On 21 October, Institute President Dr Phil Anderson and Commodore David Squire spent a busy day in Hong Kong while en route to the LSM Manning & Training in China conference being held in Shanghai. They had appointments with two of the larger ship management companies, followed by lunch with the executive committee of the Hong Kong Shipowners' Association. The HKSOA had assisted us by organising a joint presentation meeting for that afternoon, immediately before Dr Anderson awarded Director of Marine, Tsui Shung-yiu, with his certificate of Honorary Fellowship. At the well-attended meeting, David Squire gave a talk on the importance of the human element in shipping. Questions from the floor confirmed that several Hong Kong companies had already re-employed former chief stewards and radio officers to assist their shipmasters in coping with the ever increasing frequency of on-board inspections and surveys, and growing paperwork.
¨ Phil Anderson hands the certificate of Honorary Fellowship of the Institute to Tsui Shung-yiu
In the evening, accompanied by members of the local NI branch committee and invited guests, managers of various local shipowners/operators and members of the Pilots Association, they were taken by launch from Aberdeen harbour to Lamma Island, where a seafood dinner had been arranged. I n this informal setting, the opportunity was taken to exchange views and to brief the President on Chinese maritime professional bodies and possible ways of forging closer links with them. The evening also provided an opportunity for Branch committee members Marso Law and Thomas Yeung to brief the President on a local initiative to attract young people to a seagoing career, outlined in Seaways, December 2004. They are involved with local organisations in finding positions for prospective deck cadets, then raising funds to support them through their training, since international rates of pay are unattractive to Hong Kong graduates and need to be enhanced to cover the higher living and training costs of the HKSAR.
Rhod McNeill FNI
Seaways January 2005
