Unofficial Packages
Unofficial Packages
Often, a crew member may ask you to deliver a package or an envelope to their family and/or friends. Again, personal discretion is of utmost importance here with regard to trustworthiness. Explain to the person (politely, of course) that there’s always a chance that one could get interrogated for carrying something that doesn’t belong to them. So keeping that in mind, (if you still feel obligated to deliver it) open it and check the contents thoroughly. This does not mean disrespecting the person by reading his personal letter but what it does mean is going through the contents in general looking out for any contraband and other illegal substances.
Travel Preparation
To ensure that you don’t have to flip through all your papers in case any authority (airport, customs etc.) asks for a certain document, keep everything handy and ready in your hand baggage. Keep photocopies of all your documents because you never know when the necessity to have a copy arises.
Keep all your documents in your hand baggage; this is a common practice among all seafarers because there have been instances (very less probability) that the main luggage has been lost in transit. It might be paranoid thinking, but in case your certificates are in your main luggage and it gets lost, you’ll know how much of a pain (and how time consuming) it’ll get to obtain the originals all over again. Better safe than sorry!
Check your baggage weight onboard itself. The galley department has a weighing scale almost always, so make sure that your baggage does not exceed the permissible amount (its generally 40 kilos for foreign travel, with the maximum on one bag capped at 23 kilos). However, every airline has its own policy, so remember to ask the agent for the permissible baggage limit.
Need more traveling tips to ensure your safety? Read our ebook – A Guide To Travel Safety For Seafarers.
Know the Local Laws
In all like-ability, a seafarer signs off at a country he is not a citizen of. In that case, know the local laws and customs and respect them. For example, Singaporean authorities are very strict with respect to pirated CDs (Your immigration document generally contains a warning against the carriage of these objects). Ensure that you do are not carrying any of them.
Some nations have a limit on the amount of cash you can carry. Once again, ask the agent for any such information that may of importance to your repatriation.
Handing Over Report
All the above points have been aimed at safeguarding one’s own interest. This point is to emphasize on the need to ensure that your reliever is not left in the dark with respect to his duties.
Prepare the Handing Over Notes well in advance. For obvious reasons, there will be no time for last moment explanations to the reliever regarding his responsibilities and duties. So, prepare a comprehensive and informative document to facilitate a smooth transition and to cancel out any unnecessary confusion. It is a very important responsibility of every officer to make the on signer feel at ease with his duties. Acting selfish and engrossed in the sign off process is obvious, but not at the cost of jeopardizing the safety of the ship and its personnel. Take time out and let the on signer clear any looming doubts that may exist regarding the ship or his duties. Take him around and show him what lockers he is in charge of, point out the maintenance that needs to be carried out and acquaint him with the ways of the master and the other personnel onboard.
Handing Over Your Cabin
You have lived in the cabin the way you’ve wanted to. And there is no doubt that it was a comfortable little abode of your own; your very own place of Zen after a day’s hard work. So why not leave it like that for the next person. Although it is the job of the Steward to arrange the cabins up to a mark, there is not much an effort required to clear out the trash a day before signing off, arranging the bed a little, and maintaining a general sense of order in the cabin. Also, make sure you have checked the cabin thoroughly to avoid forgetting any belongings.
This aspect is not really important to any duty or responsibility. However, it is indeed important to the perception of the on signer of you. A clean cabin that is being handed over automatically calls for a little respect which makes the transition all the more easier. It doesn’t really require much effort to clean up one’s living space for the next person and in return it makes the other person a lot better. A dump of a room, however, gives out a bad vibe to a person that is about to spend the next few months of his life in that little area.
To conclude, the day of the sign off is the happiest day in a seafarer’s life and it should be kept that way. As long all your identifications, documentations and other things are in order, you can be assured that your sign off will be free of any worry. So adhere to common process and rejoice in the anticipation of reuniting with your friends and family. After all, you deserve to be back home and enjoy your hard earned money in the things and with the people that you love.
*Concluded
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