Reflexiones: Los servicios sociales portuarios para la gente de mar

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Contexto de página: Página principal > Revista 'Transporte Internacional' > Número 29 Octubre - Diciembre 2007 > Reflexciones

Ship visitors

- We go around in the Caribbean and America. In the Caribbean we have no chance to go ashore, and in America we are very busy. We need people to visit us to relieve our isolation. Somebody coming to visit us and asking: “How are you? How’s your life here? Are things OK?” would be a sign of relief to us. We complete a round trip in 21 days and we have no time to go out, just work and then take a rest. After that you’ve to start again in another port. We are in port for only four hours. You need a taxi to go out and come back again quickly. We need someone to come and visit us.

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- In my case it is very important for me and other people on board to have a visitor from the missions. Because they can help, they can really help us a lot! We can talk about our spiritual and personal needs. I would feel comfortable to talk to them. They can share my emptiness, because I’m far away from my family.

Seafarer centres

- Seafarer centres are good for seafarers, especially the ones in the US. They give free internet access. I like going to seafarer centres to leave my stress on board.

- It is important to have a seafarer centre in ports; besides anything else you can have facilities for a phone call. You will also have the chance of meeting other people from other ships.

- Australian ports are the best. The people are accommodating and friendly. You can ask for information.

- I like the port in Bristol (UK). There are many phone boxes.

Port information

- I get information sometimes from stevedores, sometimes from the ship’s agent, but sometimes the other crew members on board have been there before so they tell us.

- In Rotterdam there were local Filipinos that provide services and cars. They provided free transport on the basis that you shop in their shops and bought drinks.

Email

- We have email on board the vessel but it is at the discretion of the master. Sometimes he lets the junior officer use it but sometimes not. Sometimes he lets the crew use it and sometimes that’s also limited, but there is no problem for senior officers.

- Our captain is quite good. He allows us to send four emails a week.

- We can use email on board but it is very expensive. You have to buy a US$20 internet card.

- We are not allowed to use the email. It’s only for business communication.

Telephoning

- We have 15 port calls in 48 days but I can only contact my family while my ship is in Felixstowe. That is my only outlet because there you have the phone box within the port area. Even the third officer is not allowed to use the ship’s email and the satellite phone is very expensive.

- I use my mobile phone for communication. I have a roaming sim card. From here I can send SMS. In the US I can use the phone box but in other ports my mobile phone is the only option – it’s more expensive.

- I prefer calling through the satellite phone, or the smartlink, but it only works in parts of Asia, so out of Asia I prefer sending emails.

Shore leave

- For me it’s very important, because when we have a shore pass, it’s the only time that we can forget our problems on the ship. Then it’s also the time we can call our family. It’s the time that no-one will tell you to do this or do that. There’s no boss when you go out. It is my favourite time.

- I have not had shore leave during my current contract at all. We are very busy in ports. The only port we stay overnight in is in Japan, which is our main loading port, but at night we are like prisoners on board. They close all the port gates. Although you are sometimes off duty at night, you cannot go out. This happened to me twice already during my current contract.

- Our ship trades between Korea and Europe. Ulsan is our loading port and we stay in port overnight while loading cars. Every time we stop in Ulsan I have shore leave which is every other month. So I have one shore leave every eight weeks.

- I’ve been out only once during this contract. I went out with my companion. We went ashore, only the two of us. Then we asked the security personnel from the port where we could go for two hours. Then they just said there will be a service vehicle just at the gates. We went there but there was none, so we just went for a stroll. For like two hours we’ve been walking and just going nowhere. We saw just nothing – only walked and walked and then walked back to the ship.

These selected comments were collected during a survey for the report “Port based welfare services for seafarers: summary report 2007” by Erol Kahveci, Seafarers’ International Research Centre, Cardiff, UK. The report is available on request from the ITF Seafarers’ Trust (email: trust@itf.org.uk) or can be downloaded from the ITF website at:

Páginas afines:
Welfare Reports

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Número 29 Octubre - Diciembre 2007

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