BD Delegation Team Visit to Singapore (13-17 Jan, 2015): Summery Report

Dear Fellow Mariners at home and abroad,

Assalamualikum and very good day,

As you probably know through the group that our five (5) members government delegate visited Singapore from 13-17 jan as 1st ever expedition for the exploration of junior officers job especially for the training berth for our new entrants.The team was headed by Joint Secretary MOS,Reps from BMA and Rep from NMI,they were assisted by High commissioner office Rep Ms Samia Halim.

We would like to express our deep appreciation and thanks to all members of SMC specially Baten Sir(18),My batch mate Arif(24),Jewel(26),Morshed(27),Sultan(28),Rabiul(26),who has been very instrumental in finding the appointments with various ship management companies.

Soon after arrival on 13th evening The delegation met with His Excellency Mr.Mahbub Uz Zaman,High Commission of BD in SGP and his team along with Rep from SMC. Had a discussion with various employment related issues in particular the Bangladesh Seafarers multiple entry visa.HC is kind enough to submit the propose letter to ICA. Delegation also requested HC for the possible deployment of a maritime counselor in HC office for continuous exploration of seafarer job in Singapore Hub. The same note was taken by JS,MOS to include in the final report.

On 14 Morning delegation met with Ocean Tanker(OT) Crewing department as a courtesy call, OT as the 1st time going to recruit our BMA cadets. In the process we had a very lively discussion and clarified many questionnaire regarding our certification process.Capt.Faisal Azim,Principal of NMI requested OT for the possible recruitment of their ratings in OT where he was appraised about some customized training to the ratings and Principal has taken a note of it.Finally delegation expressed their gratitude and thanks to crewing department and requested further extension of their service towards Bangladesh.Finally the meeting ended with a sumptuous lunch offered by OT.Thank You Capt.William and his Team.
On 14th evening we had the opportunity to present both our state owned institutes in presence of more than 30 shipowners representative at hotel Amara, organized by UGSM and JETRO,we had lively interactive sessions with lots of questionnaire as many of them provably even did not know that such good standard of training institutes are existed in Bangladesh.However we received number of good remarks about our officers serving on board and ashore with remarkable standing.We salute our pioneers and present sailors for achieving these impression and we expect same to continue………..We at the same time received number of questions on how as a Muslim will compromise with fasting n prayer/religious believes,food and culture in multicultural work atmosphere!! Our future generation should take a note of it and suggest to compromise such that the owner/management should not be left out with an alternative options!!
However Many of the management representative has shown their keen interest to visit Bangladesh in particular the Maritime training institutes.We will follow through on the same.
On 15-16 we had number of appointment with various management companies and all has shown their interest in recruiting officer,cadets and ratings in future with their physical audit to the institutes.
I apologize for such a long message but to give all a clear understanding of the visit outcome.It is understood however that it has to be a continuous effort from our end to convince the big players in the industry and it cannot be done overnight but to keep knocking.We earnestly request our fellow mariners ashore to please use your good connection with companies in parallel to our effort.
My suggestion to our young generation specially our BMA Cadets, those Ocean Tankers joiners, pls render your best possible professional service to the company and acquire your position and your good name will automatically create job for the future generation to come.Now a days in the shipping recession owners has very wide options to play in this competitive market always remember this.Pls don’t just think about your personal attitude but your any bad performance will hamper others too.

We returned safely on 17th and a comprehensive report with suggestion/recommendation will be placed forward to the proper authority in due course.
May Allah Make our Endeavors a success.

With Kind Regards
Capt.Kazi A.B.M Shameem
Chief of Nautical Studies &
Deputy Commandant (acting)
Bangladesh Marine Academy
+8801711374620
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