Philippine Merchant Marine Academy CLASS OF 2006

May I please borrow $25?'

May I please borrow $25

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'

DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.

SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard every day for such childish frivolities. '

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.

'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've bee n thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

SN: 8762

Everyone Is Different

Everyone is individual and different, in the same way as everyone's handprints are unique.

"We should acknowledge differences, we should greet differences, until difference makes no difference anymore." — Adela Allen

PMMA CADETS EMBARKATION MOVED TO JUNE 14

As a precautionary measure against A(H1N1), Philippine Merchant Marine Academy has postponed its opening of classes to June 14.

PMMA CADETS EMBARKATION MOVED TO JUNE 14...
June 8 2009, 0800H

PMMA Cadets embarkation to the Academy has been moved to 14th June 2009 based on the original embarkation time.

The changes are deemed needed to enable Academy administration in sanitizing all classrooms and billeting quarters to ensure the safety and welfare of all students pursuant to CHED urgent memo.

Please be guided accordingly.

Thank you,

PMMA ADMINISTRATION

Source: Pmma Website

No. 2 General Information - World's Largest Ships

CONTAINER - EMMA MERSK

Emma Mærsk is a container ship owned by the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group. When she was launched, Emma Mærsk was the largest container ship ever built, and as of 2008 the longest ship in use. Officially, Emma Mærsk is able to carry around 11,000twenty-foot equivalent units(TEU) according to the Maersk company's method of calculating capacity, which is about 1,400 more containers than any other ship is capable of carrying.

General Characteristics

Tonnage:	170,974GT (55,396 NT)
Length:	397metres (1,300ft)
Beam:	56metres (180ft)
Draft:	15.5metres (51ft)
Capacity:	156,907 DWT, 11,000TEU

By normal calculations, Emma Mærsk's cargo capacity is significantly greater than the listed capacity — between 13,500twenty-foot equivalent units(TEU) and 15,200TEU. The difference between the official and estimated numbers is because Maersk calculates the capacity of a container ship by weight (in this case, 14 tons/container) that can be carried on a vessel. For the Emma Mærsk, this is 11,000 containers. Other companies calculate the capacity of a container ship according to the maximum number of containers that can be put on the ship, independent of the weight of the containers. This number is always greater than the number calculated by the Maersk method.

The ship was built at the Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark. In June 2006, during construction, welding work caused a fire within her superstructure. It spread rapidly through the accommodation section and bridge.

Emma Mærsk was named in a ceremony on August 12, 2006. The ship is named after Emma Mærsk, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller's late wife. The ship set sail on her maiden voyage on 8 September 2006 at 02:00 hours from Aarhus, calling at Gothenburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Algeciras, the Suez Canal, and arrived in Singapore on 1 October 2006 at 20:05 hours.

Emma Mærsk departed Singapore the next day, headed for Yantian in Shenzhen. She sailed on to Kobe, Nagoya, arrived at Yokohama on 10 October 2006, and returned via Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, the Suez Canal, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Gothenburg and finally to Aarhus, with arrival at that port 11 November 2006 at 16:00 hours.

She appeared in headlines prior to Christmas 2006, when she was dubbed SS Santa because she was bound for the United Kingdom from China loaded with Christmas goods. The return journey after Christmas 2006 saw her return to southern China, loaded with UK waste destined for recycling in China.

Her appearance in the news prompted China's State Environmental Protection Administration to promise to "closely watch the progress of investigation into the dumping of garbage in south China by Britain". It added that no official approval had been given to any company in the area to import waste.

Emma Maersk's regular round trip involves Ningbo, Xiamen, Hong Kong (westbound), Yantian (westbound), Tanjung Pelepas (westbound), Algeciras (westbound), Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Algeciras (eastbound), Tanjung Pelepas (eastbound), Yantian (eastbound), Hong Kong (eastbound) and Ningbo.

No. 1 General Information - World's Largest Ships

SUPERTANKER - KNOCK NEVIS

The Knock Nevis is a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) currently owned by the Norwegian company Fred Olsen Production. The unit was previously a supertanker and as such held the record for the world's largest ship. As a tanker the ship was known under the names Seawise Giant, Happy Giant, and Jahre Viking.

General Characteristic

Tonnage:	260,941GT (214,793 NT)
Length:	458.45m (1,504.10ft)
Beam:	68.8m (225.72ft)
Draft:	29.8m (97.77ft)
Capacity:	564,650DWT

Knock Nevis was built in 1979 at Sumitomo Heavy Industries's Oppama shipyard as Seawise Giant. The ship was built for a Greek owner who was unable to take delivery of the ship.

The shipyard then exercised its right to sell the ship. A deal was brokered with Hong Kong shipping magnate C. Y. Tung founder of the shipping line Orient Overseas Container Line.

A deal was reached, but Tung required the ship's size be increased by several metres in length and 87,000 metric tons of cargo capacity by jumboisation. Two years later, the vessel was launched and named Seawise Giant.

After the refit, the ship had a capacity of 564,763 metric tons of deadweight (DWT), a length overall of 458.45metres (1,504.1ft) and a draft of 24.611metres (80.74ft). She had 46 tanks, 31,541square metres (339,500sqft) of deck space, and was too large to pass through the English Channel.

From 1979 to 2004, she was owned by the company Loki Stream AS. During this period she flew the Norwegian flag.

In this period, she was renamed Happy Giant from 1989 to 1991.

Jorden Jahre bought the ship in 1991 for the sum of US$39 Million. It was at this stage that the ship was renamed Jahre Viking. It was sold in 2004.

The ship was damaged during the Iran–Iraq War while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. As a result she was declared a total loss and laid up in Brunei. At the end of the war, she was towed to the Keppel Company shipyard in Singapore, repaired, and renamed Happy Giant. The ship was sailing again in October 1991.

In 2004, she was bought by First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd., renamed Knock Nevis and converted into a permanently moored storage tanker.On November 30, 2004 the conversion to FSO was completed. Since 2004, she has been owned by First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd. The ship is now permanently moored in the Qatar Al Shaheen oil field in the Persian Gulf, operating as an FSO.

In terms of length, Knock Nevis has a length overall of 458.45m (1,504ft), making her the largest ship ever constructed. The vessel is longer than many of the world's tallest buildings are tall, for example the Petronas Twin Towers at 452metres (1,480ft). She is smaller than the Sears Tower at 527.3 metres (1,730ft), and Taipei 101 at 509.2metres (1,671ft), and considerably smaller than the skyscraper Burj Dubai, currently under construction, at 636metres (2,090ft).

DUBAI DRY DOCK EXPERIENCE

Last April we went to Dubai for Dry dock, which means they lift the ship out of the water to do maintenance. Located in one of the rapidly developing regions of the world and a busy trading route, Drydocks World – Dubai is one of the most prolific shipyards in operation. The shipyard is the largest facility in the Middle East. During this time we worked for about 2 weeks doing 10 hour shifts. The work was very intense and non-stop.

We would wire brush and chip rust all day in the heat. After awhile you felt like a machine. The nice thing is after 5 months of sailing with only the seas of middle east to far east, finally the taste of solid ground again.

At one point we had to go down inside the tank for inspection. We go into the gas freed tank on board. Two men have to be in there to make sure they take out all the slops properly, other wise they have to clean it again. I was one of those unlucky guys. The space is very cramped, dark and hot. I had to go up and down with a huge torch with me. The combination of having to use large amounts of energy to climb up and down in the ladder, the dust filled air, and the piping hot chain made this an extremely exhausting experience. No lie, at one point I was seriously wondering how much more my body could take before shutting down. Thank God nothing serious happened. I had a new understanding of what hell may be like, and it was not fun at all.

The high light of dry dock is going ashore, Dubai was a great experience. Very hot and humid, but lots to see and do. We log-out in to our ship at about 1800H. We didn't waste a second and saw a lot of Dubai.

It's a really clean and tidy place and a massive amount of construction going on. It's like a competition of who can build the biggest and most breathtaking buildings. There is no such thing as a 'plain' building in Dubai - it's really an eye opener.

We then spent the night touring around the largest mall in the world the Dubai Mall. It was a little bit tiring, I was surprise seeing our kababayan everywhere , there's a time that you will feel your in Divisoria or Shoemart, but fun all the same. The next couple of days we do shopping I bought some good stuffs a 48" Plasma TV a Home Theater and PS3 160gb. Others tried a different kind of fun. Dubai's infamous night life. I will not go into details but let's just say it's a great experience..

All in al it was a revitalizing experience, a memorable one and hope to experience it all over again.

Anyways, enough from me. Check out the photos! Off to Philippines now...