IMPROVING LIVING CONDITIONS ON BOARD: PART 2 : PROPOSED SOLUTION

LIVING CONDITIONS, ENTERTAINMENT, TRAINING AND VR/AR PROJECT

PROPOSED SOLUTION 

Subject: LIVING CONDITIONS, ENTERTAINMENT, TRAINING AND VR/AR PROJECT

PART II

PROPOSED SOLUTION 

5. Solution for upgrade

5.1 Solution for upgrade Training/gymnasium facilities

The ideal facelift of the vessel gyms would involve the following:

●     Replace the flooring with Polymax Rubber Flooring; non-slip and easily replaceable. Customisable to contain logo and to be in company colors. Alternately, the use of a lighter colour will improve floor reflectance with the result of increasing the illuminance in the room.

●     Mount Acrylic Mirrors on one wall. Easily installable and shatter proof. Applied on 18mm plywood to avoid distortion

●     Posters (Darebee.com) can be displayed which provide some inspiration as well as informative charts that can assist in more efficient workouts.

●     To provide full body workout, a climbing rack and pull up rack would be beneficial.

●     To save space and reduce the risk of weights moving during rolling, it would be advisable to replace free weights with Powerblock Adjustable Dumbbells (see Snapshot below). Current dumbbells are free-weight type i.e. very hazardous

●     A Hi-Fi system which enables crew to listen to music from their personal device or from CD to keep them motivated.

●     Mini fridge to keep chilled water or protein bars.

For each vessel, separate plan will be created at later stages, pending approval.

Proposal for Panamax

5.7m*3.8m 21.66m2

 (Inspired by Gymmarine web page, designed by Ms Bond)

Gym Flooring - Polymax

Power Block Sport 5.0 Adj. Dumbbells Set 2-22.5 kg                       

Alternative is to create a “Standard List of Equipment” for current gym equipment, which may mean supplying some items to different vessels.

Once vessels have all equipment, it is maintained from the office, sports fund should be used for any additional items/fridge stock or for excursions.

5.2 Solution for Upgrade Crew and Officers TV/Smoke Room and Libraries

While most vessels in the fleet have TV, they do not have TV with USB connection or Digital TV. Without access to Digital TV, they have no access to live TV whilst in port. An ideal upgrade is to provide these vessels with Digital TV with USB connection.

Another solution is to provide Marine grade satellite antenna.

(http://www.inmarsat.com/service/tvro/ or http://www.kvh.com/MarineSat/ ) The crew want the ability to watch TV while at open sea. We have TV lines in each cabin so setting up TV while ashore

To be able to have TV on board, the above solutions are viable only for a vessel that has Fleet Xpress Inmarsat Internet on board. (Aframax 1 is in test phase)

Also recommend to replace all supplier calendars and have only company calendars hanging in all communal areas.

5.2.1 Solution for Upgrade of Chemical vessels Crew/Officers Mess /Smoking /TV room

Proposal for an upgrade on Chemical vessel Crew/Officers Mess /smoking /TV room is to install a partition between mess area and smoking/tv area.

Either shelves or plants can be used, both options are multi-purpose.

5.3 Solution for upgrade of the Internet on board

The most viable solution for the upgrade of the internet on board is Inmarsat FleetXpress. This is currently being tested by IT on MT Aframax 1.

Price: 4500 USD initial cost + 2100 monthly cost.

Time: From delivery seven days for installation +1 day for commissioning in suitable port

The rest of the fleet will be upgraded if testing on Aframax 1 returns good results.

5.4 Solution for upgrade of Communal spaces /Galley / Mess room

In the past, our vessels had many plants. This is no longer the case. Provide plants in communal spaces, can be beneficial in providing cleaner air and better moral. A standardised list of plants must be kept on board vessels and those plant must be supplied during vessel delivery and resupplied at every dry-dock.

NASA’s Clean Air Study found the plants below are effective at removing benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, and ammonia from the air—chemicals that have been linked to health effects like headaches and eye irritation.

Symbols in the picture under each plant demonstrate what kind chemicals that plant filters/remove from the air.

With a fairly small investment, a lot can be done just by introducing these plants into on board life; a good moral booster being one of the benefits.

There are other benefits to having these plants around; the graphic shows at a glance the plants that make the best natural air filters. NASA research suggests having at least one plant per 10 m2 of home or office space.

This may become the official company list of plants that should be on board the vessel Numbers and locations will vary on case-by case basis depending on vessel size and type. Vessels that are visiting ARA could be easily supplied from IKEA; same goes for new deliveries.

An example is this ‘Simple Indoor Herb Garden With Adjustable Grow Light’ for a vessel that has a galley with no windows; the lamp can be excluded for galleys with windows. As can be seen below, set up is simple and can be supplied on board with four monthly stores with a small guide for the cook and steward.

5.5 Solution for Upgrade of Curtains

The only solution to update any of the curtains on any vessel is to take sizes of windows, number of windows and outsource this to a company’s whose core business is Marine Upholstery and Curtains. This is a very expensive and time-consuming project, as customs curtains can take considerable time. To give an example from what can be found online without going into too much detail is the starting price of 15 USD per Meter. An option could be to focus on replacing the curtains in communal/recreational areas as well as crew quarters.

5.6 Solution for Upgrade of Bonded Stores (working)

Bonded stores is currently maintained by Master or whomever he appoints. Normal practise currently is, inventory of bonded stores is sold to reliever, which in some cases means that stock is not replenished in the month prior to sign off and the month following reliever joining.

The proposal is for Bonded stores to be under an “Approved Order List”, with inventory sent at the end of each month.

5.7 Solution for Upgrade E-Publications / E-magazine / Distance Learning(working)

We should be maintaining a library of e-books, e-magazines and e-publications that can be accessed by office and vessels at any time.

Both educational and leisurely publications can be supplied weekly/monthly.

Crew survey needs to be carried out initially to ensure supply at least one publication which is in each their mother tongue and national news.

A Vessel Survey to get feedback and supply what meets vessel needs should be carried out three-monthly.