The International Labor Organization's (ILO) database of abandoned crews makes for some interesting reading. However, it paints a rather incomplete picture. What hardships and anguish do mariners suffer when they are left by shipowners to fend for themselves, unpaid...
The maritime establishment — the groups that exercise power and influence over industry policy and opinion — is not only as resistant to change as the rock in Ivan Aivazovsky's 1885 painting 'Rocky Island' (pictured above). It is also often regarded as sacrosanct. As...
The press release issued by the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) last 13th of March was understandably jubilant: 17 crew members of the Panama-flagged Sea Honest had all finally returned home. The Indian and Turkish seamen were abandoned in Algeria,...
I find it interesting that instructional videos are rarely, if ever, used in maritime schools and training centres in the Philippines, the world's top crew-supplying nation. When I first explored the world of coffee, I learned plenty by watching films about how coffee...
Many Filipinos engaged in manning and training still harbour in their heads some fallacies about the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the inspections it conducts on behalf of the European Commission, which represents the 28 European Union member states. In...
I miss the waterfront. One of my most vivid childhood memories is boarding a ferry with my mother at Manila's North Harbor terminal. We were bound for Mindanao in the southern Philippines. I remember watching from the upper deck tiny fishes swim alongside the ship...
I can't blame inspectors from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) for being rather bookish in their audit of Philippine maritime academies. By necessity, they have to go by the specific regulations of the International Convention on Standards of Training,...
Philippine maritime schools are on alert. A team from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) will visit the country in mid-March for their fifth inspection since 2006 (the 2012 visit did not entail inspection, only consultation with maritime administration...
No, I have not joined a monastic order. The reason this blog was not updated for more than a fortnight is that I have been immersing myself like a 15th-century monk in an exciting new project. I am writing a book entitled ‘Close Encounters in Maritime Manila’. If all...
Marine Café Blog is now being updated twice a week at most. This is to give myself more time for certain projects I had put on hold for too long, including two upcoming books. Nonetheless, I hope readers will enjoy the flavour of what is served and maybe talk about it...
The gender-neutral language mania has not spared the shipping world. Several times I have been knocked on social media for advocating the use of "seaman" or "seawoman" in lieu of the over-inclusive and less accurate term "seafarer". The objections usually come from...
The most grievous sin committed by many in the maritime press is not copy-and-paste journalism, which is rather common these days. Nor is it sloppy writing by reporters. It is the obliteration of the once-sacred line between editorial space and advertising space, the...
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