The 12 th (B) annual seminar was held at Mumbai, Ramada Hotel on the 20th and 21st November 2012.

The event was kicked off by President Mr. Kuboshima after customary introductions of the Management and the attendees were carried out. In his opening speech after welcoming the attendees, he firstly thanked one and all for their continuous support to the company in the difficult times. He very proudly announced the wonderful achievement by our seafarers on having successfully achieved 10 ZERO OBSERVATIONS during the vetting inspections which are pretty much rigorous. He further spoke about the continuing economic crisis, and the fact that perhaps for the next year or two, we all would need to be strong to face the challenging situations of the industry and the company as well. Kuboshima san mentioned about the commitment of the company to remain competitive despite the challenges being faced. He also mentioned some of the recent injuries and accidents occurred in the recent past, at the same time urging all to strive hard to prevent the same in the future. He ended this speech by requesting continued support and looking forward to better times ahead.



After the warm welcome by President Mr. Kuboshima san, Capt. Shahid Murad, Crewing Manager, Singapore, gave his presentation on MLC 2006 & KLSM Progress towards achieving its goals for meeting up with the requirements. Being a hot topic generated a lot of interest amongst the audience. The topic was well presented and enjoyed by all.



The next presentation by Capt. M.C. Yadav', Director, FOSMA was on MLC 2006 and STCW 2010. Again, the hot favorites of the season, the Industry at large and particular interest for KLSM. Whereas STCW 2010 came into force on 1st Jan 2012, MLC 2006 comes into force on 20th Aug. 2013. Capt. Yadav, dug deep into the topics with a lot of information and being an authority on the subject, delivered his presentation with full aplomb. Mr. Kuboshima san subsequently presented Capt. Yadav with a memento at the same time thanking him for his eloquent style and informative presentation.



The post lunch session commenced with a presentation by Capt. Rajan Mathur, QSHE SI, from Singapore office, who spoke on the very important topic of Heavy Weather Damages –Causes and Avoidance. Very informative and useful to ensure the preservation of ship and cargo, but most importantly the lives of the seafarers on board.

The next presentation unfolded by CE Mr. Satrajit Roy, TSI, FMT-1 from Singapore office discussed about Resources Optimization. Useful insights were given by Mr. Roy with realistic suggestions which become all the more vital in tough times.



A short tea break, to get rid of the post lunch drowsiness, was followed by an interesting case study about Navigation Incident from within our fleet. Capt Amit Bhattacharya, QSHE Manager, Singapore office explained in great detail one of the very serious incidents which had occurred in the recent past. The idea of conducting such detailed presentation, with full explanations and also asking the active seafarers their own course of action not only created much awareness, but also the self realization of the importance of situational awareness and several other factors.

The last session of day 1, was concluded by an equally interesting, and informative presentation by our Training and Auditing Manager of Singapore office, Capt. I. A. Juvale. He gave an informative presentation about ECDIS related incidents, and also the upcoming requirements of ECDIS in relation to STCW 2010 and MLC 2006. The incidents were an eye opener especially for the junior officers.



Day 2 of the seminar commenced with a presentation on SEAGULL CBT by Capt. A. Galliara, Training Coordinator, Mumbai office, who spoke on the issues related to CBT, in light of the MLC 2006 and STCW 2010, the future of CBT in KLSM, along with the soon to be introduced CMS and CES (Competency Management System and Competence Evaluation Systems).



Followed by the CBT presentation, Capt. I.A.Juvale, T & A Manager, spoke about near miss reporting, which also included an on the spot feedback from all participants on why they would not usually wish to report a near miss. Such kind of feedback gives valuable insights into thought processes of an individual and is very useful to the company.

A short tea break to keep us awake for the rest of the time, was followed by a presentation on Shipping and Environment, another hot favorite, by Capt. Amit Bhattacharya, QSHE Manager.



Close on the heels of the Environment presentation, CE Mr. Deepak Seth, Manager, FMT-3, of Singapore office, spoke on SEEMP (Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan), another Environment related topic, convened by the Maritime Environment Protection Committee of the IMO and soon to come into force. One after another important, informative and useful presentations made their way into the Seminar keeping the audience deeply engrossed to the topic and the speaker.



A hearty lunch was followed by a case study conducted by Capt. Rajan Mathur, which also included Incident Investigation. Capt. Mathur also conducted a workshop on Navigation Incident Investigation. This case study was exclusive to the Deck officers, whereas, at the same time in another Conference hall, Mr. Deepak Seth and Mr. Satrajit Roy conducted a Group Discussion exclusive to the Engineers, in relation to Machinery Accidents. Both these were aimed at creating awareness of how things can go wrong, and how to prevent them from occurring, as well as being aware of seeing the symptoms before an incident occurs. Both were exhaustive besides of course very interesting.



Health issues cannot be ignored, and KLSM is very particular about health for all. Thus, it was only fitting to include a topic on health which was very well dealt with by our in house Doctor, Dra. Maria Sanchez, from the K Line Clinic, in Manila. She gave very interesting information useful for seafarer's health and good maintenance of the same.



An afternoon tea break ensured the spirits were kept up, and this was followed by 2 presentations of our active sailing seafarers, who spoke of their onboard experiences. The first one was by Capt. Ram Kale, Master of LPG ships, and the next was by CE Mr. Ashok Kumar also from our LPG pool coincidentally. Both of them spoke well of their experiences and also at the same time thanking the company for its unstinted support to the seagoing staff at every stage of operations as well as for personal reasons too.



The experience sharing by seafarers moved onto the next and rather interesting point of every seminar—the OPEN FORUM. The OPEN FORUM, wherein seafarers express their sentiments, grievance, appreciation and the like was well received by the Management. There were actually no complains, rather requests for providing of Internet on board, reduction of waiting time for joining, and the induction of new trainees.



The seminar was almost coming to a close but not without the concluding remarks from the top Management.

Capt. T Saito, Managing Director, Tokyo mentioned his deep appreciation of our staff towards ensuring safe operations and remaining committed to the company and expressed his wish that they would continue the same in future too.



Capt. S. Fukuda, GM also likewise expressed his appreciation and thanks for the seafaring staff and their contribution towards KLSM.

The Loyalty Awards Presentation, Cooperation Awards, and Presentation of Certificates to the participants were concluded by President S. Kuboshima.



The final vote of thanks was given by CEO and Managing Director, KLSM Mumbai, Capt. T. Ibusuki who also very deeply appreciated the contribution by the seafaring staff in ensuring safe and smooth operations of our vessels, and with this ended the 12th B, Seminar in Mumbai on the evening of 21st December followed by a gala dinner and much bonhomie.