31

Happy Wedding
Nana Esi Quansah (Ghana, 2008)

It was a blessing to study at the World
Maritime University. In addition to gaining
knowledge and skills to help develop myorganization, the Ghana Ports and Harbours
Authority, and my country, I also met a man
who would later become my husband, Martin
Söderberg, MLP 2008.
We were married traditionally on the 17thand in a church on the 19th of December, 2009.
Though from different cultures we havebecome one family.

JUNE
2010

My heartfelt thanks go to Mr. Sasakawa and
The Nippon Foundation for making all thispossible, and prayers of appreciation andblessing are always made for you.
These two pictures are from our traditional
wedding, and from the reception following ourwedding in church.

A New Arrival!
Seiji Tomokuni (Japan, 2008)

Welcoming a New Flower
I’m so happy to announce the birth of mybaby girl. My wife went into labor on
February 23, and I got to the hospital as
fast as I could. Finally, two days later, on
February 25, my baby was born.
The first time I saw her, her face was as
big and pink as a peach. I actuallyconsidered naming her “Peach”, butluckily, her face shrunk quickly after that,and the second time I saw her she didn’t
look like a peach at all.

Information on
the Proceedingsof the South AsianRegional Meeting

In the end, my wife and I named her
Riko. The name comes from a kind ofjasmine-like flower, whose fragrance
represents virtue in traditional Buddhism.
Our lives are now peaceful and happy.
I feel wonderful, even with the added
responsibilities.
I’d like to thank OPRF and The
Nippon Foundation again for giving me
the opportunity to write not only about
our happy marriage but also about thishappy birth.

Kentaro Furuya (Japan, 2003)

Our second baby was born this February, and we named
her Lila. We chose the name for two reasons: Some ofyou may recall a small square in Malmö, called Lilatörg. When my wife and I were there, we loved theplace since we could enjoy nice meals in an international
atmosphere. The other reason is that in French it ispronounced the same as the flower, lilac, which my wife
loves so much. Recently, I had a chance to visit Malmöfor business. I went to Lila törg again and found there
were still many people enjoying their meals and beer. I
hope one day to go there with my little daughter.

The proceedings of the WMU Sasakawa Fellow’s Network Meeting in the South Asian Region, which
was carried as a top page article in this issue, have now been published. Please get in touch with thesecretariat (wmujapan@sof.or.jp) of the Ocean Policy Research Foundation if you would like to have a
copy. Please also note that there are a limited number of proceedings printed so it will be on afirst-come-first-served basis. However, you can also download the PDF file from website of the Friendsof WMU, Japan managed by the secretariat: www.wmusof.or.jp/download.html

Editor’s note

Hello, all. Having been an editor of the newsletter for a year, I find I now have to leave thisposition because I was offered a new post in April, 2010. My new assignment is to become partof the teaching staff at the Japan Coast Guard Academy, which started preparing to receive
international students, for those who will become senior officers in their respective coast guard
agencies. For this reason, I was given an opportunity to study in London from this June for two
years. Please let me know if you’ll be visiting for IMO meetings or other commitments, and I’ll
be happy to see you. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to all subscribers of the
WMU newsletter, the staff, and those contributing such interesting articles.

Kentaro Furuya(Japan, 2003)

WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network Meetingin the South Asian RegionCommunication,
coordinationand cooperation were thethemes at the forefront during
the South Asian Sasakawa Fellows’ Network
meeting, held in Colombo from January
19-22, 2010. The meeting brought together
14 Fellows from Bangladesh, India, Japan,
the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, alongwith Mr. Eisuke Kudo, Mr. Eiji Sakai and
Mr. Shinichi Ichikawa from the OPRF.
The meeting was organized to strengthen
Fellows’ network activity across and between
the South Asian nations, and to emphasize
the importance of sharing information andexpertise between Fellows. It reunited WMUgraduates from across the generations – themost senior being Mr. Iqbal Karim of
Bangladesh (TMS 1992) and the most junior
Mr. Shantanu Paul of India (SM 2009).
On the first full day, Wednesday, January
20, the meeting was opened by the hosts, Mr.
Tilak Deepthi Jayasinghe and Mr. Sarath
Kumara Mathurana Gedara. The first speaker
was Mr. Masazumi Nagamitsu, Executive
Director of The Nippon Foundation, whowelcomed all the participants and guests, andstressed the importance of the individual andcollective roles of the Sasakawa Fellows in
the maritime development of the region. He

Susan Jackson (Associate Registrar, WMU)

was followed by Mr. G. A. Talagala, who, on
behalf of the Sri Lankan Fellows, welcomed
all the participants and organizers to themeeting.
The participants were then delighted towelcome three eminent special guests, whogave the keynote lectures for the meeting.
Mr. Upul Jayathissa (PM 1997), the Deputy
Chief Manager of the Sri Lanka Port
Authority delivered a fascinating account of
the Port of Colombo, its current expansion
plans and the Hambantota Port development
project. The Port Authority aims to make Sri
Lanka the logistic hub for the region, and theambitious development scheme is alreadywell on its way to realisation. The second
keynote lecture was delivered by Dr. Satoshi
Inoue, the Secretary-General Emeritus of theInternational Association of Ports andHarbors, who spoke of the challenges facing
ports today: ending the global recession, theeffects of climate change and the new
security
measures
that
are
being
implemented. The third keynote lecture wasgiven by Captain Nalaka Jayakody (MET2001), Dean of the Faculty of Commercial
Sciences at the Colombo International
Nautical & Engineering College. Captain
Jayakody analysed the problems that exist at

the interface of the seafarer and maritime
technology, and offered some possible novel
solutions that could enhance navigation
safety.
The meeting moved on to consider
presentations on the current maritime scenein each country, dealing with issues as varied
as ship-breaking, coastal trade, and seafarer
recruitment. There were also fascinating
over-views of the maritime sector in eachstate, which identified both common areas ofinterest and specific national differences. The
first day finished with a reception to which
many guests from the maritime sector werewelcomed.

continued on P.6

Establishment of the Pakistan Chapter ofthe WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network
Mohammad Ashraf Zafar (Pakistan, 1994)

Status of Japanese Seamen
Prof. Toshio Hikima (Marine Technical College)

Policy Research Foundation” to honor the
hard work and contributions they
continuously make towards maritime safety
and protection of the marine environment,

2

2. Future Demand for Seamen
A look at the forecast for the global demand forseamen by BIMCO in Figure 2 shows that
there will be a surplus of ratings in the future.
However, it is forecast that a shortage of officers
will continue to be an issue. In Japan, although
Japanese ratings no longer exist, a tonnage tax
system was introduced to secure officers in short
supply. It is hoped that the introduction of thistax system will result in an increase in the numberof Japanese ships and the number ofcrewmembers of Japanese nationality, as
witnessed in the case of the United Kingdom andGermany.
In Japan’s domestic coastal shipping, the aging
of seamen and the shortage of their replacements
continue to be issues. Consequently, raisingpublic concern and interest regarding maritime
affairs and actively implementing activities aimed
at promoting people’s awareness of maritime
affairs is essential.

had been 30 years earlier.
To enable Japanese seamen to work alongsideforeign seamen who received lower wages,
manpower-saving modern ships known as“Pioneer ships” manned by only 11 crew
members were put into service in the latter half ofthe 1980s. Nevertheless, even countermeasures
such as these could not reverse the trend ofengaging non-Japanese seamen as crew, and themixed nationalities of crewmembers in the

3. STCW Convention

international composition of seamen in theJapanese merchant marine fleet today has
become mainstream. According to the report by

the skills of seamen, whose profession has
become thoroughly internationalized, are set

Figure 1. Japanese Seamen on
Ocean-going Merchant Vessels by Year
No. of Japanese Seafarers(Ocean-going)

60,0
00 N
o. of
50,0
seaf
00
arers
40,0
00
30,0
00
20,0
00
10,0
00

3

7
8

200

200

200
5
200
6

4
200

200

200
1
200
2

199
5

197
4
198
0
198
5
199
0

Research Foundation” (OPRF), and also
wishedthatsomehowthegreatphilanthropist, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, could
visit Pakistan during 2011, so that they could
meet him in person. We all paid tribute to theman who enabled us to study in one of thebest maritime universities of the world andwhose generous support and guidance has
made the WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Networka unique professional body which also acts
like a family. Everyone also agreed tocontribute articles to the newsletter and madesome recommendations to make the Pakistan
Chapter more effective and meaningful.

Japan’s merchant marine but is indicative of a
global trend in the market and can be said to be
representative of the majority of merchant

1. Japanese Seamen on Ocean-going
Merchant Vessels
As Figure 1 indicates, the number of Japanese
seamen on ocean-going merchant vessels began
to show a declining trend as ships began to recruit
more foreign crews from about the time of thefirst oil crisis in 1974. Following the Plaza Accord
in 1985, emergency employment measures forseamen on ocean-going merchant vessels wereintroduced in response to a sharp spike in theJapanese yen, and the number of Japanese seamenon ocean-going vessels dramatically decreased
almost proportionately to the appreciation of theyen. By 2008, there were only 2,621 Japanese
seamen serving as crew on ocean-going merchant

Table 1. Ratios of Non-Japanese Seamenin the Japanese Merchant Marine Fleet (July 2006 by JSU)
Japan Philippines China

India

1,504

29,171

2,392

1,910

3.71%

72.02% 5.91%

4.72%

Myanmar Korea Vietnam Indonesia Croatia Others

Total

1,596

1,211

849

536

366

969

40,504

3.94%

2.99%

2.10%

1.32%

0.90%

2.39%

100%

3

1
20

the All Japan Seamen’s Union in July 2006 and as
shown in Table 1, Japanese seamen account for
only 3.7% of all crew, while Filipinos account forthree-quarters of the total number ofcrewmembers in the Japanese merchant marine

ers

ar
Ye 5

embarked on the idea to fulfill my promisewith friends from Japan and started calling,
consulting and motivating to meet as soon as
possible.
I had a banner printed with the symbols

Muhammad Ashraf Zafar,
mazpak49@yahoo.com
and Lt. Cdr. Adil Rashid PN ,qaziadilrashid@hotmail.com
were selected as Focal Point and Country
Representative respectively for the Pakistan
Chapter.
Every one showed great enthusiasm anddesire to hold the next regional meeting in
Karachi under the guidance of officials from

c
Offi

10
20

e-mail from Mr. Shinichi Ichikawa about
the WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network
regional meeting in Colombo, Sri-Lanka,
which gave me a ray of hope, and I was
overjoyed to attend it. As I was busily
preparing to go to Mecca for the Haji,

Nippon Foundation and Ocean Policy
Research
Foundation(OPRF)
wasextremely interesting and informative.
Similarly meeting with Sasakawa Fellows
from the South Asian region (India,
Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka) was
also very friendly and pleasant. Most
important from my point of view was therenewed desire to revive our commitment tointerestingly Valentine’s day (February 14,2010), which made the atmosphere very
pleasant, with heart to heart discussions.
Everyone was asked to feel free to talkabout anything but focus on choosing
representatives who are volunteers and

15
20

450
400

10
20

long-time friend, Mr. Eisuke Kudo, and had
been seeking his advice to establish it, myefforts did not bring fruit. All PakistaniWMU Sasakawa Fellows were fully aware of
the activities of theWMU Sasakawa Fellows’
Network through the Friends of WMUJapan Newsletter, yet we could do nothing
concrete to establish our own Chapter. I wasdisappointed and had lost hope, as out of thetotal twelve Pakistani WMU Sasakawa
Fellows, two (Muhammad Asif Ghayur andAhmed Kamal Alvi) had passed away, andfour of us (Qazi Rehmat Ali, Parvaiz Khalid
Lodhi, Saleem Akhtar Qasim, Muhammad
Ashraf Zafar, and Muhammad Ilyas) had
retired from Government service. Normallywhat happens after retirement is that people
are scattered and get more involved in family
matters and thus lose contact with theirthat our link to the Fellows Network wasfading and our role diminishing but theinvitation to Colombo reassured me. I was
excited to meet Mr. Kudo, and new friends
from Japan, especially Mr. Ichikawa, whom I
had always thought was quite old until I met
him to the first time and was somewhat
surprised to see him so young and energetic.

and we all agreed to meet in a restaurant

s

05
20

E

I hurriedly replied to Mr. Ichikawa and did
all I could to participate in the meeting.
As no one from Pakistan had been invited
to the Fellows’ Network meeting in February

icer

550
500

committee for this newsletter, I have on thisoccasion written about the issues surrounding
Japanese seamen and would appreciate hearing
the opinions of members from other countries aswell as the issues in the industry from theperspective of their countries.

ver since the WMU Sasakawa
Fellows’ Network was establishedat the closing session of theInternational Seminar in Tokyo in July,
2001, WMU Sasakawa Fellows in Pakistan
could not fulfill our obligations and utterly
failed to establish the Pakistan Chapter.

f off

05
20

B

o
No.
0
65
600

usiness conditions in ocean-goingshipping are significantly affected by
the global economic climate and havea considerable impact on the enroute
configuration of ships, charter fees, and even thesalaries of crew members. Because of thesefactors, shipping companies in most countries
tend to encounter the same issues.

From left to right:
Capt. M. Ashraf Zafar, Capt. Aslam Shaheen, Capt. Rehmat Ali, Lt. Cdr. (R) M.Ilyas, Lt. Cdr. Adil Rashid, Capt. Salim Qasim, Lt. Cdr. Asghar Ali

ply
Sup d
s
an
ting
Dem
of ra
No.
0
100
800
600
400
200
0

Rat

ing

s

Figure 2.

Forecast for the Global Demandfor Seamen (ISF2005 by BIMCO)

down in the Convention on Standards ofTraining, Certification and Watchkeeping for
Seafarers (STCW) of 1978. Since the adoptionof the convention, however, evaluation systems
such as the white list and qualifications standard
system have been established, and thecomprehensive amendment of 1995, which
included the mutual recognition of certificates
between member countries, has been
implemented. A number of individual articles of
the convention were also amended. However,since it has been over 10 years since the previous
amendment, the Secretary-General of IMO
proposed a second comprehensive amendment atreceived approval, and deliberations aiming for its
adoption in 2010 have been underway since theSTW39 in March 2008.
expected to be adopted by a resolution with a
two-thirds majority vote of the member
countries at a diplomatic conference to be held in
Manila in the Republic of the Philippines from
June 21 to June 25, 2010. Unless notifications ofobjection are then made by a specific number ofmember countries by July 2011, the amendment
will be considered adopted on the same day, andthe amended convention will become effective six
months thereafter on January 1, 2012.
Although various proposals have been madeby Japan, as someone associated with Maritime
Education & Training (MET), I find the new
initiative to make the training of seamen
compulsory in areas such as the new category A
in Bridge and Engine Resource Management ofparticular interest. I firmly believe that providing
training of this nature will have a direct effect on
the safety of operations on maritime vessels.

4. The Future Training of Seamen
A report compiled by the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism on a study
meeting concerning the status of seamen’s
training stated from the outset as its basic
premise that securing and training Japanese
seamen (marine engineers) in a consistentmanner is absolutely essential from the viewpointof ensuring the stability, safety, reliability, and thestable transfer of marine skills from one
generation to the next in Japan’s marine transport.
As a person who belongs to a maritime
training organization, I believe that I must play arole in promoting an awareness of maritime
affairs in terms of specific policies. I also feel I
have an obligation to contribute to the safety ofmaritime operations.

Establishment of the Pakistan Chapter ofthe WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network
Mohammad Ashraf Zafar (Pakistan, 1994)

Status of Japanese Seamen
Prof. Toshio Hikima (Marine Technical College)

Policy Research Foundation” to honor the
hard work and contributions they
continuously make towards maritime safety
and protection of the marine environment,

2

2. Future Demand for Seamen
A look at the forecast for the global demand forseamen by BIMCO in Figure 2 shows that
there will be a surplus of ratings in the future.
However, it is forecast that a shortage of officers
will continue to be an issue. In Japan, although
Japanese ratings no longer exist, a tonnage tax
system was introduced to secure officers in short
supply. It is hoped that the introduction of thistax system will result in an increase in the numberof Japanese ships and the number ofcrewmembers of Japanese nationality, as
witnessed in the case of the United Kingdom andGermany.
In Japan’s domestic coastal shipping, the aging
of seamen and the shortage of their replacements
continue to be issues. Consequently, raisingpublic concern and interest regarding maritime
affairs and actively implementing activities aimed
at promoting people’s awareness of maritime
affairs is essential.

had been 30 years earlier.
To enable Japanese seamen to work alongsideforeign seamen who received lower wages,
manpower-saving modern ships known as“Pioneer ships” manned by only 11 crew
members were put into service in the latter half ofthe 1980s. Nevertheless, even countermeasures
such as these could not reverse the trend ofengaging non-Japanese seamen as crew, and themixed nationalities of crewmembers in the

3. STCW Convention

international composition of seamen in theJapanese merchant marine fleet today has
become mainstream. According to the report by

the skills of seamen, whose profession has
become thoroughly internationalized, are set

Figure 1. Japanese Seamen on
Ocean-going Merchant Vessels by Year
No. of Japanese Seafarers(Ocean-going)

60,0
00 N
o. of
50,0
seaf
00
arers
40,0
00
30,0
00
20,0
00
10,0
00

3

7
8

200

200

200
5
200
6

4
200

200

200
1
200
2

199
5

197
4
198
0
198
5
199
0

Research Foundation” (OPRF), and also
wishedthatsomehowthegreatphilanthropist, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, could
visit Pakistan during 2011, so that they could
meet him in person. We all paid tribute to theman who enabled us to study in one of thebest maritime universities of the world andwhose generous support and guidance has
made the WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Networka unique professional body which also acts
like a family. Everyone also agreed tocontribute articles to the newsletter and madesome recommendations to make the Pakistan
Chapter more effective and meaningful.

Japan’s merchant marine but is indicative of a
global trend in the market and can be said to be
representative of the majority of merchant

1. Japanese Seamen on Ocean-going
Merchant Vessels
As Figure 1 indicates, the number of Japanese
seamen on ocean-going merchant vessels began
to show a declining trend as ships began to recruit
more foreign crews from about the time of thefirst oil crisis in 1974. Following the Plaza Accord
in 1985, emergency employment measures forseamen on ocean-going merchant vessels wereintroduced in response to a sharp spike in theJapanese yen, and the number of Japanese seamenon ocean-going vessels dramatically decreased
almost proportionately to the appreciation of theyen. By 2008, there were only 2,621 Japanese
seamen serving as crew on ocean-going merchant

Table 1. Ratios of Non-Japanese Seamenin the Japanese Merchant Marine Fleet (July 2006 by JSU)
Japan Philippines China

India

1,504

29,171

2,392

1,910

3.71%

72.02% 5.91%

4.72%

Myanmar Korea Vietnam Indonesia Croatia Others

Total

1,596

1,211

849

536

366

969

40,504

3.94%

2.99%

2.10%

1.32%

0.90%

2.39%

100%

3

1
20

the All Japan Seamen’s Union in July 2006 and as
shown in Table 1, Japanese seamen account for
only 3.7% of all crew, while Filipinos account forthree-quarters of the total number ofcrewmembers in the Japanese merchant marine

ers

ar
Ye 5

embarked on the idea to fulfill my promisewith friends from Japan and started calling,
consulting and motivating to meet as soon as
possible.
I had a banner printed with the symbols

Muhammad Ashraf Zafar,
mazpak49@yahoo.com
and Lt. Cdr. Adil Rashid PN ,qaziadilrashid@hotmail.com
were selected as Focal Point and Country
Representative respectively for the Pakistan
Chapter.
Every one showed great enthusiasm anddesire to hold the next regional meeting in
Karachi under the guidance of officials from

c
Offi

10
20

e-mail from Mr. Shinichi Ichikawa about
the WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network
regional meeting in Colombo, Sri-Lanka,
which gave me a ray of hope, and I was
overjoyed to attend it. As I was busily
preparing to go to Mecca for the Haji,

Nippon Foundation and Ocean Policy
Research
Foundation(OPRF)
wasextremely interesting and informative.
Similarly meeting with Sasakawa Fellows
from the South Asian region (India,
Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka) was
also very friendly and pleasant. Most
important from my point of view was therenewed desire to revive our commitment tointerestingly Valentine’s day (February 14,2010), which made the atmosphere very
pleasant, with heart to heart discussions.
Everyone was asked to feel free to talkabout anything but focus on choosing
representatives who are volunteers and

15
20

450
400

10
20

long-time friend, Mr. Eisuke Kudo, and had
been seeking his advice to establish it, myefforts did not bring fruit. All PakistaniWMU Sasakawa Fellows were fully aware of
the activities of theWMU Sasakawa Fellows’
Network through the Friends of WMUJapan Newsletter, yet we could do nothing
concrete to establish our own Chapter. I wasdisappointed and had lost hope, as out of thetotal twelve Pakistani WMU Sasakawa
Fellows, two (Muhammad Asif Ghayur andAhmed Kamal Alvi) had passed away, andfour of us (Qazi Rehmat Ali, Parvaiz Khalid
Lodhi, Saleem Akhtar Qasim, Muhammad
Ashraf Zafar, and Muhammad Ilyas) had
retired from Government service. Normallywhat happens after retirement is that people
are scattered and get more involved in family
matters and thus lose contact with theirthat our link to the Fellows Network wasfading and our role diminishing but theinvitation to Colombo reassured me. I was
excited to meet Mr. Kudo, and new friends
from Japan, especially Mr. Ichikawa, whom I
had always thought was quite old until I met
him to the first time and was somewhat
surprised to see him so young and energetic.

and we all agreed to meet in a restaurant

s

05
20

E

I hurriedly replied to Mr. Ichikawa and did
all I could to participate in the meeting.
As no one from Pakistan had been invited
to the Fellows’ Network meeting in February

icer

550
500

committee for this newsletter, I have on thisoccasion written about the issues surrounding
Japanese seamen and would appreciate hearing
the opinions of members from other countries aswell as the issues in the industry from theperspective of their countries.

ver since the WMU Sasakawa
Fellows’ Network was establishedat the closing session of theInternational Seminar in Tokyo in July,
2001, WMU Sasakawa Fellows in Pakistan
could not fulfill our obligations and utterly
failed to establish the Pakistan Chapter.

f off

05
20

B

o
No.
0
65
600

usiness conditions in ocean-goingshipping are significantly affected by
the global economic climate and havea considerable impact on the enroute
configuration of ships, charter fees, and even thesalaries of crew members. Because of thesefactors, shipping companies in most countries
tend to encounter the same issues.

From left to right:
Capt. M. Ashraf Zafar, Capt. Aslam Shaheen, Capt. Rehmat Ali, Lt. Cdr. (R) M.Ilyas, Lt. Cdr. Adil Rashid, Capt. Salim Qasim, Lt. Cdr. Asghar Ali

ply
Sup d
s
an
ting
Dem
of ra
No.
0
100
800
600
400
200
0

Rat

ing

s

Figure 2.

Forecast for the Global Demandfor Seamen (ISF2005 by BIMCO)

down in the Convention on Standards ofTraining, Certification and Watchkeeping for
Seafarers (STCW) of 1978. Since the adoptionof the convention, however, evaluation systems
such as the white list and qualifications standard
system have been established, and thecomprehensive amendment of 1995, which
included the mutual recognition of certificates
between member countries, has been
implemented. A number of individual articles of
the convention were also amended. However,since it has been over 10 years since the previous
amendment, the Secretary-General of IMO
proposed a second comprehensive amendment atreceived approval, and deliberations aiming for its
adoption in 2010 have been underway since theSTW39 in March 2008.
expected to be adopted by a resolution with a
two-thirds majority vote of the member
countries at a diplomatic conference to be held in
Manila in the Republic of the Philippines from
June 21 to June 25, 2010. Unless notifications ofobjection are then made by a specific number ofmember countries by July 2011, the amendment
will be considered adopted on the same day, andthe amended convention will become effective six
months thereafter on January 1, 2012.
Although various proposals have been madeby Japan, as someone associated with Maritime
Education & Training (MET), I find the new
initiative to make the training of seamen
compulsory in areas such as the new category A
in Bridge and Engine Resource Management ofparticular interest. I firmly believe that providing
training of this nature will have a direct effect on
the safety of operations on maritime vessels.

4. The Future Training of Seamen
A report compiled by the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism on a study
meeting concerning the status of seamen’s
training stated from the outset as its basic
premise that securing and training Japanese
seamen (marine engineers) in a consistentmanner is absolutely essential from the viewpointof ensuring the stability, safety, reliability, and thestable transfer of marine skills from one
generation to the next in Japan’s marine transport.
As a person who belongs to a maritime
training organization, I believe that I must play arole in promoting an awareness of maritime
affairs in terms of specific policies. I also feel I
have an obligation to contribute to the safety ofmaritime operations.

Electronic Shipping Solutions for Paperless Cargo Transport

Recent Maritime and Ocean Issues

Nadezda Kovtunova (Lithuania, 2002)

Protection against Onboard Noise
Masanori Yoshida

Manager for Maritime Safety Technology Unit
Japan Ship Technology Research Association (JSTRA)

Introduction
We get irritated by loud sounds during our daily
life, such as construction work and car horns.
Onboard vessels is no exception. Seafarers areoften afflicted by noise. To ensure a safe
environment during the hard and delicate work ofseafarers, it is indispensable for us to deal withonboard noise.
In this column, I will briefly explain the current
situation regarding onboard noise reduction at theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO), as
well as some discussion points.

VS.

R

esearch by Forrester estimates thatimporting a single maritime cargorequires an average of 36 original
paper documents and 240 copies from 27
parties. The World Bank has estimated thatthe management of paper documents wastes
7% of the total value of world trade. Even ina recession, this equates to approximately
US$660bn annually.
These costs arise due to the large numberof different documents created by different
parties in the trade chain. Compounding
the problem, each party often runs an
independent IT system, preventing evenlimited data-sharing across systems. Thismeans that 90% of the information thatoverlaps between documents needs to beretyped – resulting in delays, duplication
and a high likelihood of errors and variances.
In 2003, Alexander Goulandris foundedElectronic Shipping Solutions (ESS) with
the intention to solve the significant
inefficiencies caused by the use of paper
documentsinshipping.
The
ESS-Databridge™ Exchange enables
international trade partners to use
electronic documents including Negotiable
Bills of Lading, Certificates of Origin,
Safety Data Sheets and other shipping
documents for operations, legal complianceand customs purposes.
“There has been a demand for electronic
documents (eDocs) within the shipping
industry for some time, evidenced by the
number of attempts made in the last decadeto create them. However all of theseattempts stalled,” Mr. Goulandris said.
He explains that previous failures were
the result of several factors: legal
equivalence, security concerns and complex
IT solutions. To address these issues, ESS
ensured that the ESS-Databridge™ was
built within a highly secure, web-based

environment with enterprise class software
andarobust,industry-accepted
multipartite User Agreement. Today, the
ESS legal framework, the ESS-Databridge™ Services and Users Agreement (DSUA)
have been approved by the International
Group of P&I Clubs on behalf ofshipowners, Leadership in Energy
Automated Processes (LEAP) on behalf ofoil companies, commodity traders andbanks, and ITIC on behalf of ship agents.
The primary service rolled out by ESS,
CargoDocs™, involves negotiable bills of
lading and other shipping documents
being created, signed, endorsed andmanagedelectronicallyvia
the
ESS-Databridge™.
CargoDocs™ did not have an easy start.
“We are trying to provoke change within theworld’s two most conservative industries:
shipping and banking. However, technology
has come a long way, and with the rise ofinternet banking, many previous security
concerns have now been addressed, to theextent that people now see electronic
documents as being more secure that paper
ones.” Mr. Goulandris said.
More importantly, all ESS electronic
documents are based on UN standards.
The document set is based on the UN
Layout Key for standardised cross-border
paper documents. This is a 40+ year-old
standard which is the basis for probably
70% of the paper layouts for internationalcargo transport conventions (IMO –maritime, IRU – road, UIC – rail, IATA –air), and the majority of national andregional Customs and other governmental
regulatory documents, including AAD,
SAAD, EU SAD, ASYCUDA SAD,ASEAN SAD and Certificates of Origin.
Templates produced so far include
negotiable and non-negotiable bills of

4lading, seaway bills, certificates of origin,
quality and quantity, cargo manifests, aswell as documents for the master, including
receipt of samples, receipt of documents,
notice of completeness, letters of protest
and sailing advice.
Shipowners, operators, agents, traders,banks and terminals can all benefit fromusing secure eDocs. Over two-and-a-halfyears of testing with a group ofinternational trade participants, followed
up by 15 months of simulation exerciseswith a wider group of 50 participants, hasevidenced that CargoDocs™ significantly
improves traditional paper shipping
document processes. There is improved
vessel and quay; turnover due to fasterdocumentation processing; improved
operational efficiency; higher security due
to the minimized ability to counterfeit
eBills of Lading; and over time, savings due
to ability to handle all documentation
remotely. Last but not least, eBills of
Lading offer the ability to discharge cargo
against an original eBill of Lading rather
than a letter of indemnity (LOI).
Since CargoDocs™ is web-based
system, there is no software or hardware to
install or manage, which makes the
adoption process extremely easy. To
remove technological barriers for low
speed or non-internet enabled vessels, a
low-bandwidth solution and e-mailsigning solution for Masters have beendeveloped. To ensure that Masters andChief Officers can effectively use thesystem, a combination of DVD training
videos, web-ex training sessions, training ofagents at load ports and group training
during Master shoreside training sessions
is provided. In any case, there is always abackup plan with a shipowner’s head officein case a vessel does not have an internet or

e-mail connection and the Master cannot
access documents electronically.
ESS’s
user
association,
the
ESS-Databridge™ Development Group(DDG), which is tasked with driving the
adoption of electronic documentation
universally in global trade, now boasts
over 100 members. ESS has succeeded in
obtaining the approval of theInternational Group of P&I Clubs andthe legal community for the use ofelectronic documents in shipping. Thiswas consolidated in the 2010/2011 policy
year when 11 of the 13 International
Group Clubs recognised eBills of Lading
as having equivalence to paper. And mostimportantly CargoDocs™ went live inJanuary 2010 and the continued
commitment of the world’s largest energy
companies to see CargoDocs™ continue
to roll out throughout the year is evidenceof our success in this area,” Mr.
Goulandris said.
Since going live, ESS has focused on
rolling out CargoDocs™ at crude andrefined oil as well as gas terminals acrossEurope, the Mediterranean, US Gulf andCaribbean in a program that willcontinue over the next two years. It has
also been approached about opportunities
in West Africa, Russia and the Middle
East. In its strategy, ESS is planning toenter new geographic areas and trade
sectors such as liner shipping, chemical
tankers and dry bulk.
While it may have taken the shipping
industry a long time to join the digital
revolution, it seems that now it has
arrived, it is here to stay.

IMO Regulations
The IMO Assembly adopted IMO resolutions
A.468 (XII) “Code on Noise Levels Onboard
Ships” at the twelfth session in November 1981.
This Code applies to newly built ships of 1,600
Tons Gross (GT) or over, and provides noise
limits for each area, noise exposure limits, how toachieve noise protection, and so on. Somecountries have accepted this voluntarily although
it is a non-mandatory based code. Many
shipowners have also used it in their contracts.
In 2007, 28 European Union member countries
and the European Commission (EC) made a
proposal for establishing a work program to revise
the existing IMO code (A.468 (XII)) and make it
mandatory at MSC87. This proposal wasapproved and the discussion started at the 53rd
session of design and equipment sub-committee(DE53) this February. Detailed discussions will
follow at DE54 this October.
Discussion Points(1) Application to existing ships
There were some discussions on retrofitting theexisting/revised code at DE53. As described above,the existing code is non-mandatory. Therefore, many
vessels have not adopted the code, although someflag states or shipowners apply it voluntarily. It is
technically very difficult to apply the code for such
vessels. At the 53rd session, the sub-committee
agreed to develop the code for new ships, taking into
account many concerns by IMO member states.
(2) Application to small ships
All SOLAS ships should apply the code according to
Accommodation for Crew

Measuring Noise Levels

5

the proposal by EC members at DE53. That means
small ships of 500GT or over are covered in this code
as well as large ships. Generally, noise levels in areas
like living quarters on small ships are greater than onlarge ships because they are often closer to the engines.
Reduction of noise by absorption materials or designmodifications would be technically impossible insome cases and we might need to use some othermethods such as ear protection to come under thenoise limit. Therefore, we should make carefulconsiderations on applications to small ships. It
should also be considered whether these requirements
can be applied to all vessels around the world,
including developing countries.
(3) Reduction of noise limit requirement
The proposal of EU members at DE53 also includes
reduction of the noise limit requirement for eachspace by 5dB from the existing non-mandatory code.
It should be noted that a dB represents a logarithmic
expression of sound pressure. That means soundshould be decreased by around half to achieve a 5dB
reduction. In the discussions at DE53, many
concerns were expressed whether such kind of
aggressive reductions could be technically achieved.
(4) Noise prediction measures
Shipyards should build ships based on noise
prediction at the time of ship design. If the accuracyof the prediction is too low, the actual noise might
exceed the noise limit. But even in this case, it isextremely difficult to rebuild ships. Therefore, weshould establish tangible, reliable and appropriate
prediction methods that every yard around the world
can easily use if the code is made mandatory.
Conclusion
Japan is now studying how to contribute to thediscussion on regulation of onboard noise limits. We
are also developing technology for noise reduction on
ships, especially small ships. Research projects onnoise absorption materials which reduce noise byaround 5dB are one example.
There are a lot of concerns and issues to overcomeon this topic. Measurements should not be abstract
but specific and practical for all countries. Everyone
agrees that we should enhance the health of seafarers
and safety of navigation as soon as possible.
IMO named this year the “Year of the Seafarer.” I
hope that everyone joins in the discussions at IMO
to cooperate on this during such an important year.

Sound-proof Panels

Checking Noise Sources

Electronic Shipping Solutions for Paperless Cargo Transport

Recent Maritime and Ocean Issues

Nadezda Kovtunova (Lithuania, 2002)

Protection against Onboard Noise
Masanori Yoshida

Manager for Maritime Safety Technology Unit
Japan Ship Technology Research Association (JSTRA)

Introduction
We get irritated by loud sounds during our daily
life, such as construction work and car horns.
Onboard vessels is no exception. Seafarers areoften afflicted by noise. To ensure a safe
environment during the hard and delicate work ofseafarers, it is indispensable for us to deal withonboard noise.
In this column, I will briefly explain the current
situation regarding onboard noise reduction at theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO), as
well as some discussion points.

VS.

R

esearch by Forrester estimates thatimporting a single maritime cargorequires an average of 36 original
paper documents and 240 copies from 27
parties. The World Bank has estimated thatthe management of paper documents wastes
7% of the total value of world trade. Even ina recession, this equates to approximately
US$660bn annually.
These costs arise due to the large numberof different documents created by different
parties in the trade chain. Compounding
the problem, each party often runs an
independent IT system, preventing evenlimited data-sharing across systems. Thismeans that 90% of the information thatoverlaps between documents needs to beretyped – resulting in delays, duplication
and a high likelihood of errors and variances.
In 2003, Alexander Goulandris foundedElectronic Shipping Solutions (ESS) with
the intention to solve the significant
inefficiencies caused by the use of paper
documentsinshipping.
The
ESS-Databridge™ Exchange enables
international trade partners to use
electronic documents including Negotiable
Bills of Lading, Certificates of Origin,
Safety Data Sheets and other shipping
documents for operations, legal complianceand customs purposes.
“There has been a demand for electronic
documents (eDocs) within the shipping
industry for some time, evidenced by the
number of attempts made in the last decadeto create them. However all of theseattempts stalled,” Mr. Goulandris said.
He explains that previous failures were
the result of several factors: legal
equivalence, security concerns and complex
IT solutions. To address these issues, ESS
ensured that the ESS-Databridge™ was
built within a highly secure, web-based

environment with enterprise class software
andarobust,industry-accepted
multipartite User Agreement. Today, the
ESS legal framework, the ESS-Databridge™ Services and Users Agreement (DSUA)
have been approved by the International
Group of P&I Clubs on behalf ofshipowners, Leadership in Energy
Automated Processes (LEAP) on behalf ofoil companies, commodity traders andbanks, and ITIC on behalf of ship agents.
The primary service rolled out by ESS,
CargoDocs™, involves negotiable bills of
lading and other shipping documents
being created, signed, endorsed andmanagedelectronicallyvia
the
ESS-Databridge™.
CargoDocs™ did not have an easy start.
“We are trying to provoke change within theworld’s two most conservative industries:
shipping and banking. However, technology
has come a long way, and with the rise ofinternet banking, many previous security
concerns have now been addressed, to theextent that people now see electronic
documents as being more secure that paper
ones.” Mr. Goulandris said.
More importantly, all ESS electronic
documents are based on UN standards.
The document set is based on the UN
Layout Key for standardised cross-border
paper documents. This is a 40+ year-old
standard which is the basis for probably
70% of the paper layouts for internationalcargo transport conventions (IMO –maritime, IRU – road, UIC – rail, IATA –air), and the majority of national andregional Customs and other governmental
regulatory documents, including AAD,
SAAD, EU SAD, ASYCUDA SAD,ASEAN SAD and Certificates of Origin.
Templates produced so far include
negotiable and non-negotiable bills of

4lading, seaway bills, certificates of origin,
quality and quantity, cargo manifests, aswell as documents for the master, including
receipt of samples, receipt of documents,
notice of completeness, letters of protest
and sailing advice.
Shipowners, operators, agents, traders,banks and terminals can all benefit fromusing secure eDocs. Over two-and-a-halfyears of testing with a group ofinternational trade participants, followed
up by 15 months of simulation exerciseswith a wider group of 50 participants, hasevidenced that CargoDocs™ significantly
improves traditional paper shipping
document processes. There is improved
vessel and quay; turnover due to fasterdocumentation processing; improved
operational efficiency; higher security due
to the minimized ability to counterfeit
eBills of Lading; and over time, savings due
to ability to handle all documentation
remotely. Last but not least, eBills of
Lading offer the ability to discharge cargo
against an original eBill of Lading rather
than a letter of indemnity (LOI).
Since CargoDocs™ is web-based
system, there is no software or hardware to
install or manage, which makes the
adoption process extremely easy. To
remove technological barriers for low
speed or non-internet enabled vessels, a
low-bandwidth solution and e-mailsigning solution for Masters have beendeveloped. To ensure that Masters andChief Officers can effectively use thesystem, a combination of DVD training
videos, web-ex training sessions, training ofagents at load ports and group training
during Master shoreside training sessions
is provided. In any case, there is always abackup plan with a shipowner’s head officein case a vessel does not have an internet or

e-mail connection and the Master cannot
access documents electronically.
ESS’s
user
association,
the
ESS-Databridge™ Development Group(DDG), which is tasked with driving the
adoption of electronic documentation
universally in global trade, now boasts
over 100 members. ESS has succeeded in
obtaining the approval of theInternational Group of P&I Clubs andthe legal community for the use ofelectronic documents in shipping. Thiswas consolidated in the 2010/2011 policy
year when 11 of the 13 International
Group Clubs recognised eBills of Lading
as having equivalence to paper. And mostimportantly CargoDocs™ went live inJanuary 2010 and the continued
commitment of the world’s largest energy
companies to see CargoDocs™ continue
to roll out throughout the year is evidenceof our success in this area,” Mr.
Goulandris said.
Since going live, ESS has focused on
rolling out CargoDocs™ at crude andrefined oil as well as gas terminals acrossEurope, the Mediterranean, US Gulf andCaribbean in a program that willcontinue over the next two years. It has
also been approached about opportunities
in West Africa, Russia and the Middle
East. In its strategy, ESS is planning toenter new geographic areas and trade
sectors such as liner shipping, chemical
tankers and dry bulk.
While it may have taken the shipping
industry a long time to join the digital
revolution, it seems that now it has
arrived, it is here to stay.

IMO Regulations
The IMO Assembly adopted IMO resolutions
A.468 (XII) “Code on Noise Levels Onboard
Ships” at the twelfth session in November 1981.
This Code applies to newly built ships of 1,600
Tons Gross (GT) or over, and provides noise
limits for each area, noise exposure limits, how toachieve noise protection, and so on. Somecountries have accepted this voluntarily although
it is a non-mandatory based code. Many
shipowners have also used it in their contracts.
In 2007, 28 European Union member countries
and the European Commission (EC) made a
proposal for establishing a work program to revise
the existing IMO code (A.468 (XII)) and make it
mandatory at MSC87. This proposal wasapproved and the discussion started at the 53rd
session of design and equipment sub-committee(DE53) this February. Detailed discussions will
follow at DE54 this October.
Discussion Points(1) Application to existing ships
There were some discussions on retrofitting theexisting/revised code at DE53. As described above,the existing code is non-mandatory. Therefore, many
vessels have not adopted the code, although someflag states or shipowners apply it voluntarily. It is
technically very difficult to apply the code for such
vessels. At the 53rd session, the sub-committee
agreed to develop the code for new ships, taking into
account many concerns by IMO member states.
(2) Application to small ships
All SOLAS ships should apply the code according to
Accommodation for Crew

Measuring Noise Levels

5

the proposal by EC members at DE53. That means
small ships of 500GT or over are covered in this code
as well as large ships. Generally, noise levels in areas
like living quarters on small ships are greater than onlarge ships because they are often closer to the engines.
Reduction of noise by absorption materials or designmodifications would be technically impossible insome cases and we might need to use some othermethods such as ear protection to come under thenoise limit. Therefore, we should make carefulconsiderations on applications to small ships. It
should also be considered whether these requirements
can be applied to all vessels around the world,
including developing countries.
(3) Reduction of noise limit requirement
The proposal of EU members at DE53 also includes
reduction of the noise limit requirement for eachspace by 5dB from the existing non-mandatory code.
It should be noted that a dB represents a logarithmic
expression of sound pressure. That means soundshould be decreased by around half to achieve a 5dB
reduction. In the discussions at DE53, many
concerns were expressed whether such kind of
aggressive reductions could be technically achieved.
(4) Noise prediction measures
Shipyards should build ships based on noise
prediction at the time of ship design. If the accuracyof the prediction is too low, the actual noise might
exceed the noise limit. But even in this case, it isextremely difficult to rebuild ships. Therefore, weshould establish tangible, reliable and appropriate
prediction methods that every yard around the world
can easily use if the code is made mandatory.
Conclusion
Japan is now studying how to contribute to thediscussion on regulation of onboard noise limits. We
are also developing technology for noise reduction on
ships, especially small ships. Research projects onnoise absorption materials which reduce noise byaround 5dB are one example.
There are a lot of concerns and issues to overcomeon this topic. Measurements should not be abstract
but specific and practical for all countries. Everyone
agrees that we should enhance the health of seafarers
and safety of navigation as soon as possible.
IMO named this year the “Year of the Seafarer.” I
hope that everyone joins in the discussions at IMO
to cooperate on this during such an important year.

Sound-proof Panels

Checking Noise SourcesWider Caribbean Region, Marine Environment
and Seafarer International Year, 2010

Javier Plata(Colombia, 2009)

Responsible for Conducting Proficiency Certificate Exams
for Sea Personnel
Arab Republic of Egypt

Ehab Ibrahim Othman(Egypt, 2004)
The IMO CompoundI

T

he Convention for the Protection andDevelopment
oftheMarineEnvironment of the Wider Caribbean
Region – WCR (Cartagena, 1983), includes: theGulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea proper andadjacent Atlantic Ocean areas. In this concern,
the International Convention for the Preventionof Pollution from Ships (MARPOL, 73/78),
Annex V, has designated the WCR as a specialarea, protecting it from garbage disposal.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to protect
it from the recent offshore oil rig disaster in the
Gulf of Mexico, which left eleven missing
workers and four critically injured, and has daily
leaked thousands of barrels of oil for weeks.
Although demand for hydrocarbons isincreasing, the WCR is not defined as a special
area under Annex I (MARPOL, 73/78), which
would really help to defend it from pollution by
oil from ships and fixed/floating platforms,
meaning that perhaps, this accident could havecontinued from P.1

been prevented.
Linking the seagoing human element withthe marine environment and resources in the
WCR, it is amazing that only two WCR
States, the Bahamas and Panama, have ratified
the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC,
2006). Similarly, none of them have ratified
the Fishing Sector Work Convention (FSWC,
2007). Additionally, many questions have been
newly raised concerning offshore oil rigs’ basic
working rights and marine green measures.
The Seafarer International Year (SIY, 2010),
and the previous “Go to Sea” Campaign(GTSC, 2008), launched by the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) in association
with the International Labour Organization(ILO), have provided a great opportunity toappreciate every job at sea as unique andessential for the development of the shipping
industry.
From an integral perspective, the three (SIY,

GTSC and the Shipping Industry) should
consider not only educated seafarers for the
trade of commodities like petroleum and grain,
but also green inspectors onboard oil/chemical
tankers, and on offshore oil rigs, overseeing theimplementation of marine environmental
measures to minimize ecological and mostly
irreversible damage at sea. Additionally,emphasis should be given to qualified fishing,scientific and observer vessel personnel,
working together towards a better sustainabilityof marine resources.
Undoubtedly, the shipping industry’s
interconnected world needs to establish moreinterrelated regional programs involving ahigher participation of WCR States withseveral global organizations, such as
IMO/ILO/FAO/UNEP/UNESCO/IOC
among others, to face the challenge ofprosperity without leaving indelible traces ofdevastation in oceanic waters.

was very happy when I was invited by mydear friend Ms. Masako Otsuka toparticipate in the newsletter of Friends of
WMU, Japan. It reminded me of my days of
studying at WMU in Malmö; I miss all mypatch mates, WMU staff and Malmö city.
In January 2009, I was promoted andtransferred to the Egyptian Maritime
Examination Centre (MEC) as chief marine
examiner.
The
Egyptian
Maritime
Examination Center is located in the ArabAcademy for Science, Technology andMaritime Transport (AAST&MT) and
responsible for conducting proficiency
certificate exams for sea personnel.

MEC was established in 1979 to represent
the Ministry of maritime transport in Egypt,to act on its behalf in the implementation of
the STCW 1978 (as amended) assessments,
with MEC emphasizing following concepts:
1. Setting required controls to maintain andachieve the standards determined by the
IMO for various marine certificates.
2. Conducting examinations in compliancewith the laws and regulations stipulated by
the government of the Arab Republic of
Egypt, which issues marine competency
and proficiency certificates.
For more than 30 years, the Examination
Center has witnessed steady progress anddevelopment, by building up a comprehensive
question-and-answer databank, prepared andfiltered by a distinguished host of maritime
transport specialists from the academy andfrom the maritime transport sector.
In 2002, Global Maritime Distress andSafety System, General Operators Certificate(GMDSS-GOC) license examinations were
established in MEC using real equipment toapply the requirements of the GMDSS for
deck officers and masters in conjunction withand under the supervision of the National
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority(NTRA), in order to meet the international
dispositions, regulations and conventions of
the International Telecommunication Union(ITU), IMO and STCW convention.
Indubitably, after my studies in WMU, I
feel that I am well prepared and motivated toapply my knowledge in serving the maritime
community in the field of MET. I consider
myself fortunate to have pursued
postgraduate studies at WMU. Thanks to
Mr. Yohei Sasakawa and The Nippon
Foundation for giving me the fellowship for
my studies at WMU.

From left to right:
Ms. Catherine Haizel
Mr. Yohei Sasakawa
Ms. Felicity Ankoma-Sey
and Ms.Nana Esi Quansah

WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network Meeting in the South Asian Region

The second day of the meeting concentrated
on the four national Fellows’ networks
represented. Fellows gave presentations on
recent activities in each country, the situationand provision of facilities in each country forelectronic communications, and using andexpanding the Friends of WMU, Japannewsletter. Finally, there was an interesting
session where ideas for expanding the Fellows’
network activities were debated. Groups ofFellows were assigned to collate reports oneach of these themes, and on the final day,each group presented its report. “These
reports lay a firm foundation for the future
development of the national networks and theregional network,” said Mr. Eisuke Kudo. “I
am very pleased that we have held such a
productive meeting, which has also clearly
helped to give new impetus to the Fellows’
network.”
The final session of the meeting considereda resolution concerning the future networking
activities in the South Asia region, andunanimously adopted an action plan for its
future development. The Fellows identified
both the website and the newsletter of the
Friends of WMU, Japan, as crucial to thedevelopment and coherence of the nationaland regional networks, and felt that each
Fellow was responsible for ensuring that thecontact list was kept up-to-date, not only for6

their own details but for those of theircolleagues. Professional co-operation was also
seen as fruitful ground for enhancing theactivities of the networks.
After the formal sessions of the meeting
had concluded, the participants enjoyed a very
interesting visit to the Port of Colombo,
organized by the Sri Lankan Fellows. The
Fellows later celebrated the success of themeeting and the strengthening of the
networks at a farewell reception on theevening of January 22.

Mr. Yohei Sasakawa
Visits Ghana
Republic of Ghana

Felicity Ankoma-Sey(Ghana, 2001)

It has been twenty-four years since Mr.
Yohei Sasakawa’s last visit to Ghana. Mr.
Sasakawa, as we know amongst manyother things, is the World HealthOrganization (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador
dealing with all issues relating to leprosy. He
was in Ghana to continue the programs he
has initiated to end discrimination and otherhuman rights violations faced by people
affected by leprosy around the world. He wasalso part of a delegation of Crown Prince
Naruhito of Japan, who was on a four-day
visit to the country. This was between March
6 and 9, 2010.

7

It was such a delight for us WMU Sasakawa
Fellows in Ghana to meet him in Accra
during his visit. What was most moving was
his ability to find time to be with us, in spiteof his very tight schedule. He continuously
showed his fatherly concern and care for us as
he inquired about our progress after WMU.
It was a beautiful occasion for us Fellows torecollect the wonderful experiences we had in
Malmö. We were, are and will always bethankful to God for a kind-hearted man suchas him. Long live Papa Sasakawa, long live
WMU, long live OPRF and long live WMU
Sasakawa Fellows.

Wider Caribbean Region, Marine Environment
and Seafarer International Year, 2010

Javier Plata(Colombia, 2009)

Responsible for Conducting Proficiency Certificate Exams
for Sea Personnel
Arab Republic of Egypt

Ehab Ibrahim Othman(Egypt, 2004)
The IMO CompoundI

T

he Convention for the Protection andDevelopment
oftheMarineEnvironment of the Wider Caribbean
Region – WCR (Cartagena, 1983), includes: theGulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea proper andadjacent Atlantic Ocean areas. In this concern,
the International Convention for the Preventionof Pollution from Ships (MARPOL, 73/78),
Annex V, has designated the WCR as a specialarea, protecting it from garbage disposal.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to protect
it from the recent offshore oil rig disaster in the
Gulf of Mexico, which left eleven missing
workers and four critically injured, and has daily
leaked thousands of barrels of oil for weeks.
Although demand for hydrocarbons isincreasing, the WCR is not defined as a special
area under Annex I (MARPOL, 73/78), which
would really help to defend it from pollution by
oil from ships and fixed/floating platforms,
meaning that perhaps, this accident could havecontinued from P.1

been prevented.
Linking the seagoing human element withthe marine environment and resources in the
WCR, it is amazing that only two WCR
States, the Bahamas and Panama, have ratified
the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC,
2006). Similarly, none of them have ratified
the Fishing Sector Work Convention (FSWC,
2007). Additionally, many questions have been
newly raised concerning offshore oil rigs’ basic
working rights and marine green measures.
The Seafarer International Year (SIY, 2010),
and the previous “Go to Sea” Campaign(GTSC, 2008), launched by the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) in association
with the International Labour Organization(ILO), have provided a great opportunity toappreciate every job at sea as unique andessential for the development of the shipping
industry.
From an integral perspective, the three (SIY,

GTSC and the Shipping Industry) should
consider not only educated seafarers for the
trade of commodities like petroleum and grain,
but also green inspectors onboard oil/chemical
tankers, and on offshore oil rigs, overseeing theimplementation of marine environmental
measures to minimize ecological and mostly
irreversible damage at sea. Additionally,emphasis should be given to qualified fishing,scientific and observer vessel personnel,
working together towards a better sustainabilityof marine resources.
Undoubtedly, the shipping industry’s
interconnected world needs to establish moreinterrelated regional programs involving ahigher participation of WCR States withseveral global organizations, such as
IMO/ILO/FAO/UNEP/UNESCO/IOC
among others, to face the challenge ofprosperity without leaving indelible traces ofdevastation in oceanic waters.

was very happy when I was invited by mydear friend Ms. Masako Otsuka toparticipate in the newsletter of Friends of
WMU, Japan. It reminded me of my days of
studying at WMU in Malmö; I miss all mypatch mates, WMU staff and Malmö city.
In January 2009, I was promoted andtransferred to the Egyptian Maritime
Examination Centre (MEC) as chief marine
examiner.
The
Egyptian
Maritime
Examination Center is located in the ArabAcademy for Science, Technology andMaritime Transport (AAST&MT) and
responsible for conducting proficiency
certificate exams for sea personnel.

MEC was established in 1979 to represent
the Ministry of maritime transport in Egypt,to act on its behalf in the implementation of
the STCW 1978 (as amended) assessments,
with MEC emphasizing following concepts:
1. Setting required controls to maintain andachieve the standards determined by the
IMO for various marine certificates.
2. Conducting examinations in compliancewith the laws and regulations stipulated by
the government of the Arab Republic of
Egypt, which issues marine competency
and proficiency certificates.
For more than 30 years, the Examination
Center has witnessed steady progress anddevelopment, by building up a comprehensive
question-and-answer databank, prepared andfiltered by a distinguished host of maritime
transport specialists from the academy andfrom the maritime transport sector.
In 2002, Global Maritime Distress andSafety System, General Operators Certificate(GMDSS-GOC) license examinations were
established in MEC using real equipment toapply the requirements of the GMDSS for
deck officers and masters in conjunction withand under the supervision of the National
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority(NTRA), in order to meet the international
dispositions, regulations and conventions of
the International Telecommunication Union(ITU), IMO and STCW convention.
Indubitably, after my studies in WMU, I
feel that I am well prepared and motivated toapply my knowledge in serving the maritime
community in the field of MET. I consider
myself fortunate to have pursued
postgraduate studies at WMU. Thanks to
Mr. Yohei Sasakawa and The Nippon
Foundation for giving me the fellowship for
my studies at WMU.

From left to right:
Ms. Catherine Haizel
Mr. Yohei Sasakawa
Ms. Felicity Ankoma-Sey
and Ms.Nana Esi Quansah

WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network Meeting in the South Asian Region

The second day of the meeting concentrated
on the four national Fellows’ networks
represented. Fellows gave presentations on
recent activities in each country, the situationand provision of facilities in each country forelectronic communications, and using andexpanding the Friends of WMU, Japannewsletter. Finally, there was an interesting
session where ideas for expanding the Fellows’
network activities were debated. Groups ofFellows were assigned to collate reports oneach of these themes, and on the final day,each group presented its report. “These
reports lay a firm foundation for the future
development of the national networks and theregional network,” said Mr. Eisuke Kudo. “I
am very pleased that we have held such a
productive meeting, which has also clearly
helped to give new impetus to the Fellows’
network.”
The final session of the meeting considereda resolution concerning the future networking
activities in the South Asia region, andunanimously adopted an action plan for its
future development. The Fellows identified
both the website and the newsletter of the
Friends of WMU, Japan, as crucial to thedevelopment and coherence of the nationaland regional networks, and felt that each
Fellow was responsible for ensuring that thecontact list was kept up-to-date, not only for6

their own details but for those of theircolleagues. Professional co-operation was also
seen as fruitful ground for enhancing theactivities of the networks.
After the formal sessions of the meeting
had concluded, the participants enjoyed a very
interesting visit to the Port of Colombo,
organized by the Sri Lankan Fellows. The
Fellows later celebrated the success of themeeting and the strengthening of the
networks at a farewell reception on theevening of January 22.

Mr. Yohei Sasakawa
Visits Ghana
Republic of Ghana

Felicity Ankoma-Sey(Ghana, 2001)

It has been twenty-four years since Mr.
Yohei Sasakawa’s last visit to Ghana. Mr.
Sasakawa, as we know amongst manyother things, is the World HealthOrganization (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador
dealing with all issues relating to leprosy. He
was in Ghana to continue the programs he
has initiated to end discrimination and otherhuman rights violations faced by people
affected by leprosy around the world. He wasalso part of a delegation of Crown Prince
Naruhito of Japan, who was on a four-day
visit to the country. This was between March
6 and 9, 2010.

7

It was such a delight for us WMU Sasakawa
Fellows in Ghana to meet him in Accra
during his visit. What was most moving was
his ability to find time to be with us, in spiteof his very tight schedule. He continuously
showed his fatherly concern and care for us as
he inquired about our progress after WMU.
It was a beautiful occasion for us Fellows torecollect the wonderful experiences we had in
Malmö. We were, are and will always bethankful to God for a kind-hearted man suchas him. Long live Papa Sasakawa, long live
WMU, long live OPRF and long live WMU
Sasakawa Fellows.

31

Happy Wedding
Nana Esi Quansah (Ghana, 2008)

It was a blessing to study at the World
Maritime University. In addition to gaining
knowledge and skills to help develop myorganization, the Ghana Ports and Harbours
Authority, and my country, I also met a man
who would later become my husband, Martin
Söderberg, MLP 2008.
We were married traditionally on the 17thand in a church on the 19th of December, 2009.
Though from different cultures we havebecome one family.

JUNE
2010

My heartfelt thanks go to Mr. Sasakawa and
The Nippon Foundation for making all thispossible, and prayers of appreciation andblessing are always made for you.
These two pictures are from our traditional
wedding, and from the reception following ourwedding in church.

A New Arrival!
Seiji Tomokuni (Japan, 2008)

Welcoming a New Flower
I’m so happy to announce the birth of mybaby girl. My wife went into labor on
February 23, and I got to the hospital as
fast as I could. Finally, two days later, on
February 25, my baby was born.
The first time I saw her, her face was as
big and pink as a peach. I actuallyconsidered naming her “Peach”, butluckily, her face shrunk quickly after that,and the second time I saw her she didn’t
look like a peach at all.

Information on
the Proceedingsof the South AsianRegional Meeting

In the end, my wife and I named her
Riko. The name comes from a kind ofjasmine-like flower, whose fragrance
represents virtue in traditional Buddhism.
Our lives are now peaceful and happy.
I feel wonderful, even with the added
responsibilities.
I’d like to thank OPRF and The
Nippon Foundation again for giving me
the opportunity to write not only about
our happy marriage but also about thishappy birth.

Kentaro Furuya (Japan, 2003)

Our second baby was born this February, and we named
her Lila. We chose the name for two reasons: Some ofyou may recall a small square in Malmö, called Lilatörg. When my wife and I were there, we loved theplace since we could enjoy nice meals in an international
atmosphere. The other reason is that in French it ispronounced the same as the flower, lilac, which my wife
loves so much. Recently, I had a chance to visit Malmöfor business. I went to Lila törg again and found there
were still many people enjoying their meals and beer. I
hope one day to go there with my little daughter.

The proceedings of the WMU Sasakawa Fellow’s Network Meeting in the South Asian Region, which
was carried as a top page article in this issue, have now been published. Please get in touch with thesecretariat (wmujapan@sof.or.jp) of the Ocean Policy Research Foundation if you would like to have a
copy. Please also note that there are a limited number of proceedings printed so it will be on afirst-come-first-served basis. However, you can also download the PDF file from website of the Friendsof WMU, Japan managed by the secretariat: www.wmusof.or.jp/download.html

Editor’s note

Hello, all. Having been an editor of the newsletter for a year, I find I now have to leave thisposition because I was offered a new post in April, 2010. My new assignment is to become partof the teaching staff at the Japan Coast Guard Academy, which started preparing to receive
international students, for those who will become senior officers in their respective coast guard
agencies. For this reason, I was given an opportunity to study in London from this June for two
years. Please let me know if you’ll be visiting for IMO meetings or other commitments, and I’ll
be happy to see you. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to all subscribers of the
WMU newsletter, the staff, and those contributing such interesting articles.

Kentaro Furuya(Japan, 2003)

WMU Sasakawa Fellows’ Network Meetingin the South Asian RegionCommunication,
coordinationand cooperation were thethemes at the forefront during
the South Asian Sasakawa Fellows’ Network
meeting, held in Colombo from January
19-22, 2010. The meeting brought together
14 Fellows from Bangladesh, India, Japan,
the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, alongwith Mr. Eisuke Kudo, Mr. Eiji Sakai and
Mr. Shinichi Ichikawa from the OPRF.
The meeting was organized to strengthen
Fellows’ network activity across and between
the South Asian nations, and to emphasize
the importance of sharing information andexpertise between Fellows. It reunited WMUgraduates from across the generations – themost senior being Mr. Iqbal Karim of
Bangladesh (TMS 1992) and the most junior
Mr. Shantanu Paul of India (SM 2009).
On the first full day, Wednesday, January
20, the meeting was opened by the hosts, Mr.
Tilak Deepthi Jayasinghe and Mr. Sarath
Kumara Mathurana Gedara. The first speaker
was Mr. Masazumi Nagamitsu, Executive
Director of The Nippon Foundation, whowelcomed all the participants and guests, andstressed the importance of the individual andcollective roles of the Sasakawa Fellows in
the maritime development of the region. He

Susan Jackson (Associate Registrar, WMU)

was followed by Mr. G. A. Talagala, who, on
behalf of the Sri Lankan Fellows, welcomed
all the participants and organizers to themeeting.
The participants were then delighted towelcome three eminent special guests, whogave the keynote lectures for the meeting.
Mr. Upul Jayathissa (PM 1997), the Deputy
Chief Manager of the Sri Lanka Port
Authority delivered a fascinating account of
the Port of Colombo, its current expansion
plans and the Hambantota Port development
project. The Port Authority aims to make Sri
Lanka the logistic hub for the region, and theambitious development scheme is alreadywell on its way to realisation. The second
keynote lecture was delivered by Dr. Satoshi
Inoue, the Secretary-General Emeritus of theInternational Association of Ports andHarbors, who spoke of the challenges facing
ports today: ending the global recession, theeffects of climate change and the new
security
measures
that
are
being
implemented. The third keynote lecture wasgiven by Captain Nalaka Jayakody (MET2001), Dean of the Faculty of Commercial
Sciences at the Colombo International
Nautical & Engineering College. Captain
Jayakody analysed the problems that exist at

the interface of the seafarer and maritime
technology, and offered some possible novel
solutions that could enhance navigation
safety.
The meeting moved on to consider
presentations on the current maritime scenein each country, dealing with issues as varied
as ship-breaking, coastal trade, and seafarer
recruitment. There were also fascinating
over-views of the maritime sector in eachstate, which identified both common areas ofinterest and specific national differences. The
first day finished with a reception to which
many guests from the maritime sector werewelcomed.

continued on P.6