Various reactions: Employment of 30 Marine Academy cadets by Ocean tankers – Singapore

Dear Mariners!

Assalamu Alaikum

Please be informed that, by the grace of almighty Allah, the renowned ship management company

“Ocean Tankers – Singapore” has decided to employ 30 Cadets (15N & 15E) of Bangladesh Marine

Academy; instructions concerning this has been received in our hand and we are following it up with

due importance.

We, the Cadets, Staff and the Faculty Members at Bangladesh Marine Academy, would like to forward

our heartfelt satisfaction and thanks to “Ocean Tankers – Singapore” for this very desired decision! We

believe that this inaugural step will be proved to be a professional & contributory one and will open a

long lasting pathway with a win-win relationship.

Hence I, personally, remember my recent visit to “Ocean Tankers – Singapore” on 7 November 2014

afternoon and the very commendable hospitality by the personnel there and particularly by Mr. Poh

Soon Ong.

Our Academy is very proud of the alumni at “Ocean Tankers – Singapore”; namely, Capt. Ghaji Abu Taher

(17th), MarEngr. Abdul Baten (18th), Arifur Rahman Khan (24th), Capt. M. Masud Karim Hasan, Capt Md.

Imran Kalam (Suptd) & MarEngr. Mohd. Mafizul Islam Bhuiyan (25th – Technical Manager) [sorry, if

missed any name]; needless to mention that these alumni had their due role and contribution in

establishing this link between Ocean Tankers and our Academy!

A Point to Ponder!

=============

While departing Ocean Tankers office on 7 Nov, Mr. Poh Soon Ong (a key-person in decision-making)

arranged my return transportation (by Masud Karim Khan’s car); Mr. Poh came out with me and opened

the door of the car and got me in; I must comment that such honour is distinctly an indication of the

professional image earned by our Alumni at the Ocean Tankers over the years! Congratulation!!

May Allah bless us all in all our endeavours.

On behalf of the Cadets, Staff and the Faculty Members

Sajid Hussain (15th)

Commandant

Bangladesh Marine Academy

www.macademy.gov.bd

P/S: Academy is going to receive MarEngr. Baten (18th) of “SMC Singapore” on 9/10th December 2014

at the Academy campus.

Mehrul / Sajid,

I also had similar bitter experience at NOL in 1993. Five engine & five deck cadets were employed from

marine academy after an arduous campaign by then Bangladeshi officers and engineers serving in NOL

ships. Most unfortunately both the cadets (one engine & one deck) jumped ship at New Orleans. I still

remember the few sleepless nights myself and the master had to endure due to the interrogation from

the USA immigration. The cynicism & criticism particularly I had to face from the NOL management still

hurt me. After a brief investigation management stopped recruiting cadets from Bangladesh altogether,

that embargo perhaps still remains valid till to date.

However, I am sure Capt Ghulam Hossain bhai, Mehrul Karim and I are recounting the bitter experiences

of past NOT to water shade on the recent breakthrough made by Sajid and our mariner brothers at

Ocean Tankers. But those cadets who will be joining Ocean Tankers should be briefed that their deeds

will affect the lives of other mariner brothers. This wonderful opportunity also carries an enormous

responsibility. I am confident with so many well established senior mariner brothers at Ocean Tankers

office the young cadets will be adequately guided. May Allah guide them to the right path of success.

——————–

Warm regards,

Mirza Sabur

Hp. +65 92973593

Dear Sarwar,

Why do not you ask the Academy to ensure some sort of security (may be a joint account FDR etc) as

you do for MISC cadets to restrict the desertion, in case.

Cadets can collect back their security with interest upon their completion of contract.

There is another issue here – my personal view is that the selection should be from the still remaining

cadets from past batch/es first. However, this is purely a matter to be handled by Academy and hence it

is upto them to decide.

kind regards

Mehrul (16)

Dear Sajid sir

The issues pointed out by Mehrul sir (16) are to be taken very seriously. Pls, start counseling the cadets

who are selected.

Kind regards

Sarwar (19)

Chittagong

On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 5:56 AM, Mohd. Mehrul Karim <mmk@brsml.com> wrote:

Dear Mariners in Ocean Tanker,

A great job.

Just for our lesson / advance readiness, I would like to share my own experience on a similar case which

took place in the past in the same company;

In late 90s during the crisis of jobs, I personally managed my ex colleague Capt. Tham that time working

in Ocean Tanker to take some junior engineers who just completed the Phase III. The number approved

was 28. The schedule was fixed for all 28. Cannot remember, may be after 12 engineers joined within 02

weeks, Capt. Tham called me and expressed his frustration on the attitude of the BD engineers. Also he

had to stop the intake of remaining engineers. The reason/s for this discontinuation;

1.0 Engineers soon after joining the ship started complaining about the ship, it’s crew, accommodation,

food etc.

2.0 They started telling the masters to send them back;

3.0 They showed their loss of interest on even in basic job.

4.0 Started annoying the company by asking for sign-off etc., much before the contract was over.

It was too embarrassing for me and our mariners who were working in the Ocean tanker office

(Naweed, Kamal, Bahadur Bhai) at tha time.

As the opportunity has come again, please do advise the Academy to do the necessary counseling of the

cadets on above before sending them out to the company ships.

Kind regards

mehrul (16)

Dear Meherul Sir,

Thank you for emphasizing all those points.Much appreciated . I think  you also missed one crucial point-

deserting the ship by cadets. Remember? A selfishness act of a gentleman cadet in NOL played havoc on

BD Mariners Community in getting jobs. After that incident, we had a hard time getting job at different

renowned companies  in Singapore. Other than offering counselling to those lucky cadets, some other

measures has to taken so that there is no recurrence of the incident.I’ll not be surprised if someone

does the same given preference to his personal befit beyond National Interest.

Hope I’m not proving to be a pessimist.

Thank you.

Atikur khan

18 Batch

On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 5:54 AM, S Manik <manik28th@gmail.com> wrote:

Respected  Sazid Sir & All

Alahamdulillah.- we all are tremendously happy for our Cadets on opening their Employment chance

with Ocean Tanker.

A big thanks to Sazid Sir, Ocean Tanker & all who made it possible.

Once We (28th Batch) Passed Out of Academy, many years passed, don’t know things remain same or

not but I always believed Maine Academy has the best resource (History, Facility, Stuffs & always a

bunch of Young Talents eager to embrace Tough Sea).

So When some of these boys joining somewhere, specially overseas companies- every one has high

Expectation. Each of the Cadets  is representing Bangladesh Marine Community. So We expect them to

be Sincere, Hard working, Punctual & polite. I understood –  its not easy to being Cadet on board a

foreign Vessel & People all not same. But Still our Cadet to be Calm, have Patience & be tactful. Its a

competitive world. Survival of the Fittest!

Remember- winging for silly issues like .”…Food not good !”  …” too hard work …” OR   jumped over to

Foreign Land — will not only cause yours but also will destroy Others’ Career chance with that Company

as happened in the Past.

With all respect- may I suggest Academy to arrange some type of enhanced  “Pre- joining Training”

where the boys will be able to  refine their Social Behaviors, strengthen Spoken English & knowledge on

Occupational Hazard, Health & Safety, Risk of Drug use / Trafficking. their Rights & Obligations.  etc.

Best of Luck

Manik (28th / E)

I fully endorse the content of last two paragraph of Malik’s email. Reputation of Bangladesh remain on

each cadet working on foreign ships. It is hard and difficult to establish good reputation on the other

hand very easy to destroy good reputation.  I hope the company continues to recruit BD cadets and our

cadets performs well.

Neaz

10 E

Sent from Windows Mail

With great respect to Ghulam bhai, I believe the world situation has changed now. No one will be

tempted anymore jumping ship in US. Choosing and picking is not an option.  Then there will be

question of scrutinizing someone’s honesty. To be fair and remain above anyone’s doubt academic

redults should be the criteria. The cadets must be briefed and motivated well. Some thing can always go

wrong.

This is my opinion.

Thanks

Baki Saber

Date:06/12/2014 7:49 AM (GMT+08:00)

To: bdmariners@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [BDMariners] Employment of BMA Cadets: Felicitation to Ocean Tankers – Singapore

Well done Sajid and the team at Ocean Tankers. Great achievement.

Please choose the candidates very wisely and without fear or favour.

Instil upon them the importance of being honest and sincere. One AWOL or jumping ship will be the nail

in the coffin for future generations.

My effort with Wallem way back in 1991 was wasted when two officers jumped vessel in USA.

May Allah help all of us.

Kind regards

Ghulam 11th

Ghulam

 

On Sunday, December 7, 2014, Tanmoy Roy <tanmoy.mariner09@gmail.com> wrote:

Assalamu Alaikum Sir.

Respected seniors, kindly accept our heartiest greetings for your utmost effort of binding BD mariners globally & creating recent job opportunities for the cadets. Now it’s clear like sunshine that all of your initiatives has started to give fruit & hopefully our academy cadets are going to taste it first. We congratulate it & pray for gearing it up.

Special thanks to our respected Zillur sir for his plan of BD mariner’s forum which is now eliminating many obstacles & dividation of mariners as we are working together. And also thanks to commandant sir. Sir, still your motivating words of your joining speech in the academy are echoing in our heart.

“…….Misfortune may come but for that reason your integrity & loyalty must not come in front of any question……”..Now your dreams are coming true.

We also warmly welcome respected Baten sir in our academy. We firmly believe that your valuable speech will remain as a guideline for the cadets. Sir, you are very conscious regarding the job crisis of class-3 COC holders. We are more than hundred are still remaining jobless for 1-2 years. Some of us also deciding to quit Marine profession. We are also looking towards you (all seniors) for valuable suggestions as your fellow juniors.

Now, if our respected Jillur sir & commandant sir permit  few of us to join Baten sir’s program at BMMOA  or in the academy , it would cheer us up instead of leaving profession.

Many thanks with kind regards

Ex-Cadets of 45th Batch.

 

 

Our Dearest 45th Batch and all other Young & Courageous fellow Mariners,

Assalaamu Alaikum,

 

Those of you are connected with our email groups, must have noticed our combined effort that we all around the Globe are working-at, as a great team, is for all our BD Mariners’ welfare including job opportunities at home & abroad, and this is not only limited to our present Academy Cadets, you all are also in this process.

 

In order to eliminate communication gap among ourselves, I would request you to bring all our fellow Mariners to bring under this email groups & let all of them share our combined on-going efforts.

 

As you have just seen the beginning of our journey with your fellow younger Mariners and we all are very confident that, your turn will be next & it’s not very far from all of your & our reach.

 

We will not look for our own personal interest anymore, we stand absolutely neutral & our only interest is to benefit all of us as a team, this is for the greater interest of our entire Marine Community, for our better future, our Nation’s future & future of our younger Mariners like you.

 

I have changed your posting email subject from “Complications of Junior Officers” to Bright Future of our BMA Cadets.

We all BD Mariners around the Globe wish all of our fellow younger Mariners absolute best.

Kind Regards

Baten (18th, Singapore)

[Visiting Bangladesh until 17 December; Mobile: 01812 344 120]

 

 

On 13 Dec 2014, at 21:25, Quamrul Siraz <q.siraz@gmail.com> wrote:

A lot has been written over the past few days about the attitude of the junior BD marine officers and engineers on foreign flagged vessels which adversely affected the employment prospects of BD mariners. May I dispense some advice here to my fellow junior seafarers based on life experience.

 

By nature the seafaring profession involves working away from home with colleagues from different culture, religion, sexual orientation and of course in ever-changing climate. This is something a seafarer should be mentally prepared to accpet from the very first day they decide choose this profession.

 

A doctor cannot complain about having to come in close contact with patients suffering from contageous desease or complain about being called out of  bed late night in an emergency. Same way, a deck or engineer officer cannot complain about having to live in a foreign culture and with foreign people and having to eat foreign food. If a seafarer is looking for BD food and culture (which obviuos he / she can as an individual) they need to first quit this profession and find a job based in Bangladesh where they can get exactly what they are looking for. Seafaring profession is not for them. By bringing their complaints to the ship relating to persosonal likes and dislikes, they are not only damaging their career but also of their fellow BD mariners.

 

Please remember that an employer always has the upper hand. As a seafarer (employee) if you are unable adopt to company codes and culture, you will be very soon replaced by someone who can adopt. The loss will be yours, not your emploer’s. Ship is not your home. This is a work place. At home our parents might put up with our unreasonable demands, but at work place our Captains and supervisors will not. The relationship is purely professional – not personal.

 

When we are on the ship we have to appreciate that our first identity is we are seafarer. If you want to be a true professional, forget the conditioning you have been put through from your childhood. You have to be flexible and tolerant in all respects. In Theory of Evolution Darwin said about “survival of the fittest”. By the term “fittest” he did not necessarily mean the “strongest”. In today’s world “fittest” refers to someone who is the most adoptable to changes. You need to let go of your old beliefs and thoughts that no longer serve any purpose as a professional, and start accepting changes of today – IN A POSITIVE WAY.

 

What was right yesterday may not be true today. And what is acceptable today may not be accepatble tomorrow. You need to keep your mind open to embracing these changes to keep pace with the changing world. You need to think outside the box. My email might sound harsh to many. But I am only trying to speak the truth. When you pass from the Academy and join the ship, leave the boy (in you) back in closet at home and bring the “man” (or “”woman” for girl cadets) to work.

 

If you keep complaining about work, ship’s atmosphere, culture etc your colleagues will brand you as a spoilt brat. Arrogance will not take you anywhere. Humbleness will. Try to integrate with your colleagues in a constructive way and work hard without unreasonable demands or complaints.  And I can guarantee you will achieve more than what your academy seniors have.

 

Regards,

Quamrul, 27th (N)

 

 

Dear Sir.

Very well said. Thank you. Kind regards,

K M Asaduzzaman.

Chief Engineer,

A.P Moller Group-Maersk Tankers A/S.

 

December 14, 2014

This is  a very well written text posted by Qamrul(27N)

 

Regards

Dilwar ali(6E)

Melbourne