Professional Relationships

Over the years I have developed good professional relationships with many dedicated people who enjoy what they do and thus can be called on to pull together. Shipping is so vast and diverse that nobody can honestly say they know it all. In this business your greatest assets are reliable contacts nurtured by mutual respect.

Stowaways

Stowaways hide themselves on board ships in the most diverse locations, usually placing themselves at great risk. Their motives for taking such a desperate measure vary. Most that arrive at the coast of Brazil come from the african continent and are repatriated. Repatriation is an exercise in logistics, psychology and patience. Sounds simple but in practice one is confronted by requirements from authorities, airlines and the stowaways themselves! Some reasonable, some absurd and all of which have to be explained to the party footing the bill - who sometimes does not want to part with the necessary and required funds, thus leaving the man on the front holding an increasingly expensive time bomb! Definitely not for the faint hearted.

I started up a discussion group on the subject but must admit that I haven't really promoted the idea much. Still - this is the link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stowaways_in_brazil/

Rio Solimões

Spent a couple of weeks up the Rio Solimões involved with the floating of a tanker. Salvage, OSR and authorities were accomodated in a little village called Fonte Boa, about two hours up river by speed boat.

Profession 1

Oftentimes the job takes me places other than the office. This year I was given the opportunity to accompany a couple of river voyages involving the carriage of bulk cargo.

Profession

From very early years my life has been intimately related to the sea so it is a priviledge for me that my professional experience should give me the unique chance of being involved with maritime matters in their various and very diverse aspects. At any given moment I can be dealing with all sorts of different cases, from stowaways to oil spills to collisions, groundings, cargo damage, personal injury and the list goes on.

In the beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1 - Just there resides an option. You can either believe that or not. Whether you do or you don't, it is worth your while to take time to read the book where such an ascertion came from.