Coming down to the business of the visit, the President reviewed some facts and statistics as he looked at the world economic situation. “Because of the financial crisis, the world economy is declining very rapidly, and suddenly. The stock markets all over the world are down more than 50% already; the quote for K Line stock is now at one fifth of its peak value. However, other shipping companies are also in same situation. The outlook for the entire shipping industry has turned negative in just a few weeks!” he said, choosing not to mince his words.

Mr. Kuboshima said that the freight and charter markets were down sharply, with capesize bulker rates now down to 1/50th of their peak values. From a high daily rate of $240,000, these were now about $2/3,000 daily, and Panamax rates were a tenth of their peaks. “Container ships are still much better than bulkers with rates falling to a fifth of what they used to be just a few months ago. The only breather we have, fortunately, is that oil prices are down by almost 50%”, he commented.

However, Mr. Kuboshima was not despondent, saying, “Regardless of all this, there is good news and hope. The shipping industry shall continue to exist and ferry cargoes to support the world economy. Unfortunately throughout the last decade, the world economy relied heavily upon futures trading and speculation, which has created a ‘money is a game’ like situation. My friends, speculation has only a limited place under the sun; one can’t remain secure in it!”

The K Line President had some concrete plans to weather the storm. One of the options for the Group, he said, was to retire older ships a bit earlier than currently planned. He disclosed that fleet expansion with newer ships was going ahead regardless: K Line expects, in 2009, 3 VLCCs and an AfraMax to be added to its fleet, besides two 8,000TEU, one 4,600TEU and one 1,700TEU boxship. He was uncertain about deliveries beyond 2009, though some container ships were scheduled. He reassured the delegates about their job security however, saying, “KLSM is now engaged with Indian seafarers on a majority of the fleet under its management, and your job opportunities will not shrink, but rather expand, though more gradually.”

In closing, Mr. Kuboshima reiterated Group policy, stressing that safety and quality improvement continued to be K Line’s top priority. He also expressed solidarity with the assembled mariners, “Your happiness is our happiness, your pain is our pain, and your problems are our problems. Let us face all of them together.”

2 DAYS OF INTERESTING PRESENTATIONS

The rest of the working seminar now took off. Capt. Otsuda unveiled ‘KLine Vision 100’, followed by Capt. S.B. Rele, promoting ‘Excellence in Safety’. Mr. Manoj Virkar elaborated on excellence in machinery operations.

Just before lunch, Capt. Senthil Kumar spoke about experiences with a newly delivered Aframax.

Post lunch, Capt. Rele took center stage again with the improved KLQSMS system. This was followed by ‘Incident investigation & root cause Analysis’ by Capt. J. Rinon, who also spoke about the causal factor chart analysis. An interesting workshop on this analysis followed. Now, towards the close of the first day, the seminar ended with a presentation of exercises by the group leaders, an interactive session related to the workshop, and other issues discussed throughout the day.

The evening was earmarked for unwinding and socialising by the delegates and their families over cocktails and dinner.

Day 2 started with Capt. Rinon elaborating on lessons learnt from significant near misses in KLSM’s fleet, followed by Capt. Otsuda’s introduction to KLMA’s Cadet Training Programme, with Capt. Senthil Kumar giving a detailed explanation. Later, Mr. Manoj Virkar showed everyone how to excel in protecting the environment and managing it well. It was Capt. Rele’s turn next to make a presentation on ‘excellence in navigation’.

Preceding the lunch break, external speaker Capt. M.C. Yadav, Director, Maritime Education & Training, FOSMA, spoke on the Maritime Labour Convention. Post lunch, Capt. Yadav elaborated on the seafarer's identification document and STCW 2010.

Dr. P. Mishra, PO, MMD Chennai, spoke about new concepts of human error in the maritime industry. Later, Capt. A.C. Galliara highlighted team building and leadership development methods followed by role playing. Towards the end, a sailing Chief Engineer and a Captain shared their experiences with the assembly.

The day ended with a presentation of awards by Mr. Kuboshima and a speech by Capt T. Saito, MD, KLSM Singapore, followed by the closing address by Capt. Takehiko Ibusuki, CEO, KLSM India.

December 11’s evening was much a replica of the previous day, with delegates mingling over cocktails and dinner before the curtain came down on the elaborate K Line & KLSM meet.