FOUR IMPORTANT DATES: F R Chowdhury(1N)

World Maritime Day: IMO celebrates the World Maritime Day in the last week of September every year. The exact date is determined and announced by IMO well in time. Many countries also make it their National Maritime Day and celebrate accordingly. The main part of celebration is to hold seminars and discussion meetings to review the maritime sector especially to assess the progress or changes made in last one year i.e. since last such celebration.

Day of Seafarers: 25th June every year is the day of seafarers. It is the day to remember and recognize the contribution of seafarers who remain away from near and dear ones for long period of times to make today’s trade, commerce, communication and friendship among people possible. It is a day to specially remember those who sacrificed their lives for better future for others. The day to ensure that national system is on track to help the needy families of the seafarers. Let the world know about the contribution of the seafarers in world peace and prosperity. It is a time to call up on all states to provide them shore leave and other recreational facilities so that they feel at home in their noble profession.

Academy Day: Here we come to our national focus. I am sure we all agree that we knew very little about a career in merchant marine as an officer until the Marine Academy was established in 1962. Most of the ocean-going ships were owned by Europeans and the ships used to have European officers. The ratings were mostly from Asian and African colonies. That is why we knew up to the level of “Serang”. Only a few with connections at appropriate level in the high ups could think of joining as an apprentice or cadet. Marine Academy changed all that. It opened the gate for common people like us. We owe our present world-wide status largely to the Academy. It was established on 03-Sepember-1962.

BSC Day: Academy alone could not have made so many officers. It required ships on the national flag to provide initial training berth to Academy trained cadets. Establishment of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation was a step in the right direction. We became independent Bangladesh in 1971 and inherited the marine academy but no ships. As a matter of fact the maritime sector (ports and shipping) was under central government and the newly independent Bangladesh government had no knowledge of management of ports and shipping. Thanks God, we had some well-trained mariners who offered their services to the government. Capt. QABM Rahman worked hard to get the presidential order on 5th January 1972 (less than 2 months of liberation) establishing BSC and provided his dynamic leadership as the first chairman and managing director for the corporation to flourish. Marine Academy and BSC are the two institutions that the nation can never forget. It was duly supported by private shipping like Atlas Shipping, Bengal Shipping of Awal Minto, Capt. Jalil, Capt. Imam Anwar and now many more enterprises.
I call up on all Bangladeshi mariners no matter where they are to remember and celebrate these days. Let our future generations know about it. I request BSC to celebrate its coming birthday in a befitting manner both in its offices as well as on its ships. I call upon the Association to take up with the Government and arrange for a bust of the first chairman and managing director to be installed in the main entrance of the BSC Bhaban on this 50th birthday of BSC. It will inspire the marine community of Bangladesh.