On 4 October, the SMOU team, led by General Secretary Mary Liew boarded the MV Don Juan. Ship visits provided the union an insight to the crews’ well-being and concerns.
Warmly welcomed by SMOU EXCO member Captain Nordin, who was working onboard MV Don Juan, the group caught up on how the shipping world has changed in times of COVID-19, and how it affected the morale of the crew working onboard. He also expressed his wish for better and faster crew change arrangement in Singapore and around the world.
The SMOU team also met up with two female officers, 3rd Officer Angie Goh and the newly promoted 3rd Officer Siti Nasuha, who graduated from the Tripartite Nautical Training Award programme with support from Wallenius Marine Singapore Pte Ltd.
“Being the only two female officers onboard, we have to be supportive and continue to look out and empower each other. We are very grateful and thankful for the guidance from the senior officers, who embraced and supported diversity and gender equality in seafaring. This has helped us tremendously with our learning journey and our progression working onboard the vessel.” 3rd Officer Siti Nasuha
“As seafaring is conventionally a man’s world, it presents some unique and unusual challenges, especially for the women seafarers. Hence many women fear to take Seafaring up as a profession. I am thankful for Wallenius for supporting gender diversity and empowering female seafarers as it provided me with the confidence and determination to aim high in my seafaring career.” 3rd Officer Angie Goh.
“Over the last two decades, women have been breaking stereotypes and foraying into the maritime world, creating an identity for themselves. It is uplifting and encouraging to have 3rd Officer Siti Nasuha and Angie Goh working onboard MV Don Juan. By having more females taking on a seafaring career, this creates a strong cohesion for all women in maritime.” SMOU EXCO Capt Nordin
As most of the crew are unable to go for shore leave due to the current situation, SMOU brought along some local snacks and goodies. We will continue to gather seafarers’ feedback from the ground and work with like-minded international partners from the industry, unions and government to improve and address crew’s concerns and challenges
Stay Healthy and Stay Safe!