| Superintendent Chandramohan Mukundan :Front Champion | |
A day in the life of... Superintendent Chandramohan Mukundan |
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| A superintendent is "the responsible person ashore" and is best thought of as the hub linking the ship, the manager, the owner, manning, accounts, the broker and anyone and everyone else. He's the man at the centre of things. Superintendent Chandramohan Mukundan, or 'Chandra' as he likes to be called, looks after the Front Champion along with four other ships for ITM.
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Chandra joined ITM / Barber in March 2000 and has worked on a variety of oil tankers. He was formerly a chief engineer - he studied Mechnanical Engineering at the Regional Engineering College at Kurukshetra University (1979), followed by studies in Marine Engineering at Direct Rate Marine Engineering Training in Bombay (1981). His seafaring career started the year after. |
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| Chandra explains what attracted him to a nautical life. "I was interested in the sea," he pauses, then laughs, " ... and the money! It's a highly paid profession and I like to travel." Chandra is married to Rugmini and has two adolescent children - a boy and a girl. |
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| And here's a day in his life: 08:15 Arrive at the offices, checks email and looks for bad news! And if there is any, Chandra calls the ship to find out what's wrong and help solve the problem. That can take up the day. But assuming there's no disaster, he arranges stores and spares, which can take a few hours. |
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10:30 Time for a break, a cup of coffee, a chat with the fleet manager and colleague, Oleg, who sits across the desk. Then it's back to the stores and spares. |
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| 11:15 Daily reports (ISMS) come in from the ships and it's time to check the vessel parameters. If there is any abnormality, he gets in touch with the ship for an explanation and to help out. |
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| 13:00 Lunch! Indian food is on the menu for Chandra and, because he's a Hindu, he doesn't eat pork or beef. So a nice biryani - chicken, mutton or seafood, is the order of the day. |
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13:30 "or maybe 13:20!" Chandra exclaims. It's back to work and a further roundup of the emails. Takes calls from his ship captains to find out if there is anything wrong. Continual monitoring and communication are the watchwords for a superintendent. "And there goes another one to one and half hours!" he smiles. |
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| 15:00 The 'manning man' comes. He wants Chandra to approve who is coming on and going off the vessels under his charge and also to agree arrival and departure dates for crew. | |
| 16:00 Time for another chat with the fleet manager and the vice president to give an update on his vessel's status today. | |
| 16:20 Accounts - clear invoices for stores and spares | |
| 17:30 Run through emails one last time - they always keep coming - and one last check that there everything's fine | |
19:30 Home ... and ready for the next day's work!
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