Wavelength #22

W

To r Sea each far ou er r s

Volume 3, Issue 22, April 2007

avelength centrofin@centrofin.gr

Corporate Social Responsibility

In this issue pg 4

CENTRO-NEWS

(Adapted from various internet sources & Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)

On Board Complaints Procedure

Development and analysis Today's heightened interest in the role of businesses in society has been promoted by increased sensitivity to and awareness of environmental and ethical issues. Issues like environmental damage, improper treatment of workers, and faulty production that inconveniences or endangers customers are highlighted in the media. In some countries government regulation regarding environmental and social issues has increased.

cont'd to pg 6

Do the right thing anyway 2 2

2

2 2 2

2

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centred.

Love them anyway If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway

Doing the right thing anyway, in spite of opposition or your own feelings, is the making of great men and women; it's the path to success.

(Unknown)

Self Discipline

pg 1, 6-7

The Five Pillars of Self-Discipline The five pillars of self-discipline are: Acceptance, Willpower, Hard Work, Industry, and Persistence.

If you take the first letter of each word, you get the acronym “A WHIP”- a convenient way to remember them, since many people associate self-discipline with whipping themselves into shape.

What Is Self-Discipline?

Corporate Social Responsibility pg12

Control of Monitoring and Measuring Devices

Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you could simply get yourself to follow through on your best intentions no matter what. Picture yourself saying to your body, “You're overweight. Lose 20 pounds.”

Without self-discipline this intention won't become manifest. But with sufficient self-discipline, it's a done deal. The pinnacle of self-discipline is when you reach the point that when you make a conscious decision it's virtually guaranteed you'll follow through on it.

Self-discipline is one of many personal development tools available to you. Of course it is not a panacea. Nevertheless, the problems which self-discipline can solve are important, and while there are other ways to solve these problems, self-discipline absolutely shreds them. Self-discipline can empower you to overcome any addiction or lose any amount of weight. It can wipe out procrastination, disorder, and ignorance. Within the domain of problems it can solve, self-discipline is simply unmatched. Moreover, it becomes a powerful team mate when combined with other tools like passion, goal-setting, and planning.

pg14

Honey Bees

Building Self-Discipline The philosophy of how to build self-discipline is best explained by an analogy. Self-discipline is like a muscle. The more you train it, the stronger you become. The less you train it, the weaker you become.

cont'd to pg 2

TO THE MASTER: Please circulate this Bulletin to the CREW.

Progressive training means that once you succeed, you increase the challenge. If you keep working out with the same weights, you won't get any stronger. Similarly, if you fail to challenge yourself in life, you won't gain any more self-discipline.

cont'd from pg 1

Just as most people have very weak muscles compared to how strong they could become with training, most people are very weak in their level of self-discipline.

It's a mistake to try to push yourself too hard when trying to build self-discipline. If you try to transform your entire life overnight by setting dozens of new goals for yourself and expecting yourself to follow through consistency starting the very next day, you're almost certain to fail.

This is like a person going to the gym for the first time ever and packing 300 pounds on the bench press. You will only look silly.

Self Discipline Just as everyone has different muscular strength, we all possess different levels of self-discipline. Everyone has some; if you can hold your breath a few seconds, you have some self-discipline. But not everyone has developed their discipline to the same degree.

Just as it takes muscle to build muscle, it takes self-discipline to build selfdiscipline.

The way to build self-discipline is analogous to using progressive weight training to build muscle. This means lifting weights that are close to your limit. Note that when you weight train, you lift weights that are within your ability to lift.

You push your muscles until they fail, and then you rest.

Similarly, the basic method to build self-discipline is to tackle challenges that you can successfully accomplish but which are near your limit. This doesn't mean trying something and failing at it every day, nor does it mean staying within your comfort zone. You will gain no strength trying to lift a weight that you cannot budge, nor will you gain strength lifting weights that are too light for you. You must start with weights/challenges that are within your current ability to lift but which are near your limit.

If you can only lift 10 lbs, you can only lift 10 lbs. There is no shame in starting where you are. One recalls when one began working with a personal trainer several years ago, on one's first attempt at doing a barbell shoulder press, one could only lift a 7-lb bar with no weight on it. One's shoulders were very weak because one had never trained them.

But within a few months one was up to 60 lbs.

Similarly, if you're undisciplined right now, you can still use what little discipline you have to build more. The more disciplined you become, the easier life gets. Challenges that were once impossible for you will eventually seem like a

It's called mobbing.

(The workplace)

Is your boss a vicious bully? Are your colleagues plotting your humiliation behind your back?

Does the thought of going to work bring on anxiety attacks? If the answer to any of these questions is affirmative, you could be one of the millions of victims of “mobbing�.

The term mobbing started entering the lexicon around 1990. It had been associated with the behaviour of small birds combining to defend a nest, but was linked to the workplace by a Swedish

psychologist, Heinz Leymann. He conducted studies in the 1980s on psychological harassment in offices.

Leymann deliberately steered clear of the term 'bullying' because of its physical connotations and saw mobbing as a more subtle form of social isolation.

The terms 'mobbing' and 'bullying' now tend to overlap, with variations in interpretation in different countries. In the English-speaking world, mobbing tends to refer to group victimisation of a single target. In Scandinavia, however, it often applies to scenarios where there is a single perpetrator.

The largest majority of people (seafarers in our case) love their work and are good at it. What, almost all, cannot bargain for is a barbarous boss.

A boss who is shouting, conspires against, lies, uses little tricks to try to undermine like setting demeaning tasks, changing working hours and always trying to put one down.

Under these conditions the employee's anxiety could rise and recurring nightmares and feeling ill, at the start of the day, could commence.

Experts believe that the trend in mobbing has become more acute as corporate pressures and longer hours have increased. In our shipping industry, additional factors are, temporary contract, outsourcing and the mobility of labour.

Though examples vary, there are often several distinct stages of mobbing. It may start with a relative minor event

- pg 3 child's play. As you get stronger, the same weights will seem lighter and lighter.

Don't compare yourself to other people. It won't help. You'll only find what you expect to find. If you think you're weak, everyone else will seem stronger. If you think you're strong, everyone else will seem weaker. There's no point in doing this. Simply look at where you are now, and aim to get better as you go forward.

The World is Our Class I've learned that

Let's consider an example.

Suppose you want to develop the ability to do 8 solid hours of work each day, since you know it will make a real difference in your career. An audio program quoted a study saying the average office worker spends 37% of their time in idle socializing, not to mention other vices that chew up more than 50% of work time with unproductive non-work. So there's plenty of room for improvement.

Perhaps you try to work a solid 8-hour day without succumbing to distractions, and you can only do it once. The next day you fail utterly. That's OK. You did one rep of 8 hours. Two is too much for you. So cut back a bit. What duration would allow you to successfully do 5 reps (i.e. a whole week)? Could you work with concentration for one hour a day, five days in a row? If you can't do that, cut back to 30 minutes or whatever you can do. If you succeed (or if you feel that would be too easy), then increase the challenge (i.e. the resistance).

Once you've mastered a week at one level, take it up a notch the next week. And continue with this progressive training until you've reached your goal.

While analogies like this are never perfect, there is a lot of mileage out of this one. By raising the bar just a little each week, you stay within your capabilities and grow stronger over time. But when doing weight training, the actual work you do doesn't mean anything. There's no intrinsic benefit in lifting a weight up and down the benefit comes from the muscle growth. However, when building self-discipline, you also get the benefit of the work you've done along the way, so that's even better. It's great when your training produces something of value AND makes you stronger.

It's worth it. Good luck

that can trigger rumours and gossip, followed by more aggressive behaviour designed to belittle the victim. The victim may have been chosen because of a perceived weakness or by jealous colleagues.

Matters usually come to a head with what psychologists call a 'critical incident', leading to a major accusation or petition of management. The next phase is adjudication, where the process is either legitimised or stopped.

When allegations are made, management often supports the perpetrator, according to experts, as the path of least resistance. Sometimes the aggressor is a manager.

“Most corporate cultures have an 'ostrich mentality' and refuse

to accept that they have a mobbing problem”.

A lot of what one goes through is disguised as stress and in the shipping community as 'long absence from home'.

It is the employer's duty to provide a violence-free workplace, both ashore and onboard. Gladly the problem is increasingly being taken seriously. Ed. (Adapted from IHT, Feb 6, 2007)

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Most of the things I worry about never happen Every great achievement was once considered impossible

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You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk

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If there were no problems there would be no opportunities

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It doesn't cost anything to be nice The important thing is not what others think about me but what I think of me

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Even the simplest task can be meaningful if I do it in the right spirit

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In every face-to-face encounter, regardless of how brief, we leave something behind

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Whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision

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Optimists live longer than pessimists. That's why I'm a an optimist

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Happiness is like a perfume; you can't give it away without getting a little on your self

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When someone hurts your feelings, it's unimportant unless you persist in remembering it

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There's no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs

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If you smile at people, they will almost smile back We grow only when we push ourselves beyond what we already know

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Never to underestimate the potential and power of the human spirit

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Everyone has something to teach If you spread the peas out on your plate, it looks like you ate more

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Regardless of colour or age, we all need about the same amount of love

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Education, experience and memories are three things that NO one can take away from you

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Motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone

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The simple things are often the most satisfying If you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering up someone else

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Successful living is like playing violin - it must be practised daily

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If you laugh and drink soda pop at the same time, it will come out of your nose

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A sunroof is worth the extra cost People are unreasonable…..

ON BOARD COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

(Compliments to ISF's Guide for the Shipping Industry-2006) Another aspect of enforcement is the new on board complaints procedure, which allows seafarers to enforce their rights under the ILO MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION 2006

MANDATORY GUIDANCE Shipowners must ensure that their ships have onboard procedures for fair, effective and expeditious handling of seafarer complaints alleging breaches of Convention requirements (including seafarers' rights).

Any victimisation of a seafarer for filling a complaint is prohibited and subject to penalties. These matters are without prejudice to a seafarer's right to seek redress through whatever legal means may be appropriate. Procedures must be designed to resolve complaints at the lowest level possible. However, in all cases, the seafarer has a right to complain directly to the Master and, where considered necessary, to appropriate external authorities.

The on board complaints procedures must include the right of a seafarer to be accompanied or represented during the complaints procedure, as well as safeguards against the possibility of victimisation for filing complaints. “Victimisation” covers any adverse action taken by any person with respect to a seafarer for lodging a complaint that is not manifestly vexatious or maliciously made.

Shipowners must provide all seafarers with a copy of the applicable on board complaints procedures. This must include contact information for the competent authority in the flag state and, where different, in the seafarer's country of residence, and the name of a person or persons onboard the ship who can, on a confidential basis, provide seafarers with impartial advice on their complaint and assist with the complaint procedures available onboard.

Complaints may relate specifically to individuals to whom the complaint is made or even the Master. In all cases, seafarers should also be able to complain directly to the Master and to make a complaint externally. Also, in order to help avoid victimisation of seafarers making complaints, the procedures should encourage the nomination of a person on board who can advise seafarers on the procedures available and, if requested by the seafarer, attend any meetings or hearings regarding the complaint.

As a minimum, the procedures discussed during the consultative process should include the following stages: a. Complaints should be addressed to the head of the department of the seafarer lodging the complaint or to the seafarer's superior officer; b. The head of department or superior officer should then try to resolve the matter within the prescribed time limits appropriate to the seriousness of the issues; c. If the head of department or superior officer cannot resolve the complaint to the seafarer's satisfaction, the latter may refer it to the Master, who should handle the matter personally; d. Seafarers should at all times have the right to be accompanied and represented by another seafarer of their choice on board the ship concerned; e. All complaints and decisions taken should be recorded and a copy provided to the seafarer concerned; f. If a complaint cannot be resolved on board, the matter should be referred ashore to the shipowner, who should be provided with the appropriate time limit for resolving the matter, where appropriate, in consultation with the seafarers concerned or their representative; and g. In all cases, seafarers should have a right to file their complaints directly with the Master, the shipowner and the competent authorities.

The ILO Maritime Labour Convention 2006 is set to become the 'fourth pillar' in the international maritime regulatory framework, standing alongside SOLAS, MARPOL, and STCW. It will be an essential component of the regulation of shipping which virtually all maritime states will follow.

It aims to ensure that all seafarers have the right to a safe and secure workplace, fair terms of employment, decent working and living conditions on ship, and rights to health protection, medical care and other social protection.In order to ensure its international credibility, the Convention will not come into force until it has been ratified by at least 30 nations together representing over one third of the world merchant fleet by gross tonnage. This should ensure that traditional shipping nations, open registers and labour supply countries are all part of the process.

NB. POEA's Annex 'A' of the STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS Section 16 “Grievance Machinery” and Section 17 “Disciplinary Procedures”, under the ITF's umbrella, is at present a comprehensive guide. Ed.

- pg 5 -

-Time to hang up on hands freeA Ms Trinity Oxford saw the traffic slowing in front of her and braked her car to a halt.

Unfortunately for her, the traffic ahead was the least of her problems. Ten seconds later, a seven and-a-half ton lorry smashed into the back of her, crushing the car beyond recognition and leaving Oxford with such horrific head and chest injuries that she died at the scene.

The lorry driver hadn't seen the stationary traffic. He had been experimenting with a new phone mounted using a hands-free cradle on the dashboard of his truck. The 50 kph impact left him without injuries but with a four year jail sentence and the death of a young woman on his hands.

Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing how many other accidents like this are caused by mobile phone use.

European road accident statistics don't record causation. But only someone more stupid than a well known...head of state would dispute that use of a mobile phone while driving is dangerous. “Many studies provide evidence that using a mobile phone while driving impairs

driving performance in many ways�.

Lateral position, maintenance of speed, reaction times, following distances, mental workload, and situational awareness all are suffering and that's using a hands-free phone.

EU Governments, as of lately, have outlawed the practice and have increased the on-the-spot penalties from a pathetic low fine to stiff one, for the first time and 3 points on the driver's license (fines differ from country to country)

It is a new menace.

Research has proven that you are four times more likely to have an accident using a hands-free system than not using one at all. It all comes down to mental distraction; even if the speed dial or voice activated facilities reduce time to dial numbers.

Relevant authorities have proof that using a hands-free set-up is more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol. The dangers of numbers being dialled or names being called out, or the mind wandering on issues as important as 'what

time will you be home for tea?' or worse still, a stressful business conversation which occupies a driver's thought process are obvious.

A total ban?

This is a wider social issue. We are the victims of the information overload age. We can be contacted or contact others, any time, any place, anywhere.

More laws and lesser enforcement? The car companies?

We leave it to the experts and we just make ourselves a favour: turn-the-phone-off!!

Latin Quotations:

Our Oceans

P POur Oceans make up 71% of the earth's surface. Each ocean contains very different habitats and an exciting variety of sea life.

PSunlight only reaches as far as 200 m down in the ocean. Below this depth plants cannot survive.

PThe deeper you go the darker and colder it gets and the higher the pressure becomes.

PVery little is known about the amazing creatures that live in the depths of our oceans.

PThe dark cold depths contain many strange animals. Some of them can even produce their own light.

PThe animals that live there eat each other or the bits of food that drift down from the surface of the sea. The deepest parts of the ocean are the trenches, reaching depths of 11,000m.

Another or second self Greece, once conquered, in turn conquered its uncivilised conqueror, and brought the arts to rustic Latium The state in which it was Ignorance is bliss By common consent Fear the Danaos bearing gifts Before the Common Era (i.e. BC) note well Out of the depths The play is over (the dying words of Caesar Augustus) Ad finem fidelis: Faithful to the end Citius, altius, fortius: Faster, higher, stronger (motto of the modern Olympic Games) Alma mater: Mother language

Alter ego: Graecia capta ferum victorem capit et artes / Induit agresti Latio‌. (Horace, Letters, ii,1.156): Status quo: Ignoti nulla cupido: Communi consensus: Timeo Danaos dona ferentes: BCE: N.B. (nota bene): De Profundis: Acta est fibula:

cont'd from pg 1

Corporate Social Also, standards and laws are often set at a supranational level (e.g., by the European Union). Some investors and investment fund managers have begun to take account of a corporation's CSR policy in making investment decisions (so-called ethical investing). Some consumers have become increasingly sensitive to the CSR performance of the companies from which they buy their goods and services.

These trends have contributed to the pressure on companies to operate in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable way.

It is important to distinguish CSR from charitable donations and "good works" (i.e., philanthropy). Corporations have often, in the past, spent money on community projects, the endowment of scholarships, and the establishment of foundations. They have also often encouraged their employees to volunteer to take part in community work and thereby create goodwill in the community, which will directly enhance the reputation of the company and strengthen its brand. CSR goes beyond charity and requires that a responsible company take into full account its impact on all stakeholders and on the environment, when making decisions. This requires the company to balance the needs of all stakeholders with its need to make a profit and reward shareholders adequately.

A widely quoted definition by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development states that

"Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large."

same industry). Critics dismiss these reports as lip service, CSR reporting draws much inspiration from its much older cousin, environmental and sustainability reporting (e.g., in Germany).

The business case for CSR The benefits of CSR to businesses vary depending on the nature of the enterprise, and are difficult to quantify, though there is a large body of literature exhorting business to adopt measures beyond financial ones.

Some companies found a correlation between social/environmental performance and financial performance. However, businesses may not be looking at short-run financial returns when developing their CSR strategy.

The definition of CSR used within business can vary from the strict "stakeholder impacts" definition, used in this article, and often the inclusion of charitable efforts and volunteering. CSR may be based within the human resources, business development or the PR departments of a company, or may be given a separate unit reporting to the CEO or in some cases directly to the board. Progressive companies do not have a CSR department or function at all -- the concept is so ingrained in the company itself that employees implement the company's values directly. The business case for CSR within a company will likely rest on one or more of these arguments:

Human resources (Marine) Corporate Social Responsibility can be an important aid to recruitment and retention, particularly within the competitive graduate cadet market, and not only. Potential recruits are increasingly likely to ask about a firm's CSR policy during an interview and having a comprehensive policy can give an advantage.

CSR can also help to build a "feel good" atmosphere among existing staff, particularly when they can become involved through payroll giving, fundraising activities or community volunteering.

Risk management

This holistic approach to business regards organisations as (for example) being full partners in their communities, rather than seeing them more narrowly as being primarily in business to make profits and serve the needs of their shareholders.

Managing risk is a central part of many corporate strategies.

Reputations that take decades to build up can be ruined in hours through incidents such as corruption scandals or environmental accidents.

These events can also draw unwanted attention from regulators, courts, governments and media. Building a genuine culture of 'doing the right thing' within a corporation can offset these risks.

Auditing and reporting To demonstrate good business citizenship, firms can report compliance with a number of CSR standards, including:

' ' ' ' '

AccountAbility Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines Social Accountability International The ISO 14000 environmental management standard

Some nations require CSR reporting, though agreement on meaningful measurements of social and environmental performance is difficult.

Many companies now produce externally audited annual reports that cover Sustainable Development and CSR issues, but the reports vary widely in format, style, and evaluation methodology (even within the

Criticism Some critics of CSR argue that a corporation's principal purpose is to maximize returns to its shareholders, while obeying the laws of the countries within which it works. Others argue that the only reason corporations put in place social projects is utilitarian; that they see a commercial benefit in raising their reputation with the public or with government. Proponents of CSR, however, would suggest a number of reasons why self-interested

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Responsibility corporations, solely seeking to maximise profits are unable to advance the interests of society as a whole.

Key challenges to the idea of CSR include: >The rule of corporate law that a corporation's directors are prohibited from any activity that would reduce profits > Other mechanisms established to manage the principal-agent problem, such as accounting oversight, stock options, performance evaluations, deferred compensation and other mechanisms to increase accountability to shareholders.

Because of this, it has been suggested that CSR activity is most effective in achieving social or environmental outcomes when there is a direct link to profits: hence the CSR slogan "Doing Well by Doing Good".

Note that this requires that the resources applied to CSR activities must have at least as good a return as that that these resources could generate if applied anywhere else.

Critics of the role of business in society argue that:

C C C

Corporations care little for the welfare of workers, and given the opportunity will move production to sweatshops in less well regulated countries.

Unchecked, companies will squander scarce resources.

Companies do not pay the full costs of their impact. For example the costs of cleaning pollution often fall on society in general.

As a result profits of corporations are enhanced at the expense of social or ecological welfare.

Regulation is the best way to ensure that companies remain socially responsible.

C

Supporters of a more market based approach argue that:

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By and large, free markets and capitalism have been at the centre of economic and social development over the past two hundred years and that improvements in health, longevity or infant mortality (for example) have only been possible because economies - driven by free enterprise - have progressed.

In order to attract quality workers, it is necessary for companies to offer better pay and conditions which leads to an overall rise in standards and to wealth creation.

Investment in less developed countries contributes to the welfare of those societies, notwithstanding that these countries have fewer

C C

protections in place for workers. Failure to invest in these countries decreases the opportunity to increase social welfare.

Free markets contribute to the effective management of scarce resources. The prices of many commodities have fallen in recent years. This contradicts the notion of scarcity, and may be attributed to improvements in technology leading to the more efficient use of resources.

There are indeed occasions when externalities, such as the costs of pollution are not built into normal market prices in a free market. In these circumstances, regulatory intervention is important to redress the balance, to ensure that costs and benefits are correctly aligned.

Whilst regulation is necessary in certain circumstances, over regulation creates barriers to entry into a market. These barriers increase the opportunities for excess profits, to the delight of the market participants, but do little to serve the interests of society as a whole.

C

C

C

Global Code of Conduct How, then, does a modern company build its reputation?

By the Global Code of Conduct, drawing on the company's commitments.

Along the way, we learn that a company should establish what its values and ethics are, and follow them virtuously; and decide what its vision is, and follow it consistenly.

We also learn that companies must be ever vigilant and ever suspicious, and that they should admit their mistakes. Other rules could come straight out of grade school: Recognise your shortcomings. Be a model citizen. And, in a twist on a phrase undoubtedly pronounced by parents since time immemorial, 'get it right the first time'.

How to create a new culture is the topic of hundrerds, if not thousands, of books and articles. A healthy culture is simply a function of several factors, namely: honesty, trust, dignity and respect. They all go together; they reinforce one another. It is employees who demonstrate integrity, teaming and espirit de corps.When they are constants in a business, people become engaged in their work; they form relationships based on doing the right thing. They care; they talk; they laugh.

And then fun happens pretty naturally. This is the work of the leaders; it may even be their most important job.

NB. To follow 'Business Ethics' on next issue W-23. Ed.

Sick of the Tropics Yellow Fever (aka 'Yellow Jack', “La Vomito'):

In the nineteenth century, yellow fever was a major issue for anyone travelling through the tropics; today it is not nearly so widespread. But there are still some countries which demand proof of immunisation against yellow fever before entry (NB. It is this company's mandatory requirement for all its seafarers). It was first recorded in Africa and subsequently transported by European traders and colonists to South America; there it ran riot. In the 1880s Ferdinand De Lesseps (see Panama hat below) was defeated in his plan to build the Panama Canal by epidemics of yellow fever.

In his first year he lost 500 French engineers brought over to supervise the project.

He persevered but finally, after losing one-third of the entire European work force of 20,000, gave up and sold the construction rights to the US. Cause: Yellow fever is a virus carried by mosquitoes that thrive in swampy conditions Symptoms: Early symptoms resemble severe influenza but quickly become much worse. Blood vessels rupture causing splotches of blue and black to form under the skin, then internal organs start to fail. When the liver comes under attack, the skin turns yellow, hence the name. In the final stage, victims vomit blood.

Cure: Yellow fever has quite a high mortality rate, between 40 & 60 per cent.

There is no specific treatment apart from rest and plenty fluids.

Anyone with the disease should be away from mosquitoes in case they are bitten and spread the disease.

Prevention: Modern vaccine is safe and effective; other precautions include wearing deet and putting permetharin on clothes.

Malaria: Today we think of malaria as a tropical disease but it wasn't until late into the twentieth century that malaria was eradicated from Europe and the United States. Worldwide, it is estimated that between 1 and 1.5 million people still die every year from malaria, whilst many more are laid low by it.

Transmission: Malaria is caused by microscopic parasites that enter the body through the bite of certain mosquitoes. Once they get into the bloodstream they reproduce rapidly, attaching themselves to red blood cells and subsequently destroying them.

Symptoms: Fever, shivering, joint pain.

Complications: The most dangerous form of the disease is cerebral malaria in which infected red cells obstruct the blood vessels in the brain. Other vital organs can also be damaged, often leading to the death of the patient.

Treatment: Anti-malarial drugs are usually effective but there are some strains of the disease which have now developed a resistance to Chloroquine, one of the most commonly described medicines.

Prevention: There are several drugs that can be taken as a prophylactic; with some of them you have to begin the course before entering the malarial area. The best way to protect your self is to avoid being bitten! This entails sleeping under nets, wearing protective clothing (long sleeves & trousers), insect repellent and avoiding being outside when mosquitoes are most active, i.e. at dawn and dusk. Public health campaigns in Europe and America have focused on eradicating mosquitoes altogether by spraying swamps with insecticides. Still there are some areas of the world where malaria is endemic.

Gin & quinine (later tonic) was a good excuse for the 'colonials'.

Diseases such as yellow fever and malaria make travel in the tropics dangerous but there are many other, macroscopic hazards that also need to be taken into account.

Tro The safari suit is a variation of the military clothing introduced in the mid-nineteen century. “Khaki� comes from a Hindu word for dust and was originally introduced as a clothes dye to help camouflage British troops in India. By the end of the century khaki had been adopted by several other armies. There are many variations of the safari suit but the basic principle is that they should be loose fitting, made of strong enough cotton to resist snags, and have voluminous pockets.

The pith helmet is another product of British India. It is a highcrowned, wide-brimmed hat made from the 'pith', or core, of trees such as cork. This material is strong and durable and can withstand both heavy rain and strong sunlight. Pith helmets were common in India before the British arrived, but colonial soldiers and administrators popularised them and soon they spread around the world.

This editor would not miss the opportunity of mentioning his favourite Panama hat or just Panama, a traditional brimmed hat. Despite the name, genuine Panama hats are made in Ecuador, not Panama. The origin of the name is uncertain. According to legend, the hat became associated with Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal in the early twentieth century. However, the Oxford English Dictionary cites a use of the term as early as 1834. When President Teddy Roosevelt visited the Canal, whilst under construction, and being photographed wearing such a hat, he added to it's popularity. The Ecuadorian town of Cuenca is the main producer; however, the town of Montecristi has the reputation of producing the finest quality hats.

Glorified during the 19th century, the panama has since been considered the prince of

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opical straw hats. Ecuadorian national hero and emblematic figure, Eloy Alfaro helped finance his liberal revolution of Ecuador through the export of panamas. ¡ The Panama hat has borne several names. It was called jipijapa, from the name of a small town of the Manaby province which was supposed to be its traditional origin, or montecristi, a name it still goes by among the specialists of quality panamas.

The jipijapa or montecristi has also been called toquilla, a name derived from the name of the hats that the Spaniards wore at the time of the conquest.

Quality is a heavily disputed subject when dealing with Panama hats. There are two main processes in their creation: weaving and blocking. The best way to gauge the quality of the weave is to count the number of weaves per square inch. Fewer than 300 would be considered low quality. The rarest and most expensive have 1600-2000 weaves per square inch, and it is not unheard of for these to sell for thousands. There are many levels of quality in between 300 and 1600. Even though the panama continues today to provide a livelihood for thousands of Ecuadorians, only a dozen weavers capable of making the finest straw hats in the world "montecristi superfinos" remain; the UK's Financial Times Magazine (Jan. 2007) recently reported that there may not be more than 15-20 years remaining for the industry in Ecuador, due to the competition of paperbased Chinese-made imitations.

Kit

History Of Panama Hats Panama hats, as already mentioned, are made exclusively in Ecuador and are woven by hand from a plant called the Toquilla (Carludovica Palmata) of Cyclanthus family.

The Panama hat has been worn for centuries with its origins being traced back as far as the 16th Century when the Incas were the first to use the Toquilla plant to produce hats. The hat in fact only became known as the Panama when over a century ago the workers involved in the construction of the Panama Canal used the elegant fibre hats as protection against the burning sun.

In the 18th Century Panama hats found their way into the United States. During the AmericanSpanish war (1898) the US government ordered from Ecuador 50,000 "sombrero de paja toquilla" (hats of the toquilla plant), for their troops heading for the Caribbean. Earlier in 1855, a Frenchman living in Ecuador took some to the World Exhibition in Paris. The finest hat was presented to the then Emperor of France Napoleon III and has been much sought after

by Royalty ever since.

In England much encouraged by royal patronage, the Panama quickly became known as the most fashionable summer hat and remains so to this day.

Exorbitant prices have been paid for Panama hats over the years, sums that equated to a threemonth holiday, or the purchase of a small farm. Prince Edward VII parted with ÂŁ90.00 after asking his Bond Street hatter to obtain the "finest Panama available".

Although the post war period saw a marked decline in the overall popularity of the Panama hat, it is now seeing a return

to its original highly regarded status, which can be largely attributed to its appearance in various period films and television series.

One important feature of the Panama is that every hat is unique. The weaving of the Panama hats is a cottage industry carried out primarily in the districts of Manabi and Azuay in Ecuador. A skill that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Panama hats vary in the time they take to be woven. Some of the coarser woven hats may take a few hours whereas the finer hats from the towns of Biblian and Montecristi may take up to 5 months to weave, eventually fetching a retail price of up to ÂŁ1000. Unfortunately this in no way reflects the many hours of work required of a craftsman to weave such a fine product.

The greatest weavers work only by the light of the moon or when the sky is overcast. Constantly dipping their sharp pointed fingers in water, they split the fibre razor thin, and with all the virtuosity of a spinning wheel, plait ring after ring of palm into fabric so soft and dense that it equals silk. The hats are then pummelled and trimmed and groomed and scrubbed.

The finest panamas have a silk, creamy smooth texture in which the weave is barely perceptible, but if held up to the light, a spiral of rings will be seen spanning out from the apex of the crown.

These concentric rings or vueltas indicate where new strands have been started in the weaving process. It is the number of vueltas that determines the quality of the Panama. In the cheaper and most common quality that might take a day or two to weave, there may be up

to ten "vueltas" whereas in the finer quality or "finos" there could be as many as forty.

The panamas are usually imported directly from Ecuador in their hood form. These are then blocked by specialist hat factories into a variety of shapes, with the most popular shape being the folding panama. This hat has the distinctive ridge running from front to back over the crown enabling the hat to be folded and rolled up for storage or travel.

Another aspect of the history of the Panama hat is the tradition of the black band, which is used to trim the majority of panamas.

This originates from the year 1901, the year that saw the death of Queen Victoria.

In 1985, the Conran Foundation selected the Panama hat for its Boilerhouse Project at the Victoria and Albert Museum, as being one of the "100 best designs ever", a belated tribute to Francisco Delago who is said to have originated the Panama in the Manabi district of Ecuador in the 17th Century.

If you can afford it, wear it.

MARS

MARS 200638 (Compliments: Text SEAWAYS/Animation Anglo - Eastern Group)

Bunkering hazards A bunkering operation is always a challenging and intense process. Bunkering is often carried out when the ship's crew and engineering staff are pressed for both time and manpower and they must be properly trained, briefed and proficient in: pre-bunkering preparation, sampling and measurement during bunkering, post bunkering operations, contingency plans.

A properly designed bunkering checklist assists in the above. Usually it is required to fill and sign an additional checklist, provided by the supplier, before beginning the bunkering operation.

While the root cause of the spill in the MARS report appears to be a defective bunker hose, it is almost certain that in both checklists, the box following the question “Are the bunker hoses in good condition?� may have just ticked off without either party capable of ascertaining the actual state of the hose's condition along its full length.

While both the supplier and the ship desire a trouble-free bunkering operation, it is possible that due to commercial and operational pressures, they may overlook minor doubts about a hose's physical appearance, particularly, if a recent test date is visible.

Many scrupulous shipowners or managers arrange for an independent surveyor to verify bunker quality, and quantity; it is suggested that these persons are given the requisite authority to also inspect the hoses before the operation and to prohibit the transfer if the condition of the hoses is unacceptable, till their replacement.

Never leave your post during bunkering; for whatever reason - unless previously relieved!

USA - Legislation (Compliments LSC Information Bulletin) Drug & Alcohol Testing Serious Marine Incident The USCG has issue a Final Rule (already in effect for both wet & dry vessels) revising its requirements for alcohol testing after a serious marine incident to ensure that mariners or their employees involved in a serious marine accident are tested for alcohol use within 2 hours of the occurrence of the incident.

The rule also requires that most commercial vessels have alcohol testing devices onboard, authorises the use of saliva as an acceptable specimen for alcohol testing, and mandates a 32-hour time limit for collecting specimens for drug testing.

In order to comply with this rule, shipowners/managers will need to purchase and maintain alcohol testing devices onboard the vessels if they cannot reach a shore-side facility and conduct alcohol testing of their employees within 2 hours of a serious incident.

This anchor belongs to H.M.S. SIRIUS, which convoyed the First Fleet. Sailed from the Isle of Wight 13th May 1787, arrived in Botany Bay 20th January 1788, anchored at Sydney Cove 26th Jan 1788 and was wrecked 19th March 1790, at point Ross Norfolk Island, whence this anchor was recovered.

Erected 1907 at Macquarie Place, Sydney Harbour.

- pg 11 CENMAR / Manila.

President of the BoD, Attorney G.F.Ortega, KBE Jan 14, 2007

MARS 200703 (Compliments SEAWAYS - N.I.)

Fall in the pump room During a fire drill, the second engineer entered the emergency fire pump room to operate the emergency pump: this involved negotiating a vertical ladder section within a straight access trunking. While climbing down the ladder, he was holding the side rails for support.

In the course of its descent past an intervening deck and presumably in order to allow for flexing, the vertical ladder was split into an upper and lower section, with a gap in the side rails of about 95 mm. The engineer apparently overlooked this 'missing' section in the side rails, and when he reached this spot, he suddenly lost his handholds and fell about three metres to the bottom of the pump room. He was wearing all the regular PPE such as helmet, gloves, safety shoes, harness etc. Fortunately, his injuries were limited to cuts and bruises. Had he fallen fully backwards, his injuries could have been crippling or even fatal.

Corrective action The upper and lower ladder sections were joined by welding flat bars across the gap in the side rails.

Root causes/contributory factors 1. Gap between upper and lower ladder sections 2. Hasty descent, perhaps due to 'drill' environment Other lessons 1. It is an accepted design practice to include a gap in a vertical ladder over intervening decks or flats, as a single ladder section may be damaged by racking forces and flexing. However, just as expansion bends are incorporated in pipelines, these ladder sections should be joined by short, curved side rail sections, or even rope or chains links.

2. Warning signs located at appropriate levels within and outside the access trunking could remind personnel of the gap or discontinuity in the ladder.

CENMAR/Manila Courtesy visit by NEPIA's Sr Claims Executive Mrs J.Burdus (m), flanked by Ms L.Dixon (r ) and Ms J.B.Durana Acting G.Mgr Jan 11, 2007

M/T 'CE-WAVE' Vetting Inspection by Cptn R.A.H. Hersey (seated) with Master R. Haban - Sydney, Jan 28, 2007

CENMAR/Manila Courtesy visit by LISCR VP. (r to l) Cptn R.T.Salabit (in house Trainer), Cptn J.P.Walsh (LISCR), Cptn J.Sharma (o/b Trainer), Editor Nov 10, 2006

Sustainable living is about:

> > > >

Adopting practices that keep us operating within the Earth's carrying capacity Using only what we need to survive and leaving the rest Being smarter about the way we exploit and affect the natural world.

Finding the right balance between what we take from the Earth and what we give back

I=PAT

Something's Got to Give Many of the earth's resources are being depleted faster than they are renewed. This mean that we are living in an ecologically unsustainable way. In order to deal with this situation, the practice of sustainable living must be adopted worldwide.

The complex impact of the human population upon the environment is expressed, by some scientists, as the formula above, where: I is for environment impact P is for population size A is for affluence, which is an expression of the average level of goods and services used or consumed by each person in a population; and T is for technology, a measure of the resources used and waste generated when goods and services are produced and consumed.

The choices we make about what and how much we use, how many children we have and how much waste and pollution we generate all impact on the environment. As simple as that.

V V V V

Control of Monitoring and Mea (Compliments of INTERMANAGER Guidelines on the implementation of ISO 9001:2000 for Ship & Crew Managers) The aim of the article below is to ensure that equipment used to check the product or service is properly calculated. The company should therefore firstly determine what monitoring and measuring activities need to be performed in order to prove that the service conforms to the requirements and identify the equipment needed. The company should control and maintain those measuring devices used to demonstrate conformance of service to specified requirements. The devices need to be suitably identified to enable their calibration status to be determined.

Such measuring and test equipment should be used in a manner which ensures that the measurement uncertainty is known and is consistent with required measurement capability. The list of necessary measuring and monitoring devices is extensive and shall vary greatly from on ship to another however, the following list give some indication of the broad areas which need to be provided for:

Personal Safety: O2 Analysers, Gas Detectors, Explosimetres, Smoke Detectors, Fire Alarm Systems, Radiation Exposure Tags, Record of Hours Worked and Rest Periods

Cargo Care: Temperature Probes, Hydrometres, Smoke Detectors, Fire Alarm Systems, Flow Metres

Deck and Bridge Equipment: Wind Indicatros, SatNavs, Radars, Sextants, Compasses (Magnetic & Gyro), Speed Logs, Loading Computers

Pollution: 15ppm /alarm cut off, Bunker Test Kits

Engine Dept:

TMSA We iclude herewith a glossary of key terms and phrases related to the OCIMF's TMSA programme Manual, as a refresher and reminder for the correct and consistent implementation of the guidelines: Critical equipment and systems. Any ship-based equipment, operating system or alarm that, were to fail, would result in the crew or the vessel being placed at risk or that could lead to an accident.

Critical equipment or systems should include as a minimum: fire pumps, cargo pump temperature monitors, pump-room fixed gas-detection systems, fire detection systems, crankcase oil-mist detectors, steering gear, fire alarms and main engine shutdown alarms.

Evaluation and measurement. The process of checking a system to see whether it is functioning as designed and is achieving its stated aims and

objectives. Evaluation determines that processes and procedures are functioning and are being executed effectively. Measurement determines the quality of the processes and the degree to which the aims and objectives are being achieved.

Key Performance Indicators. KPIs are discrete measures that track a company's effectiveness in meeting its aims and objectives. They are a set of “vital signs� that represent the state of a company's operational health. When used as part of a measurement system, they determine the quality of the process and the degree to which the aims and objectives are being achieved.

Feed back mechanism. The process through which the results of evaluation and measurement are used to produce corrective actions and improvements Near Miss. An event, or sequence of events, that did not result in an injury or incident but which,

Pressures Gauges, Thermometres / Temperature Gauges, RPM Counters, Calipers Where applicable, measuring and monitoring devices should; mBe calibrating and adjusted periodically or prior to use. The basis used for and the results of calibration recorded mBe safeguarded from adjustments that would invalidate the calibration mBe protected from damage and deterioration during handling maintenance and storage mHave the validity of previous results re-assessed if they are subsequently found to be out of calibration and corrective action taken mApproved by Class as appropriate mRecords of calibration results need to be maintained.

TIP: Loading computers should be regularly checked against Class approved data to ensure consistent results, and integrity of software.

Bulk-Carrier in a Storm. Have a look at what reall HEAVY SEAS / BAD

- pg 13-

asuring Devices Example Flowchart Procedure for Control and Measuring Devices CALIBRATION RECORDS

(Due dates)

MURPHOLOGY

(Humour, Wit or Wisdom?)

Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.

Nothing is as easy as it looks.

Everything takes longer than you think.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Smile…tomorrow will be worse. w w w w

Review of Potential Impact and corrective action

w w

under slightly different circumstances, could have done so.

w

Root cause. A factor identified as the fundamental reason for a problem. This factor, if changed or removed, will eliminate the problem.

w w

Safety culture. A philosophy promoting safety as the ultimate consideration for all company personnel and applied to all activities undertaken, both ashore and at sea.

Company / Ship operator. As defined by SOLAS Chapter IX/1, the company is the owner of the ship or any other organisation or person such as the manager, or the bareboat charterer, who has assumed responsibility for operation of the ship from the owner of the ship and who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over all the duties and responsibilities imposed by the ISM Code.

w w

w

Job competence. Job competence indicates that an individual has the necessary qualifications, experience and understanding of the duties required in that rank. w

There two things on earth that are universal; hydrogen and stupidity People who are resistant to change cannot resist change for the worst (Rule of the Open Mind) Never change your plans because of the weather (Family Law) Those that live closest arrive latest (Law of Arrival) The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach (Law of Biomechanics) When you pour, it rains (Law of Concreting) When it rains, it pours (Exception to Murphy's Law) If you cannot convince them, confuse them (Truman's Law) Never argue with a fool - people might not know the difference (First Law of a Debate) When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.

Love letters, business contracts and money you are due, always arrive three weeks late; junk mail arrives the day it was sent (Laws of Postal Delivery) The wise are pleased when they discover truth, fools when they discover falsehood (Observation) Extremes meet.

Job description. Details the essential qualifications and key competencies required for a job together with any further relevant experience. The job description is understood by the person, available to the person and reviewed at least every two years.

Be My Valentine

WEATHER is all about. RESPECT THE

“How Do I Love Thee?”

Through the ages the ways people have loved have been many: calmly or hysterically, monogamously or polygamously, impetuously or pragmatically.

Psychologists entered the realm of romance and applied scientific measurements to styles of love. The findings: Romantic attitudes are rooted almost exclusively in environment and not in heredity. Genes play virtually no role, as they do in attitudes toward vocations, hobbies, even religiousness. In studies of 338 female and 107 male adult twin pairs they found out it made no difference whether twins were identical with exactly the same genes or fraternal. How they approached ELEMENTS. love depended on environment and life experiences.

Honey Bees Biology and Us

(Nobody can dispute the role of dogs as man's best friend, but a convincing argument can also be made for the honey bees)

Welcome to the Honey-Bee Kingdom.

In the Bible, we are exhorted to 'Go to the ant ‌consider her ways and be wise'. Sir John Lubbock (1834-1913) in 1882 wrote that ants have a fair claim to work next to man in the scale of intelligence. 'To deny reason to bees' wrote Francois Leuret (1797-1851), 'is to deny all justice'.

At one time or another, almost every human feeling, sentiment and faculty has been attributed to social insects.

Yet this is an astonishing conception when we consider that the human brain would feel a large dinner plate on which a bee brain would be about the size of a grain of salt. Your brain has, perhaps, 1,000 million times as many brain cells as that of a bee. To take account of this awkward but far from embarrassing fact we must conclude either, as did Count Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949), in a metaphysical spirit of the bee society which magnifies the attributes of individual bees, or we must assume that while bee behaviour may appear to be like our own because of the ends it so beautifully achieves, it is nevertheless organised in a fundamentally different and basically simpler way. It is fashionable today to seek broad similarities in the behaviour of all animals.

Many papers have been written about aggression, hierarchy and territory. These are attributes of the behaviour of innumerable animal species, from worms to man.

This is the sort of argument, which proceeds without proof that aggression or territory or what you will, has the same roots, stems and nourishment in all animals, but assumes it to be so. Do we assume that aggression is a kind of original sin, as innate in ourselves as it appears to be in some fish and learn to tolerate aggression in our society?

(Quite a topic; isn't it?).

Or do we suppose that upbringing, education and environment can

determine our relationships with others and try to improve these factors?

(This question is being effectively answered by the scholars, from the times of Aristotle, and still remains current and exciting).

Brain and Behaviour in Bees.

The insect brain is immensely different in structure from the vertebrate brain. Insects were established on earth about 100 million years before the first land vertebrates appeared. The vertebrate brain is developed from an expansion of the top of the spinal cord, whilst in the insect brain there are conspicuous lobes: large optic lobes from the compound eye and smaller antennal lobes where the antennal lobe enters the brain.

Honeybees can see ultraviolet light and patterns of polarised light, which we cannot see; they can spread alarm by chemicals that we cannot smell; and they can use the sun as a compass and compensate for its movements.

Insects are very stimulus-bound in their behaviour. The nest building, foraging and provisioning behaviour of social insects includes many examples in which behaviour is guided not by appreciation of the final ends, but can be explained as a more or less rigid sequence of actions! Sequences may be amazingly long; the behaviour is a series of actions, each quite complicated, with a high probability that it will be followed by the next in sequence and no other. “Intelligence� proves to be an illusion. The behaviour is a sequence beautifully organised, but not on the basis of insight into the situation. Bees can learn some features extremely rapidly and have a highly-developed homing ability, involving a visual memory.

Life Cycle of Bees.

A bee is like a butterfly because it goes through several stages in its life.

Egg. A queen lays soft white eggs in the comb. The egg stage takes place during days 1 and 3.

Larva. In three days the egg hatches into a larva. Workers feed it bee milk and bee bread.

It spins a cocoon around itself. The larva stage takes place during days 4 through 9.

Pupa. In the cocoon the larva turns into a pupa. It now has eyes, wings and legs. It looks like a bee. This stage is between days 10 and through 23, depending on the type of bee it will become.

Adult. This is the final stage in a bee's complete metamorphosis. It is fully grown.

The bee chews its way out of the cell. It becomes an adult on days 16 through 24, depending on what type of it is.

Colony life.

Honeybees are mostly female; they communicate by dancing; and they collectively travel thousands of miles to produce a single communal pound of honey.

They live for only several weeks (about six) and heroically die after delivering their dreaded, venomous sting.

The life of a honeybee colony is perennial.

There are three casts of honeybees: queens, which produce eggs; drones or males, which mate with the queen and have no stinger; and workers, which are all non-producing females. (a). Queen. The mother of all bees in a colony. Only one adult queen in a hive for the sole function to serve as the reproducer, laying up to 1,500 eggs a day. The queen determines the sex of her off-springs by parcelling out the sperm from her maiden flight. Fertilised eggs become female worker bees. Eggs that remain unfertilised become drones. Every colony is different, but in the active season most house between 500 to1,000 drones and 50,000 to 60,000 workers, making the average hive about 99 percent female. This female population performs all of the work of the hive. (b). Drones. Male, that can't fly well, that they don't gather food, don't clean, sting, secrete wax, or care for the young.

M

The obsession started in Egypt; the land of the myth and mysteries, in trying to comprehend the life of the bee and the magical liquid associated with it.

Ancient civilisations believed that bees were divine messengers of the gods, or deities themselves. Kings and queens of the Nile carved symbols of them into their royal seals, and the Greeks of Ephesus minted coins with their images. Emperor Napoleon embroidered the mighty bee into his coat of arms as an emblem of power, immortality and resurrection.

Aristotle was the first writer to attempt a more scientific, less mythical approach to the cult of bee admiration. Sitting next to a hive almost twenty five centuries ago, he began the tradition of celebrating, observing, and exploring the secrets of honey and the hive, in the olive groves above Athens.

Bee Products.

The majority of commercial apiary profits come from payment for pollination services.

In addition to it several bee products are economically significant. The two most common products, honey and wax, are produced and used throughout the world.

Honey.(next issue) Wax. Over the centuries, humans have found more uses for beeswax than its creator have.

Until the invention of plastics in the late nineteenth century, there was no more plastic medium than wax. Inspired by the bees, we have used it for storage, building and protection.

Expanding on its versatility, we have used it in ceremony, as light, and for communication and art. In food storage the earliest canning techniques were perfected by bees, that preserve their sugary sustenance in thousands of homemade wax containers that retain moisture, keep air out, and sturdily withstand the tests of time. Ancient Egyptians enveloped their food in wax to protect and preserve it like honey in the hive. Wine casks and urns of olive oil and fruit were sealed with lids of it, and cheeses, meats and eggs were dipped in it for storage.

Burnished with wax, surfaces of wood, plaster, clay, cloth and leather were stronger, suppler, weatherproof and possessed of a luxurious shine.

From the Acropolis in Athens to the cathedrals of medieval Europe, compact, portable beeswax

candles with their self sufficient sources of fuel were even used to measure time. Because of their purity and powerful religious symbolism beeswax candles have been in high demand for centuries, a specialized craft and enviable business.

The candler, or "chandler" was part of an official guild, whose members were the purveyors, fabricators and inspectors of fine wax candles.

Artists too discovered the method of working in wax of all sort of colours, so that taking portraits from life in the half relief, they make the flesh tints, the hair, the clothes, and all other details so lifelike that to those figures there lacks nothing, as it were, but the spirit and the power of speech.

Circa 1753, Frenchwoman Marie Grosholtz took up the art of wax portraiture. At Versailles she fashioned portraits of royalty and courtiers, including those of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. She married a Frenchman named Tussaud, and as the turmoil in France continued, left for Britain to tour her work, which was by this time an impressive collection of deceased people.

"Madame Tussaud" became an instant sensation with her chillingly real wax likeness, as most people had never seen the celebrities of the day, dead or alive.

Finally, for as a long as humans have been acquainted with bees, they have been getting medicine from them in the form of Honey, Propolis, Pollen, and even Venom.

The hive is an ancient apothecary, loaded with convenient, economical and powerful remedies.

Pollen. Plant pollen collected by bees has always enjoyed a reputation as a healthy food.

The harvested miniature loaves are sold in health food stores as a diet supplement, an invigorating source of vegetarian protein. Depending to plant sources the average pound of pollen has about 100 grams of protein, 1,000 mgs of calcium and 159 of vitamin C, potassium, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin.

Propolis. Meaning "before the city", as ancient Greek/Roman hive-watchers had noticed a sticky substance that the bees used to patch, mend and strengthen their homes with. It is obtained from the milder gum of vines and poplars that bees collect from the saps and resins of trees.

Most of it is about 50 pc tree resin, 30 pc wax, 10 pc essential oils and 10 pc pollen.

Hippocrates wrote of propolis as a medicine but vaguely, as did Pliny "of great use for medicaments".

While pollen and propolis both have ancient and historic medical pedigrees, royal jelly and bee venom have begun to be exploited only in recent decades.

C.

(c). Workers. Female, provide virtually all of the efforts required to maintain function within a hive.

During the latter part of their life, each will travel up to two miles in search of pollen, nectar and water. Each worker typically goes on ten foodgathering journeys per day, each lasting approximately one hour. This heavy workload takes its toll; each worker lives for about a month prior to wearing out.

AGEMENT I N AN

IN

CE

NTROF

QUOTATIONS

! ! #

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. There is but one blasphemy and that is injustice.

'Live above the fog, in public duty and in private thinking' Martin Luther King, Jr. In the common people there is no wisdom, no penetration, no Cicero judgement.

+ Find - Fix -Finish + Keep storms where they belong; a teacup. Be Ready. Be Prudent. + Do not hurt others with that which hurts you.

8 8 8 8 8

Genius is born not paid.

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naĂŻve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

I am not young enough to know everything.

I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability Oscar Wilde

> My conscience is the measure of > > > > > > >

the honesty of my selfishness; I listen to it carefully.

Fashions fade, style is eternal Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.

Style is the perfection of a point of you Style is a simple way of saying complicated things Defeat is never fatal unless you give up The happiest people are those who have a hard time recalling their worries and an easy time remembering their blessings Anger is a negative Energy

- You can't fool all of the people all of the time.

A. Lincoln

Adding Insult to Injustice over, killing its 46-year-old contract electrician who was inside the crane's cab. Following the accident, a federal grand jury indicted the master on a charge of neglect or misconduct of a ship officer. A jury found him guilty after hearing evidence that the bow thruster had failed on two previous occasions and that he failed to tell the pilot about these two incidents.

Almost the entire maritime industry has united in support of Captain Wolfgang Schroder, Master of the MV “Zim Mexico III”, who according to the US Courts didn't just make 'an honest mistake', but was 'criminally responsible' for the collision that killed an electrician at the Alabama state docks.

The Mobile (AL) U.S. District Court Chief Justice sentenced Cptn Schroder to the time he already had served in prison while awaiting sentencing (15 Oct 06 to 7 Feb 2007), plus three years probation. The Master was also given a 72-hour notice to leave the country. This marks an end to his travesty of justice and was the best outcome, of the final hearing.

Hopefully the conviction can be overturned on appeal.

Cptn Schroder was in command of the container ship in March 2006, as it left port after having been delayed a day by heavy fog. At the recommendation of the bar-pilot, the Master decided not to order a tugboat and instead turned the vessel around in the Mobile river. The bow thruster failed.

Captain and pilot tried to take corrective action but were unable to stop the ship before it knocked a 196-foot-tall crane

'Eye in the sky' to tackle illegal oil discharges (Environment) (By Justin Stares in Brussels) 'An eye in the sky' will be on the lookout for ships which discharge oil when at sea in Europe, as from the middle of this month.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is about to rollout a service which uses satellite images to detect the presence of illegal discharges and accident spills.

Called CleanSeaNet, it has been designed to process and pass on to pollution control authorities information within 30 minutes of the satellite picking it up. “This is the first and significant step in the process whereby EMSA assists Member States and the Commission in detecting illegal and accidental discharges at sea” said EMSA Executive Director Willem de Reuter.

The service will provide analyses images from Envisat & Radasat satellites. A network of receiving stations in Norway, Italy and the Azores (from 2008) will receive satellite data which will then be relayed to control centres.

The Council of American Master Mariners Inc (CAMM) and other relevant organisations offered their support.

(Contributed by Cptn A. Stellatos / MAROPS Mgr)

A consortium of service providers will be responsible for the downloading, analysis and sending of images and information, including alerts, to participating coastal states and to EMSA. The consortium consists of Kongsberg Satellite Services (Norway), Telespazio (Italy) and Edisoft (Portugal). The Baltic Sea, North Sea, Western European waters from the E. Channel to Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, Western Black Sea and Canary Islands will all be covered by the service.

(Contributed by Cptn A.Stellatos)

Articles written in this bulletin do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CENTROFIN. DISCLAIMER. The contents provided herewith are for general information purposes only; not intended to replace or otherwise contradict the detailed instructions issued by the owners, flag etc.

NTROF AGEMENT I N AN

C.

CENTRO-NEWS

Captain Schroder was hailed as a hero in 1987 incident when his vessel rescued numerous survivors from the 'Herald of Free Enterprise'. The then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave him a letter of commendation and the King of Belgium a medal.

IN

W

avelength

The former department head at the Swedish Shipping Administration said that ship captains are scapegoats whenever something bad happens. 'But sooner or later, it will happen again. There will always be technical failures in any industry. It is so easy to blame the captain immediately when something happens…That is not justice'.

M

( Compliments Shiptalk & "Sidelights" NewsLetter).

Can you be truly negligent if a piece of equipment fails? A US maritime surveyor took issue with testimony why Schroder did not disclose to the bar pilot the previous problems with the bow thruster. He noted that it had worked 50 times with no problems under Schroder's command; he said the captain should not be prosecuted for failing to mention failures that had occurred three months prior to the accident.

CE

(Legal)

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