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TSM Group 20th Annual Conference The conference was held at the Peninsula Hotel in Manila with 65 representatives from our various principals including such companies as Torm, JO Tankers, Mowinkel, Utkilen, Norden, Marinvest, Frontline and Island Navigation in attendance. The sea staff was represented in force with over 135 senior officers attending. Ian Garcia welcomed the conference delegates at 0900 hours with an outline of the day’s event and an introduction of the guest speakers and their subject of their presentations before leading the delegates in a rousing rendition of the Philippine national anthem. Captain Alfonso Del Castillo the president of TSM Shipping for the fifteenth year in succession provided the welcoming remarks to the conference delegates. Olav Eek Thorstensen the chairman of the TSM Group delivered a poignant speech on the development of the company in the Philippines since its formative years 20 years ago. He mentioned the opening of the new training centre twelve months ago, the close working relationship with our many principals, the emergence of Manila as our regional operating head quarters and the centralisation of accounting, marine IT, purchasing and planned maintenance systems. Recently this has also extended to the technical management of dry bulk vessels and all the supporting personnel required for this task. On a historical note he mentioned the early days with the original principals Torm & Mowinkel when by the end of 1988 ten vessels were manned by Filipinos and in twenty years this has risen to 221. He also remarked upon the increased importance of the TSM Maritime Training Centre where 6600 courses have been completed within the last twelve months and the continuing increase in cadet training. The combined pool of Filipino seafarers has risen to over 4500 and these seamen contribute over USD 70 million to the Philippine economy. TSM also provides fruitful and important employment for over 130 shore staff in its Manila office. Claus Usen Jensen delivered an important speech on the longevity of the mutual cooperation between TSM and Torm over the last 20 years. Dr. Nilo Rosas, commissioner of the Professional Regulation Commission and Senator Francis Pangilinan reported on the current shortage of qualified officers and some initiatives being supported by the professional bodies and the government and the importance of the Filipino seamen to the Philippines and world economy. Dave Gowns a Shell Ship Quality Assurance Assessor provided an excellent presentation on the oil majors position on a variety of subjects such as vetting inspections, SIRE reporting, the crew experience matrix and tanker management self assessment. This generated a lot of feedback from the principals and officers. Amit Ray from Det Norske Veritas provided a detailed update on the implementation of the Thome crew competence management system and the combined efforts of Thome & DNV to provide ‘People fit for purpose’! After lunch the afternoon session commenced with a presentation from Harald Fotland of GARD who painted a gloomy picture of climate change and its affect on increased storm activity and predictable heavy weather damage as well as other P&I issues. Johnny Oca attended the conference and gave the delegates an update on the AMOSUP programs including an expansion of the MAAP training centre, a new hospital in Davao opening July 08 and the recent successful wage negotiations. His presentation generated a lot of interest and response from the congregation. Next up was Jesse W. Lewis from Helix Media who after his brief introduction by Ian Garcia greeted the audience with ‘Maraming Salamat’ (Thank You) and ‘Magandang Hapon’ (Good afternoon) and he then proceeded into an informative presentation on problems encountered with multinational crews and the need to manage cultural diversity to ensure safe shipboard operations. Dolly Remulla-Fortun is the co founder of Fiesta Tours, a specialist marine travel agency and also the current president of The Philippine Marine Travel Agent Association. She was ably assisted by Mary Jennifer Dayrit of International Airline Services and Marisa Lerias of British Airways. Together they presented a comprehensive report on the interesting subject of marine travel. This presentation generated an enormous amount of feedback from the officers concerning OK to Board, excess baggage and insurance. The last session of the day was provided by Joy Fajardo of Guthrie Jensen whose subject matter was entitled ‘Developing Team Skills and Mindsets to surpass Tough and Stressful Moments’ and she concentrated her attention on the developing of customer (charterer) focus in her own inimitable style. Len Harbottle the fleet marine personnel manager of the Thome Group of Companies brought the conference proceedings to a close by thanking the guest speakers, principals, officers and his colleagues for their attendance and their participation in such a successful event. A 20th Anniversary Celebration dinner and entertainment followed the conference. |
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Press Release |
