Hai Phong doesn't like other big cities in Vietnam, those have more than one soccer teams such as Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh, its unique soccer team has been, therefore, received much attention and supports from local governors and fans. However, fans' passion, high pride and expectation have been destroyed gradually since the team returned to the highest professional soccer league system of Vietnam with some ups and downs along the way to get the title which all Hai Phong people have been waiting for years. But what the club has brought back to its crazy fans so far are just bronze, silver medals and worst performance in V-League season 2012.
I have followed the vicissitudes of my hometown's black-sheep soccer team since I was a boy. But with recent development and scandals of Vietnamese soccer in general and terrible performance of Vicem Hai Phong, I don't think soccer-lovers like me still want to keep an eye on the king sport so called of country. Be invested significant amount of money in pursuing V-League title but with hesitation in making specific plan for keeping and hunting good players as well as finding a competent coach. They found a suitable and qualified coach lately, Vietnamese's José Mourinho - Mr. Le Thuy Hai who was believed to be able to manage and unify all stubborn slowpokes and secure a foreseen sinking prospects of the team. Yet, till round 18th disappointed billion-worth contracts have just brought 11 points (L/13, D/5, W/2) in return whereas there will be only 8 games left.
Experts and fans have no doubt on the team's right track to the First Division next season when it paid dearly for the lost in an important game against another direct relegated candidate Cao Su Dong Thap in round 17th and was embarrassingly and completely ruined by HSB Da Nang last week. The bitter trauma of relegation is something over the withstanding of supporters who have devoted their life, time and budgets for following the team to any stadiums of V-League.
Needless to say, in order to manage the fate itself, there will be no way for Vicem Hai Phong but fights fiercely for the last 8 matches with more than 100 percentage of its power. Do not let all going ended on a bad note.
You now cannot make all Hai Phong citizens and supporters satisfied in achieving the target set from the beginning of season, but be strong as Haiphongian, keep the fire and please do not damage the love and pride from the fans, we are always with you to fight for our true love of the ball. Just do it guys!
Returning to Bach Dang Ship Yard, which is located in the northern port
city of Hai Phong, my hometown with very funny feeling under the new “blue collar”
shirt to attend M/V EXCALIBUR on 5th Apr 2010 after my three weeks
business trips in Saigon, Vung Tau and Ha Long bay to make sure everything was
in order and if principal, Mediterranea di Navigazione S.p.A.,
an Italian Ravenna-based ship-owner had any further demands for their newborn
vessel’s. She was about to depart for Singapore as her first voyage. The
M/V Excalibur is the second in a series order of 4 LPG carriers placed by Mediterranea to Bach Dang Shipbuilding
Industry Corp with connection made by Mearsk Broker, my friends and ex-partner.
The delivery of their first two LPG carriers, King Arthur was on 27th
Jan 2011 and its sistership, Excalibur, has its keel laid in 2009 but
technically delivered on 20th Dec 2011 that were all much later than
two parties’ expectation as contracted.
Excalibur was built by Bach Dang Shipyard with on site supports of designer, Marine Engineering Services of
Trieste, Italy and surveillance of RINA Classification Society. To be
constructed as a modern and highly sophisticated ethylene/LPG carrier 4,960DWT;
LOA/Breadth/Draft: (m)104.0/16.0/7.50, Excalibur can carry two different
products loaded, contained and discharged contemporarily with total capacity of 4500m3. Main engine Wartsila
8L32 - 4000kW can pushes vessel to
reach maximum service speed at 15,3 knots which could be considered as the fastest Ethylene Carrier in
the world for this size.
From the left, C/O Iacob Mihail, 1st Eng Gheorghe Ionut (who
got married with a Vietnamese lady and has served onboard both M/V King Arthur
and Excalibur),
Eng. Boy Pasca Nicolae, behind three Filipino Ratings
When I had my first step boarded, I saw a
group of seafarers debating ebulliently about unreasonable automobile prices in
Vietnam.
It’s also a very hot issue to almost Vietnamese people. A hot guy made me
surprised with his good English proficiency and deep knowledge about Vietnam controlling the talk, who then I knew
was the first Eng.
Officer, Gheorghe Ionut. It was lately understandable when he said “my wife is
a Vietnamese” and has been working in Vietnam for a couple of years.
I joined the discussion by explanation for
very high prices of automobile in Vietnamese market resulted from government’s
protection given to automobile industry as it wants to gradually domesticize
automobile’s component before WTO commitment comes into effect fully. In order
to help domestic automobile industry government will strictly impose plenty of high
taxes on exported cars, so the domestic can survive. However, this
protectionism will not bring any benefit to local car consumers but make them
hard to own a car, especially working class people.
After having a nice talk and double check
with Chief Officer, all was in order, we just had to work on the draft and tide
calendar to fix departure time. I took a leave with strong impression on a new
vessel equipped with modern navigational equipment and devices, and gossiped
with two officers during my walk to parking lot.
In standby time for
Excalibur’s first voyage, I also tried to help a group of Filipino rating to
transfer some money to their home country but it was impossible as the day
later would be date of departure and they could not arrange shore-pass for
crew. I have much sympathy for seafarers, who have to work onboard and far from
home, especially rating as their salaries are much lower than operation and
management officers. Taking an AB (Able Seaman) several banks to transfer a not
very big amount of euro but it was unable when lacking of prerequisite docs,
the Filipino AB seemed to sympathize with situation we had to face. Before
returning to vessel, I took him for a drink, “chrysanthemum tea” – (“Trà cúc” –
in Vietnamese) which is a pretty popular tea in the City of Flamboyant
Flower (another name of Hai
Phong Port
City) but unique in Vietnam. We
shared culture and some differences between two South East Asian countries
during the tea, and what I did was just want to show foreigners Vietnamese’s friendliness
and hospitality, it’s all from my heart.
Excalibur then officially began her
navigation at sea 10 days after my first attending. Thanks to Mediterranea has
used our services and cannot wait for serving the third, another still un-named
tanker sistership but the name may be related to King Arthur and his legendary
sword, Excalibur.
Yes, It is not a special day to me but a father among those on this blue planet. It must be! Of course, I cannot feel the same but at least today is not a normal one to my father, also one of a man who I do respect. I do not know how he feels as today is the last day in his career that he does love and is very proud of it. 35 year served for the safety of community, devoted all of his youth and passion to that high risk job. Well, he is not a legend daddy and even did not get the highest rank or position in the force, but with a couple times being praised for his great performances against crimes or shooting contest in newspapers and on local, national TV channels and some beautiful awards are enough to make me proud of him. We used to be familiar with his absence at home and even more, the transiting point of time from old lunar year to the new, over 30 times, because of the task of maintaining citizen's safety. I don't care about his absence as I have thought that I would have more freedom if he was at work since I was a child at the beginning of cognition because he looks very strict and hard.
There was probably a small party for his retirement at the office, and this evening there should have been another party at home for his turning point. However, he is doing a new job tonight and have no rest day. If today were Saturday or Sunday, It would be much better. He would have perfect farewell parties.
I left home after high school and worked far from home or at the opposite part of the country, and have traveling hobby, in addition, my father was busy with his tasks, therefore, we didn't have much time to have a word like other families. Two of us are hard men having something in common but not good partners to talk. I have made him unhappy with all my own decisions and haven't made him proud of me. Men do not show their feeling openly, in the mid of 30s I know it's true. I think I don't have much nice memories with my father like others, there some when he took me and later with my younger brother to the "Tam Hoan" or "Phong Lan" for ice cream, Do Son beach (at the age of 5 to 7 it was the biggest gift). How often do you feel the love of a father or have you ever thought of it? I feel it when he took me for taking high school entrance examinations, especially to Hanoi for university entrance exams on a rainy day and returned my hometown in a beautiful afternoon with the weak sunlight of late day in mid summer spreading on immense rice-fields, far far away on the sky some kites and storks flew leisurely above a small village, what a calm and an unforgettable picture I got when I was on the back of my father's motorbike. I didn't know what he was thinking at that moment. Also, when he took or picked me up from or to the bus, railway station or airports where I would spend months to years for studying or working, I could touch his love and cares for his son by shaking and waving hand. I like his saying, he told me when I was a lazy butt that "A stone will be there forever if no one takes it up or move it, and pls consider if it is your responsibility to do something with the stone."
I do want to navigate my life-ship in my own way and often have different decisions with my parents'. They may be unhappy with what I have done so far but never afraid of me facing with difficulties or occurrences at life whether I live in my hometown or very far from home, as they are sure that I know how to deal with any problems.
"I am manoeuvring my life-ship and even if it may not ahead to a wonderland, I am still happy during my long trip. Pls, don't worry. Sailing on the same route that have been already paved by someone is not my way of life spending. And I know who brought me to this world, and has given me what they have, I do not talk to you much and may not be there when you need. I am probably a bad son, but you are always the man who I respect most in my life. Thank you, Dad! Thank you for being my dad, for your devoting, the quiet sacrifice and all. Wish you best on your new job!"
Other than the sense of grief over the bitterly great lost of "Vinalines Queen" and 22 (twenty-two) of her crew members, what do the ship -owners, operators, professional seafarers have as an experienced lesson? The records show that we do have lost much in terms of life and property offshore over the past several decades since Vietnam had its own maritime industry.
Some, who are managing or working on merchant ocean-going vessels might think the lost at sea in the past due to lack of modern navigational devices or equipment, small size of vessel and her old age. Therefore, they haven't seriously taken into account the importance of safety management and operation of the ship as well as profession of shipboard personnel. They can now take M/V Vinalines Queen's horrible tragedy for granted to hit the ball managing their fleets in general and their seamen in particular better.
* Queen's servants (Shipboard personnel) - Total of crew member: 23 - Crew manning company: HAIPHONG CREWING CENTRE (VNHCC) - Captain: Nguyen Van Thien (DOB - 1968); Chief Deck Officer: Ho Quang Duc (DOB - 1981); Chief Engineer: Le Ba Truc (DOB - 1953)
* Shipowner and Manager - Ship owner/manager: Vinalines Shipping (the subsidiary company of Vinalines); - Previous manager: Vinalines Hai Phong (VNL Queen was transfered to Vinalines Shipping because of restructuring of Vinashin)
* Other related info: - Hull insurer: ABIC - P&I insurer: PVI - Latest Voy: L/D Port Morowali – Indonesia/ Ningde - China - Cargo: Nickel 54,400MT - Last reported position: 20-00N; 123-47.1E, sea area between Luzon Island, Philippines and Taiwan.
It has been uncertainly to ascribe a known cause of sinking thus far, or assure the shipwreck is now really laid on seabed. We also cannot make any comments on technical condition of the vessel if there won't be any maintenance or specific reports available at hand, and what we know is the captioned vessel was built in 2005 by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Tamano - Japan. Hence there was unlikely a possibility of sinking resulted from technical problems based on her age.
Vietnamese ship-owners haven't been really aware of carrying dangerous goods like Nickel, there are probably some of competent Captains of Vosco (Vietnam Ocean Shipping JSC) have experienced real life-threatening situation caused by Nickel liquidization when their vessel carried that commodity. Vosco crew members were in the same hazardous distress as Queen's when they had a significant list of 20 degrees more or less sailing in bad weather, however with Vosco crew knew how to deal with it experientially. So the point is how well Queen's deck management officers really knew about easily liquified characteristic of Nickel, was that enough to measure of danger when humidity of the goods may increase to 10% while Queen seemed to be in max-loadable condition sailing in hard weather.
The correlation between the cargo quantity and vessel capacity negatively reflects Captain and his Chief Mate's perception of liquifying rate of Nickel. With 54,400MT of Nickel shipping on a 56,040 DWT, was it safe when Nickel liquifying led to an increase in cargo weight that vessel had to carry. Also, heaviness of bunker, fresh water, crew members, spare parts, provisions, etc. would be a considerable factor in this case.
Navigational experience and making a safe stowage plan are very fundamental requirements to Master and Chief Mate in order to have a safe voyage. However, Capt. Nguyen Van Thien had only three years experience serving on ocean-going vessels at highest rank, yet does number of voyages, that he served, exceed 30? Even Capt. Thien was a marine navigational lecturer of Vietnam Maritime University, but a mariner is much different from a talent scholar. Chief Mate Ho Quang Duc was at the age of 31 when he took over chief deck job, that we can consider him as a freshman for his position assigned. The quality of Vietnamese seafarers and their co-operation with ship-owner and involved parties are big issues as well. As a Crew Manning Manager and doing Fleet managerial job, I ever strongly refused to employ a non-experienced C/O candidate (Chief Deck Officer) provided by a crew center that also supplied manpower to Vinalines Queen due to his very young age and lack of working experience, despite his specialty and English proficiency were acceptable.
Besides, quick promotion, the Vietnamese seafarers have a very poor training in comparison with other foreign counterparts in area such as Philippines, Indonesia, Indian, etc. result in unsafe operation and management at sea. How many percent of on-boarded ship crew members thoroughly read the "Safety Management Manual"? Do all the crew members seriously conduct and take part in abandon ship drill, or lifeboat, rescue boat launching, etc. as required by international regulations and conventions? Some just report to offshore office that they have done it properly and companies will compliantly have sufficient drill and training records for DOC annual audits then. It's quick and economically convenient for parties. Who cares?
If one has ever worked in maritime industry as a ship-owner or operator will accept that PSC (Port State Control) and related parties at some ports of call in developing countries such as Indonesia and China can have vessels' non-conformity remarks rectified with a couple hundred bucks. Thus, we cannot rely on reports at loading port to affirm both cargo and vessel are truly in acceptable condition to safely departure.
Which devices can the crew use to transmit SOS, signal maritime distress message to the nearest coastal rescue station, or advise their urgency to responsible parties? All on-servicing ocean-going vessels have its such mentioned facilities checked before vessels can departure for next port of call, and others for tracking vessel position and sailing traits, such as SSAS (Ship Security Alert System) test, EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons), VDR (Voyage Data Recorder), LRIT (long-range identification and tracking). However, being in life-threatening minutes Queen's crew could not do the most important task that they should have done before the ship was completely submerged in the cold seawater, sending the distress message that includes vessel position. When did the ship have a significant list? Did Master report to Vinalines Shipping immediately after he realized what was going on to his ship? In practice, there were some unofficial reports, sometimes not made by Mater but other Ratings disclosing that in order to protect his own prestige, Master would keep the distress deals during his service for himself, tried to fix the problems which are considered as human errors before the vessel reaching discharging port; and only inform related parities for supports when everything was out of control or he had no clue on what he would do.
Vinalines Queen's tragedy was a man-made one and ship-owner really risked its big amount of money and reputation when manoeuvred unsuitable manpower to a supramax vessel. Who are mostly suffered from this lost consequently? The answer is crew and their families.
I tried to avoid spending almost of my awake time staring at the computer screen today by doing some housework. The first job I dealt with after having fresh breath was to wash the dishes. It hasn't been an unusual chore to me since I could cook for myself.
I opened the window to start washing, the quiet winter morning was torn by some unidentified low sounds, I suddenly felt the wind blowing on my face through the window, brought along an old feeling that I have had somewhere else in the past. I took a deep breath, but I did it slowly to minimize the negative effect of the cold air on my throat as I have caught a cold for over a week, and tried to recall where I had this feeling previously. I looked purposelessly and insensibly father to broaden space behind the window as an attempt to seek for something unreachable while kept washing, yet nothing found till my sight stopped at a Chinaberry tree without leaves but some dried fruits. It was likely everything around me stopped for awhile when the painting with two contrast pigments black and white took me to place that I used to be. The Chinaberry tree has been there since I could remember things. I don't know if the tree had been there before I was born, but its image clung to my childhood and it is always there whenever I am home washing dishes with the windows open and a bright firmament. I don't like washing dishes, therefore, singing parts of songs I like or looking at something outside in order to have a feeling of getting this such tedious job done quicker. I was not home washing dishes for years. My life "witnesser" looked lonely in the winter. It is hard to perceive whether my "witnesser" is still alive due to all of its trunk and branches are in black strongly contrast with white winter sky background. But I do hope that the tree will be there to help me count the time and bring something back.
Other gusts of cold wind took turn to rush into my face, they didn't wake me up from gazing at the old picture but made me calmer inside. It has been a very long time since my last catching this such moment of life. These moments remind us that we are now living and have been getting older overtime. The image of Chinaberry tree in the winter clearly and truly depicted my soul at that time. Another gust of cold wind, but much colder took me back to the chore. I looked down to the washing sink with awareness of the going gets touch, and the touch go around. The Chinaberry tree is till standing alone outside in a very cold and windy winter. We are dying to live.
Will color coded surgery be available in Vietnam soon, or there will be a lot of patients losing their healthy body organs by irresponsible neglect and incompetent doctors?
