Jan2005
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Hong Kong
President's visit
(2004)
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