I was asked recently to make a comment in a forum between two seasoned mariners, now working ashore in senior level positions. Of course there is no way I want to be in between two sailors looking for “blood”, but it did make me think about expressing my thoughts on the federal government’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, aka the NSPS, that have been tumbling around in the old vacuous cranium…
TC’s HQ in Ottawa I love what I do, working on ships as a Marine Engineer. It’s hard to classify one-self, but judging from recommendations I have received fairly consistently over the years, I say I’m certainly “average” in my work performance. With liking what I do, and being somewhat successful, it’s little wonder that I wish to progress in my craft, move up the ranks, and achieve a higher…
I partly attribute my loss of a good job, and those of my 20 shipmates last year, to the ability of cargo owners to be quickly granted Canada Transportation Act waiver – where foreign owned ships, who pay no Canadian income tax (among others), hire no Canadians, yet operate in Canadian waters, or between Canadian ports. As a guy who’s invested pretty heavily in a seagoing Marine Engineering career, and…
TC HQ in Ottawa, Wikipedia If you live on Vancouver Island, and required any marine certification assistance by Transport Canada Ship Safety, you will be required to go to Victoria to get your certification work done; or you may choose to go Vancouver or Prince Rupert. Effective July 2nd 2013, the Nanaimo office of Transport Canada Ship Safety will no longer process deck or engine examinations, issuance of certificates, endorsements,…
May Edition now on news stands Toot tooot. There’s my own horn. BC Shipping News has picked an article of mine featured here, a few months ago, about the realities of the marine engineering training efficiency in Western Canada over the past twenty years. The piece, Reap what you sow, was the first part of my larger exercise, exploring the marine engineer workforce situation in Canada. The article is in…
In the previous blog post on The Monitor, there was a picture from the Vancouver Sun, with the the Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver presenting the Harper Government’s “World Class” tanker initiative earlier this week. In the background of the picture, there was a small vessel, an oil response vessel, the largest on Canada’s west coast. The Vancouver Sun followed up the Harper Government’s announcement story one day after, with…
Need more lipstick, PM Haprer – from the interwebs Our dear leader’s has taken yet another clumsy step in softening the ramming of a pipeline down the throats of British Colombians. The press release starts with “Harper” and included a press conference by no less than two cabinet ministers in Vancouver, last Monday. The high profile plan / announcements makes no real sense to me, and is strictly to open…
From Interwebs The much heralded National Ship Procurement Strategy’s (NSPS) wheel of progress have been mired in thick mud, seemingly unable to gain any real traction when it comes to actually cutting steel. Today, yet another blow to the program, a report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer says that the $2.6 billion (yes, with a B), committed to the Joint Support Vessels in 2010 is simply not enough to build…