On May 31, 2017 a UKRAINIAN OFFICERS’ FORUM was held in Odesa by Greek Shipowner, ENESEL LIMITED.
Enesel is a ship-management company based in Athens, Greece, operating a diverse fleet of ultra-modern, high-specification tankers and containerships. Additionally, it supervises a large multi-order fleet of efficient Ultra Large Container Carriers.
The participants were: Georgios E. Poularas (C.E.O.), Amalia P. Marcou (Crew Manager), Evdoxia E. Kydonaki (Crew Manager), Erwin Derlagen (Technical Director), Labros Nikolaras (HSQE Manager), Capt. Nikolaos V. Denaxas (Container Operator – Marine Superintendent) and Bogdan Zelenski (President Alpha Navigation).
“It is a great pleasure to be here delivering this forum today”, said Mr. Georgios E. Poularas in his opening speech. He thanked the seafarers, who were present, for their hard work in contributing to the company’s success. He noted that Enesel, as a company competing in a difficult market in a difficult time – particularly in the container business, had the ambition to grow further. The company has a modern fleet of 14 vessels and is always ready to invest in business opportunities. “I am here to talk about safety matters, we are in front of big changes in safety training on board, starting with the tanker division”, concluded Mr. Poularas.
The next speakers, Amalia P. Marcou and Evdoxia E. Kydonaki, gave a presentation called, “The Human Element – The role of Human Behavior in Safety At Sea” and showed a video which told a story about an incident on board caused by the human element. Then the seafarers discussed the situation the video described from different sides and shared their opinions on how best to avoid such incidents. “You are people who are managing the vessel on board and you have to maximize performance. If the situation calls for taking a power approach you must adopt a power approach. The same goes for us at the office,” Mr. Derlage told the seafarers.
“Every time the officers join a ship. we think it wise to carry out ECDIS and SeaGull training. It will be very helpful as this is important if we are to maintain a proper level of ship operation”, added Mr. Denaxas.
Mr. Denaxas continued the forum with a presentation called, “A Systemic Approach to Container Ship Maintenance.”
“A few months ago, we started a maintenance project to increase maintenance on ballast tanks which will be finalized in the next two months. Once this maintenance project is completed, we will have brought all our ships to the same level, so every time you come to join one of our vessels you will not be surprised by the vessel’s condition. Within the next month, the condition of all our vessels will be at the same level”, said Mr. Denaxas.
A systematic approach to maintenance will include:
- Establishment of routine maintenance intervals
- Definition of methods and frequency of inspection
- Specified type of inspection
- Establishment of appropriate acceptance criteria (pass\fail)
- Assignment of responsibility for inspection activities to qualified personnel
- Clear definition of reporting requirement and deck maintenance procedures.
The forum proceeded with Erwin Derlagen making a review of the company’s fleet warning messages and Labros Nikolaras with Danaos ISM Familiarization.
Mr. Poularas spoke about a new approach to safety.
Zero Incident Goal includes:
- Visible leadership
- Reflective learning
- Learning engagement material.
The company cares about resilience – that is the ability to bounce back from a failure\setback and learn from adversity.
During the last part of the meeting there was a question & answer session where the seafarers could express their opinion and ask important questions.
“Developing resilience promotes better safety choices and behaviors to help protect ourselves and each other and to achieve a zero incident industry”, concluded Mr. Poularas.
At the end of the forum Georgios E. Poularas presented mementos to Ukrainian seamen (Katasonov, chief officer, Demchenko, 2nd officer and Tatarenko, 3rd engineer) who took part in the rescue operation on Thalassa Axia in the Strait of Malacca on January 1, 2017.
“About 10 a.m. there was a “Man Overboard” alarm. The OWW noticed a plastic box drifting with four people clinging to it It turned out that they were rescued after the collapse of their fishing vessel and had been on the verge of death for three days. We administered the first aid and gave them blankets and overalls as we took them to the nearest port of call,” commented Mr. Tatarenko, 3rd engineer.
The seafarers also shared their impressions of the meeting.
Igor Chumak, Captain: “I really liked this forum, especially since they changed the format of the event, and there was more communication than presented material. It is more productive and I want to note that, in its relations with people, it’s a very good company, there is a humanitarian attitude towards seafarers at Enesel. The only downside is the lack of information about the company’s plans (what they are going to do), its achievements and the latest news. I believe that not only bad news should be discussed. It is not enough to be told of fleet warnings, accidents and circulars. Fleet warnings are things that have already happened, all the ships are warned not do this. I would like to hear some good news. I have been working for a long time in the company, but only here at the forum did I learn that a crew of one of our company’s ships rescued some people.”
Ivan Logachov, Second Engineer: “It is a very useful forum where we can meet our colleagues and learn more information. Twice a year is a very good frequency. I can say that this company is the best for me when compared with others.”
Vladimir Shkurak, Captain: “Such meetings are very useful, as seafarers, we have an opportunity to get acquainted with those with whom we work and communicate by phone and on board. Holding such forums twice a year is optimal; someone returns from the voyage, others leave and this way 80% of the seafarers have an opportunity to visit one of these forums.”
Georgios E. Poularas commented for The Maritime Telegraph about the main aims of such forums: “It is the fourth time I have participated in such meetings here in Odessa with topics about leadership and safety. Safety must be visible, must be linked with visible leadership. Safety must go from top to bottom. The most important thing about this event is that the people can interact and contribute in order to generate ideas through dialog. We are really satisfied because the level of engagement is very high, we exchange ideas. When there are fewer presentations we communicate better.”
