T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

N E W S L E T T E R

THE BRIDGEHAMBURGER LLOYD SHORE TO SHIP

D E C E M B E R 2017

No. 36

editorial

Dear readers,

In many cit-ies all over the world, Christ-mas announces itself with flick-ering candles and colour-fully lit shops, Christmas mar-

kets and shopping malls – whether this is in tropical temperatures in the Far East and Australia, or in Hamburg’s obligatory driz-zle. In a few days, we will celebrate Christ-mas: in the messrooms on board, and in the churches and living rooms ashore.

In this edition, you can read both how dif-ferently and how similarly Christmas is cel-ebrated around the world; colleagues from the shore organisations and from on board have written about the different Christmas

traditions in their home countries.

The past year once again had many ac-tivities and surprises in store for us. The year 2017 will probably go down in RHL history as a year of docking; eight ships were overhauled from scratch. Repre-senting all ships that were docked this year, you can read a report on the dock-ing of RHL CONCORDIA at the IMC-YY Shipyard in China.

The four-masted bark PEKING, a sailing cargo ship built in 1911, one of the last floating witnesses of an era long gone, has been towed from New York to Ham-burg. As one more of the city's museum ships, it will decorate its maritime skyline near the “Landungsbrücken” port area in the future. We have retold the moving story of the PEKING and her sister ves-sels, the “Flying P-Liners”, for you. Further spotlights of this issue are articles on the

Chinese navigator and explorer Zheng He, and Hamburg’s twin city Osaka.

As in past years, this year’s crew training sessions in Leer and Manila were once again guided by the motto “Learning by doing“. Learn more about simulator training and the interesting “little school of paint”.

All this and much more can be discovered in the December issue of “The Bridge“ – I hope you have fun reading it!

We would like to wish you and your families a peaceful and blessed Christmas, as well as health and happiness for 2018.

Sincerely,

Hauke Pane

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

Time flies. Round about five years have passed since RHL Concordia left the ship-yard on which she was built; at the end of August, she returned to a shipyard for the first time since. Her “last voyage” from the last port of discharge in Ningbo/Chi-na to nearby Zhoushan only took her two hours. Luckily her voyages during the pre-vious five years had been a lot longer; the vessel and her crews called at ports on the South American west coast, in western Africa, on the Indian and Australian west coasts, and at many Asian and, above all, Chinese ports.

So now she was to undergo her first dock-ing period. The reason behind these regu-lar dockings is to tackle maintenance work that cannot be dealt with by the crews alone. There are many possible reasons for this: a lack of the necessary resources (time, human resources, tools, specialisa-tions), but also no possibility to obtain official authorisations in port, or simply because the ship has to be high and dry before certain serviceable parts can be reached.

The docking period is always preceded by an intensive preparation phase: from the determination of the works to be carried out, the selection of a suitable shipyard, suppliers and service companies, down to the many preparations on board. All abovementioned items have to fit into a tight docking budget. A further challenge are the place and time of redelivery, both of which are ultimately determined by the charterer, and not necessarily consistent with the shipmanager’s plans or the ship-yard of choice.

On the one hand, the selection of the works to be carried out is defined by in-ternational rules and regulations, as well as specifications required by classification society and manufacturers, and, on the other hand, from in-house requirements. In many cases it is a combination of these parameters: For example, an anti-fouling paint has to meet certain international standards, but these may not be sufficient to obtain a specific class notation. Or may-be the paint does not match the vessel’s operation and requirement profile. The

technically and operationally most desir-able paint most probably blows the budg-et, so a compromise has to be found – one that allows for docking the ship within the given budget and for an operation with-out a “speed and consumption claim” over the next five years.

Apart from the necessary works such as conserving the hull / shell plating, over-hauling overboard valves, changing the

Dry-docking RHL ConcordiaSecond C-Ship under inspection

First layer of anti-corrosive paint applied to the hull

Quality check of welding seams – non-destructive testing (NDT) of welding seams after steel plate exchange

After drydock

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

stern tube and bow thruster seals, boiler inspections etc., there are always addi-tional items that need attention. This time, RHL Concordia’s bulbous bow had to be repaired after it had been damaged dur-ing an allision with a pier in West Africa in 2014. The damaged areas could only be fixed temporarily then, and were now in need of final repair works.

While most shipyards can handle “neces-sary works” in an acceptable quality and within the given time frame, it usually gets difficult as soon as “extraordinary works” need doing. Often the quality drops dra-matically in those cases, usually in com-bination with a delay. Therefore we were happy to be able to dock RHL Concordia at IMC-YY Zhoushan. By Chinese standards the shipyard is relatively small, but their organisation is outstanding, and so are their high-quality workshops and efficient dry dock teams. In order to make the best use of the dry dock, and to save money for the shipping company, the shipyard pro-posed a repair schedule in two phases: all damages below the water line and up to a height of seven metres would be repaired in the dry dock, and the rest of the work would be done after shifting the vessel to a lay-by-berth. This way, the vessel only had to spend two additional days in dry dock due to the bulbous bow repair works (six instead of four days); overall shipyard time only increased from twelve to 18 days because of the follow-up repairs above the water line.

Another unusual repair item was a modi-fication of the hatch covers, aimed at pre-venting future damages during loading and discharging operations. Repairing them was a class requirement, while the modification was not – but without tak-ing appropriate action, the same damage would have recurred immediately. The modifications only cost a fraction of the repairs; also, potential future complica-tions with port state officers, class survey-ors, and charterers will be avoided.

The time in the shipyard was also used to install new technology on board. For ex-ample, the RHL Concordia now has a new ECDIS system, a new VSAT communication system, a new server / thin client system, and an additional new server for collect-ing ship operation data. All systems are state-of-the-art and – most importantly – upgradeable.

Owing to the new ECDIS system we can finally endorse paperless operation, and we can train our officers effectively and cost-efficiently. At the same time, the chart and maintenance package included in the price means complete cost con-trol. The new VSAT system can handle the increased requirements of large data transfers to authorities or head office. At the same time the crews have the pos-sibility to use their smart phones to stay in touch with their friends and family. The new servers enable centrally controlled monitoring, responding to an ever-grow-ing need for cyber security. The new ship operation reporting server is currently being used to record ship operation data manually; engine and nautical operation data will be recorded and evaluated fully automatically in future configuration lev-els, in order to recognise and eliminate anomalies more quickly.

Altogether 22 companies with about 180 people – this includes the shipyard – were involved in the work on board.

Not included in this number are the 20 crew members who made sure that the whole process before, during, and after the docking period was smooth and trou-ble-free. This begins with repair lists and order forms, and ends with the cleaning

and inspection of ballast tanks, and the freeing of valves, vent heads, and other openings that are only used during dock-ing. For example, the crew was occupied with maintenance work on hatch covers and coamings, which are difficult or im-possible to reach during operation. In the engine room, most systems had to be shut down before and started up again after the docking period; mistakes can lead to serious damages which can result in an-other docking period. It is important that all involved are familiar with and in control of their systems.

The Concordia had an experienced team on board; as on her maiden voyage, Cap-tain Oleg Taran was her Master. Almost all of his officers, engineers, and crew have been serving on board the C-class ves-sels for years. Thanks to the joint effort and the great cooperation of all depart-ments at RHL head office, the vessel’s crew, the shipyard, and the suppliers and service companies, the docking was most successful: The ship is now ready for five further years in the water. But the efforts to keep her in good shape must continue at all times, otherwise the hard work will have been for nothing.

Altogether, the crane repair took three weeks in the shipyard.

From left to right: Painting Supervisor Mr. Wu, Ship repair Manager trainee, Ship repair Manager Mr. Liu, Technical Fleetmanager Stefan Schindler

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

The seventh RHL Crew Seminar for our of-ficers and engineers was held in the Nau-titec GmbH & Co. KG training centre in Leer, north Germany, from 4 to 6 September 2017. Fifteen participants had come all the way from Croatia, Russia, Ukraine, and Bul-garia: three Captains, three Chief Officers, two Second Officers, two Third Officers, three Chief Engineers, and two Second Engineers. As in previous years, this year’s focus was on Resource Management.

Managing Director Hauke Pane opened the seminar with a presentation, giving an in-sight into the current situation on the ship-ping markets, and an overview over devel-opments and plans at Hamburger Lloyd.

Burghart Schaade introduced the two tech-nical fleet managers Stefan Schindler and Burghart Schaade and their teams in his own presentation. He also used his speak-ing time to initiate a dialogue between himself and the sailors, and addressed the challenges of modern-day technical ship-management, which can only be mastered in close cooperation between crew and technical department ashore. Among these challenges are timetables that are becoming more and more flex-ible, making crew changes and spare part deliveries difficult. Also the additional high requirements regarding legal rest periods, which can only be followed by planning in advance meticulously, especially with said flexible timetables and relatively small

crews. Despite tight timetables and small crews, the vessel’s and engine’s mainte-nance must nevertheless be guaranteed at all times. Last but not least, the continu-ously low freight rate level makes a detailed cost plan for spare part deliveries and en-gine overhauls necessary, in order to assure the liquidity of each single-ship company. A lively discussion developed, and ideas were exchanged for improving the coop-eration between the technical department ashore and the crews on board.

In his presentation, Quality Manager Risto Sipiläinen showed incidents of badly ob-served safety which occurred over the pre-vious year; in some cases this had even led to damages. Together with the officers and engineers, he developed a detailed analysis of the incidents and clarified the causes of damage, so that lessons might be learned from the mistakes.

Director of Chartering Wolfgang Görz used the personal contact with the participants to emphasise the importance of Masters’ and Engineers’ duties which arise from contracts of carriage or charter parties. He went on to point out the possible conse-quence of mistakes in notices of readiness, or on-hire or off-hire notices. There was also a discussion about stevedore damages, and avoiding their denial by the charterer due to formal errors.

In the case of any kind of question or con-

cern, all participants were encouraged to contact the staff at Hamburger Lloyd main office.

There was also an introduction of all on-going technical projects within the fleet. The new Planned Maintenance System – DNV GL Shipmanager – will be installed on all 19 vessels before the end of the year and was introduced by Mr Matthias Koch of GL Maritime Software GmbH. The Perfor-mance Monitor and Reporting Tool MAC, for monitoring and evaluation of fuel and oil consumption, was introduced by Mr Goran Berkes of M.A.C. System Solutions GmbH. The Engine Performance Tool of Tekomar Group Ltd. was introduced by Mr Thilo Steenwerth, and the list of external speakers was completed by Mr Frank Ass-man of Jotun (Germany) GmbH and his “little school of paint”. The seminar partici-pants followed the talks with interest, and their practical questions were asked and answered immediately. A big thank-you to all the above speakers for their lively and practical talks.

The simulator exercises for captains and nautical officers were once again instructed and directed by Georg Haase and his very professional Nautitec team. There was a spe-cial feature this year: Two experienced tug-boat captains of the tugboat company Ko-tug, Mr Leon Ver Steg and Mr Xavier Blejan, had agreed to help shape the exercise with their knowledge and experience. After some theory lessons for refreshing hydrodynamics and towage basics, the exercise could begin. Manoeuvring in pilotage waters as well as berthing and unberthing of different types of ship was on the agenda. With the instruc-tors’ assistance, the participants captained the tugboats and thus got to see a manoeu-vre from their point of view. In addition to this new perspective, there was a focus on training team management and commu-nication. Experienced captains of our con-tainer and tank vessels were in charge of the tugboats, which was a completely new ship type for them, so they were dependent on assistance from instructors and colleagues. Also, the tugboat crew had to communicate with the ship that was being assisted.

At the same time, there were a number of different training units for communication and team management for the engineers. To promote communication, for example, two groups in different rooms were asked to build a Lego ship. A task that seems simple

Leer 2017Bridge and Engine resource manage-ment training

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

With the support of our agency Abojeb in Manila, we set up the fifth RHL Crewing Conference, which was held from November 3rd to 4th at the Hotel Tanza Oasis in Cavite and on the Philcam-sat training grounds (Philippine Center for Advanced Maritime Simulation and Training). RHL invited almost 100 Filipino seafarers of all ranks from our fleet to the event, with the purpose of informing them about the current situation within the company, and of improving employee branding. The topics for the presenta-tions and discussions were selected to

RHL’s fifth Crewing Conference in ManilaThe perfect combination of training and entertainmentment

All participants start the training day on the Philcamsat ground

at first, but quickly turned out to be quite complicated, because both teams had to build the exact same model, but only had radiocommunication to clarify which com-ponent was to be put in what position. This exercise demonstrated the importance of clear and detailed communication when it comes to technical issues, i.e. when as-sistance from ashore is required to solve a technical problem, and the engineers ashore can only respond to the descrip-tions they are given.

A number of exercises for the engineers were carried out in the engine simulator. One required starting up a completely cold ship. From starting the first starting air compressor to firing up the main engine, all

machinery needed to be started up with a systematic approach. A very unusual exer-cise if you can only work with screens and complex menu structures. But both groups successfully managed to put the engine room into operation.

Another simulator exercise called for the participants’ team management skills. A damaged main engine main bearing was simulated, and Ms Gabrielle Groen, the en-gine simulator’s chief instructor, put pres-sure on the engineers by not stopping the engine after the damage was detected. In addition, they were expected to identify the cause of the damage.

Following the exercise, Ms Groen explained

that this had been a re-enactment of an accident that had actually happened: the collision of MV “Bright Field” in 1996, where a low main engine oil level, which had not been checked by the crew, had led to a main bearing damage and eventually to a collision – learning from mistakes.

The leisure programme on both seminar evenings was once again organised by Nau-titec, Hamburger Lloyd, and crew members together. On Monday evening everybody went cart racing in nearby Rastede. It was a safe and fair racing night. There was lots of time for professional exchanges, the continuation of discussions sparked by the talks, and obviously also for private conver-sations during the breaks between racing and at dinnertime.

In the early evening on Tuesday, the group visited a small private coffee roasting house in the town centre of Leer, including a demon-stration of the roasting process followed by a coffee tasting. It was extremely interesting.

For Hamburger Lloyd, this seventh seminar was a success. We would like to thank all participants and organisers. Since we can only ever offer a limited num-ber of spaces for this event, we hope that the seminar participants share their newly acquired knowledge and experiences with their colleagues on board.

from left to right, at the front: Yuriy Galinsky, Oleksandr Zhukov, Jorge Alvarez, Illia Cholak, Prasad Ranasinghe, Ievgen Cherniata, Stanislav Kirkov, Sergiy Pordgorny, Borislav Kostovicat the back: Dmytro Trachenko, Risto Sipilaeinen, Burghart Schaade, Hauke Pane, Thorsten Hamann, Andrei Shvyrkin, Marinko Milotic, Vadim Chernov, Aleksei Fedotov, Viacheslav Kuleshov

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

deal with the latest news, general com-munication and human resource manage-ment, as well as corporate identity, and the cooperation between Head Office and the ships.

The first day began with opening speeches by Mr Carl Faanessen, JMI Managing Direc-tor, and Mr Hauke Pane, RHL Managing Di-rector/CEO, and an opening remark by Mr Thorsten Hamann, RHL Crew Management Director. Mr Faanessen’s talk highlighted the structural improvements that Abojeb introduced in 2017, and gave an outlook for 2018. Mr Pane gave a detailed overview of the current developments at RHL and the new formation of the Technical Man-agement department, and dealt with the issue of Proper Shipmanagement. There was a particular emphasis on more sensi-tive awareness in the areas of ship opera-tion and ship maintenance.

Hauke Pane was followed by Thorsten Hamann, who gave a lecture on respect-ful interaction and the development of the crewing department, with a special focus on the department’s multi-faceted tasks when it comes to finding suitable seafarers, as well as disposition and trans-port modalities. The topics New Projects, Safety Awareness, and Recent Incidents and Accidents were presented by Tech-nical Fleet Manager Burghart Schaade. He talked about new installations on the ships, such as the Maintenance Software DNV GL Shipmanager, the new reporting software MAC, and the Chart World Sys-tem ECDIS, among others. Furthermore, external speaker Mr Ruel Estioco from Jotun provided information on ship con-dition maintenance in preparation for the practical part of the training on day two.

The time following the presentations was used for an open exchange and discus-sions about the presentations and a va-riety of different experiences and prob-lems. The day ended with an enjoyable get-together and a rich buffet, cold drinks,

and karaoke performances by many of the participants.

On day two, officers, engineers, and crew members with certificates of competence were invited to the training centre on the Philcamsat training grounds. Three teams were formed, each with about 20 par-ticipants, and working groups on ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System), the special handling of colours (Jotun), and Developing Team Spirit were

held in two-hourly intervals. This way, eve-ryone could participate in each working group over the course of the day.

The training was closely monitored by Thorsten Hamann und Burghart Schaade.

The annual Abojeb Christmas party took place on November 05th in the SMX Con-vention Center in Manila, in keeping with the motto “The 35-year celebration of Abojeb”. An impressive number of about 1,700 guests – sailors, their families, repre-sentatives of the international “Principals”, as well as the complete Abojeb team– had accepted the invitation. The highlight of the evening was the performance of the famous Philippine music group “Parokya ni Edgar”.

Dear readers, dear RHL crew,

First of all I would like to introduce myself. My name is Jan Arne Lorenz and I was born in 1987 in Germany. I joined the German navy in 2007. On board the German Frig-ate “Bayern”, I got the chance to train for

the OOW (Officer of Watch) license, which I passed. (It is valid on German navy vessels only!).

At the moment I am off-duty for about two years to study at the Nautical College in Leer, north Germany, in order to receive

the OOW license for merchant vessels. This license is part of the military training re-quired for becoming an officer in the Ger-man navy. Because of my past experience, I only need another three months as a Deck Cadet on board a merchant vessel.

Same oceans, different worlds!Three month on RHL Calliditas

Paint practises with Jotun Upon completion of a rescue exercise

Developing Team Spirit (part one) Developing Team Spirit (part two)

5th Crewing Conference Manila continued

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

After quite some problems finding a com-pany willing to take on a Deck Cadet for three months only, I am very happy and thankful to now be able to spend this time on board RHL Calliditas.

Working on a merchant vessel is a challenge which I have accepted. Knowing the differ-ences between navy vessels and merchant vessels will be an important piece of under-standing for me.

When I signed on in Singapore, I was very excited about my coming assignment. After a very warm welcome I was immediately briefed about all of the safety measures on board. The Third Officer did his job well and took his time explaining everything, and pa-tiently answered all my questions.

It was no different during the following voyage from Asia to West-Africa, on which I joined the Second Officer on his Naviga-tional Watch schedule.

Watch duty as an OOW was nothing new for me, but merchant vessels are unlike my pre-vious experiences. There is a completely dif-ferent focus. While a merchant vessel sails on a route specified by the charterer, striv-ing for efficiency and sticking to the given time slots, there is much more maneuvering space with a navy vessel. A sea voyage is the same on any vessel; it does not matter if it is a tanker, bulker, container, coaster, or navy vessel. You determine the shortest route between two points, in accordance with all the relevant regulations, and then you fol-low this route.

But now you may wonder what the differ-ences are. It is about manpower, allocation of responsibilities, and for sure the different functions of these vessels.

When I compare the vessels, the basis is my experience on German frigates; other classes and nationalities may of course vary at this point.

It all begins with the bridge team on navy vessels. There are at least six to seven per-sons on the bridge during one watch. There is one trained navigator assisting the OOW, one bridge manager responsible for the daily routine on board, three ABs acting as helmsmen and lookouts, one signal op-erator for communication during fleet ma-neuvers, and finally the OOW who has the overall responsibility in the name of the

commanding officer.

On a merchant vessel you have: the OOW and one lookout!

There is no need for many ABs on the bridge, the autopilot does the job very well outside coastal waters. There is no need for a separate navigator on the bridge, the voyage planning is already done, and nor-mally there is no need to change anything. Bridge manager? If an emergency occurs, the OOW acts as trained and sounds the General Alarm. Fleet communication is not

necessary; you are not travelling in a convoy or conducting maneuvers that need coordi-nating.

The other different thing is the working hour agreement. It was really hard for me to handle this situation. Every time I asked for some work, because I want to learn as much as possible in what little time I have, I am questioned if I am on duty and when my next duty starts. Eight hours, that is the magic number.

When you have done your job, there is time to rest, and you have to take this time in order to be rested for your next watch. On a German frigate you normally have your watch times, which vary from day to day due to a different rhythm, and your nor-mal daily working routine from 8 am to 17 pm. During this working routine you keep your crew well trained in the different de-partments or with general drills, such as firefighting, man over board, steering gear

break down, or machinery break down. As an OOW on a merchant vessel, you navigate the ship safely in open sea mode during your watch.

As an OOW on navy vessels, you do not only navigate the vessel in open sea mode. Un-der the strict supervision and the backup of the navigational officer and the command-ing officer, you handle the ship in naviga-tional waters, during berthing, departures, in emergency maneuvers and many other warfare areas or combat situations.

I know, all of this may sound like terrible ad-vertising to some of you, but please believe me: It is not my goal to recruit anybody of you into the navy. I just want to compare the two different seafaring worlds.

Apart from the differences I have men-tioned so far, there are many things which are the same. The most important thing, I would say, is the responsibility that an OOW carries on their shoulders. Whether on a merchant or a navy vessel: They are respon-sible for the safe navigation of the ship, for the calm sleep of the off-duty crew at night. Those guys count on you. Situations always need to be handled in a way that nothing and nobody is damaged or injured, in ac-cordance with all the relevant regulations. There is a responsibility for the Safety of Life at Sea.

After my civil training at Nautical College, I will return to my military duty and hopefully be a navigational officer in the German navy one day.

At this point I would like to say thank you. Thank you to the company management for this possibility to gain new experiences, and for this valuable practical time on board your vessel. And also thank you to the crew of RHL Calliditas. I have never received such a warm welcome on a ship. Thanks for show-ing me the world through different eyes. And a special thankyou to Emil and Wilben (Second & Third Mates) who explained a lot to me, and with whom I had many a good conversation during our time together on navigational watch.

I wish you fair winds and following seas al-ways.

Kind regards, Jan Arne Lorenz

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

RHL CONSCIENTIAFirst name(s) SurnameWeerasekara M. T. RanasingheIgor Sukhoverkhov Thanh L. Nguyen Dragomir P. Ryahov Yuriy Galinsky Jeremias N. NortigaOleksandr Stepovoi Jayaweera A. Seneviratne

Ricky C. WaniwanMichael D. VeridianoVirgilio Jr. A LaureaFernando J. JosoyLibby M. Gadudo Ramil E. SolisRonald G. Javier Ardiel F. Echin

Sheldon P. Pagdato Eden A. Japal Jayson M. Tresvalles

RankMasterChief OfficerSecond OfficerThird OfficerChief EngineerSecond EngineerThird EngineerElectrical EngineerOilerFitterCookBosunAble Seafarer Deck 1Able Seafarer Deck 2Able Seafarer Deck 3Ordinary Seaman 1Ordinary Seaman 2Engine Cadet 1Engine Cadet 2Deck CadetAble Seafarer Engine 1Able Seafarer Engine 2WiperMessman

RHL CONCORDIAFirst Name(s) SurnameAndriy Franchuk Maksym Sobol Rielly V. Dungog Mark Alvin J. Yabut Oleksandr Kelyushek Robin G. Sumpay Ilija MalovicOleksandr Shevchuk

Frenel A. Calangi Edwin J. Cabral Troy C. Diaz Kim Dominic G. Santillana Jerry C. Legaspi Hector Jr. D. Balaan Joan D. Dela CruzChristian F. Deloy

Allan V. Marañon Henry A. Adino Kim Adrian C. Guno Rowel I. Abrigonda

RHL CALLIDITASFirst name(s) SurnameGligo MalovicIllia Cholak Emiliano Jr. N. NovoAlvin P. CortesIgor Guriakov Sergiy Sergyeyenko Lahiru M. Yapage Dehiwalage L. Perera

Jessie B. Traballo Melvin F. Sabino Cornelio S. Carizal Christopher C. H. Tiantes Nomer M. Daroy Chris Beruyn Ian S. Cantorne Aries D. Constantino Jayvee G. Joyo

Mitar NakicenovicOliver F. Pepito Albrich A. Narciso Alfie D. Borja Rufino Rhys A. Magallano

crew lists

RHL AUDACIAFirst name(s) SurnameJovito L. Balabat Nikolai Vishniakov Erwin A. Dulce Norman Q. Pacaanas Kankanamge C. K. Wanniarachchi Gino Paolo J. Salvador Jujiet G. Jumetilco Alvin A. Pabunan Diego E. Masiado

Noel G. Bautista Jayson P. Cantimbuhan Geamont Rey L. Munta Reynante S. Centino Jim Jason Q. Malto Ryan R. Dela FuenteReyal A. Candelario Ramon Nonato Jr. O. Patricio Arnel D. Macapar Louie Anthony C. Cabanban Joenel L. Samihon

RHL ASTRUMFirst name(s) SurnameRodelio D. Musni Rolando R. Serenilla John P. Guan Riche J. Burlaos Igor Podvalnyj Mudiyanselage M. D. Herath Marlon D. Ramos Winston M. Iguiron Marvin A. Bautista Lilium Jr. G Degayo

Regienante M. De Vera Neil M. Bucton Gemer V. Bautista John Edward C. Loretizo Brezhniev I. Rosales Edmark S. Briones Jhunrie L. Sarmiento Ricky J. Foerster Joy R. Samar Raymond M. Duran Geovanie R. Cañete

RHL AURORAFirst name(s) SurnameOleksandr Novikov Peter M. Batin Chenvie E. Go Teofiegil T. Cenas Oleg Moroz Carlos Jr. D. Torres Melvin B. MarananMervic C. Distura Jennifer B. Domingo Romeo T. Samson

Christian Michael P. Paculaba Noel C. Labatorio Crisostomo Allan F. Monakil Isabelo M. Pioc Pedro M. PiyaoNoel Jr. R. Yambao Jesrel Frank S. Soriano Albert T. Buencuchillo John Michael E. Estacio Lord G. Nalzaro

RHL AQUAFirst name(s) SurnameAlbert Zykov Uladzimir Vakhomchyk Erick B. Rodriguez Joseph C. Collado Konstantin Chomutov Tuan N. Nguyen Alemayehu G. Sibane Sherwin Roy A. Dalu Rey D. Delmo

Alano M. Lumanao Nicanor P. Ramos Joerex E. Ramillete Redon T. Domingo Archimedez L. Saul Michael S. Gillesania Michael M. Varcas Francisco A. Dioso John Rodel G. EsguerraGodpray G. Hernandez

RankMasterChief OfficerSecond OfficerThird OfficerChief EngineerSecond EngineerThird EngineerElectrical EngineerFitter 1Fitter 2OilerCookBosunAble Seafarer Deck 1Able Seafarer Deck 2Able Seafarer Deck 3Ordinary Seaman 1Ordinary Seaman 2Able Seafarer Engine 1Able Seafarer Engine 2WiperMessman

RHL AGILITASFirst name(s) SurnameKonstantin PanshinPetar T. Todorov Astaire T. Lim Heinrich F. Noga Victor Manuel B. Valladolid Thieu X. Vu Lolindo A. Rigodon Gordon Lancelot S. Perera Patrocinio Jr. L. ViernesRonaldo V. Gamay

Christopher C. Cerbolles Jaime J. Catindig Richard A. Lim Carlito Jr. G. Villalon Junfre D. Osea Ronald Allan O. Bacaoco Aldin O. Cabug-OsJovic Q. Espino Arvin M. Derder Noriel G. Manzo

RHL CONSTANTIAFirst name(s) SurnameMykhaylo Kogutov Anton Semenas Evan B. Amores Toni Cvitkovic Sergei Semenov Tung H. Trinh Oleksandr ShkolnykSherwin A. Rambaud

Brian D. Bahena Fernando Jr. M. Adriano Catalino Jr. T. Millado Ariel A. Nicdao Arniel W. Midel Albert O. Quintana Antonio Jr. Z. Marcial Joshua V. Diaz Abreham Worku Tariku Alemu Ejeta

Jesus Jr. P. Robles Jacob Don A. MontanoFerdinan S. Centino Ramon II. Z. Barrameda

CONTAINER

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

TANKER

RHL VARESIAFirst name(s) SurnameGoran BabicSergiy IparshynMico Coloma OleaEvgeny StolyarovGennadiy KhmaladzeGennady ChernovolovCarlo N. MondidoHenry Gonzaga ArtabaAntonio Jr. L. PugaAndres Jr. G. QuinlogJeffrey M. BagtasosRichi F. LampitokRey C. AbaricoGene C. CapurihanAriel S. Agor

Ronald D. LubayKenneth D. Cabalida

Joseph Jose A. Cultura

Val Alvin Egael Sarme

RHL CLARITAFirst name(s) SurnameLeonardo P. Racho Nathaniel O. ApdoJose Harrison Ii. L. Batoctoy Jeffrey D. AlbarracinArmendariz E. Perez Lepe Jorge A. Alvarez Ronilo A. CapullaRechie L. BalbesMatias III. R. MisagalReynaldo P. GalinatoCruz Crisanto F. Dela Marlon P. ManaloJulius L. BautistaMarvin G. GabrangReynaldo B. BatulanEldric A. MerenLuther S. AmoraMark Angelo A. PenaverdeLouie Jay C. Calo

Eduardo Jr. B. Yamson

RHL JULIAFirst name(s) SurnameArnold L. VillarPelser Kim S. PelayoApolinario A. PanganibanJayme A. Amazona Gerry S. MendozaDarko BlazevicChris T. MatarongPercival A. NicolasFlordelino C. FloresJasper C. AfroilanRonaldo A. ApostolEnrico A. ManuzonMarcelito R. MarquezDanilo G. Umlas Noel E. Basco

Eric T. CorreaJohnfrey L. Elizon Jim A. LumasagJerome M. Serohijos

Eugene M. Castillo

RHL MAR TAFirst Name(s) SurnameJulius Rey M. LopezArnel B. EnriquezDexter T. SalazarRico A. LendioAleksei TerekhovAntans KetlerjusAntons Kriziks Wendel C. PanebioClaro R. Mozar Rolando Jr. B. LisondraMelandro E. Drew Edgar C. OrbitaReagan S. VillanuevaRussell S. SolitoRegio G. Castillo

Karlo M. MadulidMarc Ejoy B. Cairel Luis Jr. S. NovelaRamon R. Oraa

Jonathan E. Estacio

RHL MONICAFirst Name(s) SurnameRichard L. Rico Jerry N. MalapadTirso II. G. PurayNeil Bryan D. BuizonRanulfo M. Tubog Glenn R. DonaJames E. NogarRene Lito P. GolongJose Jr. E. CardinoRenante L. JacintoMichael Ross D. BautistaReinhard T. GigheNorman A. GelilangGilbert P. InteriorRussel Paul G. Salhay

Jeremias O. LeopardasJeffrey R. TenebroAntonio P. LoquinarioRadito D. Garay

Ryan R. Reloz Lenwill B. Parde

BULK CARRIER

RankMasterChief OfficerSecond OfficerThird OfficerChief EngineerSecond EngineerThird EngineerElectrical EngineerFitter 1Fitter 2CookBosunAble Seafarer Deck 1Able Seafarer Deck 2Able Seafarer Deck 3Able Seafarer Deck 4Ordinary Seaman 1Ordinary Seaman 2Able Seafarer Engine 1Able Seafarer Engine 2OilerWiperMessman

RHL FLENSBURGFirst Name(S) SurnameViacheslav KuleshovVadim BashunDmytro TrachenkoAngelo P. De RosasLucian GheorgheSrecko Godinovic

Teotimo Jr. D. GorgonioJonathan B. Chua Philip A. Lumongsod Jose Joel S. Salmorin Joseph B. Espina Robert D. Hamoy Kim Arriz B. Solomon

Marvin F. Royo

RHL DRESDENFirst Name(s) SurnameMarian SzymanskiOleksandr Ponomarenko Sergiy PodgornyCarlo B. PalenTaras PopovDmitrii Abramov

Apolonio Jr. R. Libaton Argie D. HinsoyGerson C. Barbajo Reynald F. TrestizaNelson M. MendozaSeverino S. SierraRigeber M. Mendoza

Joseph G. Hernandez

RHL AUGSBURGFirst Name(s) SurnameAdam Naczk Stanislav I. KirkovOleg KulinichDenis KazanbaevMarcin R. MichaleckiGrzegorz Turzynski

Juvie R. PascualEduardo Jr. G. Nufable Ryan Karl B. Alagos Isagani D. Casiano Roberto R. BetonioOscar L. Dizon Oscar Jr. D. Calseña

Henry I. Retuta

RHL NUERNBERGFirst name(s) SurnameBesik Klarjeishvili Vadim Chernov Romydello O. Tero Roman MoskalenkoMarek Michal Cur Artem ShirkinJerzy Kowalski Alvaro E. Mozo Laurence S. Conde Rommel B. Jamer Eugenio G. Abing Benito D. Distor Allan B. Evangelista Alphard O. Diayon

Jay A. Lumasag

RankMasterChief OfficerSecond OfficerThird OfficerChief EngineerSecond EngineerElectrical EngineerAble Seafarer Deck 1Able Seafarer Deck 2Able Seafarer Deck 3CookAble Seafarer Engine 1Able Seafarer Engine 2Ordinary SeamanEngine CadetPumpmanWiper

RHL Hamburger Lloyd Crewmanagement GmbH & Co. KG

Raboisen 3820095 HamburgGermany Tel.: +49 40 380 881-300Fax: +49 40 380 881-499crewing@hamburger-lloyd.dewww.hamburger-lloyd.de

RHL NOVAREFirst Name(s) SurnameAlbert B. BaldonArnaldo Jr. A. Cortez Ariel M. MolomogJoabell Q. Rivera Magno Jr. R. FadrillanBonefer Q. AbanesAlex A. Agus Donard B. DalisayHarry C. Clamonte

Darwin O. Lupena Danilo L. DejitoEdgar C. NavarreteMelvin B. RamosBrian P. Tagle

Paul John L. VillamorRodrigo P. RamosReynaldo C. Melgar Nelson A. Gelilang

Quintin Jr. Y. Abrigo

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

In Sweden, 24 December is the highlight of Christmas. Schoolchildren are on holiday, as well as most parents. Christmas is the main family event of the year, and there is always a certain amount of discussion about where to celebrate it this time.

A few days before Christmas Eve, Swedes venture forth to look for the perfect Christ-mas tree. This is a serious matter − the tree is the very symbol of Christmas, and it must be densely and evenly branched, and straight. If you live in a city or town, you buy the tree in the street or square. Those who live in the country fell their Christmas trees themselves if they have land of their own, or with the land owner’s permission. Trees are decorated according to family tradition. Some are bedecked with flags, others with tinsel, and many with coloured baubles. Electric lights are usually preferred to can-dles on the tree because of the risk of fire. Christmas presents are placed under the lit-up tree.

Homes are also decorated with wall hang-ings depicting brownies and winter scenes, with tablecloths in Christmas patterns, and with candlesticks, little Father Christmas figures, and angels. The home is filled with the powerful scent of hyacinths. At three o’clock, the whole of Sweden turns on the TV to watch a cavalcade of Disney film scenes that have been shown ever since the 1960s, without anyone tiring of them. Only then can the celebrations begin in earnest. Traditional foods include a julbord – a festive buffet – with all the classic dishes: Christmas

ham, pork sausages, an egg and anchovy mixture (gubbröra), herring salad, pickled herring, home-made liver pâté, wort-fla-voured rye bread (vörtbröd), potatoes and a special fish dish (lutfisk). The seasonal soft drink (julmust) is also served at the julbord, as well as during the whole of the Christmas holidays.

A traditional julbord is typically eaten in three courses. The dishes include local and family specialties. The first course would typ-ically be a variety of fish, particularly pickled herring and salmon (gravlax). It is custom-ary to eat particular foods together; herring is typically eaten with boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, and is frequently accom-panied by strong spirits (like snaps, brännvin or akvavit with or without spices). Other traditional dishes would be (smoked) eel, rolled-up pickled herring (rollmops), herring salad, baked herring, smoked salmon and crab canapés, accompanied by sauces and dips.

The second course is often a selection of cold sliced meats, the most important cold cut being the Christmas ham (julskinka) with mustard. Other traditional cuts include homemade sausages, liver pâté (leverpastej) and several types of brawn. It is also com-mon to serve the cold meats with sliced cheese, pickled cucumbers, and soft and crisp breads.

The third course would be warm dishes. Tra-ditionally, the third course begins with soak-ing bread in the stock from the Christmas

ham, which is called dopp i grytan. Warm dishes include Swedish meat-balls (köttbullar), small fried hot dog sausag-es (prinskorv), roasted pork ribs (revbenssp-jäll), and warm potato casserole, matchstick potatoes layered with cream, as well as on-ion and sprats called Janssons frestelse (lit-erally “Jansson's temptation”).

Other dishes are pork sausages (fläskkorv), smoked pork and potato sausages (ister-band), cabbage rolls (kåldolmar), baked beans, omelette with shrimps or mush-rooms covered with béchamel sauce. Side dishes include beetroot salad in mayon-naise and warm stewed red, green or brown cabbage.

Julbord desserts include rice pudding (ris-grynsgröt), sprinkled with cinnamon pow-der. Traditionally, an almond is hidden in the bowl of rice pudding and whoever finds it receives a small prize or is recognised for having good luck.

Beer and the occasional “snaps” are com-mon beverages during this Christmas meal. Mulled wine (glögg), ginger nuts and saf-fron buns are served throughout December.

Once all have eaten, Santa Claus himself ar-rives to wish the gathering a Merry Christ-mas and distribute the presents. After the gifts are opened, the family spends the evening together.

Christmas traditionsIn Sweden written by Joakim Franzén, Quality Vetting Manager/DPA/CSO

We got some interesting christmas contributions from ashore and from board.

The Latvian Christmas celebrations are very similar to the German ones. The majority of the population is of Protestant or Catholic faith. Our public holidays are December 24, 25 and 26.

Christmas is all about family. We decorate a Christmas tree and the house, and set up an Advent wreath with candles. Some people go to church, some do not. Usually every-body gets presents from Santa Claus on

Christmas Eve.

There also should be a richly laid banquet table with nine to twelve different dishes. A very special traditional Latvia Christmas dish is roasted grey peas with onions and bacon. People say that whoever eats grey peas at Christmas will not cry next year.

We also have Christmas markets with mulled wine and gingerbread cookies.

In Latvia written by Jekaterina Lissowa-Tolstopjatova, Crewing Manager-Riga

The ham is first boiled, then pain- ted and glazed with a mixture of egg, breadcrumbs and mustard.

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

In Finland in the morning of Christmas Eve, Santa Claus (Joulupukki in Finnish) starts his journey from his Finnish home, Korvatun-turi. The sledge pulled by reindeers makes headway through the snow-covered scen-ery of Lapland and takes this old, white-bearded gentleman on his hectic voyage to every child of the world. This short but sig-nificant event is broadcast live on Finnish television and ra-dio. After all the preparations, which have of course taken much longer, this event really starts off Christmas for every-one in Finland.

Shortly after that, another im-portant event is broadcast: the declaration of Christmas Peace. It has been announced in Finland on Christmas Eve at noon since the 1320s. Nowadays it is done in the city of Turku, the country’s former capital, and can be translated as follows:

The declaration still holds a lot of meaning.

All shops close, all busses and trains stop, and all people return to their homes. They get ready for a quiet and peaceful evening with their families.

The Finnish Christmas dinner comprises sev-eral dishes, which are eaten only at Christmas. There is a casserole made of potato, carrot or

turnip, fish, boiled potatoes, and Christmas ham. It is cooked overnight in the oven a few days beforehand, and on Christmas Eve it gets a decorative cover of mustard and a whole lot of cloves, before it is served cold.

The dinner takes long, and nobody is in a hurry – until the doorbell rings!

This is the moment that every child in Fin-land has waited for! Santa Claus is here! In Finland people do not give presents to each other; all presents are brought by Santa Claus, who has sent his elves out to observe if the children, and also the adults, have been hard-working, nice, and well-behaved. Santa Claus distributes the

well-earned presents and enjoys the short moment by singing a few Christ-mas carols with the fam-ily. But he does not have much time – there are still many children waiting for his visit.

The First and Second Days of Christmas are spent with the families, maybe with some visits to relatives, but mostly it is about eating – the leftovers must be fin-ished before the holiday is over. Anyway, it will takes almost 12 months before these special Christmas dishes are avail-able again.

Tomorrow, God willing, is the graceful celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour;and thus is declared a peaceful Christmas time to all, by advising devotion and to behave otherwise quietly and peacefully,because he who breaks this peace and violates the peace of Christmas by any illegal or improper behaviour shall under aggravating circumstances be guiltyand punished according to what the law and statutes prescribe for each and every offence separately.Finally, a joyous Christmas feast is wished to all inhabitants of the city."

In Finland written by Risto Sipiläinen, Quality Manager/DPA/CSO

A Latvian folk tradition says that there have to be nine dishes on the table at Christmas, so that the next year is plentiful and rich.

For the Latvians of old, the winter solstice was a ritual festival for the men, which they associated with the return of the light, and with resting after the hard harvesting work. Therefore they put everything on the table that the harvest had yielded. Today this holiday is first and foremost a calm and quiet one, but for ancient Latvians it was a time of joy and fun.

The Latvian Christmas banquet table should include the following nine dishes:peas and beans, for never having to cry; pies, for new surprises;beet and carrots, for health;ginger cakes, for always enough love;round pastry cookies, for plenty of sun;stewed cabbage, for always enough strength;poultry meat, for success;fish, for keeping the money in the purse;pork, for happiness at all times.

As it is very difficult to observe such a strict order and put only nine dishes on the table at Christmas, there is usually much more.

Nevertheless, there is one delicacy that is truly Latvian.

Grey peas – the Latvian national delicacy Latvians cannot imagine Christmas with-out grey peas. Therefore, no matter how many dishes there are on the Christmas banquet table, grey peas are necessarily one of them, and everyone has to eat a handful. It is unthinkable to leave even a single pea on the platter on such a festive evening, because otherwise there will be tears in the coming year.

This is the recipe:• 250 ml grey peas • 500 ml water• 1 onion • 2 slices of smoked bacon • salt to taste• black pepper to taste

Soak peas in cold water overnight. Drain water from peas on the following morning and rinse them out under running water.

Pour clear water into a saucepan, add the peas, and cook for about 40-50 minutes, until soft. Add salt only when peas are al-most ready. From time to time, remove the

foam that builds up in the saucepan. If the water boils away, add more boiling water.

While the peas are cooking, chop the on-ion and slices of smoked bacon into small pieces. Heat the frying pan without oil and fry the meat for a few minutes, then add the onion. Roast until both are golden brown. Season with freshly ground black pepper at the end.

Strain the cooked peas through a sieve. Replace them in the saucepan, cover and leave to stand for five minutes. When serv-ing, put a spoonful of roasted meat and onions on the peas.Source:

MĀJA UN DĀRZS magazine, December 24, 2013 http://www.delfi.lv/tasty/

Nine magical dishes on the Christmas banquet table

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

Christmas Traditions continued

In Poland, a largely Catholic country, Advent is the beginning of Christmas Time. It is a time when people try to be peaceful and re-member the real reason for Christmas. They try not to have too much of anything. Some people give up their favorite foods or drinks, and parties and discos are not widely held. Some people also go to Church quite fre-quently. There is the tradition of the “roraty”, special masses (or communion services) held at dawn and dedicated to Mary for receiving the good news from the angel Gabriel.

During Advent, people also prepare their houses for Christmas. There is a lot of clean-ing, and people wash their windows and clean their carpets very thoroughly. Every-thing must be clean for Christmas Day!

Before Christmas, children in schools and pre-schools take part in “Jasełka” (Nativity Plays). They are very popular and often more secu-lar than religious. The Christmas story is also sometime transferred into modern times.Christmas Eve is known as “Wigilia”. Tradi-tionally everyone wears their best festive clothes. The main Christmas meal is eaten in the evening and is called “Kolacja wigilijna” (Christmas Eve supper). It is traditional that no food is eaten until the first star can be seen in the sky, so children look at the night sky to spot the first star.

On the table there are twelve different dishes – they are meant to bring good luck for the next twelve months. The meal is tradition-ally meat-free, to remember the animals who took care of baby Jesus in the manger. Every-one has to eat or at least try a little of every dish. For Catholics, the twelve dishes sym-bolize Jesus’s twelve disciples. Like in many Catholic countries, Christmas Eve is often a day of fasting, meaning that some people will not eat anything until after sunset (when the Church day officially ends). This is where the custom of the first star comes from. Some people in central Poland say that the animals can talk at midnight.

One of the most important dishes for Christ-mas Eve is “barszcz” (beetroot soup), and it is obligatory to have it. The barszcz is eaten with "uszka" (little dumplings with mush-rooms), or sometimes with “krokiety” (rolled-up pancakes with mushrooms and/or cab-

bage, crumbed and fried in oil or butter).

Carp is the main dish of the meal. The fish would traditionally be bought alive a few days in advance, and it would swim in the bath until killed by the lady of the house. These days, most people just buy a fillet of carp instead (especially if you only have a shower and not a bath in your house!). The carp's scales are said to bring good luck and fortune, and so some are kept for the whole year (e.g. in wallets). Traditionally, some older ladies put them in their bras during supper and give them to the guest on the next day for good luck!

“Bigos” is a dish which can be eaten either hot or cold. It is made of cabbage, bacon, and sometimes dried plums – so it is saved for Christmas Day or the 26th, as it has meat in it. It is made about a week or so before Christ-mas Eve, because with each day it gets better.

Herring is very popular and is usually served in several ways: in oil, in cream, and in jelly. Every household has its own recipe, which of course is 'the best in the whole wide world'.

Mostly there is also “kompot z suszu” which is a drink made by boiling dried fruits and fresh apples. The most popular desserts at Kolacja wigilijna are “makowiec”, a poppy-seed roll made of sweet yeast bread, “kutia”, mixed dried fruits and nuts with wheat seeds, “piernik”, a moist cake made with honey (a lot like gingerbread), and gingerbread biscuits (which are usually dry and very hard).

At the beginning of the meal, a large wafer biscuit called an 'Oplatek', which has a pic-ture of Mary, Joseph and Jesus on it, is passed around the table and everyone breaks a piece off and eats it. Sometimes a small piece may be given to farm animals or pets of the family. A place is often left empty at the dinner table, for a ‘Niespodziewany Gość’, an unexpected guest. Polish people say that no-one should be alone or hungry, so if someone unexpect-edly knocks on the door, they are welcomed in. In some houses, the empty place is to commemorate a dead relative, or for a fam-ily member who could not come to the meal. Sometimes straw is put on the floor of the room, or under the table cloth, to remind people that Jesus was born in a stable or

cow shed.

The worst part about Christmas dinner is that the presents cannot be opened before the meal has been eaten. Older members of the family (who traditionally begin and end dinner) always make it last a long time. In most of the houses, the family sings carols together before the presents are opened. But the children really want to open the presents, and sometimes more carols are sung just to tease them!

Very many carols are sung in Poland, and each region has its own. The most popular ones are “Wśród nocnej ciszy” (Within nights silence), “Bóg się rodzi” (God is born), “Lulajże Jezuniu” (Sleep baby Jesus) and “Dzisiaj w Betlejem" (Today in Bethlehem). The oldest carols are from medieval times, but the most popular ones are from the baroque period.Presents are brought by “Święty Mikołaj” (St Nicholas/Santa Claus), but in some parts of Poland they are brought by somebody else (because during the 19th century, the borders of Poland were different, so people have dif-ferent traditions even today). In the east (Pod-lasie) there is “Dziadek Mróz” (Ded Moroz), in western and northern Poland "Gwiazdor" (the Starman). The Starman is not always all-good – if someone was bad, he can give him “rózga”, a birch-rod to be used on bad person.

The Christmas tree is also always bought and decorated on Christmas Eve. It is decorated with a star on the top (to represent the Star of Bethlehem), gingerbread biscuits, lights (originally candles), and “bombki”, which are baubles and glass ornaments in different shapes (though most often they are spheres). They are usually hand-made, painted or dec-orated in different ways. In the east of Poland, the decorations are traditionally made of straw and very beautiful.

Christmas Eve is finished by going to Church for a Midnight Mass service.Since 1992, a very popular film to watch in Poland over Christmas has been 'Home Alone‘ In Poland it is called ”Kevin Sam w Domu” which means ”Kevin Alone in the House”. In 2010 it was not going to be shown, but so many people complained that it was put back on.

In Poland written by Piotr Berbes, Marine Superintendent

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

Christmas celebrations on RHL ASTRUMActivity against homesickness

Leaving the family behind is one of the great challenges as a seafarer. Without enough courage to admit this situation, your endurance may possibly be over-taken by homesickness. For me as a Fili-pino, the Christmas season is celebrated as festively as possible, of course not only with the direct family but rather with close relatives and friends, playing what we call “Parlour Games”, where everyone – especially the children – enjoy every moment of BISPERAS (Christmas Eve) un-til Christmas Day morning. Reminiscing these occasions gave us the notion: Why not try doing it on board?

During last year’s Christmas season I was on board RHL Astrum, and the vessel was expected to stay at anchor off Shanghai on Christmas Day. So a few weeks before Christmas, a meeting was held in the crew mess room. Suggestions and ideas were collected for the preparations that were soon to follow, with the arrangement of gifts, buying game prizes and recreational equipment for a live band and tourna-ments, the fabrication of trophies for tour-nament awards, the preparation of ma-terials to be used for the different parlour games, and so forth. Fortunately, our ves-sel visited the port of Manila before going back to China, so we were able to arrange for my wife to assist us with buying all the necessary items for the party.

Just a few days beforehand, everyone was very excited because of what was going to happen; seeing the unique designs of the trophies displayed in the crew and offic-ers’ mess rooms, and the prizes and gifts beneath the Christmas trees. In their free time, people practiced hard for the coming tournaments.

For our Christmas celebrations, which start-ed at 1300H on the 24th of December, all of-ficers and crew were assembled in the crew mess room to discuss the programme for the coming hours. Soon after the meeting, all players for the tournaments proceeded to their respective game areas. Four players remained in the crew mess room for a chess tournament, four players went to the steer-ing gear room for a table tennis tournament,

and twelve further players went to Bay 34, just in front of the accommodation, for a basketball tournament. All officers and crew participated, including our Master.

Each and every moment of the tourna-

ments was enjoyed; it was as if we were back in our childhood days. The champi-ons of the games were announced after the completion of the tournaments: chess champion, AB Canaya; table tennis cham-pion, 2nd Engineer Trinh; basketball cham-pions, Chief Officer Serenilla, OS Abagat, Messman Marquez. The strenuous tournaments were then followed by some relaxation, with the live band playing several songs while we were waiting for the next programme. As twilight came, everyone gathered at the Christmas party venue, which was on the aft station, bringing with them their boxes with the Christmas gifts. As the sun contin-uously moved down towards the horizon, everyone was excited to receive gifts from their colleagues.

Soon after, the trophies and prizes were distributed to each player who won a tour-nament, followed by a variety of further parlour games such as horseracing, flour blowing, an apple eating contest, an egg breaking contest, etc.

The Christmas celebrations we had on board RHL Astrum were a real success; all officers and crew enjoyed the activities, starting in the afternoon and ending some-time in the middle of the night.

“The best way to fight stress is to keep your happiness.” Always strive hard to achieve the best for your career and your company, even in a difficult situation, while keeping your smiles and enjoying life.

Ultimately, we would like to thank my wife for her immeasurable assistance. Her special contribution made our Christmas celebra-tion such a memorable event. Likewise, our thanks go out to RHL Hamburg for the addi-tional financial assistance for Christmas din-ner, to the whole RHL fleet, to RHL Riga, and to the ABOJEB family. We would like to greet all of you and wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year ahead.

From “RHL ASTRUM”, Master, officers and crew

Chief Officer Serenilla, Rolando R. RHL ASTRUM – Full power

C/O Serenilla’s family

buying prizes

Christmas greetings

Our live band

Basketball-Tournament

Apple eating contest

Trophies and prizes

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

A steel legend is back: At the end of July, after more than eight decades, the four-masted barque “Peking” returned to Ham-burg from New York. Over the course of eleven days, the no longer seaworthy tall ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a dock ship, and will be restored in the Peters shipyard in Wewelsfleth in Schleswig-Hol-stein, north Germany. It is expected that the “Peking” will take berth as a museum ship (accessible for visitors, but not fit for sailing) in her former home port of Ham-burg by 2020.

The cargo sailing ship is one of only four remaining so-called “Flying-P-Liners” of the shipping company F. Laeisz. Famous for their speed and safety, the vessels were painted in the company colours black (hull above water line), white (water line) and red (underwater hull).

There are some beautiful pictures of the fleet under the following Youtube link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6n6lC5RcBI

The ships’ names all began with a “P”; this was a reference to Carl Laeisz’s wife, who was nicknamed “Poodle” for her frizzy hair. In memory of Carl’s wife there is a statue of a poodle on the so-called “Laeiszhof” building (the company headquarters), be-tween two turrets of the central pediment. Soon it became a tradition for the ship-ping company F. Laeisz to give all their ships names beginning with the letter “P”, a tradition that continues to this day. Apart from the “Peking”, only four sister

ships remain: the “Pommern” in the Finn-ish town of Mariehamn, the “Passat" in the north German town of Travemünde, and the former "Padua”. She sails as the Rus-sian school ship “Kruzenshtern” today, and is the only one of the four which is still fully functional. A further sister ship, the “Pamir”, sank in a hurricane in 1957.

The “Peking” was built at the Hamburg shipyard Blohm+Voss, where she was launched on 25 February 1911. With a length of 115 meters, she was one of the largest sailing ships in the world at that time. The steel barque, which could trans-port about 5,300 tons of cargo, was used in the saltpetre trade with Chile as from 1912, but was detained there shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in Au-gust 1914.

After the end of the war, the “Peking” was first taken to London, and later ended up as a reparation payment to Italy in 1921. Two years later, the shipping company F. Laeisz bought her back and once again deployed her as a cargo sailing ship on the Hamburg-Chile route. The ship sailed around legendary Cape Horn, on the southernmost tip of South America, 34 times.

But the competition from steam ships was steadily growing, and cargo sailing ships were becoming less and less profitable. At the same time, the economic crisis of the early 1930s gave the shipping company a lot of trouble. In 1932 it parted with the “Peking” and sold the vessel to England. Under her new name “Arethusa” she re-mained anchored as a stationary – i.e. no longer sailing – training ship in Upnor on the English east coast. During the Second World War she was taken to western Eng-land for a while, but was in Upnor again after 1945. Since the ship no longer sailed, she was neither equipped with an engine nor modernised in any other way, as op-posed to many other tall ships.

In 1974 the British owners sold the ship to

the South Street Seaport Museum in New York. Under its original name "Peking” it remained moored at a berth on the East River as a museum ship. But because the museum had no money for the restoration of the four-masted barque, the “Beijing” deteriorated noticeably over the years.

As early as 2003, “Peking” enthusiasts first negotiated with the museum in New York about her possible return to Hamburg. But first the museum asked for a very high purchase price, and then there were no sponsors for the urgently necessary resto-ration. In 2013, the association “Friends of the four-mast barque Peking” was found-ed, and then in the spring of 2015, the museum announced that the “Peking’s” berth would be cleared after a heavy storm – and suddenly wanted to give the ship away for free. After a lot of persuasive work and a suitable concept from the as-sociation, the German federal government finally agreed to provide some 26 million Euros for the transport of the ship to Ger-many, her restoration, and the setting up of a berth in the port of Hamburg. The Hamburg Foundation of Historic Museums was responsible for the coordination.

It has not yet been decided where in Ham-burg the “Peking” will find a berth after her restoration. The ship is to be a part of a new port museum, which will be set up over the coming years, and for which the federal government is providing a further 94 million Euros. Apart from the fish mar-ket in Altona and the city’s new quarter “Hafencity”, the historic no. 50 warehouse opposite the “Elbphilharmonie” opera house is also being discussed as a possi-ble location. This is also the current loca-tion of the port museum. And Hamburg’s legendary four-mast barque would find her final berth only about two kilometres away from where she was launched in 1911.

Source:

http://www.ndr.de/kulturwww.wikipedia.dewww.peking-freunde.de

The four-masted sailing ship “Peking” comes home to Hamburg.The restoration is to be completed by 2020

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

Zheng He was born as the son of a Muslim rebel in 1371, in the Ming Dynasty, in the province of Yunnan, in China’s south-west.

At only ten years of age, he was captured by the Ming general Fu Youde. In 1385, he was sent to serve in the household of the 25-year-old prince Zhu Di, who would later become Emperor Yongle. Zheng He was castrated when he was 13, because the Em-peror and his successors were the only po-tent males allowed in the palace. A trustful relationship between him and the Emperor developed, and Zheng He was instructed in the arts of warfare and diplomacy.

A year after seizing power, the Emperor or-dered for the so-called treasure fleet, which Zheng He was to lead as Admiral, to be built up in 1403. It was to be a grand and power-ful message to all circles inside and outside of China, one that was to leave no doubt as to the legitimacy of Yongle. He saw China as the Middle Kingdom, as the unassailable centre of the world.

Between 1404 and 1407 Zhu Di had as many as 1681 ships built or overhauled.

Led by the Admiral, the fleet went on sev-en long expeditions before 1433. Zheng He’s main travel routes took him in a south-westerly direction, via Siam to Java, through the Malacca Strait via Ceylon, to the south-west-Indian trading hub of Kali-

kut, to Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, and on secondary routes right down to Madagas-car and Timor. To this day there are specula-tions that at least parts of his fleet may have reached Australia or America.

This would not have been a technical prob-lem. His armada comprised up to 300 ships, and counted 28,000 crew. The largest units – enormous, nine-masted “treasure ships” – measured up to 12 metres in length and up to 50 in width. Modern research on the treasure fleet suggests, however, that these sizes were probably greatly exaggerated, and that the largest vessels of the fleet were only around 59 to 84 m long. But they were the flag ships of the fleet, built in dry docks in Nanjing on the Yangtze River. For comparison: Columbus’s Santa Maria meas-ured 27 metres in length.

The fleet carried thousands of tons of Chi-nese merchandise. They already used a compass for navigation; it was invented in China in the eleventh century. Marked in-cense sticks were used as clocks. Every day was divided into ten watches of two hours 24 minutes each. Geographical latitude was determined by measuring the North Star’s altitude in the north, and that of the South-ern Cross on the southern hemisphere.

The vessels carried outstanding equip-ment: They had water-tight bulkheads, balanced rudders, and luxury cabins with balconies. Special tank ships for drinking water supply, and horse carriers that could even take untamed elephants on board, accompanied the expeditions. Also, there were interpreters, astronomers, and civil servants for diplomatic protocol, who en-sured that the missions ran smoothly.

With their sails made of red silk, and the carved animal heads complete with paint-ed “eyes” on the prow, every one of these treasure ships must have been a breathtak-ing sight in itself. And it is extremely inter-esting to imagine what it must have looked like when a flotilla of nine-masted ships accompanied by a number of smaller ves-sels undertook even a small course change: Large flags, signal bells, pennants, drums, gongs, and lanterns were their means of

communication and coordination. Larger distances were bridged with the help of carrier pigeons.

Emperor Yongle died in 1424. This was not only a heavy blow for Zheng He personally, but for the entire Chinese treasure fleet. The new Emperor Hongxi (Yongle’s son) put an end to the voyages of the treasure fleet and sent home the naval architects and the sailors. Zheng He became a mili-tary commander in the country’s capital Nanjing. However, Emperor Hongxi died as early as 1425. His son, the Xuande Emperor, ascended the throne. He reactivated the treasure fleet, and gave the order for a new voyage in 1430. Zheng He once again be-came an Admiral. This voyage had the pur-pose of restoring peaceful relations with

the kingdoms of Malacca and Thailand. A year later, the fleet of 100 ships and 27,500 crew departed.

The accounts of Zheng He’s death are in-consistent. According to some reports, he allegedly died on the homeward journey in 1433, and others say he died after his return in 1435. Zheng He’s tomb is near Nanjing. However, the large light-coloured stone sarcophagus on Cattle Head Hill has been proven to be empty. On the occasion of the 580th anniversary of the treasure fleet’s first voyage in 1985, the tomb was restored.

Three of the large dry docks in which Zheng He’s ships were built still exist in the city of Nanjing.

Source: www.zeit.de, www.wikipedia.com

Famous SeafarersZheng He – Admiral of a gigantic fleet(* 1371 in the province of Yunnan; † 1433)

Source: wikimedia commons, Hassan Saeed from Melaka, Malaysia

Zhen Hes Fleet on a woodcut (17th century) Source: wikimedia

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

Painkillers are an integral part of many a bathroom, handbag, or sponge bag. Whether headache, back pain, or cold symptoms, these little helpers often seem to be the first option. However, the active ingredient selected is often not the rec-ommended one. We would like to explain when the four analgesic (pain-relieving) substances Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, ASA, and Diclofenac can really help, and how to avoid dangerous side effects.

The trade magazine “The Lancet” shows: Paracetamol is usually completely useless against back pain. But this is not only true for this substance. “The reason is as follows: Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Diclofenac, and Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA) are so-called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). These only have an effect if an inflammation is present. But in many cases, muscular ten-sion is the cause for backache. Therefore, taking these drugs will show no effect.”

In those cases, exercise and warmth are much better cures for the pain. Magnesium can also help, due to its muscle-relaxant properties. If the complaints continue for more than a week, however, a doctor should be consulted. But according to ex-perts, 90 percent of all cases of back pain disappear by themselves.

The same is true for tension headaches: In this case, the substances listed above can-

not help, because there is no inflammation. Exercise, an adequate fluid intake, as well as a bit of peppermint oil applied to the tem-ples are a lot more helpful.

For migraines, toothache, or inflamed knee injuries, however, these active ingredients can be effective. But the selected substance depends on one’s medical compatibility with it. NSAIDs all work in a similar way; there is no specific inflammation pain for which a certain substance is particularly effective.

But why are there so many anti-inflam-matory drugs available if their active in-gredients hardly differ from one another with regard to their effect? The substances Paracetamol, ASA, Diclofenac, and Ibupro-fen were not introduced to the market for specific complaints, but were the result of long strands of research, each with the aim to develop a painkiller with as few side-effects as possible. The initial euphoria is usually great, but often this is followed by disillusionment as it becomes clear that the new product involves risks, too, and so the research for a new drug continues. This leads to a whole lot of similar products on the market.

Dr Gerhard Müller-Schwefe, president of the German Pain Association (Deutsche Ge-sellschaft für Schmerzmedizin, DGS), makes a drastic point of how risky regular intake can be: “If the analgesic substances ASA,

Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, and Diclofenac had to pass today’s authorisation criteria, they would never attain market approval. This is how critical the side-effects are.”

So why are these substances still on the market at all? “Because a decision was made against elaborate and costly investi-gations, and for new dosage recommenda-tions”, is Müller-Schwefe’s answer. Because painkillers are available over the counter, everybody can decide for themselves how many to take. No doctor checks whether the maximum permissible dosage is ob-served. And usually, the patient isn`t wor-ried. The focus is on pain relief, not on pos-sible side-effects.

And these can be immense. While a sporadic intake of the substances is tolerated fairly well by the body, a regular intake can be life-threatening. Take ASA, Germany’s most pop-ular painkiller: Frequent consumption means a high risk of developing a stomach ulcer.

ASA affects the protective mucous mem-branes of the stomach and intestines. If this natural barrier is missing, stomach and intestines start digesting themselves. Not many people are aware of this risk. After only seven days of intake, 80 percent of patients already show signs of damage to their gastric mucosa.

Acetylsalicylic Acid, which was originally developed as a painkiller, has positive prop-erties for cardiac patients: The substance prevents the blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous blood clots that clog the arteries. For these pa-tients, the drug makes total sense – especial-ly since they are under medical observation and receive additional stomach protection medication. “This substance is not suited at all as a painkiller for patients with healthy hearts”, Müller-Schwefe emphasises.

Regular intake of NSAIDs does not only in-crease the risk of developing a stomach or intestinal ulcer, or even a malignant tumour. The patient’s stroke and heart attack risk

Painkillers are often without effect – and dangerousThe administration of painkillers is not always advisable

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

also rises significantly. Also, stomach and intestinal ulcers can lead to life-threatening internal bleeding – the most insidious part being that the ulcers and even the bleeding often remain unnoticed and undetected.

There is an additional risk of liver damage, and the kidneys can also fail. “It is a particu-larly bad idea to take painkillers in combi-nation with sports, for example in order to prevent pain during a marathon. If the ath-lete does not drink enough and loses fur-ther fluids due to the exertion, the kidneys

are no longer rinsed sufficiently. This in turn can lead to a critical accumulation of the active ingredient, which puts a strain on the organ that it often cannot cope with.” When asked which substance qualifies as the most critical, Müller-Schwefe answers: “In my opinion the substance ASA is the most dangerous. But all of these drugs have side-effects when taken over a longer period of time. Paracetamol is the most tolerable and has an additional antipyretic effect. Diclofenac has very good analgesic properties, Ibuprofen involves the lowest

risk for the stomach.” A long-term intake of pain-killers should be avoided at all costs. The rule of thumb is: As short as possible, and as little as neces-sary. “Never take painkillers on more than ten days a month”, Müller-Schwefe stresses. “And if you have chronic, prolonged com-plaints, talk to your doctor about possible alternatives.”

Source:

https://www.welt.de/gesundheit/http://www.t-online.de/gesundheitwww.dpa.com

Hamburg and its twin cities around the worldOsaka (twin city since 1989)

Economic relations with Japan – which has been represented by a consulate gen-eral in Hamburg since 1883 – go as far back as the mid-19th century. Impressive proof of the economic importance of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg for Japan are the currently around 100 Japa-nese companies in Hamburg, including 60 European or German headquarters, creating about 6,000 jobs in the city. 540 Hamburg companies maintain economic ties with Japan, 35 of them have a branch office there.

Hamburg celebrates these commercial and friendly bonds with a cherry blossom festival along the Alster lake every year in May. The fireworks are donated as a thank-you for Hamburg’s hospitality. The round about 5,000 cherry trees around the Alster lake were planted by Japanese companies based in the Hanseatic city as early as the late 1960s. Once every two years, the “Cher-ry Blossom Princess”– a special ambassador representing the city of Hamburg in Japan– is crowned during the festival. Of course, one station is never missed when she trav-els through Japan: Osaka. The fireworks for the Cherry Blossom Festival took place for the first time in 1968.

The city partnership agreement between Hamburg and Osaka was signed on May 11 1989. There are close ties with Osaka in trade, industry, port, education, and cul-ture. Both cities are “gateways to the world” – economically and culturally leading me-tropolises that treasure and preserve their precious traditions and buildings. The city of Osaka is Japan’s traditional trading cen-tre, and one of its most important indus-trial hubs and ports today. It seems almost symbolic that the city partnership agree-ment was finalised during the 800th an-niversary celebrations of Hamburg's port. Afterwards, Hamburg celebrated the new friendship with a “Japan Week” which, next to cultural events, included a high-ranking German-Japanese business symposium with the participation of Osaka.In addition to economic and political rela-

tions, the city partnership is also reflected in numerous exchange programs of a scientific, cultural, and sporting nature.

Encounters between handball teams from both cities at the “Good-Will-Games Ham-burg-Osaka“, the German speech contest winners' reception at Hamburg's town hall, organised by the “Osaka-Hamburg Friend-ship Association“, or the participation of runners from Hamburg at the Osaka half marathon, are examples of this exchange. Hamburg’s universities also maintain close ties with academic institutions in Osaka. This includes the Department of Japanese Studies at the University of Hamburg with the Osaka City University, and the Techni-cal University of Hamburg-Harburg with the Osaka Municipal Technical Research In-stitute (OMTRI) in the area of planning and telecommunications.

In 1991, Hamburg commissioned land-scape architect Yoshikuni Araki from Osaka to plan an area in Hamburg’s famous “Plant-en and Blomen” park. This Japanese Garden is the largest in Europe today.

A multi-faceted connection has grown between the two cities, characterized by exchange and participation, dialogue and cooperation.

Source: www.djg-hamburg.de, www.hamburg.de, www.wikepedia.de,www.hamburgcruisedays.de

HAMBURG OSAKAArea 755.22 km2 222.11 km²Inhabitants 1,766,537 (2015) 2,704,557 (2017)Density 2,331 inhabitants/m2 12,177 inhabitants/m²

Osaka city

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

RHL Nürnberg brings “Florida Girl II” to safety

On September 24 2017, in position φ = 11° 38.0’ N, λ = 058° 31.9’ W (off Bar-bados), the RHL Nürnberg received a VHF call on channel 16 from the fishing boat “Florida Girl II”, requesting assistance due to an engine failure. The three people on board were all Barbados citizens.

The RHL Nürnberg reached the fishing boat in the shortest possible time, and

after communicating with the coast gu-ard, it was clear that no rescue vessel was available in the vicinity. Because the weather was getting worse and strong rain was impairing visibility, it was decided to establish a rope connec-tion, in order to give the boat cover in the tanker’s lee using a second line. On following next morning it was agreed that the “Florida Girl II” would be mano-

euvred to Needham’s Point, where a res-cue vessel was to take over. At 07:36 hrs local time, the “Florida Girl II” was safely disconnected and handed over, in position φ = 13° 02.8’ N, λ = 059° 37.7’ W.

We would like to thank Captain Besik Klar-jeishvili and his crew for their commitment and spirited rescue operation.

Salvage Operation – Tank vessel rescues fishing boat

Promotions

Container• Mr Andriy Franchuk has been promoted to Master• Mr Oleksandr Novikov has been promoted to Master• Mr Aleksei Terekhov has been promoted to C/E • Mr Illia Cholak has been promoted to C/O• Mr Stephan Kukasyan has been promoted to 2/E• Mr Ilja Malovic has been promoted to 3/E

• Tanker• Mr Yury Mironov has been promoted to C/O • Mr Oleg Kulinich has been promoted to 2/O • Mr Carlo Palen has been promoted to 3/O

Birthdays

We would like to congratulate:• Captain Albert B. Baldon on his 40th birthday• Chief Officer Arnaldo Jr. Cortez on his 35th birthday• Chief Officer Jerry N. Malapad on his 40th birthday• Chief Officer Onesimo M. Nalzaro on his 55th birthday• Captain Oleg Taran on his 40th birthday

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

Congratulations

As well a warm welcome to Pepe, first son of Luisa Rolletschke (Accountant) and her life partner born on October 04th 2017. Pepe measured 55 cm at 4170 g.

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to Joakim Franzén (Quality Vetting Manager/DPA/CSO) and his wife on the birth of their daughter Michaela, who was born on Sep-tember 17th 2017 at 17:00 pm. Michaela measured 52 cm at 3170 g.

Michaela

Life on a ship is de-termined by strict schedules. Work, food, sleep – everything happens according to the watch schedules. But even in this harsh environment, there are sometimes a few free

moments. And how do we like to rest most of all? Many people enjoy watching a film.

Thanks to technical progress, the internet, and recording devices, we have many great opportunities for watching movies, at any time of day, be it at home or in the cabin of a ship.I am Jekaterina Lissova, and I have been working for RHL Hamburger Lloyd Crewma-nagement Riga SIA for the last nine years. I will tell you about my favourite film, which I think illustrates a sailor’s life at sea, and which impressed me a lot.

For me, this film has become a parable for human and working relations: Several sailors spend time together in an enclosed space,

Pepe

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

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SudokuOne of the world’s most popular number puzzles: Sudoku! A Sudoku is made up of a grid of 3 x 3 squares, each contai-ning 3 x 3 sub-squares. The objective is to fill the grid with digits in such a way that each sub-square, each row and each column contains all the numbers from 1 to 9. We hope you enjoy solving it! (Answer see further down.)

Favourite film about the sea

away from home for several months, under dangerous conditions, and experiencing enormous mental and physical stress. How-ever, thanks to their different personalities, high professionalism, and education, they behave courageously and hold on to their dignity even in the most difficult situations. The film is called “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World“. The film was crea-ted by the Australian-American director Peter Weir. It is a historical adventure drama, set du-ring the times of the great naval battles bet-ween the British navy and Napoleon’s fleet.

This film impressed me with the wonderful human relations between the captain, his assistant, and the crew. It is a story about friendship, a very cohesive team, and expe-rienced sailors setting a good example for young cadets to follow. The protagonist of Captain Jack Aubrey – well played by Russell Crowe – has a great part in this important message. The film shows the friendship bet-ween the commander and the ship's doctor Stephen Maturin. Due to their ingenuity,

diverse scientific knowledge, and mutual interest in each other's hobbies, the ship is able to win the final fierce battle in the end.

I will briefly retell the plot of the film. The naval vessel “Surprise“, which is sailing the Atlantic Ocean, is unexpectedly attacked by a large unknown ship emerging from the fog. Thanks to the courage and resour-cefulness of the team, the “Surprise“ avoi-ds being sunk. Despite heavy damage and some losses, the captain decides to pursue the enemy and sets off after the ship.

This film is extraordinarily spectacular. It impresses the viewer with grandiose battle scenes, including hand-to-hand fighting. The huge sum of $ 150 million was spent on an exact reproduction of 200-year-old battle ships and meticulous historical re-construction.Jekaterina Lissowa-Tolstopjatova

What is your favourite movie and why? Send your replies to the address:thebridge@hamburger-lloyd.de

crew ’s corner

T H E B R I D G E I No. 36

Editor: RHL Reederei Hamburger Lloyd GmbH & CO KGRaboisen 38, 20095 Hamburg, Germany

Tel.: +49 40 380 881-300Fax: +49 40 380 881- 499E-mail: thebridge@hamburger-lloyd.dewww.hamburger-lloyd.com

Editorial Team: Bettina Pane, Hauke Pane, Burghart Schaade, Margret Schindler, Stefan Schindler

Layout: STILPUNKT3 Designbüro

Pictures: RHL Reederei Hamburger Lloyd, pixabay office, Fotolia, WikiMedia, istock-photo, Stiftung Hamburg Maritim

impressum

This Newsletter ist printed

on FSC certified material.

Solution Sudoku:

I was born in 1984 in the town of Hildes-heim, 30 km south of Hannover in the Federal State of Lower Saxony, and grew up there together with my brother.

After school, I underwent two apprentice-

ship training courses and became a Busi-ness Assistant for foreign languages and correspondence, and an Industrial Man-agement Clerk. I noticed early on that I loved the English language, and also, the combination ‘city plus water’ fascinated me. So after my first apprenticeship I had already decided that I would go to Ham-burg one day.

I came to Hamburg more than ten years ago, and shipping was a lateral career move for me. Beforehand, I had tried working in my trained profession, but my longing for shipping caught up with me, and so I finally changed into the “right” industry.

At Hamburger Lloyd I work as a Techni-cal Assistant for the tank vessel and part of the bulk vessel fleet. I like working for Hamburger Lloyd because it is a shipping company with an intimate working envi-ronment, where it is possible to sit down and talk problems over with the colleagues

without having to bridge large hierarchies. Using the English language on a daily basis and having contacts more or less all over the world is truly fascinating for me.

In my free time I do Yoga. In summer, like going on bicycle tours with my boyfriend and inviting friends for barbecues on our terrace. I enjoy travelling and am always happy to see new countries, places, and people.

Likes: • Yoga• meeting friends• my cat• visiting my family back home • sunshine

Dislikes:• slow people • seafood • traffic jams • spiders

Gila MaiTechnical Assistant for the tank vessel and part of the bulk vessel fleet

staff ashore

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