this

magazine. The island of Ærø.

It wasn’t planned, but first we spent some time

with Søren Lyngbjørn in his new Ærøkobing

home, reflecting on his capture and 838 days

in captivity in Somalia – Søren has put on video

his views so that other seafarers can have

the opportunity to learn from his experience.

He asked for no recompense other than the

knowledge that he could somehow contribute

to Maersk Training’s Surviving Piracy and

Armed Robbery course, SPAR. Nice guy.

Buried away in the corner of the maritime

museum in Ærø’s capital, Marstal, lies a

symbol familiar to all Danes, all seafarers and

almost anyone who has their eyes half open.

A starred symbol, but missing a point and one

which the owner quickly understood when he

received a diplomatic letter way back in 1961.

The star story was spotted by a party of very

happy young Angolans who spent a Saturday

away from their special training programme

by taking a day trip to the island.

The remarkable story of Ngoc, the young

Vietnamese refugee who realized a dream and

has made it to the top of the gangway, returns

to eSea with a further developing chapter.

Klaus Pedersen is another determined

individual. We hear how the Swede ended up

in Prague just because he came to Svendborg.

Keeping up the internationalism of this

issue we hear of young Brazilians who are

getting outside their potentially restrictive

home environment and of some Indians who

through stigma are confined to theirs – until

that is, until a man arrives with a bike, or two.

We hope you enjoy the inside here, we believe

it’s an interesting outlook.

editorial

Richard [email protected]

‘I’ve made that final step,’ the voice is that of the newest captain in the Maersk fleet, Captain Ngoc Nguyen.

The steps Ngoc was referring

to were the gangway that

was dropped down the side of

Arnold Maersk in 1981 when

she was in the South China Sea

– at the foot 13 year-old Ngoc,

at the top, in a crisp white shirt

with four gold bars on each

shoulder, was Captain Jørgen

Orla Hansen. There and then the

young Vietnamese boy fleeing

with his family and friends from

persecution made a promise to

himself – ‘One day I will be up

there, a captain.’

Ngoc’s Fourth BarThe dream comes true

4

That day came this month when

he re-joined his ship, Thomas

Maersk, in Tangier. The new

captain took charge of a ‘new’

vessel, one of the oldest in the

entire Maersk Line fleet. At

twenty years, only her sister ships

match her in maturity, but she left

the Moroccan coast looking like

a brand new vessel after a major

overhaul in Turkey.

With 1,600 containers, Thomas

Maersk is less than one twelfth

the size of the new Triple E’s in

terms of capacity, but at 174.6

metres she is still no minnow. She

works the West African feeder

route with her sister ships, a six-

week round trip from Spain to

Namibia and back. Ngoc had been

due to take captaincy of Thomas

Maersk’s sister ship, Tinglev

Maersk which was due for dry

docking and refurbishment a

little later next month. Instead

his first watch was switched to

take charge of the vessel he’d been

chief officer on for the past two

years, Thomas Maersk. Captain

Ngoc’s first voyage was to take

Thomas from Tangier’s port to

Algeciras, a trip of just 30 nautical

miles, but involving crossing one

of the busiest shipping lanes in

the world.

Ngoc’s story from refugee to

captain was the main feature in

eSea 14, click here to, as in the

words of Ngoc, ‘take you back to

that night in 1981.’

Thomas Maersk

The moment of rescue in 1981, Ngoc is lying somewhere towards the bow of the vessel.

Ngoc’s Fourth Bar

The green arrowed line shows Ngoc’s first few hours

as a captain in the busy Straits of Gibraltar. He took

Thomas Maersk on a short ‘test run’ before heading to

Algeciras to start its work run

Hamburgefintsiv

The hapless Halfdan carries the captain’s morning ‘stiffener’ up the stairs of SS Martha, tripping as he goes, but recovering to avoid serious mishap – Søren

Lyngbjørn, eyes closed, beams a broad smile and supresses a mild laugh; across from him, looking out on a dark Somalian evening, a young man sat nestling an

AK47. For both captive and captor, it’s a normal night in.

Capturing a Leopard

838 painful days of uncertainty and nights of misery, but Søren Lyngbjørn is deeply philosophical and without a trace of hatred. Here he tells his story.

6

Capturing a Leopard

The young man thinks ‘this

Danish man is mad,’ but for Søren

the re-running of the Danish

classic film in his mind is not just

a source of escapism but the only

tool available to him to retain his

sanity, to survive. For over two

years, Søren Lyngbjørn’s long

days of captivity, eventually 838

of them, were only endured by

his ability to lock out reality and

revisit the videos and books of his

past.

CALL OF THE SEA‘I’ve always loved films and

reading novels, so all I did

was to recall them frame for

frame, chapter to chapter in my

mind; the others couldn’t quite

understand what I was doing,’ he

says.

Today, half a year since his

release, he sits in his new Æro

island home living with a pain he

wants to go away so that he can

get back to sea. Unlike some of his

fellow captive crew from the MV

Leopard, he has had no mental

hang-ups about returning to the

life of a seafarer. His agony is an

undiagnosed constant feeling of

razor-like aches in his limbs. ‘I

want to go back to sea, after all it

is the only thing I can do.’

JUST POOR FARM BOYSBut Søren talks as a man of

many surprises, one of the most

sustaining is in his understanding

of the roles of his captors

and the actions of his fellow

prisoners, some which were often

disappointingly selfish.

Of his guards he said. ‘they were

just farm boys doing what they

did for a wage that they couldn’t

expect to get elsewhere – they

would see a society dominated

by new money and think “why

shouldn’t I have a bit of that?”

They have normal needs, like

a desire to get married and in

Somalia you need money to “buy

into” the family.’

Søren had time to see and

understand the whole world of

piracy through a conversation

with a former fisherman turned

7

Capturing a Leopard

pirate. Passing ships had cut his

nets on more than one occasion

and each time could only afford

to replace them with fewer nets,

putting him on a downward

economic spiral. The way out

was to use his boat for something

lucrative which didn’t need nets,

piracy.

THE ‘SHOOTING’ OF EDDIE‘There is a whole hieratical society

here with the sea-going pirates at

the top, then you have clans with

chiefs and then negotiators and

supply people and near the bottom

the guards who are just wage

earners,’ he says. ‘They were just

farm boys and some didn’t have a

stomach for the occasional bout

of violence. There were those who

were prepared to administer the

beatings, but one of the first things

I learnt was not to be a hero.

‘They are not overly bright and as

soon as they hit you, you should

scream, because then they think

they are doing their job. Once the

job is done, they stop’

Søren tells of one terrifying night

when he was forced to lie on the

ground of his tent. His captain

Eddie Lopez, a Chilean-born

Danish national, was taken away

and placed on a plastic chair

just in front of the small veranda

where they would spend endless

daylight hours. The captain was

repeatedly struck and eventually

taken away in a car. Søren could

see it all happening through a

gap in a flap. Suddenly they heard

the car stop on the other side of a

small hill and one shot rang out.

‘We thought he was dead, but

they were playing games and he

returned a day or so later.’

WHITE AND DANISH = RICHThe crew of the Leopard consisted

of the captain, Søren as first mate

and four Filipino AB’s, one of

whom, the eldest crew member,

was the chef.

‘From the very start they had a

different way of treating us – the

Filipinos, the pirates would say,

“are just like us”, the captain

being Chilean, was also treated

differently. All they knew about

the world was what they had

heard on the radio. Denmark was

a rich country they thought, low

unemployment, happy people;

they could easily pay the ransom

demands. They also got confused

about the Danish church. The new

Pope had been installed and they

had seen the money involved so

they thought the Danish Church

would cough up ten million

dollars for us. It took some

convincing that they were wrong.’

What added to the increases in

ransom demands was the feeling

that Europe is rich; the aid sent

to refugees comes with EU flags

splashed all over it and indeed the

tent he knew as home came via

diverted Norwegian/EU aid. Also

the actions of some governments

upped the bargaining stakes.

‘The Spanish government paid

out eight million dollars for two

fishermen, so the negotiations got

harder,’ he recalls.

Negotiations were conducted in

bizarre circumstances. Søren

smiles as he remembers the guy

given the job of translating – ‘He

couldn’t speak English, but he

knew all the words, it was as if

he had swallowed a dictionary,

the words just came out but no

absolutely sense.’ On occasions

using cell phones they would

talk to the shipping company

in Denmark via an interpreter

somewhere else in the world.

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Søren’s next voyage? Moored behind him is his latest vessel

9Capturing a Leopard

PHONE FOLKETINGETOne of the most surreal

experiences was the day Søren

was given a telephone number and

told to ring it – it was Folketinget,

the Danish Parliament. Can you

quiet imagine someone picking up

the phone and Søren explaining

that he was a Danish seafarer held

captive in Somalia and that his

captors wanted ransom from them

for him?

‘I knew they would never kill me,

these guys are businessmen, and

I was their profit, but they did

move us around quite a lot from

camp to camp,’ he says. One of

the camps was at Wisil, about 80

kms inland from the coastal town

of Hobyo. ‘Generally they looked

after us alright, it was only when

they wanted to put pressure on

negotiations that they got rough.’

Søren then described the event

which would have been too

much for most captives. ‘We

were in the car, Fatik (the chief

negotiator) driving and me in

the front passenger seat with a

guard putting his gun through the

headrest into the back of my neck.

Fatik kept hitting me in a rage and

said he was going to take my eye

out if I didn’t do what he wanted.

‘I just sat there thinking how

can he shoot my eye out without

killing me, and killing me is not an

option, I was the money? Eazi (the

bad translator) was in the middle

of the back seat and he kept

shouting questions at me.

ME ISRAELI?They got the idea I was an Israeli

spy! Fatik said he wanted to

shoot my eye out. He forced me to

turn round and look at the Small

Commander (the nickname for

one of the leaders) in the back.

He had an AK47 with a little

bayonet which he twisted as if to

say “this is how we do it.” I don’t

know where it came from but I

just started to pray out loud. The

Lord’s Prayer in Danish. It did

wonders. Eazi is deeply religious

and the sound of me praying was

too much for him and the others

– they said “you can’t do that,

you can’t do that” - the whole

situation turned round in my

favour. I’m not religious, but boy

that prayer worked! They turned

the car round and took me back.’

Today Søren has one principal

prayer, to recover from his painful

leg condition so that he can do the

one thing he wants – to get back

to sea.

Søren on faking it

Søren on mind games

Søren on praying

See the videos

Søren’s current project

– building a model of

MV Leopard for his

local museum

Hamburgefintsiv

RAZOR WIREA waste of time. ‘These guys spend

their whole lives bare footed, they

run through bush that would rip

a white man apart, so razor wire

presents little problem to them.’

FARMBOYSThese are innocent, often rather

simple, farm boys who are doing

this as a ‘normal’ job. Only a few

of them seemed to enjoy being

provocative or vicious.

PIRATES Again many are simple fishermen

forced through economic

circumstances to turn to piracy.

The whole operation is run as a

business, not just random, there is

a whole structure and hierarchy.

SOLUTIONSMV Leopard didn’t have the

pumping power to blast the pirate

skiff out of the water with water,

but with the addition of liquid

soap, Søren believes the pirates

would find it difficult to stand on

the bow and secure a ladder. He

says take away the razor wire

and put a slanted overhang, like

the edge of a roof, and they again

could not secure their ladders.

PERSONAL APPROACH If captured keep a low profile,

become as invisible as possible,

don’t confront or try to be a hero.

If subjected to beatings, scream in

pain or mock pain from the very

start for then they feel they have

achieved their objective.

MENTAL APPROACHLive in your own world, try

to block out the reality that

surrounds you by reliving things

from your past.

TEAM APPROACHsupport each other and don’t

let them isolate members. As a

captive, you are money to them,

remember that and you won’t feel

so threatened.

Søren’s Tips

10

The vessel pictured was using

water to try and deter the pirates

Hamburgefintsiv 11‘The photograph

of the inmate thanking us

with his deformed hands

always touches my heart.

When he shook my hand

to greet me, I forgot all

about the apprehensions

and stigma I feared

I had held on this

disease.’

By Kishore Ram Gupta

12Colony of hope

A personal view of what it is like to put discrimination and apprehension aside and visit a leper colony in Chennai. Kishore’s mission was to bring some gifts to release the in-mates potential

Although leprosy is containable

and controllable, the stigma that

surrounds it is such that there

is an almost natural repulsion.

The effects of the disease cause

deformities that are not easy on

the eye, withered nearly useless

limbs, fingers and toes. Somehow

I put all these in the back of my

mind when we, as an office team,

discussed what to do with a sum

of money we’d been awarded.

I volunteered to visit the leper

colony at Bharatapuram, about

80kms south of Chennai.

SUPER SPIRITI’d been to institutions in the past,

one a home for people discarded

by their families, and had been

surprised by the warmth and

spirit they managed to generate

under such circumstances. Surely

the government established

colony couldn’t be that

demanding. I made contact with

Padma Venkatraman, a daughter

of a former Indian president. She’d

been instrumental in the founding

of the group. She would escort me

on a visit to see how we could best

put the money to use.

I had expected it to be a place

with lot of sick people with badly

deformed limbs. What I saw was

a perfect Indian village with

small houses and families living a

normal life. Most of the occupants

had been cured, largely thanks to

the nearby Government hospital

and research centre where

dedicated doctors had found very

efficient means of tackling the

disease.

ESCAPING THROUGH ARTMany of the inmates had leftover

scars like deformities in their

fingers, feet, hands and lower

limbs. They were leading a normal

13Colony of hope

life to the extent possible with

their children going to school and

colleges as usual. However the

stigma attached to this disease

did not allow them to be part of

the normal society. A separate

school was being run for their

children, with the support of good

organisations. Leprosy is not

generically passed on.

I found an art school where some

of the inmates of the village

were engaged in different types

of drawing and painting their

paintings are exhibited in various

places around the country and

some even in foreign locations.

The sales of these artworks

brought revenue to these

artisans, 30% in monthly salary,

30% put aside for their personal

savings and 40% to buy paint and

equipment. Catch their work at

www.bindu-art.at

Most surprising was the social

fabric which they had established

with a village chief who was the

most educated one amongst them

and a committee to interact with

the NGOs and charities which

came offering aid.

FRESH START FOR NEXT GENERATIONEven though the Government

was taking care of most of their

ordinary needs, what I noticed

was their strong will power to

combat the disease and come back

to the mainstream of life. Like the

rest of the wider community they

had got married and had children

who were now being educated,

again like the rest of the country.

Their desire to move ahead in

spite of their handicaps was

astonishing.

There was also a list of items

which I felt we could turn

the Moneyphant award too.

The award was the result of

an internal Maersk Training

initiative to reward the centre

which best improved on costs.

On this occasion it allowed us to

buy good quality walking sticks,

crutches, cycles and a motor

scooter. They wanted to use these

vehicles to travel and do more

business and bring in revenue for

their independent households.

One colony member earned

money by selling beauty products

in a local market and the three-

wheeled scooter would enable

him to transport more goods. It is

a nice twist that someone with a

cruel deformity can get a new life

by selling make-up to those more

fortunate than himself.

One colony member earned money by selling beauty products in a local market and the three-wheeled scooter would enable him to transport more goods.

*Bindu Art School was set up

in 2005 in the Bharatapuram

leprosy colony. It was started by

Austrian artist Werner Dornik

and Padma Venkataraman, an

activist who first brought the

concept of micro-lending to

leprosy colonies.

*In India about 0,5 million

people who were infected with

leprosy since the last 20 years

live as “untouchables”. Mostly

they are pushed to the edge of

the society and are dependent

on alms. Although leprosy is a

curable illness, a social stigma

still exists.

An initiative from A.P. Moeller – Maersk Group to make education the route out of Rio de Janeiro’s vast slums. For 25 young men and women the country’s booming oil industry is the key to hope.

Cities are magnets, they draw and

hold. They attract the rich and

the poor, but the rich are free to

move, the poor are held captive.

Brazil is entering one of the most

stimulating times in its history,

but in the background, behind

the World Cup, the Olympics, the

Carnival, there lies the poverty

trap of the favelas, the shanty

towns. For a handful of young

men there is now a chance to

break free.

Twenty-five young men from

families in the Rio de Janeiro

state have been selected to go on a

project to train safety technicians

for the country’s booming oil and

gas industry. The students, all

over 18, come from families with

low incomes and will spend two

years, a total of 1,320 hours, being

educated in a programme backed

by the eight A.P. Møller – Maersk

group companies that have

interests in Brazil.

The projects offers safety training,

English classes along with

lectures on oil and gas, logistics

and shipbuilding industries. The

courses will give theoretical and

practical knowledge with an aim

to prevent and protect the worker

in order to preserve life, promote

health and integrate safety,

quality and environment.

The trainees will be monitored

by a social assistant who will

have primary responsibility

for following the participants’

development throughout the

course.

As part of the corporate social

responsibility programme,

Maersk Training will provide the

English classes, along with all the

didactic material and will also

conduct workshops in order for

the students to meet experienced

professionals who can share

experiences and answering

questions about their industry.

Maersk Oil and Group companies

believe that professional training

initiatives represent an important

strategy to reverse the low

income and unemployment

condition while contributing to

the increase of manpower in the

market.

Farewell Favela, So Long Shanty14

There’s a legal action looming in the US over the protection of a trademark and global name. A Canadian actor has emerged as the man behind a new coffee house in California called Dumb Starbucks. The marketing is virtually identical to the established, not so silent, one and they are getting into a double-shot froth.

What they should do is to take a

leaf out of A. P. Møller’s guidebook

in company management.

There was this young ambitious

Dane who set off to South

America. A qualified mate, he

operated out of Rio de Janeiro.

His name was Hans Johansen.

Now Hans had never been overly

successful with the fairer sex

until he reached Brazil, where

he fell for one young lady in

particular. It was all he talked

about and his nickname became

Hans Rio.

This was in the late Fifties and

when he returned to his home

port of Marstal he still could not

forget her, so with his captain’s

ticket in 1961 he named his first

coaster in her memory, the MV

Rio. On her funnel he displayed

the symbol of his new company,

a crisp white star on a pale blue

background. It was six pointed.

No problem, except of course it

did bear a confusing resemblance

to another white star, but with

seven points. With a nice sense of

diplomacy Arnold Peter Maersk

wrote to him pointing out the

point. In the letter he said it was

‘unfortunate’ but asked politely

that the star be removed when

it came to Rio’s scheduled first

re-paint. With his company only

a month old, Hans removed the

star. Whether it was an omen or

not, Rio struck something and

sank on her next voyage. Happily

she was salvaged and repaired

was a familiar starless sight in

Baltic ports for a decade or so.

Strapped long ago all that remains

of the Rio is the star. It is buried

in a dark corner of the maritime

museum in his home town, lying

relatively hidden and unheralded,

unless you ask the question.

Starbuster15

16

In order to avoid confusion the captain of a small coaster gets the

point in a very diplomatic 1960’s letter from A.P. Møller

‘It was good to bring together shore and sea to talk about many things. I’m now able to see safety from both sides.‘

17

One of the world’s best-selling

sweets was the result of an

accident. A salesman dropped his

carefully arranged display case,

where each type of sweet was

placed in its own little section. The

resulting jumble became Liquorice

Allsorts. There was no accidental

drop or resulting jumble when

Nordic Tankers mixed-up roles

and rank, cultures and creeds,

shore staff and seafarers for a

company-wide safety leadership

programme. It was all carefully

thought out.

Regardless of where the courses

are held, in Denmark, Latvia

or the Philippines, the recipe

of the cocktail remains that of

diversity. So in a session in Riga

you might typically find office

staff flown in from Houston,

Herning and Singapore mingling

with seafarers from the oceans

of the world. Move the session

to Copenhagen or Manila and

the mix remains, only the

temperature and room change. It

is simple, but very effective.

As one insider put it, the lines of

discrimination and demarcation

are melted. At previous company

‘dos’ in the get together moments

Russian crews could be found in

one section of the bar, Danes in

another and Indians elsewhere

– now the mix is so strong that it

doesn’t split again by gelling into

nationalistic or career cliques.

CULTURE THE COREThe programme brings together

groups of about 30 for three

days and then, after a period of

reflection, they meet up again to

see how they have progressed

with individual projects. The aim

is not to bring everyone together

in one happy party, that’s a nice

offshoot and a tool in achieving its

main objective.

The core target is to help change

the culture within the company to

a point where all things safety are

second nature – the recognised

route to achieving this is through

improved communication on

every level. The company has

All Sorts Have One AimThe organisers take the logic out of logistics when a Nordic Tankers safety-enhancing course goes much further in building internal bridges and understanding.

All Sorts Have One Aim 18

defined its goal in reaching what

they call the Nordic Tanker

Way and have Maersk Training

as partners to help get them

there. The courses are run by

instructors from their safety and

people skills departments.

Safety is right there at the top of

Nordic Tankers’ list of company

priorities. There is a realisation

that there are benefits that go

beyond the number one priority,

a safe working environment –

companies with a proven track

record realize there is payback on

the bottom line.

DORTE CREAVEN, GENERAL MANAGER, OPERATIONS‘I saw it as a forum for opening

eyes and seeing how we from

different cultures approach

matters like safety. I was

surprised in finding that basic

stuff is often forgotten. It was

a good opportunity to take the

safety issue on board and then

be able to work with it in small

groups which were more open to

discussion than big groups.’

HENRIK LEBENIUS, SQE MARINE SUPERINTENDENT, ‘I have the advantage in that I see

the level the crews are operating

on when we do the (vetting)

inspections and respond to

questionnaires, so for me it was

verifying the issues which I knew

we had, but now becoming clear

to everyone in the company.

If you boil the whole thing down

it is all about safety, that’s what

the oil majors want. So we present

to them what we do with the SLC

and Nordic Way and I think they

are very impressed but I still feel

it is a little too soon to see the

results.’

STEFAN SØRENSEN, JUNIOR OPERATIONS MANAGER‘I thought it would be more safety

related, didn’t think much about

the leadership part of the title,

but it was good to bring together

shore and sea to talk about many

things. I’m now able to see safety

from both sides. On my course

there were captains and chief

officers who I deal with daily and

finally able to put faces on the

names I talk to.

It was an eye opener for me

because on the follow up course

one of the chief officer told me

that it was he who did the storage

plans not the captain and that if

the email only says captain he

doesn’t read it. It opened up new

lines of communication that I

don’t have to disturb his sleep to

talk to the captain every time.’

‘I saw it as a forum for opening eyes and seeing how we from different cultures approach matters like safety.‘

Hamburgefintsiv

They have decided to spend the

rest of their professional lives

looking deep underground, but

for four weeks they marvelled

at what lies on top of it, the

greenness of the grass, the

whiteness of the snow. Grass they

had seen before, though not such

a deepness of colour, but snow,

that was a whole new experience

for the 19 graduates from Angola.

Green and white, the next colour

they are hoping to get more used

to is a particular shade of blue.

They are not alone, for Maersk Oil

is hoping that this initiative will

be the start of a positive talent

recruitment programme for this

part of Africa. The oil companies

operating in Angola are bound

by local laws determining that

a certain percentage of staff

must be Angolans. There is

consequently a big demand for

any new potential client.

Maersk Oil took a road show

to five universities in Luanda

and received 130 applications

from geology and petroleum

graduates and put them through

logic and personality tests before

inviting 40 to HR and technical

interviews. From that the final 20,

were selected for four weeks of

Summer Technical Training. By

the time they got to the airport

they were reduced, Chevron

having highlighted the value of

these young people by employing

one immediately. The remaining

19 then left summer in Angola to

catch winter in Denmark.

Knowledge Seekers19

A group of bright young Angolan graduates swap sun for snow and spend a month being indoctrinated into the Maersk way of contributing to the oil and gas industry

Knowledge Seekers

‘Cold’ is the first word geologist

Katia Fonseca smiled when

asked ‘how was Denmark?’ That

was an observation rather than

a negative, from the 28 year

old, who was taking a coffee

break from a geology lecture at

Maersk Training’s Svendborg

centre. Overall she and her fellow

graduates had enjoyed a fantastic

first experience of northern

Europe.

GIRLS AND ROCKS‘I and we can’t really believe that

we have had such an opportunity,’

she said, ‘most of the time you

have to be employed in a company

to do courses like these. They are

not normally available to students

seeking work. It’s great we have

learnt a lot here.‘

English is the principal teaching

language at both Maersk and

throughout the industry but

back in their college days most

classes were in Portuguese.

Did that cause a problem here?

Beside Katia was Nilde Mateus, a

23 year old petroleum engineer.

‘Yes all lessons in Angola are in

Portuguese but so many of the

technical words and expressions

are English that we can

understand the lectures here.’

Six of the 19 are young women, a

statistic in geology, mechatronics

and petro-engineering that would

be hard to match elsewhere. ‘No

that’s not odd for us,’ says Katia,

‘in Angola it is very common for

girls to do geology, engineering

and technical courses. Maybe

because we are in a country with

an oil industry.’

The coffee break ended and it was

back to hearing about lasterlogs

and radiatian occurrence, sylvite

and carnallite, after the four

Danish adventure-filled weeks

came to an end it was back to 32

degrees and a chance to contribute

to Angola’s bright oil future.

20

Hamburgefintsiv

Klaus Pedersen worked on the principle that forgiveness was easier to obtain than permission – so he booked himself on a Dynamic Positioning Advanced course without going into a big family discussion.

‘The course is not cheap and I was

paying for it myself, but I’d done

the basic course at MOSAIC and

the facilities and instructors drew

me back. I liked the pedagogic

capacity and the fact that Maersk

Training is recognized worldwide.

What it has cost me in the end

is the additional expense of a

weekend in Prague with my wife.’

For Klaus the course is a

calculated gamble. Having been

a captain on a Swedish tanker,

he has worked ashore for some

time and then for his current

company Floatel International,

a Swedish company specializing

in accommodation for oil teams

using specially built sub seas.

They sponsored Klaus’s basic

training. ‘I think DP is such an

interesting place to be, it opens

drilling, floating hotels, diving,

rov, supply, a whole range of

opportunities.’

The problem is inputting in the

hours of seatime, it is Klaus’s

Catch 22. ‘I need 180 days so need

to find a company that will take

me on as a junior. I could do the

Seatime Reduction course, but it

is the same price as the Advanced

Course and I don’t think my wife

will fall for that trick again,’ he

says.

Helsingborg to Prague, via Svendborg

21

Poopdeck

You might say the nautical

connection is light, but can you

hear the line, ‘On the good ship

lollipop’ without thinking of a

little girl with precisely 56 curls in

her golden hair?

In the 1930’s she was the world’s

biggest star, in 1950, America’s

sweetheart left the movies, on 10

February 2014, Shirley Temple

left us all. She was a rare gem, a

Hollywood star who lived in the

spotlight and shone without a

blemish to her name, other than

the fact she was once a friend of

Richard Nixon.

Alongside Chaplin. Monroe,

Bogart, she was an icon, but

why is she here in this slightly

disjointed ramble at the end of

eSea? The answer is, I never

had tea with Charlie, Marilyn or

Humphrey. I once had tea with

Shirley.

Surely Not

22

23Poopdeck

The embarrassment is that I’d

totally forgotten about the cosy

afternoon tea date until the sad

news of her death. It was back

in 1989, working for the BBC I

was in the American Embassy

in Prague nervously balancing

a cup on a saucer and trying to

convince the former child star

to allow us follow her around

in her ambassadorial role. She

was charm itself and the most

refreshingly normal person in the

entire building.

56 CURLS, PRECISELYShe agreed to the filming and we

spent a couple of days following

her Cadillac convoy round what

was, for that week anyway,

western Czechoslovakia. In and

out of schools, up and down

church aisles, round and round

hospital beds. We could have

called the film, the back of Shirley

Temple’s head, and more and

more of it found itself on the

cutting room floor - the film not

Shirley’s straight permed hair.

The curls had long gone. They

were the joy of her mother who

for some strange reason insisted

there were always 56 of them.

In truth we would have got more

out of filming the afternoon tea,

a very English situation in a

stunning 400 year old Italian-

style palace. On a rococo desk

was a framed photograph of

the President, but I can’t for

the life of me remember who,

Regan or Bush. It was certainly

Bush senior’s first year in office,

but Shirley Temple Black, a

republican to her roots was also a

personal friend of Ronald.

What I do recall was that this was

just after the Velvet Revolution

when Czechoslovakia had eased

itself from the chains of Moscow,

and having afternoon tea with

a former film star was easier

than getting a table for three in a

restaurant. A table for four, yes,

two maybe, but any odd number

was out of the question as it

apparently disrupted the entire

seating plan.

Earlier I mentioned western

Czechoslovakia, ‘for that week

anyway,’ and it was with good

reason. For those who think

politics boring, particularly in

two disjointed languages, you

might think a day out at the

parliament about as attractive as

giraffe counting at Copenhagen

zoo.

CZECHO/SLOVAKIAYou’d be wrong. The day we chose

was the one when the Czechs and

the Slovaks voted to split. The

Slovaks eager to step out on their

own, the Czechs reticent, thinking

big is better than small. They lost

the vote but not their composure –

like brothers meeting rather than

parting, they hugged and hugged,

crocodile tears everywhere. The

countries were split for about as

long as it takes to get a table for

dinner when someone noticed in

the small print that the vote was

unconstitutional. After hours of

debate, moments of parting, they

were back in bed together, and a

second outbreak of uncontrollable

hugging.

Forgetfulness doesn’t always

come with advancing age. There

was this youngish couple in the

blossom of second love. He’d

whisked her away to a remote

hotel where everything was top

class. He drove without GPS, he

was greeted at reception by name,

‘good to see you Mr Adams,’ they

had the finest room.

‘How did you find this place?’ she

asked. ‘I’ve brought clients here

in the past,’ he replied. It was

perfect.

At dinner she scanned the menu

and looked up, he and everyone

else in the room had several more

pages of options compared to her.

Curious she asked him why. He

had no answer so she called over

the waiter who scurried off to the

kitchen and then back with an

answer, ‘Apparently Mrs Adams

doesn’t like fish.’

It would have never happened to

Shirley. Surely not.

RL

24eSea library To go back in time and access articles from

previous issues, simply click on the photo of the edition.

The numbers in front of the articles is the eSea issue.

For direct access click on the article title

eSea 1 Instructors’ back to sea programme - Sea Time Reduction announced - Vetting for Supply - New Deepwater Horizons open up

eSea 2New Towmasters’ course gets full simulation treatment - Deepwater course piloted - Wind industry - Drill instructor gets back to the well head

eSea 3MOSAIC II announced - Offshore wind, the new challenges - West African pilots use simulator to deal with the ‘big boys’ - CraneSIM in Vietnam - Piracy through the ages

eSea 4MT launches new website - Chinese in big safety push - Rig crane put in a box - Safety and People Skills build platform emergency course - how to communicate across cultures

eSea 5Maersk Training pennant raised in Dubai - Platform crews pilot Emergency Response course - How to be best in Vetting class - Danger of computer over reliance

eSea 6MOSAIC II, the ground is broken - Rig participants up to elbows in some very special mud - Semi-sub crew learns anchor handling - West African pilots start payback

eSea 7Chinese Container crews look to safety - Rig crane simulator tested - Esbjerg’s new facilities - MOSAIC II update - DP sea-time reduction - Coffee Break with Bent Nielsen

eSea 8Titanic Edition looking back at 100 years of increased safety and improved training - the lifeboat revolution - man overboard - spreading knowledge - tomorrow’s seafarers

eLibrary

eSea 9$15million Phone call - Wrappers off MOSAIC II - 5 Year drilling package - Tomorrow’s leaders today - Family comes too - Learning in luxury - Danish Olympians teambuild

eSea 10Breaking the ice, a new route in navigation - crane simulation arrives - Newcastle’s drop in course for the high life - the silent disease, loneliness - Chinese catch safety bug

To go back in time and access articles from previous issues, simply click on the photo of the edition or use the QR code.









eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary




eSeaM A R I T I M E /O I L & G A S/ W I N D/C R A N E · JA N UA RY 2013

macondo – a lesson unlearnt? the worlds most advanced offshore simulation complex >�

the most socially isolated person on planet earth? >

training to avoid skyfall >

captaining a floating town >

combating stress with underwater rugby >

11










eLibrary












eLibrary




eSea 1

eSea 10

eSea 9

eSea 12

eSea 13

eSea 14

eSea 15

eSea 11

eSea 8

eSea 7

eSea 6

eSea 5

eSea 4

eSea 3

eSea 2

MARITIME1 DP Sea Time Reduction

7 DP Sea Time Reduction

1 Vetting for supply

2 Towmaster course

3 West African pilots’ eye-opener

6 West Africans payback time

10 Ice breaking through world short-cut

11 Captaining a hotel

12 Bridge and engine room in sync

12 A new look at mooring

14 What MLC 2006 means

15 All Fired Up – a very real computer game

O&G5 Rig crew responds to an emergency

6 Semi-sub crew handling anchors

9 The $15million phone call

11 Macondo – a lesson unlearnt?

6 Mud course

12 North Sea, experts look to bright future

14 Brazil’s oil and gender revolution

15 Gulf Lessons – performance enhancement

15 What is Performance Enhancement?

WIND POWER3 Wind industry – new challenges

12 The father of wind power

12 A2Sea’s new windcarrier

12 Olsen team get specific training

13 Training at heights for lady with no

vertigo

14 Blade Runners, the new high level

repairmen

CRANE3 CraneSim in Vietnam

4 Rig crane in a box

7 Rig crane simulator tested

13 APMT’s management improvement

programme

15 Slinging in the sunshine

SAFETY4 Container industry in big safety push

7 Chinese container crews show huge

progress

MISCELLANEOUS3 Piracy through the ages

5 Training in Dubai

8 Titanic edition looks at progress since

1912

9 Choosing tomorrow’s leaders

9 Turning a course into a family holiday

10 Loneliness, the problem of isolation

11 Underwater rugby, combating stress

13 The global social media revolution

13 Piracy and the cross - the roll today of the

seamen’s mission

14 The Story of Ngoc – a remarkable tale of

resilience and good fortune

14 Eat meet and leave – the messages in our

diet

15 Puffed – Hawaii’s Ironmen

15 Michael Bang-From defusing to

enlightening

15 The story of the world beating blue boat


wind powerWindmills - never ending or beginning >�Poul la Cour. Father of Wind Power >Olsen band crack safe operation >The Floating Table >Bridge and Engine in Sync >Door Knobs to Safety >The North Sea Glory Story > 12


eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 14 / 2 0 1 3

food


Don’t blame the cook >Eat meet and leave >

Triple E = 3M’s >Brazil’s oil and gender revolution >Funny Tummy

So what is the MLC 2006 all about? >Food for Thought >Blade Runners >

Playing the name game >

The Story of Ngoc



15

Gulf Lessons >Keep taking the tablets > What exactly is Performance Enhancement? >When BP means Better Prepared > Nintendo boys, game on >Puffed, but the magic drags on >No bang Bang >Girls Out Loud >Every Boat Tells a Story >Science - stronger than steel >All fired up >Space, the final frontier >

performance enhancement

Hamburgefintsiv 25

ContactEditorial issues and suggestions:Richard Lightbody - [email protected]

Names and emails of those able and eager to help with specific enquiries arising out of this issue

Sales enquiries Aberdeen (UK): [email protected]

Sales enquiries Brazil:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Esbjerg (DK): [email protected]

Sales enquiries India:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Middle East:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Newcastle (UK):[email protected]

Sales enquiries Norway: [email protected]

Sales enquiries Svendborg (DK):[email protected]

Or visit our website www.maersktraining.com

Documents

eSea 16 Piracy - Søren's Somali Story