Education: Kherson Marine College, near Odessa, Ukraine; Novorossiysk Maritime Academy, renamed as Admiral Ushakov Maritime State Academy (2005)

Went to sea: 1977

Age: 51

Hometown: Tchernomorsky, near Novoroyssisk, Russia

Married: Irina

Family: Two grown up sons, both seafarers

Hobbies: "I like to go fishing with my wife. There are lots of rivers and pools near my house, which is is very close to the Caucus mountains. It's very panoramic and very beautiful. Sometimes we like to make and open fire and cook in the fresh air."

Everything! That's what a Chief Officer does! Safety, security, deck, hull maintenance and cargo operations. Chief Officer Aleksandr Panchenko laughs as he reels off his list of duties.

"But it's OK because I've done it such a long time. The first time you do the duty, it seems a lot. The first time I did it, I did everything myself to ensure that I understood the principles," he says. “We focus on safety, because it's an especially hot issue these days, as maritime insurers have pushed up shipping's premiums, citing increased risk as justification.”

But, according to Panchenko, safety is "better and better," and he explains that there are less injuries now than before owing to safer ways of working, safety shoes, helmets, suits, walkie-talkies and training.

"If someone had told me 30 years ago that we would have these things, I would never have believed him. But today, everyone, everywhere, every week, everyday, it's 'safety first'. It's just pushed into your brain. And it's much safer now," he explains.

When the anchor dropped

Panchenko can talk with some experience of what it was like to work in an unsafe environment. He dreamed of going to sea since a very young age - ten or twelve years - and did so at the earliest opportunity. By 1976 he he was working with a tanker company and he tells of one time when his vessel was underway and, for no reason, the anchor just dropped! And then, when that was fixed, the engineer couldn't get the ship underway again.

He also chuckles at the memory of the quality of the equipment available to him. "We have much better equipment on the new ships. I remember the old equipment. Some of the calculators were very ... approximate. When the computers came, some things that took me three hours instead took me 30 seconds," he says fondly tapping the top of the computer monitor in his office.

"I have even been on old vessels without air conditioning," he adds. That's really not good in places like Fujairah anchorage, in the Middle East, where it can reach over 45 degrees Celsius in the summer.

Panchenko's happy with the conditions on the Front Champion, though - the machinery's humming, the air conditioning is working and he describes crew relations as good. The crew, although busy, are always laughing and smiling.